Beyond Hypothermia

A woman whose name is never given is a contract killer in Hong Kong. Her body temperature is below normal and everything she touches stays cold; the Chinese title names that degree. She speaks to nobody, and her only tie is the Korean woman who brings her the jobs. One day she warms to Lung, who sells noodles in the neighbourhood, and her order breaks down. She goes to Korea for one last job. The bodyguard of the man she kills is determined to find her. It is Patrick Leung's first film, and Johnnie To was one of the producers. The mould is the familiar mould of Hong Kong action, but the film balances its hardness with feeling; the quiet minutes the woman spends at the noodle stall take up as much room as the action scenes. Jacklyn Wu plays the killer and Lau Ching-Wan the noodle seller. Ninety minutes. The story does not soften its ending and leaves nobody a way out.