A Guilty Conscience

Adam Lam was once a prosecutor and is now a defence lawyer. In a case he did not take seriously enough, an innocent woman goes to prison. Years later her case is reopened and Lam returns to correct his own mistake. Facing him are one of Hong Kong's most powerful families and their army of lawyers. As the hearings proceed the matter stops being a murder investigation and becomes the relationship between class and the law. This is Jack Ng's first film as director. The narrative uses the shapes of the courtroom film but carries an anger particular to Hong Kong: how money runs the courts and how little chance an ordinary person has against it. Dayo Wong plays Lam, in the most discussed dramatic role of an actor known as a comedian. In 2023 the film broke a local box-office record and became the first domestic production to pass a hundred million Hong Kong dollars. Who it's for: Viewers who like courtroom drama, Hong Kong cinema, and class-based narrative. Who it's not for: The emotional peaks are openly constructed and the music overplays them. The legal detail is also bent for dramatic effect.