Confession of Pain
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| Confession of Pain | |
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| Directed by | Andrew Lau Alan Mak |
| Produced by | Andrew Lau |
| Written by | Felix Chong Alan Mak |
| Starring | Tony Leung Chiu-Wai Takeshi Kaneshiro Shu Qi Xu Jinglei |
| Distributed by |  Media Asia Distribution Ltd. Sil-Metropole Organisation Ltd. Avex Trax Avex Trax |
| Release date(s) | December 21, 2006 |
| Running time | 110 min. |
| Language | Cantonese |
| Budget | HK$80 million |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
Confession of Pain (traditional Chinese: 傷城; simplified Chinese: 伤城; pinyin: Shāngchéng, literally Forlorn City) is a 2006 Hong Kong crime/drama film directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, and starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Shu Qi and Xu Jinglei.
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[edit] Plot Summary
Detective Hei (Leung), a good hearted veteran detective and his partner Bong (Kaneshiro) busted a rapist in 2003. When Bong went back home after the bust, he found out that his pregnant girlfriend committed suicide. From that day on, Bong became a drunkard and turned in his badge to work as a private investigator, all the while obsessed with trying to find out why his girlfriend committed suicide.
Three years later, Bong discovered that on the night his girlfriend committed suicide; she was actually waiting at a bar for her secret love, who ended up unconscious after a car accident on the same night. Bong originally thought that he would be angry at his girlfriend's lover, but he ended up taking care of the comatose lover while he lies in the hospital. Bong eventually moved on and fell in love with a girl who sells beer at the same bar as well as being a hooker, Feng (Shu Qi).
Hei married Susan (Xu Jinlei), daughter of billionaire Chau. Hei initially was shown killing Susan's whole family and planted all evidences against two unemployed lowlifes. Chau and his butler were murdered, so Susan hired Bong, Hei's best friend, to find his father's murderer. While Bong got closer and closer to the truth, the more intermixing and complicated himself became. Bong ultimately discovered that Hei murdered Chau because Chau killed Hei's entire family when he was a boy living in Macau. Hei then had to take on another identity to avoid being murdered by Chau. Hei also attempted to murder Susan in order to inherit Susan's 300 million dollar bequest , but she avoided death and fell into a coma. Although Hei's plan is ingeniously flawless, unfortunately the passionate love he gave to Susan was real and thus when Hei saw Susan in the hospital, he mentally confessed to himself that his vengeance desire to avenge his family only ended up losing his family once more and causing more pain to himself.
[edit] Cast
- Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as Detective Lau Ching-Hei
- Takeshi Kaneshiro as Detective Yau Kin-Bong
- Shu Qi as Feng
- Xu Jinglei as Susan Chew
- Chapman To as Inspector Tsui Wing-Kwong
- Yueh Hua as Susan's father
- Emme Wong as Rachel
- Wan Yeung-Ming as Susan's father's servant
[edit] Reception
[edit] Critical Reception
Critics' review of the movie was mixed. Most critics positively reviewed the performances by Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro, but criticized the plot for the lack of suspense because it revealed prematurely the identity of the murderer.
[edit] Box Office
Confession of Pain opened in Hong Kong in the same week as Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower starring Chow Yun-Fat and was beaten on the opening day, but was still able to generate box office revenues of HK$3 million on opening weekend.[1]
[edit] Awards
Confession was nominated for seven awards in the 26th Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Screenplay (Alan Mak, Felix Chong), Best Actor (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), Best Cinematography (Andrew Lau, Lai Yiu Fai), Best Film Editing, Best Art Direction, Best Costume and Make-Up Design, and Best Original Film Score (Chan Kwong-Wing). [2] However, it only won one award for Best Cinematography.
[edit] Distribution
Confession of Pain was released in theatres in Hong Kong on December 21, 2006. The 2-disc DVD edition, 2-disc DVD special edition (with postcard book) and VCD edition were all released in Hong Kong on February 14, 2007. The DVD editions feature audio in DTS-ES and a second disc featuring a documentary of the making of the movie, photo galleries and other bonus features. The Japanese release rights went to Avex Trax, with the title "Kizudarake no Otokotachi" (傷だらけの男たち), which roughly translates as "Heavily Scarred Men".
[edit] Remake
A Hollywood remake of Confession of Pain was announced[3] by Warner Bros., who bought the rights of the film. Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way, is producing the film alongside Roy Lee, who brokered[citation needed] the remake deals on Asian movies from The Ring to Infernal Affairs. At the moment, however, it isn't yet known if DiCaprio, who also starred in the Hollywood remake of Infernal Affairs (another Lau/Mak film), The Departed, will also star in the film. William Monahan, who won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for The Departed, will work on the script.
[edit] Soundtrack
Ayumi Hamasaki performed the theme song Secret, which appears in the international version of the movie. The Mandarin theme song in the Chinese version of the movie, Secret of a Forlorn City (傷城秘密), was performed by Denise Ho.
[edit] Trivia
- Sponsors of the movie include: Giorgio Armani, Ayumi Hamasaki, 1010, San Miguel, Citicall, Philip Stein, D-Link, Neway and APM. [4]
[edit] References
- ^ "Christmas Eve Box Office", Sun Daily, 2006-12-25. Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
- ^ "HKFAA official nominee list".
- ^ "After Departed Hollywood to remake 2nd Chinese film", China Daily, 2007-03-02. Retrieved on 2007-03-04.
- ^ "Sponsors listed on official website".
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Official Japanese website
- Confession of Pain at the Internet Movie Database
- Confession of Pain at LoveHKFilm.com
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