Legal Innocence (1993)

Director: Cha Chuen Yee

Cast: Cecilia Yip, Franse Ng, Leung See Man, Anthony Wong

Running Time: ?

Plot: An adult suspense courtroom thriller about murder and one woman's love for a man.

GWAILO'S REVIEW: Ripped from the headlines, this 1993 category III thriller delivers. Francis Ng's lover is found decomposed in a chest. He and another lover are sentenced to death for this heinous crime. In comes social worker, the gorgeous Cecilia Yip, who falls for Ng, and believes he is innocent. They get a retrial and Ng is set free. But is he really innocent? Anthony Wong also co-stars, this time on the right side of the law, playing a cop who gives Yip a hard time and the truth about her new beau. Great score and nice performances, especially Ng, who's face under the prisons blue hue is forever in my memory. A similar film concerning the same true story, Clarence Fok's Remains of a Woman, was released the same year but wasn't as hard to swallow. Li does spread it on a bit thick in spots and seems downright silly, but it's pace and anticipation of the truth zip you past. Look for nods to Alan Parker's Midnight express and Adrian Lyne's Fatal Attraction. Li also boasts a great flashback ending where the truth about the night in question is revealed. Good movie, terrible title.

GWAILO'S RATING: 8/10