Running Out of Time

(Am zin, Johnnie To, Hong Kong 1999, 93 min., 35mm, Cantonese w/subtitles)

“Where am I going to die, when am I going to do. All that doesn’t matter to me anymore. The most important thing is that I don’t die in a police station.”

Symmetry of Violence: Seven Films by Johnnie To. Superstar Andy Lau and frequent To collaborator Lau Ching-wan star in this thrilling cat-and-mouse game set amid Hong Kong’s soaring rooftops and narrow streets and corridors. Lau plays a mysterious, cancer-stricken man named Cheung, who draws on what little energy he has left to avenge his father’s killers. In the process, he engages a seasoned police negotiator (Ching-wan) in a 72-hour battle of daring and wits. Director To orchestrates a unique spectacle in Running Out of Time, not only with his ingenious pairing of Lau and Ching-wan, but by infusing the film’s action with intensity, comedy, and despair in almost equal measure.

Print courtesy of the American Genre Film Archive.