Wild Search

A woman is killed during a raid on an arms deal; the only witness is her small daughter. The detective running the raid decides the child is in danger and takes her to her aunt, who lives on a farm well outside the city. He ends up having to stay, and a closeness forms between the three of them. But the people looking for them do not let the quiet last: the woman's former husband and a gun-runner after revenge both turn up at the door. Ringo Lam's film is slower and more sentimental than anyone would expect from a director known for hard crime pictures. There is action, but the weight of it sits in the days on the farm, in three people getting used to each other. Chow Yun-fat stands here not as a hero drawing his weapon but as a man who does not know what to do, and that is the best thing in the part. His pairing with Cherie Chung carries the film. The contrast between city and country is built from an angle not often seen in Hong Kong cinema of the period.