You Shoot, I Shoot

Pang Ho-cheung's 2001 debut is a black comedy that treats contract killing as a service industry. Bart is good at his job, but the market has narrowed and clients now want footage of the killing as well. His solution is to take on Chuen, a film school graduate who cannot find work, as a partner; Chuen films the murders, edits them and presents them for the client's approval. From there the film draws a satire of both filmmaking and consumer expectation, as Chuen develops artistic ambitions that Bart finds intolerable. The humour is dry and the violence is implied more than shown. It was made cheaply and was a notable start in Hong Kong independent cinema. Who it's for: viewers who like black comedy and films about filmmaking. Who it's not for: anyone uncomfortable with murder as a joke; the film is built entirely on it.