Accident

The man called Brain is a hired killer but he does not use a gun. His method is to arrange accidents: he loosens a sign, sets a vehicle's path, waits for rain, and the result looks like an accident. He works with a small team and every job is planned to the minute. On one job something goes wrong and a member of the team dies. Brain does not believe it was really an accident. He thinks he has been targeted by his own method and starts watching an insurance assessor. He follows the man, enters his flat, records his life. Soi Cheang directs. Louis Koo, Richie Jen and Michelle Ye are in the cast. Johnnie To is among the producers. It is a Hong Kong production. It was shown in the main competition at the Venice Film Festival. What the narrative builds is not crime but paranoia; in the second half who did what becomes uncertain and the film does not resolve it. The scenes of arranging accidents are detailed; every step is shown and the mechanism is the narrative's material. The narrow streets of Hong Kong and the rain work inside the narrative; the city is built like a trap. Louis Koo's performance is closed in and the character explains almost nothing. Its limit is resolution; the narrative refuses to give an answer and that will feel incomplete to some. Another limit is pace; the second half slows and an expectation of action is not met. Who it is for: viewers who like Hong Kong thrillers and narratives of paranoia. Who it is not for: it is slow, closed, and the ending is left uncertain.