First time writing critique, so please be lenient on me~ Confession of Pain is a great movie. Plot: Although most people would love to view this as a psychological thriller or some sort of murder mystery for them to solve, this film should probably be viewed as a drama with a little bit of action, mystery and thrill. Many people suggests that the murderer was prematurely revealed. This ruins the suspense of the movie and thereby taking out the "mystery". Many people critized that it is a movie that mainly depends on the two leading roles to move the plot along through an expository style. However, being the professionals they are, Alan Mak and Andrew Lau, both from the team who brought you the "Internal Affairs" trilogy, had something else in mind. They revealed the murderer quite early in the movie on purpose to drive the rest of the movie. This movie, as suggested from the title, is supposingly trying to study human emotions, rather than being a mystery/crime/action flick. This movie is more about the conflict between the two leading roles and with themselves. Try to think about how would the movie turn out if the murderer was not reveal prematurely. This movie would turn into a mystery with Tony Cheung and Takeshi Kaneshiro working side by side to find the real murder erin which many of the scenes of crimes would be stacked until the very end. Instead, Alan Mak and Andrew Lau took the alternative by revealling these informations bit by bit throughout the movie to make it more digestable. Both producers definitely knows that if they reveal the murderer early on, it would ruin the suspense of the movie as a mystery. However, they still chose that option because the main point of the movie is about the conflict between the characters and within the characters. The mood of the movie was set to be quiet and soft, instead of being a hardcore police vs. murder type. Instead of high speed car chase, they use the subtle undercover cop car tracking. And there was only ONE gun shot throughout the entire movie. One impressive point the producers brought about was the fact that they could still build up a lot of mystery and thrill with the fact that the murder's identity is exposed by bringing in a "third character" who would initiate the attacks on the actually murder. By doing this, the conflict becomes more complicated, as the two lead characters become against each other in one scene to working with each other in another. Even though some may critize the simplicity or the lack of uniqueness of the intention to murder, I would say it is already too much for a soft and quiet movie like this. The violence in the movie definitely gave a huge contrast with the soft emotional side, but the background for the reason to murder was too complicated and dramatic. However, the murder is just a side plot to reveal more about each character. One thing that could've been better is that the movie could've had a twist in the end. Obviously, most of the results can be deduced probably half was watching the movie, since bits and pieces of information are revealed. But by adding a twist at the end, the movie might have brought more suspense. I was thinking that Takeshiro's ex girlfriend, Rachel, could've taken a larger part in the plot to make the end more unpredictable. However, this movie, again, is set to be soft and quiet. Therefore, the ending it has is a good fit and ties up the loose ends nicely. One thing I found was that the beginning didn't have much to do with the whole movie besides the fact that the rapist was to be used later on. The car accident that happened off scene later relating to Kaneshiro's ex-girlfriend's secret lover was weak. And the wine talk was weak as well. Characters: With the fact that the movie is based on the emotions of the characters, character development becomes crucial. Both Cheung's and Kaneshiro's characters well very well developed and acted out. While some may say Cheung's character is not evil or cunning enough, I would say Cheung did a good job expressing his character's thoughts. Instead of being cunning, Cheung's character is more subtle and innocent. Cheung's character is not a pyschopathic murder but rather to murder for revenge. Therefore, evil is not needed to be express as there's no evil involved. An impressive feat is for Cheung to act cunning but not losing his cool after the murder. However, I feel that Cheung's character's emotional unstablity could have been developed more. As told from the first scene, Cheung's character beats a raper in front of his whole team. This was after he saw the girl being cut. Later in the movie, He repeats this in his murder by cutting the face of servant and but beating both his victims with a buddha head. This obssession with cutting and beating on the head could have lead to a psychological disorder of the Cheung's character, which could ultimately lead to more conflict within the character. This would also tie in the first scene with the rest of the movie showing Cheung's character's obssession. Kaneshiro's character was very well expressed. Emotions of the past and conflict within was portrayed very well. However, Kaneshiro's character could have been more developed. The scenes that show his internal conflict, the part where he sat beside his ex-girlfriend's secret lover, was short and did not allow Kaneshiro to develop how his emotions went from hatred to relief. Other characters did a good job of supporting the main characters. Both Shu Qi and Chapman To did very nicely to induce comic relief. Visuals: The style fo the movie was very visual and the post editing was excellent. The flashes in between now and then provided the bits and pieces of information in a subtle, almost sublimical manner. The color tone of the whole movie showed the ironic and depressed side of city life compared to teh bright happy life of the first scene (christmas) and the bar scenes. One thing I noticed was the fact that Cheung's character used a Buddha head as a weapon and then later visiting a Budhha temple versus the scene where Cheung's family was being killed, the wall had a cross on it. This point contradicts each other. One great scene was when Cheung's character and Kaneshiro's Character went to visit crime scence. Cheung was describing how the crime was commited while Kaneshiro visualises everything. Kaneshiro's in the present, in color and Cheung was in the past, in black and white. The part where they walked past each other foreshadowed the conflict between them. But nevertheless, the film had great style. Music: The background music was very nice. It had a perfect fit with the movie. I especially liked the jazz Cheung's listening to. It gave a sense of contrast against Cheung's emotions where jazz is soft and soothing while Cheung's thoughts are about how to get revenge. The music was fitted nicely when Cheung was killing the two. The music was also very depressed and was very well fitted into times of reminscenes and depression. Overall: Great movie. However, this movie should not be viewed as a crime or action flick, but rather should be tasted like wine, soft and quiet. And this movie should not be compared to "Internal Affairs" as they are completely two different genre of movies. This movie has a great plot, great characters, great actors and great music. Plot: 9/10 - intention for murder maybe just a tad too much, could possibley have addded a twist in the end, first scene correlation was weak. Characters: 9/10 - Cheung's obssession and psychology could have been developed more, Kaneshiro's hatred to release could have been intensified, supporting cast was good. Visuals: 10/10 - great editing, flashes was very well done, the killing scenes was just enough, not too violent but enough to thrill the audience. Music: 10/10 - fitted nicely with every scene, sad, violent, ironic, flashes, all had great music to go along which built a lot of moods. Overall: 9/10 - very good movie, however, only if it's viewed as a drama. Hoping to see the Hollywood version of this.