Infernal Affairs

For the album by the Danish dance group Infernal, see Infernal Affairs (album). For the film series, see Infernal Affairs (film series).

Infernal Affairs
File:IAmoviepost.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Andrew Lau Alan Mak
Written by	Alan Mak Felix Chong
Produced by	Andrew Lau
Starring	Andy Lau Tony Leung Anthony Wong Eric Tsang
Cinematography	Andrew Lau Lai Yiu-fai
Edited by	Danny Pang Curran Pang
Music by	Chan Kwong-wing
Production companies	Media Asia Films Basic Pictures
Distributed by	Media Asia Distribution
Release date	12 December 2002 (2002-12-12)
Running time	101 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese
Budget	US$6,428,966
Box office	HK$55,057,176

Infernal Affairs
Traditional Chinese	無間道
Simplified Chinese	无间道
Literal meaning	"Unceasing Path"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Wú Jiān Dào Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Mou4 Gaan3 Dou6

Infernal Affairs is a 2002 Hong Kong crime-thriller film directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. It tells the story of a police officer who infiltrates a triad, and another officer secretly working for the same gang. It is the first in the Infernal Affairs series and is followed by Infernal Affairs II and Infernal Affairs III.

The Chinese title means "The Unceasing Path", a reference to Avici, the lowest level of Hell in Buddhism, where one endures suffering incessantly. The English title is a word play, combining the adjective 'infernal' (concerning hell) with internal affairs – the police department concerned with investigating its own officers.

The film had been selected as the Hong Kong entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 76th Academy Awards but it was not nominated. Miramax Films acquired the United States distribution rights and gave it a limited US theatrical release in 2004.

Plot

Chan Wing-yan, a police officer, goes undercover into a triad. Around the same time, Lau Kin-ming, a triad member, infiltrates the Hong Kong Police Force. Each mole has been planted by the rival organisation to gain an advantage in intelligence over the other side. The more the moles become involved in their undercover lives, the more issues they have to cope with.

The prologue opens with triad boss Hon Sam sending a number of young gangsters to the police academy as moles, among whom is a young Lau. Concurrently, a young Chan joins the police force but is seemingly expelled from the academy even though he manages to impress Superintendent Wong Chi-shing. In reality, Chan has become an undercover agent reporting only to Wong. Over the course of ten years, Chan experiences great stress from his undercover work while Lau quickly rises through the ranks in the police department. The film begins with a meeting between Chan and Lau in a hi-fi store without either of them knowing the other's true identity.

Wong and his team interrupt a deal between Hon and a Thai cocaine dealer after receiving a tip-off from Chan using Morse code. However, Lau alerts Hon, giving him enough time to order his minions to dispose of the cocaine, eliminating solid evidence of the drug deal. After the incident, both Wong and Hon know that the other has a mole within their respective organisations, placing them in a race against time to root out the other mole. Lau is tasked with finding the mole within the police organization. Later, Chan sees Hon conversing with Lau in a cinema but does not see Lau's face clearly. He tries to follow Lau and find out who he is, but gets distracted by a phone call. By this time, both Chan and Lau are struggling with their double identities – Chan starts losing faith in himself as a cop after being a gangster for ten years; Lau becomes more accustomed to the life of a police officer and he wants to erase his criminal background.

At their next meeting, Wong intends to pull Chan out of undercover work for fear of his safety. They are unaware that Lau has his subordinate, CIB Inspector B, tracking him. Lau relays Wong's location to Hon, who sends his henchmen after Wong. Inspector B informs Lau of the henchmen's arrival, and an OCTB squad is dispatched to save Wong. Chan successfully flees from the building; Wong is caught by Hon's men and is killed when he is thrown off the building, having refused to reveal Chan despite the beating from the gangsters. As the police close in, a shootout ensues in which several gangsters are killed. Keung drives Chan away from the scene, but later dies from a gunshot wound. It is reported on the news that Keung was actually an undercover cop; Hon assumes that Keung was the mole and that Chan killed him to protect the triad.

Lau retrieves Wong's cell phone and contacts Chan; both of them agree to foil a drug deal by Hon. The plan succeeds and many of Hon's men are arrested, while Lau betrays Hon and murders him. Everything seems to have returned to normal – Chan can revert to his true identity as a cop, while Lau has erased his criminal connections by eliminating Hon's triad. However, back at the police headquarters, Chan discovers that Lau was the mole and leaves immediately. Lau, realising what has happened, erases Chan's file from the police database. Chan spends an evening with his psychiatrist, Lee Sum-yee, with whom he has fallen in love. He sends to Lau a compact disc containing recordings of phone calls between Hon and Lau. Lau's fiancée, Mary, plays the disc, finds out about Lau's criminal connections, and expresses her disappointment with him.

Chan and Lau meet on the same rooftop where Wong was killed earlier. Chan disarms Lau and holds a pistol to his head as a rebuke to Lau's plea for forgiveness and request to remain as a cop. Inspector B arrives on the scene shortly and orders Chan to release Lau. Chan holds Lau as a hostage at gunpoint and backs into the lift, but upon moving his head from behind Lau he is suddenly shot in the head by B. B then reveals to Lau that he is also a mole planted by Hon. As they take the lift down to the lobby, Lau kills B out of his desire to eradicate traces of his past, become a "good guy" cop, and end the mole hunt.

Stepping out of the lift, Lau shows his identity card to the police to identify himself as one of them. Months after Chan's death, Lee discovers records revealing Chan's true identity as an undercover police officer; B becomes a scapegoat for Lau as the real mole in the police force and the case is closed. Lau salutes Chan at his funeral. A flashback reaffirms the point that Lau wished he had taken a different route in life.

In mainland China, an alternative ending for the film was created. Lau exits the lift and is informed by the police that they have found evidence that he was a mole. Lau hands them his badge and is arrested without protest. The sequel, Infernal Affairs III, uses the original ending instead of the alternate one.

Cast

Pre-release publicity focused on its star-studded cast (Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang, Kelly Chen and Sammi Cheng). However, entire cast exists as follows:

• Andy Lau as Senior Inspector Lau Kin-ming (劉健明), Hon's mole in the police force.
  • Edison Chen as young Lau Kin-ming
• Tony Leung as Chan Wing-yan (陳永仁), an undercover cop in Hon's triad.
  • Shawn Yue as young Chan Wing-yan
• Anthony Wong as Superintendent Wong Chi-shing (黃志誠), Chan's superior.
• Eric Tsang as Hon Sam (韓琛), the triad boss and main antagonist.
• Chapman To as "Silly" Keung (傻強), Hon's henchman.
• Gordon Lam as Inspector B (大B; Big B), Lau's subordinate who is also a mole in the police force.
• Sammi Cheng as Mary, Lau's fiancée.
• Kelly Chen as Lee Sum-yee (李心兒), Chan's psychiatrist.
• Berg Ng as Senior Inspector Cheung (張Sir), Wong's subordinate.
• Wan Chi-keung as Officer Leung (梁Sir), the police chief.
• Dion Lam as Del Piero, Hon's henchman.
• Elva Hsiao as May, Chan's ex-girlfriend.

Reception

Infernal Affairs garnered mainly positive reviews from film critics and audiences. The film has an approval rating of 94% on review website Rotten Tomatoes. The website's critical consensus remarks the film as, "Smart and engrossing, this is one of Hong Kong's better cop thrillers". While an overwhelming majority of viewers praised the film, a few film critics complained of the generic and forgettable plot-line.With regard to film's overall design, movie critics point that the moral dilemmas and emotional elements of the film were the main attributions that transformed the “somewhat unoriginal plot” into a success.

Awards

Infernal Affairs won seven out of the sixteen awards it was nominated for at the 22nd Hong Kong Film Awards, beating Zhang Yimou's Hero for the Best Film award. It also won Best Picture awards in the Golden Horse Awards and the Golden Bauhinia Awards among other awards too. It was ranked No. 30 in Empire magazine's "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" in 2010. It is the highest ranked Hong Kong film on Internet Movie Database's Top 250 movies list.

Box office

Infernal Affairs has grossed HK$55,057,176 in Hong Kong and USD$169,659 in North America. globally, it has grossed $8,708,932. It is ranked 181 in worldwide yearly 2004 and 9,979 in all-time domestic. Comparing to 'Infernal Affairs', 'The Departed', which is the remake of Infernal affairs in the US, has grossed HK $1,039,728 in Hong Kong and USD $132,384,315 in North America. Globally, The Departed has grossed $291,465,034. It is ranked 14 in worldwide yearly 2006 and 422 in all-time domestic.

Awards and nominations

List of Accolades
Award / Film Festival	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
Udine Far East Film Festival	Audience Award	Andrew Lau Alan Mak	Won
Asia Pacific Film Festival	Best Sound	Kinson Tsang	Won
46th Blue Ribbon Awards	Best Foreign Language Film	Andrew Lau Alan Mak	Won
Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics	Grand Prix		Nominated
40th Golden Horse Awards	Best Picture		Won
	Best Director	Andrew Lau Alan Mak	Won
	Best Actor	Tony Leung	Won
	Best Supporting Actor	Anthony Wong	Won
	Best Sound Effects	Kinson Tsang King-Cheung	Won
	Viewer's Choice Award		Won
	Best Actor	Andy Lau	Nominated
	Best Original Screenplay	Alan Mak Felix Chong	Nominated
	Best Film Editing	Danny Pang Pang Ching-Hei	Nominated
	Best Cinematography	Andrew Lau Lai Yiu-Fai	Nominated
	Best Art Direction	Choo Sung Pong Wong Ching-Ching	Nominated
	Best Action Choreography	Dion Lam Dik-On	Nominated
	Best Visual Effects	Christopher Doyle	Nominated
8th Golden Bauhinia Awards	Best Picture		Won
	Best Director	Andrew Lau Alan Mak	Won
	Best Actor	Tony Leung	Won
	Best Actor	Andy Lau	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Anthony Wong	Won
	Best Original Screenplay	Alan Mak Felix Chong	Won
9th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards	Film of Merit		Won
	Best Actor	Anthony Wong	Won
22nd Hong Kong Film Awards	Best Film		Won
	Best Director	Andrew Lau Alan Mak	Won
	Best Screenplay	Alan Mak Felix Chong	Won
	Best Actor	Tony Leung	Won
	Best Actor	Andy Lau	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Anthony Wong	Won
	Best Supporting Actor	Eric Tsang	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Chapman To	Nominated
	Best Cinematography	Andrew Lau Lai Yiu-Fai	Nominated
	Best Film Editing	Danny Pang Pang Ching Hei	Won
	Best Costume Design	Lee Pik-Kwan	Nominated
	Best Action Choreography	Dion Lam	Nominated
	Best Original Film Score	Chan Kwong Wing	Nominated
	Best Original Film Song	Song: "Infernal Affairs" Composer: Ronald Ng Lyrics: Albert Leung Sung by: Tony Leung, Andy Lau	Won
	Best Sound Design	Kinson Tsang King-Cheung	Nominated
	Best Visual Effects	Christopher Doyle	Nominated

Cinematic Techniques

Within Infernal Affairs, cinemagraphers Andrew Lau and Lai Yiu-fai rely heavily on cinematic techniques in order to convey flashbacks, scene changes, and dialogues respectively. Flashbacks are found throughout the film to reference the origin of relationships and the side the characters stand on Scene changes are often made through the use of jump-cuts, freeze-frame shots, and fade outs. Whereas dialogues within the film are often captured by close-ups. The importance of jump cuts provides the effect of jumping forwards in time, and manipulating the duration of a single-shot, therefore moving the audience forward into time and establishing the next scene. In addition, the use of freeze-frame shots provides the illusion that the action has ceased, establishing an importent moment of the film. This provides characters the time for internal dialogue and leave an iconic lasting image.

Music

The original film score for Infernal Affairs was written and performed by Chan Kwong-wing.

Track listing

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Length
1.	"Entering The Inferno"	Chan Kwong-wing	2:06
2.	"If I Were Him"	Chan Kwong-wing	1:36
3.	"Goodbye Master"	Chan Kwong-wing	2:18
4.	"Who Are You?"	Chan Kwong-wing	2:44
5.	"Let Me Quit"	Chan Kwong-wing	1:32
6.	"I Dreamt About You"	Chan Kwong-wing	1:23
7.	"Salute"	Chan Kwong-wing	1:56
8.	"Mission Abort"	Chan Kwong-wing	4:31
9.	"I Am A Cop!"	Chan Kwong-wing	3:26
10.	"You Are The Only One"	Chan Kwong-wing	1:06
11.	"I Want To Be A Good Guy"	Chan Kwong-wing	3:30
12.	"Goodbye Master, Goodbye"	Chan Kwong-wing	1:56
13.	"The Inferno"	Chan Kwong-wing	1:51

The theme song, Infernal Affairs (無間道), was composed by Ronald Ng, lyrics provided by Albert Leung, and performed in Cantonese and Mandarin by Andy Lau and Tony Leung.

Although not included in the soundtrack, Tsai Chin's (蔡琴) song "Forgotten Times" (《被遺忘的時光》) features prominently in this film as a recurring element of its storyline, and also in its sequels. As well as serving to elucidate the theme of the films, the song plays an important plot function in chronologically connecting various elements of the story. The (a capella) song can be first heard when Chen and Lau meet in a store, as they are analyzing hi-fi equipment.

Symbolism

变脸 ("Bian Lian")

The inspiration for this movie is said to come from John Woo's movie Face/Off (Chinese release title: 变脸), in which a police officer receives plastic surgery in order to take revenge on his son's killer. However, for his movie, Lau wanted to have a more realistic situation; instead of a physical face change, Lau wanted to have the characters swap identities. The concept of "bian lian" or "change face", a technique traditionally used in Chinese Opera, may have been used here to depict the fluid and seamless morph of Chen and Lau's character's identities between the "good" and "bad" sides.

Double Identity

The character’s difficulty in finding one’s ‘authentic identity’ constitute the common storyline in Hong Kong undercover-cop tragedies. The clash of identities between Yan and Ming force the viewer to wonder: “what will one do if one is tired of one’s present life and is set to give oneself a rebirth?”Such a difficult process due to the reinvention of the self – involves a unique set of issues including the necessity of erasing one’s original identity or to straighten out one’s past through preserved documents “documents, public records, or even an individual’s memories, for they may prevent one from securing a newly acquired position and identity.” Implied is also the question about ownership of both memories and records, for they decisively bear upon one’s entitlement to a new life.

Legacy

The success of the film inspired many genres, including an open-world video game titled Sleeping Dogs (or True Crime: Hong Kong before canceled by Activision Blizzard in 2011), with the protagonist of the story infiltrating the criminal underworld as an undercover police. Sleeping Dogs was developed by United Front Games and published by Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series owner Square Enix.

A TV-Series remake has been scheduled to debut in 2018 produced by Media Asia and former TVB producer Tommy Leung. Once again named Infernal Affairs starring a star studded lineup of Damian Lau, Paul Chun, Lo Hoi-pang, Eric Tsang, Derek Kok and Dominic Lam. The TV-Series will stretch through three seasons with each season consisting of 12 episodes. The TV version of Infernal Affairs however, uses the same concept but with an entirely new story and characters.

A Hindi remake is in progress and is produced by Mumbai-based production Azure Entertainment and Warner Bros India.

Adaptations

American poster

In 2003, Brad Pitt's production company Plan B Entertainment acquired the rights for a Hollywood remake, named The Departed, which was directed by Martin Scorsese, and starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Wahlberg, set in Boston, Massachusetts, roughly based on the life of famed Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger. The Departed was released on 6 October 2006 and won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Lau, Tsang, and Cheung parodied the cinema scene to promote the Hong Kong Film Awards. Lau and Tsang, in their respective characters, go through the scene where they meet to gather info on the undercover cop amongst Hon Sam's gang. Lau Kin-ming asks Hon "Why do we always meet in a cinema?", to which Hon answers "It's quiet. No one comes to movies". Cheung comes out from the shadows behind them and says "I don't know...quite a few people watch movies" and we see a slew of Hong Kong celebrities watching various clips of Hong Kong films on the screen. Originally Tony Leung was going to appear but scheduling conflicts led to the recasting.

The 2003 TVB spoof celebrating the Chinese New Year called Mo Ba To (吐氣羊眉賀新春之無霸道), the 2004 comedy film Love Is a Many Stupid Thing by Wong Jing, and the 2004 TVB television drama Shades of Truth were re-writings based on the plot of the film.

In Taiwan SHODA (劉裕銘) and a secondary school student Blanka (布蘭卡) cut and rearranged the original film and inserted new sound tracks to produce their videos Infernal Affairs CD pro2 and Infernal Affairs iPod on the web. The videos had many views and both producers removed their videos after receiving cease and desist letters from the Group Power Workshop Limited (群體工作室), the Taiwan distributor of the film.

Media Asia released a limited edition of eight-DVD set of the Infernal Affairs trilogy in an Ultimate Collectible Boxset (無間道終極珍藏DVD系列(8DVD套裝)) on 20 December 2004. Features included an online game and two Chinese fictional novels of the film series by Lee Muk-Tung (李牧童), titled 無間道I+II小說 ISBN 962-672-259-2 and 無間道III終極無間小說 ISBN 962-672-271-1.

The hi-fi shop scene was later recreated with additions of excerpts of the film to encourage businesses to join the Quality Tourism Services Scheme in Hong Kong.

In 2009, a Korean remake City of Damnation, which was directed by Kim Dong-won was released on 22 January 2009. In 2009, a Telugu remake Homam, which directed and acted by JD Chakravarthy along with Jagapathi Babu was released and became a notable movie. In 2012, Double Face (ダブルフェイス), a Japanese television remake starring Hidetoshi Nishijima was released by TBS and WOWOW. The production aired in two parts: "Police Impersonation" on WOWOW and "Undercover" on TBS.

See also

• Cinema of Hong Kong
• List of Hong Kong films
• Andy Lau filmography
• List of films featuring surveillance
• List of films set in Hong Kong

External links

• Infernal Affairs at IMDb
• Infernal Affairs at Box Office Mojo
• Infernal Affairs at Rotten Tomatoes
• Infernal Affairs at Metacritic