(Daai si gin). To’s Cannes-selected detective thriller/media critique announces its auteurist intentions immediately, with a nearly ten-minute-long take comparable to the labyrinthine opening of Touch of Evil. Floating up from a Hong Kong street into a bank robber’s lair and then down again, the shot moves from stakeout to shootout, calm to killing, criminals to detectives, and introduces the film’s themes of violence, entrapment, and escape as seen through media manipulation. After the gang humiliates a police officer on live television during a botched raid, Captain Fong (Cantopop icon Kelly Chen) decides to broadcast their ultimate capture, to showcase the force’s eventual efficiency. Unfortunately things don’t go quite as planned, especially once lone-wolf Inspector Cheung (Nick Cheung) gets involved, and the criminals seize their own media outlet. Showcasing the futility and frequent lies of sanctioned police and media reports, Breaking News gains its true flair from its attention to the chaotic reality of Hong Kong’s claustrophobic apartment blocks and dingy, forgotten side streets.

—Jason Sanders

• Written by Chan Hing-kai, Yip Tin-shing. Photographed by Cheng Siu-keung. With Nick Cheung, Richie Jen, Kelly Chen, Cheung Siu-fai. (90 mins, In Cantonese with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From Palm Pictures)