Surveys
show journalists consistently rank near the bottom of society’s pecking order
of respect, right down there with politicians and used car dealers. Bottom-feeding
reporter Wang Yi-chi and his colleagues are about to set an all new low for
their profession. Yet, somehow, the bad guy manages to be even worse—much, much
worse in Cheng Wei-hao’s Who Killed Cock
Robin?, which opens this Friday in San Francisco.
Wang
thought he scored a scoop when he landed frontpage pictures of a prominent
politician caught in a traffic accident with his swimsuit model mistress. The
problem is that was no lady, that was his wife. Suddenly, Wang is unemployed.
However, he rather stumbles onto a major story from his past. Back when he was
a cub scandal-monger, Wang grabbed some pictures of a another, even more
horrific traffic accident. That brought him to the attention of the newsroom
director and the editor-in-chief, but when he reexamines his old photo-drive,
he discovers someone deleted some of his pictures.
To
get some answers, Wang and Maggie, his prospective lover and now former
colleague track down Hsu Ai-ting, the sole survivor of the crash, who
subsequently disappeared from the hospital. Unfortunately, Wang’s investigation
will bring Hsu to the attention of the one person she wanted to avoid. Presumably
abducted, Hsu is now in grave peril—and it is all Wang’s fault.
Cheng
has already enjoyed a good deal of success with the Tag-Along horror franchise, but he takes a big step up in terms of
quality with Cock Robin. Arguably, the
main antagonist is so sinister and psychotic, the film should still appeal to a
lot of horror fans. However, the screenplay (surprisingly credited to the small
army of Cheng, Yuli Chen, and Chen Yen-chi, with Cheng Ze-qing and Dorothy Chen
acknowledged for the original story) has some really twisted twists and a
witheringly cynical depiction of the revolving door between government and
journalism.
At
times, the game Kaiser Chuang almost makes viewers believe Wang is not such a
bad guy—almost. As Maggie, Hsu Wing-nei manages to be equal parts Lois Lane and
femme fatale. Mason Lee (Ang Lee’s son) is massively creepy as the
psycho-villain, while Christopher Ming-shun Lee (the Malaysian Christopher Lee)
oozes sleaze as Wang’s dubious mentor, Chiu Ching-kai. Yet, it is Ko Chia-yen
who truly takes ownership of the film with her achingly intense, profoundly
vulnerable performance as Hsu Ai-ting.
Chen
Chi-wen’s “noir visible” cinematography about as dark as film can get and still
be easily viewable by human eyes, which perfectly suits the milieu of murky
morality. This film just radiates cynicism, but it is hard to argue it is too hard
on journalists who cover-up for the powerful rather than exposing them. Highly
recommended for fans of dark and stormy thrillers, Who Killed Cock Robin opens this Friday (2/22) in San Francisco at
the Lee Neighborhood 4-Star Theatre.
