The Sparring Partner

11/21/2022

Based on a rather shocking true story from Hong Kong, this is quite an intriguing depiction of the arrest and trial of Henry Chung (Yeung Wai Lun) for the brutal murder and dismemberment of his parents. He is pretty up-front about his guilt and the trial seems a bit of a fait-accompli. The gist of the film, though, centres on the involvement of his accomplice Angus Tong (Man Pui-tung). Now here is a character that has the IQ of a teabag, is overweight and generally comes across as infantile and incapable of taking responsibility for himself. Was he involved at all, and if so - in what capacity? That capacity issue is what makes this courtroom drama stand out. The performance from Man Pui-tung is superb. The depiction (illustrated via flashback) of his rather psychologically brutal interrog