"Sorry, I'm a cop"

Infernal Affairs by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak (2002) is one of my favourite Hong Kong movies of all times.

I am not a huge fan of crime dramas, it is easy to get desensitized by crime-thriller plots, more so those that are made in Hong Kong – “the good versus the evil” plot is a widely used storyline for countless of movies and dramas.


Yet I remember watching this movie way back in my secondary school days, instead of skipping the channel as what I would usually do when the Hong Kong cops and gangsters appear on the television screen, I stayed glued to the screen. I was captivated by the characters dialogue, it was sophisticated wordplay. The characters’ intertwined stories paralleled each other in so many complex ways, I was amazed by how the screenwriter managed to pen the story and weave all the layers together.

Not only the storyline being a masterpiece, the stylised visuals and tight editing makes the audience’ hearts race as the story unfolds. My favourite scene in the movie would be the rooftop scene when Lau Kin Ming (Andy Lau) and Chan Wing Yan (Tony Leung) had a showdown of identities, their dialogue in the scene has often been quoted and used, while the image of Chan pointing the gun at Lau’s forehead is almost the signature image of the movie.

For this entry, I shall analyse my favourite scene in depth.

A super wide shot of Lau walking to the rooftop, but instead of filming the character himself, the director cleverly employs the use of the reflection seen from the building windows, the dented and embossed mirror reflections adds on to the brood in the air before the confrontation.

Lau walks to the rooftop and looks around for Chan. A few tight edits of him looking around, and a close-up shot of him turning to look at the mirror reflections, but Chan is not there. This shows another way of how the mirror reflections could be used to create the suspense and atmosphere of the scene.

A counter dolly zoom of Lau to create a sense of vertigo is cut right after the tight shots of him high on his guard, looking around for Chan, yet failing to do so. Such technique is used to suggest the character having an epiphany which leads to him reassessing everything that he had just experienced, often used to build up a sense of dread.

Indeed, Lau’s realisation of doom came true the next second, Chan was right behind him and thrust Lau’s back with a gun. Chan proceeded to bind Lau’s hands with handcuffs. The two characters exchange words, and the famous dialogue often quoted from the movie happens here:

Lau Kin Ming: “I have no choice before, but now I want to turn over a new leaf.”

Extreme close up shot of Chan’s face showing a conflict of emotions, after hearing Lau saying that he wants to choose to be good man now, which is also Chan’s wish.

Chan Wing Yan: "Good. Try telling that to the judge; see what he has to say."

Lau Kin Ming: "You want me dead?"

Chan Wing Yan: "Sorry, I'm a cop"

Lau Kin Ming: "Who knows that?"

A close up shot of the two in the conversation...

...which is then cut to super wide shot of the two characters on the rooftop after Lau questions “who knows that?”, showing their smallness and reflecting their situation – after so much that has happened, who knows the truth except for the two of them?

The super wide shot of them is followed with a couple of static shots and swift editing to show Chan raising his gun at Lau’s head, and an extreme close up of Chan’s gun pointing right at Lau’s forehead, the extreme close up brings out the intensity of the moment well.

The camera then slowly zooms out. This image of Chan and Lau at gunpoint is a classic shot of the movie.

Lau’s subordinate rushes to the rooftop and attempts to stop everything. Being threatened, Chan holds Lau in captive, the close up shot shows Chan in negotiation in the background with Lau in the foreground.

A canted framing of the characters to suggest chaos and instability – as with the appearance of Lau’s subordinate, he disrupts the negotiation between Lau and Chan.

The use of an extreme wide shot again to show the three characters.

The film then cuts away to a static shot of the sky with clouds accompanying glares of sunlight moving at a fast speed, and the only brief moment in the scene when music is used along the shot – a sharp woodwind instrumental tune which accentuates the foreboding feeling.

References:
Infernal Affairs - Youtube
Infernal Affairs - Wikipedia
Infernal Affairs Quotes