In Broad Daylight

Some films start slow, but slowly grow on you. Thus, In Broad Daylight, a gut-wrenching drama about corruption – and worse - in Hong Kong’s care homes for the mentally impaired.

At its centre, the investigative team, led by Kay (Jennifer Yu), a tough-as-nails, cynical young journalist who nonetheless rejects the view of a jaded veteran colleague that their work doesn’t make any difference. She treads a fine line between the world-weariness of that colleague, and the optimism of trainee journalist Siu-ling (Rachel Leung).

Posing as the grand-daughter of Chau Kin-tong (David Chiang), Kay volunteers to help at the Rainbow Home, where Kin-tong is a resident. It is a depressing place: an institution that provides families who can no longer cope with relatives who are old or mentally impaired, or both, a place to forget them; and where abuse and exploitation of the residents is everyday occurrence.

Comparisons will inevitably be drawn with other films in this genre that centre the crusading journalist up against the corrupt and powerful system. Spotlight (2015) about sexual abuse in the catholic church in Boston inevitably springs to mind; as too, The Post (2017). Even, perhaps, All the President’s Men (1976).

Yet this is the Hollywood version. Boy’s Own adventures, and a film trope that is at heart gladiatorial. Stories wherein dogged and fearless journalists – our heroes – uncover wrong-doing and corruption, slay the dragons and set the world to rights.

That, though, is not In Broad Daylight. Exposé there is, albeit not quite the way you might expect. At its core, however, are some much more interesting questions. What is the role of investigative journalism, in a world where the greatest offender is the system itself? Can it ever do anything more than create 15 minutes of uncomfortable infamy for the faceless megacorps and politicians, while taking down the small fry?

Also fascinating is Kay’s journey. From someone detached and strenuously unaffected by the awfulness around, we see her growing and learning; even, Tin Man style, gaining a heart. As Kin-tong comforts her when all about is grey: "Don’t feel guilty about something you have done right."

It is an emotional moment in a film full of such moments. Moments that make you stop and think; moments that make you feel. Even – how can one even imagine saying this? – a scene of sexual abuse that does more in a couple of short understated minutes to communicate the horror of this crime than I think I have seen in a lifetime of mainstream film. (And yes… probably should be a TW for sexual violence).

All credits to director/writer Lawrence Kwan Chun Kan, and fellow-writers Fung Li and Tong Chui Ping who have succeeded in creating a dark, engaging story that in tone and content is often more documentary than drama. That abiding impression is supported by intelligent dialogue, and homework. Because even if this is not documentary, it is clear that the subject has been thoroughly researched. Shockingly so!

The supporting music works to provide emotional depth to events; meanwhile, the cinematography reaches heights of heart-stopping beauty that had me pausing replay more than once just to appreciate what I was seeing.

It is not often, nowadays, that films surprise me. Yet In Broad Daylight did just that.