bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Edmund Lee

4.5/5 stars
The Hong Kong judicial system may have rapidly become unrecognisable to many observers in this post-national-security-law era, but the local cinema audience’s appetite to see legal justice being served in all its nail-biting, fist-clenching glory has grown larger than ever.
A Guilty Conscience is set to cap off that developing trend in style, and ride on the remarkable commercial success of the true-crime/legal drama The Sparring Partner.
It’s also riding on the wave of lead actor Dayo Wong Tze-wah’s new-found box office credentials from a string of Lunar New Year hits. The latest, Table for Six, was released in September 2022 after Covid-related postponement and is now the second highest-grossing Hong Kong film of all time.


A thoroughly engrossing court drama that represents Hong Kong mainstream commercial filmmaking at its very finest, the directorial debut of long-time screenwriter Jack Ng Wai-lun, who also wrote the screenplay, features a rollicking turn by Wong as a barrister who relocates his moral compass to help a single mother framed for a killing.
The story opens in 2002, when acid-tongued lawyer Adrian Lam (Wong) is so frustrated by his lack of career progression as a magistrate that he has all but given up on maintaining his professionalism.

Persuaded to switch to private practice by his peers, Lam nonetheless carries his bad attitude over, fumbling his first defence case so badly that his innocent client, Jolene Tsang (Louise Wong Dan-nei, Anita), is sent to prison for 17 years for the death of her seven-year-old daughter following a mysterious incident in their home.
The case in question brings to mind the similar premise of recent legal drama The Attorney, which also involves a murder suspect who is undoubtedly framed by culprits who are heavily protected by top-level collusion among elites in the city’s business, law enforcement and judicial circles.
When a prosecution witness changes his statement to assert the convicted Tsang’s innocence two years later, Lam and his fellow counsel Evelyn Fong (Renci Yeung Sz-wing, The First Girl I Loved) sense a lifeline to file an appeal for the single mother, who is both bereaved and wrongfully imprisoned.

It transpires that Tsang is the lover of medical doctor Desmond Chung (Adam Pak Tin-nam), who is married to the heiress (Fish Liew Tsz-yu) of a powerful “old money” family with extensive connections to the judiciary. The brief confrontation between Wong and Liew, who played sisters in Anita, makes for a nice little highlight.
With a retrial about to take place, the Chung family’s slimy legal counsel (Michael Wong Man-tak) cheekily sets up the no-nonsense barrister Kam Yuen-shan (Tse Kwan-ho) as the prosecutor of the case – with fantastically unexpected results for both parties.
While A Guilty Conscience occasionally risks spoiling its realistic premise with dramatic twists and show-stopping speeches that might be more at home in a historical story like Justice Pao, Ng has come up with an utterly entertaining movie that intrigues from the very first scene and never lets up until the end.

The year is still young but it’s already hard for this writer to picture a much better Hong Kong film to come up on the big screen in the remaining months to come. A Guilty Conscience is a major triumph – and it’s certainly not just another frivolous Lunar New Year release.
Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook


Papa movie review: Lau Ching-wan shines as traumatised father in true-crime family drama

See gallery of ‘Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In’ film set which thrilled Hongkongers

How Lau Ching-wan added subtlety to complex role as father of a killer in new film Papa

Rare Bruce Lee photo gallery from ‘Game of Death’ movie a sensational tribute to martial arts legend

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

A Guilty Conscience movie review: Dayo Wong plays an acid-tongued lawyer in court drama showing Hong Kong filmmaking at its best

Dayo Wong plays acid-tongued lawyer in A Guilty Conscience, a court drama showing Hong Kong filmmaking at its best.

Dayo Wong plays an acid-tongued lawyer in A Guilty Conscience, a court drama showing Hong Kong filmmaking at its best.

Louise Wong (right) in a still from A Guilty Conscience.

Fish Liew in a still from A Guilty Conscience.

(Front, from left) Tse Kwan-ho, Renci Yeung and Dayo Wong in a still from A Guilty Conscience.

Sakra movie review: Donnie Yen in action-packed adaptation of Louis Cha’s epic wuxia novel Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils as tragic hero Qiao Feng

Donnie Yen as Qiao Feng in a still from Sakra.

Donnie Yen as Qiao Feng in a still from Sakra (category IIB, Cantonese), also directed by Donnie Yen. Chen Yuqi co-stars.

Kara Wai (front) and Cya Liu in a still from Sakra.

Donnie Yen in a still from Sakra.

The Narrow Road movie review: Louis Cheung, Angela Yuen shine in poignant working-class drama set in Hong Kong during Covid-19 pandemic

Angela Yuen in a still from The Narrow Road.

Louis Cheung and Angela Yuen in a still from The Narrow Road (category IIB; Cantonese), directed by Lam Sum.      

Louis Cheung (right) and Angela Yuen in a still from The Narrow Road. 

Angela Yuen (left) and Tung On-na in a still from The Narrow Road. 

Louis Cheung in a still from The Narrow Road. 

Hong Kong Family movie review: Teresa Mo, Mirror’s Edan Lui in drama about a household torn apart that’s one of the best local films in 2022

(From left) Teresa Mo, Hedwig Tam, Tse Kwan-ho and Edan Lui in a still from Hong Kong Family.

Angela Yuen (left) and Fung So-bor in a still from Hong Kong Family, co-starring Edan Lui, Teresa Mo and Tse Kwan-ho, and directed by Eric Tsang. Category: IIA (Cantonese) 

(From left) Hedwig Tam, Teresa Mo, Alice Fung So-bor and Angela Yuen in a still from Hong Kong Family.

Love Suddenly movie review: Hong Kong ensemble romantic comedy starring Mirror’s Anson Kong fails to deliver on any of its interesting premises

Anson Kong (left) and Karena Ng in a still from Love Suddenly.

Edward Ma (left) and Roxanne Tong in a still from Love Suddenly (category IIB; Cantonese). Michael Ning, Anson Kong and Adam Pak co-star. Mak Ho-pong directs.

Shirley Chan (left) and Michael Ning in a still from Love Suddenly.

Adam Pak (left) and Chloe So in a still from Love Suddenly.

Come Back Home movie review: Donnie Yen plays a desperate father looking for his missing son in annoying Chinese rescue drama

Donnie Yen in a still from Come Back Home.

Donnie Yen in a still from Come Back Home, in which he plays a father who abandons his young son on a snowy mountain to teach him a lesson, triggering a desperate search. Cecilia Han co-stars and Lo Chi-leung directs.

Tang Xu in a still from Come Back Home.

(From left) Jia Bing, Donnie Yen and Cecilia Han in a still from Come Back Home.

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Arts & Culture

Culture

Film & TV

Dayo Wong plays a defence lawyer who loses his first case; his client is convicted for killing her daughter and sentenced to 17 years, but something is afoot
Director Jack Ng has come up with an utterly entertaining movie that intrigues from the very first scene and never lets up until the end


Dayo Wong plays a disenchanted magistrate who becomes a defence lawyer, loses his first case representing a woman wrongly jailed for killing her daughter, then tries to prove her innocence.


Chinese language cinema

Asian cinema

Film reviews

Cinema

Hong Kong cinema

Asian cinema: Chinese films

Fame and celebrity

Hong Kong celebrities and icons

Hong Kong culture

An assessment or critique of a service, product or creative endeavour.  Film reviews, restaurant reviews, reviews of art exhibitions. (Eg. Crazy Rich Asians: an important film, yes, but a good one?)


Review

Review | A Guilty Conscience movie review: Dayo Wong plays an acid-tongued lawyer in court drama showing Hong Kong filmmaking at its best

Dayo Wong plays a defence lawyer who loses his first case; his client is convicted for killing her daughter and sentenced to 17 years, but something is afoot Director Jack Ng has come up with an utterly entertaining movie that intrigues from the very first scene and never lets up until the end

Dayo Wong plays a defence lawyer who loses his first case; his client is convicted for killing her daughter and sentenced to 17 years, but something is afoot

Director Jack Ng has come up with an utterly entertaining movie that intrigues from the very first scene and never lets up until the end