The combination of Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Shu Qi, directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, and writer Felix Chong, sounded very promising. Now Confession of Pain has opened in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Australia (Sydney and Melbourne), and word is beginning to seep out.
Helena Hon of Cinema Online in Malaysia admitted she "spent more time admiring Takeshi Kaneshiro's eyes than following the plot," but still gave it 3 stars. Meanwhile, a reader at Yahoo! Movies Malaysia described it as "a bloated business investment case," blogger Swifty wrote in a spoiler-filled post that "the only thing that ... prevented me from falling asleep was the immensely charismatic acting from the leads," and blogger Flynnx Chong felt it was "nothing special." An Associated Press review published at The Hindu sniffed: "An artistic failure." Ouch!
On the other hand, John Li of movieXclusive in Singapore, where the film is due to open next week, feels it's "the best Hong Kong production of 2006." I'm stubborn and hoping that he's right and everyone else is wrong. Now we eagerly await word from ScreenAnarchy readers: is it any good?
Confession of Pain - Trailer w/English subtitles (YouTube; embedded)
Teaser (Windows Media Player; downloadable)
Trailer (Windows Media Player; Mandarin version; downloadable)
Official Site (Click "Gallery" for Three Trailers; Flash embedded)
Articles: "Confession" to Compete with "Curse" | Premiere in Beijing | Premiere in Hong Kong