Taxi Hunter

Herman Yau's 1993 Hong Kong film follows an ordinary man working as an insurance salesman. His wife is pregnant and when she starts bleeding he calls a taxi; the driver takes a passenger offering more money and leaves, and she dies. The man then begins killing taxi drivers one by one. The film carries a Category III classification and does not soften the violence. But Yau does not justify the revenge; the man's choice of targets becomes increasingly arbitrary and most of the victims have nothing to do with what happened. That separates it from a simple revenge narrative. Anthony Wong leads and keeps the character both pitiable and frightening. Behind the film lie the service economy of nineties Hong Kong and everyday attrition; violence here is presented as the result of a personal collapse. Who it's for: those who like Hong Kong crime cinema and Anthony Wong's roles from this period. Who it's not for: viewers who want to avoid graphic violence; the film shows the killings in detail.