The Stool Pigeon
In a prologue, police stakes out a factory to round up a gang of ice dealers. Senior inspector Don Li (Nick Cheung) jeopardizes the life of his stool pigeon Jabber (Liu Kai-chi) in his urge to nail the big boss Marco. Marco escapes anyway, but Jabber, seriously injured and traumatized, has to go under.
For Jabber's replacement, Li finds fresh-out-of-jail Ghost Jr. (Nicholas Tse) and offers him a reward of $130,000 in exchange for penetrating a band of armed robbers planning a jewelry heist. Of course, things get complicated. He falls in love with Dee (Kuai Lun Mei), the disgruntled girlfriend of the gang's leader Barbarian (Lu Yi).
For all its violence, bloodshed and heavy combat, The Stool Pigeon is less a hard-boiled cop thriller than a melodrama of human suffering, underscored by a crushing aesthetic of pain. (...) Ghost Jr. is more of a martyr than a hero, ennobled by his ability to endure bullying rather than power to fight back or defend his loved ones.
Maggie Lee, The Hollywood Reporter
Original title: Sin Yan
Duration: 113 min
Dialogue: Cantonese
Subtitles: English
Age limit: K15
