The Locksmith (2023)

I walked into the theatre to watch this without any clue what it is about. I just thought, “hey, why not?”. It’s post lunch, a great time to test how captivating a film can be. My favourite director, Martin Scorsese, recently failed this test when I snoozed off twice during the screening of Killers Of Flower Moon.

But this, I sat through completely involved. I haven’t watched any Chinese language(s) flick beyond some by Jackie Chan and Chow Yun Fatt for obvious reasons (Chow is one of the best onscreen performer of the Hong Kong film industry, period).

But whaddya know. Story about a former criminal having the past haunting him has been around since the cinema began most notably being the plot of many fine film noirs of the golden age of Hollywood.

Here, we stick close the locksmith protagonist, played with the perpetual haunted look by Philip Keung, as we start off with his day to day activities in Penang Island. Then, an old crime partner shows up and turns his world upside down.

The director of this Hong Kong) Malaysian production, Pei Ji, a Malaysian himself, stuck to mostly old school cinematography, never shying to show the beautiful and the gritty side of Penang, and stuck to few important characters so that we don’t get lost with the crowded backstories.

Only low point is the amateurish performances of some of the co-stars, though Keung stands out and sort of balances it out.

And towards the end, he hits you hard with that main character’s guilt. I am especially haunted myself by the little girl’s crying. Still stuck with me. But it’s important wrap up the film. Poignant, haunting, this film deserves more love than the lack of publicity it suffers from.