This
could be the easiest case a Hong Kong police detective ever worked, but it will
still take quite an emotional toll. It is a case of parricide that hits close
to home for the pregnant police inspector, who is struggling with her dementia-suffering
father. Desperate people do horrific things in Cheung King-wai’s Somewhere Beyond the Mist (trailer here), which screens as
part of the San Francisco Film Society’s annual Hong Kong Cinema series.
Angela
and her husband seem to be doing well, judging by their stylish and relatively
spacious (by HK standards) flat, but her father’s erratic behavior is a
constant source of embarrassment. In contrast, Connie, a distressingly innocent
looking high school student, lives in mean poverty that her stern but lecherous
father makes exponentially more unpleasant.
One
day, Angela draws the case of a middle-aged couple found strangled and dumped in
the High Island Reservoir. It will not be much of a mystery, because Connie
will stun the officer with a confession during a routine questioning. It will
also be pretty clear why she did it when Cheung flashes backwards to give us lowlights
from the young teen’s family life. Of course, she could not do it alone, but
she easily manipulates her torch-carrying platonic friend Eric. The real
question is the extent to which we consider her a monster and victim. 50/50? 30/70?
Mist is cold as heck,
but completely absorbing. Sometimes it is painful to watch, but it is never
exploitative or excessively heavy-handed. Frankly, there were at least half a dozen
bullying and cyber-shaming films at this year’s NYAFF that were more
soul-searing. However, Mist issues a
direct challenge, using Angela as an audience proxy to ask just how far removed
are we from the miserable and merciless Connie?
Rachel
Leung Yung-ting is completely transfixing, profoundly heartbreaking, and totally
terrifying as Connie. The impact of her performance is stunning, but it would
be a grave mistake to overlook Stephy Tang’s quiet, more subdued work as Angela,
because that is where the film’s real bite lies. Cheung gets another remarkable
performance from young Zeno Koo, who leaves us even more conflicted with his
achingly vulnerable work as poor, pliable Eric.
