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Movies & TV

Overheard shouldn’t go unseen

The 13th annual Reel Asian International Film Festival returns to Toronto today, and we’ll be devoting considerable space to its programming in this week’s paper. But I didn’t want to let tonight’s opening gala, Overheard, slip past.

A taut thriller from Alan Mak and Felix Chong, writers of the Infernal Affairs trilogy, Overheard plunges into a similar morass of ethical compromise and institutional corruption. It may not have the dramatic sprawl of Infernal Affairs (or its American remake, The Departed), but it’s as sharply drawn and tensely realized.

The setup follows a trio of cops – played by Lau Ching-Wan, Daniel Wu and Louis Koo – assigned to monitor a corporation whose executives are suspected of insider trading. And one night, their surveillance yields the kind of information that could make their case … or make them each very wealthy, should they fail to report it and use it for themselves.

You can guess what happens. The rest is trickier, as Overheard plays out a complicated but entirely believable web of repercussions and recriminations. As team leader Lau does his best to keep himself and his colleagues ahead of investigations from the police, from the Hong Kong securities and trade commission, and from the shady corporation itself, Mak and Chong play out their story as a series of challenges that gradually metastasize from mild ethical lapses to life-or-death decisions.

It’s a highly professional work that deserves to be seen on the big screen with any luck, someone will pick it up for Canadian distribution before the festival wraps up on Sunday.

Overheard screens at 7 pm Wednesday, Nov. 11 at the Bloor Cinema. [rssbreak]

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