NYAFF XXIV Review: In BEHIND THE SHADOWS, Louis Koo Tests The Limits Of Matrimony With A Psycho On The Loose
Louis Koo’s latest venture in Malaysia has him teaming up with directing duo Jonathan Li and Chou Man-yu for Behind The Shadows, which Chou also penned. Soi Cheang is exec producer on the pic as well, reteaming with Koo following their previous successes, namely 2024’s award-winning Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In.
The movie weaves its way into an intricate cat-and-mouse thriller that finds Wai-Yip (Koo), a private investigator whose exploits soon find him looking into the goings on of his own wife. This occurs just as he’s caught in between a few other cases, including the disappearance of a local’s fiancée, and the philandering of a gangster’s mistress.
Incidents of infidelity are nothing new to Wai-Yip. Point in fact, it’s gotten so bad that these kinds of cases sit among many of the petty inquiries he’s been hired to look into, for a job that, despite his exceptional track record, doesn’t exactly bode as inspiring these days. What he doesn’t know, however, is just how close he is to his own work when his own marital woes come back to haunt him.
Suddenly hired to investigate the infidelity of his own wife, Wing-Sum (Chrissie Chau), Wai-Yip’s life spirals into uncertainty. These events, however, only serve as a preamble to the thematic unfolding proffered in Behind The Shadows as Wai-Yip’s craft takes a stark turn for the petrifying and gruesom, pitting him in a battle of wits and will against Heong Meng (Liu Kuan-Ting), a local police inspector who he suspects is behind a series of brutal murders of women.
Forced to act on his gut with no solid evidence, Wai-Yip has no choice but to take action to protect Wing-Sum when she becomes a potential target. As things come to a head between Wai-Yip and Heong Meng, however, the real questions that remains are whether or not she is the only one, and can our beleagured private investigator solve this case before another victim surfaces.
Li and Chou do an admirable job of balancing the parallel storylines with actors Koo and Liu at the forefront. What we get is a fresh marital drama that couples amply with scintillating crime thrills in a procedural that doesn’t overdo itself in most parts. Wai-Yip and Wing-Sum’s roots as Hongkongers living in another country is crucial to understanding the story in terms of where their impasse starts and continues, while the directors make clear the linguistic distinctions between some of the characters in the process.
The film gives away its core twist midway into the film, but thankfully doesn’t run out of steam as the story unfolds. Between Wai-Yip’s cases and events central to other characters – played by Raymond Wong and Yumi Wong among others – the only mystery that’s left is just who will die next. It’s a menacing thriller at times with plenty of development along the way for our protagonist, especially when we finally see him and the estranged Wing-Sum in several scenes together. There’s even another reveal right then which compels you to see things through a different lens, something that also occurs later during one of the more climactic stunt seasons during the finale but doesn’t feel as organic in delivery.
I do like a good thriller though. The version of Behind The Shadows that I reviewed comes presented with missing music cues in some areas which didn’t necessarily take away from my enjoyment, while I can imagine the more polished product delivers favorably in this regard. Either way, for Li and Chou, and leading man Koo, Behind The Shadows is a lean and steady crime procedural that won’t throw you shade in the process.
Behind The Shadows enjoyed its North American Premiere for the 24th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival.
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