The Detective (2007)

Aaron Kwok plays a private detective in Bangkok's Chinatown who suspects there is more to a string of suicides than meets the eye. The location gives the film a different look and feel, which the cinematography capitalises on to the full. It's a very stylish, sometimes beautiful film.

The story is interesting enough to keep me wanting to find out more (I knew nearly zero beforehand, probably for the best), and the eventual resolution was satisfying. Aaron Kwok has definitely matured as an actor, and is now somebody I look forward to seeing in a film (actually I never understood why he was so vilified - as singer/actors go he was never that bad). Liu Kai-Chi gives another satisfying performance too. Oxide Pang's direction is mostly intelligent and effective, and the result is a rewarding mystery-thriller.