Tony Leung Chiu-Wai is Dr. Mack, a brilliant if somewhat seedy doctor working in the slums of Hong Kong. His old medical school buddy/rival, Dr. Jaw (Alex To), has become a celebrated surgeon, yet he still feels inferior to Mack. When their old professor (Richard Ng) becomes sick and counsels Mack, Jaw finds a way to pay his old rival back, which doesn’t mean good things for Mack. Lau Ching-Wan co-stars as a charmless cop in love with a local prostitute (Eileen Tung) and Andy Hui is a naive intern who volunteers in Mack’s clinic and ends up falling in love with bone cancer patient Hilary Tsui.

This UFO comedy/drama has virtually no driving narrative, and plods along exploring the lives of all these characters and how they relate to the central one: Dr. Mack. Amazingly, it all coheres into something that’s refreshingly witty and remarkably affecting. Lee Chi-Ngai explores maudlin themes like the power of hope and the reality of death, but he does so in a sophisticated, affecting manner. As Dr. Mack, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai turns in an impressive performance, mixing humor with heartbreak under a flimsy veneer of cynicism. Leung is quite possibly HK’s premier actor now that Chow Yun-Fat has left the building. Sadly, there are a couple of off-color racial jokes that mar the proceedings, but this is still one of the most sophisticated HK comedies around, demonstrating surprising wit, nobility and heart. One of the better films of 1995. (Kozo 1996)

image courtesy of Mei Ah Entertainment