6. Infernal Affairs
During the 2007 Academy Awards, William Monaghan won the Academy Award for best adapted screenplay for The Departed which was misattributed to the Japanese film Infernal Affairs when Infernal Affairs was in fact a Hong Kong film. Starring Andy Lau and Tony Leung, who are two of Chinas great actors, Infernal Affairs is an intense police drama about deception, doubt and the inner turmoil of living a lie. If you seen The Departed, you will be shocked but how lackluster that film seems compared to the much more tightly compact film that is Infernal Affairs. It combines the look of and styling of a Michael Mann and John Woo film though its engaging visuals through digital film. Andrew Laus cop thriller was said to have single handedly lift Hong Cinema from its creative stand still and for good reason as there is no film as complex and taut like it. Lau and Leungs lack of interaction together is as intense as the titillation of the Robert De Niro and Al Pacino relationship in Michael Manns Heat. And when they finally do meet, it is just as satisfying and shocking. All my problems with The Departed comes from the fact that Infernal Affairs made the film as perfect and compact as possible. This film was able to take an old worn out genre from movies and TV and inject it with creativity and life.