R E V I E W :   Clean My Name, Mr. Coroner!  

Reviewed 1/7/01 | Background | Movie Review | DVD Review | Recommendation

Background 

Mei Ah / 2000 / 101 minutes
Directed by James Yuen Sai-Sang
Written by James Yuen Sai-Sang

James Yuen Sai-Sang received credit for writing or co-writing 27 movies in the period between 1989 and 1997. Beginning in 1992, many of these scripts were written for UFO, a production company that targeted younger people and their relationships in modern-day Hong Kong. His debut as a director was 1997's The Wedding Days, a romantic comedy. His follow-ups in 1998 were Rumble Ages, a drama, and Your Place or Mine, another romantic comedy, this time produced by Wong Jing but said to be very "UFO" in style. In 1999 he directed My Loving Trouble 7, a comedy, and Red Rain, an action/drama.

With an English-language title that is a strong contender for my favorite of all time, Clean My Name, Mr. Coroner! opened theatrically in Hong Kong in November 2000.

Movie: plot, performances, production, rating

Francis Ng Chun-Yu plays a buttoned-down, strait-laced coroner who is forcibly enlisted to help Nick Cheung Ka Fai 'clean his name,' since Cheung (an undercover policeman) has been framed for murdering his partner. Stephanie Che Yuen-Yuen is a bartender with more than a passing interest in regular customer Cheung; Ti Lung is Cheung's weary supervisor. The characters are mostly believable and come together at regular intervals with interesting results. Occasional one-liners pop up as comic relief, and several lighter scenes are interspersed, but mostly the drama is played straight.

The action scenes are effective and photographed (by Fung Yuen Man) in a fresh way, but overall the pacing does not build as it should for a straightforward action film. The acting is good, though, and the combination of action and drama works more than it doesn't. In other words, this is not a pulse-pounding high-octane thriller. The film succeeds as a character-driven police drama.

The film is rated Category IIB. A couple of scenes depict bloodshed and gunshot violence.

DVD: look, sound, subtitles, and features

The DVD features a good letterboxed (1.85 to 1 ratio) presentation. The fleshtones are natural, the black levels are sufficiently deep, and the colors look accurate. Considering the brief time between theatrical release date and the appearance of the DVD, this is a good job.

Both Dolby 2.0 and 5.1 Cantonese and Mandarin audio tracks are provided. I listened to the Cantonese 5.1 track and it sounded fine, with adequate channel separation and use of surround channels.

Traditional and simplified Chinese removable subtitles are provided in addition to English; the English titles are large and white, but with no black backing they sometimes disappear into the background. Also, the English translation is very rough and often flies by too quickly to read -- at several points it was difficult to figure out the subject of the conversation.

The disk is divided into 9 chapters with no time coding. The "data bank" contains a cast and crew listing and the synopsis from the back of the disk. The film's theatrical trailer is included, and the "best buy" is the excellent trailer for In the Mood for Love.

Buy, rent, or pass?

Rent. Good acting and good writing make for an enjoyable ride in this character-driven police drama with action and a few lighter moments. Not a classic, but worth 101 minutes and the price of a rental.

 

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