''Nightfall'' is a 2012 Hong Kong crime thriller film directed by

Roy Chow Roy Chow Hin-yeung (; born 8 October 1978) is a Hong Kong film director, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directed some films include '' Nightfall'', ''Rise of the Legend'' and ''Dynasty Warriors is a series of Japanese hack and s ...

, starring

Nick Cheung Nick Cheung Ka-fai (; born 2 December 1964) is a Hong Kong actor, singer and director. Background He was formerly a Royal Hong Kong Police officer for four years, but he left the job after his request to be transferred to the criminal investigat ...

Simon Yam Simon Yam Tat-wah (; born 19 March 1955) is a Hong Kong actor and film producer. He received international acclaim for his performances in international film festival and box office hits such as ''Naked Killer'', '' SPL: Sha Po Lang'', ''Election' ...

, Janice Man and

Kay Tse Kay Tse On-kay (; born 13 March 1977) is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer. She is a prominent figure in Hong Kong music and popular culture and was once frequently referred to in the media as a "grass-roots diva" and "goddess". She is known for song ...

. The film is about a convicted murderer who, after being released on

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

, starts stalking the younger sister of his victim and becomes the suspect after her abusive father is found murdered.

Plot

20 years ago, Wong Yuen-yeung was given a

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

for murdering Eva, the daughter of a famous musician Han Tsui. Now, after he is released on

, he starts stalking Zoe, Tsui's younger daughter. Tsui is very abusive and controlling towards Zoe, often beating her in his drunken rage and forbidding her from having any male friends. George Lam, a police detective, is still deeply affected by his wife's suicide many years ago. He tries to distract himself with his work, but inadvertently ends up neglecting his daughter. After Tsui is found dead near the beach, Lam and his colleagues investigate the murder and find out about Eva's case, making them believe that Wong might be responsible. A manhunt for Wong ensues after he attacks the police and escapes. In the meantime, the police visit Tsui's house again and discover traces of blood on a patch of ground below the balcony of Zoe's room. Upon questioning, Tsui's wife finally reveals her family's dark secret. Zoe is actually the illegitimate daughter of Eva and Wong. Tsui had treated Eva in the same way he did to Zoe, and he had killed Eva in anger after discovering her relationship with Wong. Tsui had then framed Wong and called the police to arrest him. Although Wong initially maintained his innocence, he was ultimately tortured by the police into falsely admitting that he murdered Eva. While he was in prison, he attempted suicide but failed and became mute. Tsui's death turned out to be an accident. He had missed his step and fallen to his death when Zoe pushed him away in self-defence while he was hitting her. Wong had then taken away his dead body and attempted to dispose of it in the sea. When Tsui's body was found, Wong did everything he could to try to draw the police's attention towards himself and make them think that he is the murderer. In the meantime, the police have tracked down Wong and cornered him on a rooftop, but he commits suicide by jumping off. Later, Lam receives a text sent by Wong before his death: Wong said he envied Lam, who had the chance to watch his daughter grow up, while he could not as he was in prison. Lam breaks down after reading Wong's text as he feels sorry for neglecting his daughter since his wife's death. Zoe eventually goes to the police station to turn herself in. When she asks Lam about the mysterious man who had been trying to protect her, he shows her Wong's photos and tells her to remember his name.

Cast

as Wong Yuen-yeung **

Shawn Dou use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = ...

as Wong Yuen-yeung (younger) *

as George Lam *

as Ying * Janice Man as Zoe / Eva * Michael Wong as Han Tsui *

Candice Yu Candice Yu (Yu On On; born Yu De Ying; 22 October 1959) is a Hong Kong people, Hong Kong film actor, actress and occasional singing, singer best known for her films with Shaw Brothers Studio of the 1970s and 1980s. She was the first wife of Hon ...

as Mrs Tsui *

Gordon Liu Gordon Liu (Lau Kar-fai ); born Sin Kam-hei () August 22, 1951) is a Chinese martial arts film actor and martial artist. He played the lead role of San Te in ''The 36th Chamber of Shaolin'' (1978) and its sequels, and later played two roles in Qu ...

as Lung *

Felix Lok Felix Lok Ying-kwan is a Hong Kong actor. His television appearances include roles in ''Looking Back in Anger'', ''The Drive of Life'' and '' The Academy''. Filmography Television series Films *''Heroes of the Underground'' (1976) *''The Happ ...

as Yu *

Yumiko Cheng Yumiko Cheng (born 6 September 1981) is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer and actress. Cheng was given the Japanese nickname "Yumiko" by her friends in secondary school, and upon signing with EEG, adopted it as her official stagename.Tran, JennyYumiko ...

as Lam's wife *

Cherry Ngan Cherry Ngan () is a Hong Kong singer, actress and model. She is best known for her role in the 2013 Chinese film ''The Way We Dance'' for which she nominated as best actress at both the Hong Kong Film Award and the Golden Horse Awards. As well ...

as Lam's daughter *

Ken Lo Ken Lo (Kenneth Houi Kang Low) (born 19 March 1957) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, and stuntman. He is known for his martial arts and stunt work as a former member of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team, most notably for his antagonistic role as Jo ...

as prisoner

Release

The film was released in Hong Kong, mainland China, and Australia on 15 March 2012. Well Go USA Entertainment released it on DVD and Blu-ray in North America on 21 May 2013.

Reception

Wong Kwok-siu of ''

Apple Daily ''Apple Daily'' ( zh, link=no, 蘋果日報) was a popular tabloid published in Hong Kong from 1995 to 2021. Founded by Jimmy Lai, it was one of the best-selling Chinese language newspapers in Hong Kong.

'' wrote: "The shadow cast by the Korean film '' Oldboy'' on ''Nightfall'' is very obvious. Both of them told stories of pursuing vengeance at all costs. In terms of technical details, this film is very professional, especially with Ardy Lam's cinematography. That was the motivating factor for me to finish watching the entire film."

Patrick Kong Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name *Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick or ...

of ''

Headline Daily ''Headline Daily'' () was launched on 12 July 2005, by Sing Tao Newspaper Group Limited and became the second free Chinese-language newspaper published officially in Hong Kong ('' Metro Daily'' being the first). The paper is only distributed o ...

'' wrote: "Christine To and Roy Chow had met viewers' expectations in terms of how the film concluded, and it was sufficiently convincing. Of course, experienced movie fans would have noticed that certain parts of the film were actually inspired by ''

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

'' and

Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a (né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two ...

's ''

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

''."《大追捕》
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Awards and nominations

and Cheung Ka-fai were both nominated at the 49th

Golden Horse Film Awards The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards () is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The awards ceremony is us ...

for the Best Leading Actor and Best Film Editing awards respectively. Kinson Tsang and Lai Chi-hung won the Best Sound Effect award.

References

External links

* * {{hkmdb title, 15025, Nightfall 2012 films 2010s Cantonese-language films 2012 crime thriller films Hong Kong crime thriller films Films directed by Roy Chow 2010s Hong Kong films