It has been 15 years since Herman Yau’s On The Edge <黑白道> was released to little fanfare (at least judging by its underwhelming box-office result). But it also turned out to be one of Herman Yau’s best movies ever directed during the 2000s.
The latter actually caught me by surprise when I first watched On The Edge <黑白道> back in 2006. Despite featuring familiar faces including Nick Cheung, Anthony Wong and Francis Ng, I wasn’t initially excited about the movie. The reason? Undercover cop. The age-old theme that has been part of Hong Kong cinema’s bread and butter since Alex Cheung’s 1981’s Man On The Brink <邊緣人> starring Eddie Chen — the then-groundbreaking movie that birthed the undercover cop drama subgenre. The subgenre has been widely explored for better or worse ever since and even done to death until the arrival of Infernal Affairs <無間道> in 2002. The award-winning movie wasn’t just a huge box-office hit but also famously revived the otherwise shopworn undercover cop drama subgenre in a different light.
Of course, as in the case of Hong Kong cinema whenever a popular local movie became a pop-culture phenomenon, it didn’t take long before more like-minded movies followed suit in their attempt to jump on the Infernal Affairs <無間道> bandwagon.
By 2006, the Infernal Affairs <無間道>-like undercover cop movies have milked the subgenre dry. In other words, the arrival of Herman Yau’s On The Edge <黑白道> seems like bad timing. But after watching the movie at the time, Yau managed to offer something different, though not by a long stretch that distinguished his movie from being labelled as another carbon copy of Infernal Affairs <無間道>. And by different, Yau, who also wrote the screenplay chose to explore the aftermath of how an undercover cop (Nick Cheung’s Harry) deal with his daily routine both personally and professionally after being reinstated as a police sergeant.
Harry was first recruited by his superior (Lester Chan Chit-Man) from the police academy to go undercover as one of Don Dark’s (Francis Ng) gang members. Don Dark, a triad boss who has been on the police’s most-wanted list, trusted Harry until one night when he tried to leave Hong Kong, Harry eventually revealed his true identity. With Don Dark finally arrested after long years working as an undercover, it looks as if everything is back to normal.
But right from the get-go, there’s nothing really to look forward to for a long-time undercover like Harry. Even after he was presented a certificate and a bonus, it was a low-key award ceremony that’s more like an afterthought (look out for a cameo appearance played by actor Sunny Luk, who would later become one of the co-directors for the two highly successful Cold War <寒戰> movies in 2012 and 2016). His colleagues including Lung (Anthony Wong), a hardboiled cop who partnered with him feel sceptical about Harry.
Harry’s personal life isn’t getting better either, with her girlfriend Cat (Rain Li) no longer love him like she used to be after finding out the truth about his identity. His friends including Mini B (Derek Tsang), all of which from the triad society either despised or labelled Harry as a traitor.
Pessimism and hopelessness dominated the movie from start to finish. Both comic relief and lighthearted moments are practically non-existent. Yau’s subdued direction is on point here, with the exception of a car chase sequence (and it was impressively staged by Bruce Law). Kudos also go to both Yau and editor Azrael Chung for the seamless editing that jumps back and forth between Harry’s past as a triad member and his present-day as a police officer.
It helps that On The Edge <黑白道> gets an extra boost from the principal cast members, notably Nick Cheung’s engaging turn as Harry. It was one of his best performances to date — a result that earned him an acting nomination at the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards. The Hong Kong Film Awards Association, however, failed to land him a spot in the Best Actor category, even though Nick Cheung was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for another movie. That movie in question was Johnnie To’s Election 2 <黑社會以和為貴>.
Anthony Wong brings solid support as the unorthodox cop Lung while Francis Ng delivers a charismatic performance as Don Dark. Finally, both Rain Li and Derek Tsang deserve equal mention in their respective roles as Cat and Mini B.
Although Herman Yau does a good job in both character study and its matter-of-fact approach in depicting the life of a former undercover cop, he somehow stumbled during the anticlimactic finale. In addition to Nick Cheung being snubbed for an acting nomination, On The Edge <黑白道> was completely ignored on the 26th Hong Kong Film Awards with zero noms.
ScreenHK 