A Guilty Conscience is a far more serious film than one expects a Chinese New Year movie to be! (Film review)

  

Hong Kong poster for the first Hong Kong movie

I've viewed in the new year of the rabbit :) 

 

A Guilty Conscience (Hong Kong, 2023)

- Jack Ng, director and co-scriptwriter (along with Terry Lam and Jay Cheung)

- Starring: Dayo Wong, Renci Yeung, Ho Ka-wai, Louise Wong, Tse Kwan-ho, Michael Wong, Fish Liew, etc.

 

After emerging as Hong Kong's Chinese New Year box office king in 2018 (with Agent Mr Chan), everything that one time "box office poison" Dayo Wong touches has appeared to turn to gold.  And even though cinema closures resulting from Hong Kong's fifth Covid wave turned 2022's Table for Six from a Chinese New Year movie to a Mid-Autumn Festival offering, it didn't hurt the film's box office performance.  In fact, it is now Hong Kong's highest grossing comedy ever -- and, amazingly, is still playing in at least one cinema more than four months after being its theatrical release.

 

This has resulted in a situation in which two films starring Dayo Wong are currently in Hong Kong cinemas.  But rather than compete with one another, Table for Six actually helped provide publicity for A Guilty Conscience -- in that at the end of the 2022 movie, vieweres were treated to a clip of Dayo Wong as the character he portrays in the 2023 film: which is one of Hong Kong's three Chinese New Year offerings this year but differs quite a bit from tradition in that it's far more of a serious legal drama than a family-oriented comedy a la the All's Well, Ends Well or I Love Hong Kong festive movies.

 

In the early stages of A Guilty Conscience, lawyer-turned-magistrate-turned-lawyer-once more Adrian Lam (Dayo Wong's character) comes across as a laughably feckless individual.  But after an act of irresponsible negligence on his part causes his client to be sentenced to 17 years imprisonment, he resolves to turn over a new leaf and fight to clear the name of Jolene Tsang (portrayed by Louise Wong), the mother wrongly accused of being responsible for the death of her beloved daughter.

 

After reassembling the young legal team -- consisting of the idealistic Evelyn Fong (essayed by Renci Yeung) and resourceful "Prince" (played by Ho Kai-wa) -- that he realised he had badly let down along with their client, Adrian goes to court and finds himself up against a formidable opponent in the ultra-professional prosecutor, Mr. Kam (Tse Kwan-ho).  Adding to the enormity of his task is the fact that Jolene turned out to be the mistress of Dr Desmond Chung (played by Adam Pak), whose entitled wife, Victoria (portrayed by Fish Liew) is a member of one of Hong Kong's richest and most influential families, and thus someone used to getting her way with pretty much anything.

 

Although Jolene's innocence is established very early on, the viewer need not worry about there being insufficient surprises, twists and turns in this actually pretty involving tale.  Also, while it's true enough that some of the proceedings -- and Adrian's court antics -- can seem overly and improbably dramatic, I think that those viewing A Guilty Conscience won't mind this too much as they help to make the movie interesting and thoroughly entertaining, and hammer home certain heartfelt plus hard hitting points about Hong Kong society and its justice system.  (A case in point: that moment when Adrian shouts out "Everything is wrong!" in court is one that I wager will resonate with many of the movie's local viewers.)  

 

I'm going to be honest and admit that I had my doubts that Dayo Wong could pull off a performance that was largely dramatic rather than comic (though, Dayo Wong being Dayo Wong, he still does get in, and ellicit, some laughs along the way) -- but he really did so.  Truly, A Guilty Conscience benefits from his star turn -- though credit is also due to the other members of the movie's strong as well as large ensemble cast (who include entertainment veterans Vincent Kok and Bowie Lam).  Even Michael Wong (who plays the Chung family's legal advisor, James Tung, in his imitable bilingual way) acquits himself rather well in this film whose first-time helmer, Jack Ng, looks to have done a bravura job as a director and scriptwriter (the latter along with debutant scriptwriters Terry Lam and Jay Cheung).    

 

More than incidentally, I find it of note that, like with last year's The Sparring Partner, this legal drama actually highlights the important role that the jury has to play in legal proceedings.  At a time when so many important cases in national security law-era Hong Kong have been ordered to be jury-less trials, this element can make a movie like A Guilty Conscience represent wishful thinking or plain fantasy on the part of its makers.  Or, alternatively, a reminder of how justice should be served and that might is not always right, with the underdog able to have its day some day(s).

 

My rating for this film: 8.5