The combination of Hong Kong directors Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai always promises something brilliant and something twisted: they together are responsible for some of the most unusual, stimulating and provocative takes on genre films to come out of Hong Kong in the last ten years. With Mad Detective, they've outdone themselves. There has been nothing else like this tale of a paranoid Hong Kong cop named Bun, whose delusions spark creativity, whose madness unleashes freedom.

When Officer Wong mysteriously disappears in the woods, his colleague Chi-Wai, who emerged unscathed from the incident, falls under suspicion. Young Inspector Ho is assigned to investigate, and, stymied, turns to his idol Bun, who was retired from the force after his crazy working methods began to degenerate into apparently unstable lunacy. Bun sees things: call them delusions, mystical visions or breathtakingly accurate intuitions. To and Wai take these visions and incorporate them into the film's graphic play with a visual brio that is as thrilling as it is astonishing.

Bun is played by Hong Kong's finest low-key leading man Lau Ching-wan--last year's winner of the HK Film Award for Best Actor. Lau's performances consistently offer quiet brilliance, subtlety, depth and great range, though his virtuosity has never before had such a perfect vehicle. Black comedy and gritty policier collide in a wild, hilarious and thoroughly disturbing entertainment.

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