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Limbo
2021 Variety Star Asia Award: Gordon Lam Ka Tung
An instant urban-noir classic, Soi Cheang’s dystopian genre thriller fairly throbs with transgression. Set in the rain-drenched slums of Hong Kong, it follows the increasingly desperate hunt for a serial killer by two cops, a grizzled old-timer (Gordon Lam Ka Tung) and a crisp newbie (Mason Lee) with a toothache. Along the way, a young informer (Liu Cya, unforgettable in a challenging role) joins their cause, despite the killer’s predilection for female social outcasts. Unrelenting brutality ensues. The formal brilliance of Limbo—glistening monochrome cinematography, supreme mastery of fight choreography, hellfire-and-brimstone leitmotifs—invites an allegorical reading, and finally elevates it to sheer poetry. Electrifyingly intense and unforgettable.