Doctor Mack

Lau Mack, who left medical school before finishing, runs a small clinic in a poor neighbourhood. He turns nobody away, and that includes the women doing sex work in the area. One night, taking a wounded robber to the state hospital, he runs into Dr Jaw, an old friend from university. Jaw is a well-known surgeon now, with his eye on moving up in the administration. Jaw sees that Lau's skill and the way he treats his patients leave him in the shade, and he cannot accept it. Lee Chi-Ngai's film is about the difference between a vocation and a career, told through two doctors. Tony Leung Chiu-wai plays Lau Mack and Lau Ching-Wan plays Jaw. The telling does not present Lau as a saint; his own life is a mess too. It is an example of Hong Kong cinema in the nineties.