Black san serif logo spelling out KANI with elongated circular eyes signifying crab eyes. Wavy contours are reminicent of the ocean. Kani Releasing logo designed by Leo Mak.

KANI017

Alex Cheung

Man on the Brink

Hong Kong

1981

106
minutes

Synopsis

Impatient with low-level police work, rookie cop Chui (Eddie Chen) recklessly accepts his superior’s offer to go undercover. With few ties and an ambiguous moral compass that soon starts to spin out of control, his life outside the underworld begins to crumble.

Following the success of Cops and Robbers (1979), Alex Cheung’s Man on the Brink further redefined the Hong Kong crime sub-genre. While indebted to New Hollywood staples such as Sidney Lumet’s Serpico (1973), this Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor Golden Horse Award winner unleashed a new appetite for undercover cop mayhem, prefiguring classics such as the Infernal Affairs trilogy (2002-2003) with its jaw-dropping synthesis of urban grit, realistic drama and high stakes, captured with evocative hand-held, on-location camerawork. A missing link – if not a turning point – in Hong Kong action cinema, ready to be rediscovered.

  • Region A Blu-ray
  • Interview with director Alex Cheung (2022, 39 minutes)
  • Commentary with Director Alex Cheung and Assistant Director Teddy Chan (2022, 100 minutes)
  • Feature commentary by historian Frank Djeng
  • Q&A Post Screening Talk (2019, 72 minutes)

8mm Shorts:

  • Man on the Brink Making Of (1981, 14 minutes)
  • C.I.D. Making Of (1976, 1 minute)
  • Young Teddy & Alex Cheung (1973, 1 minute)
  • "Come Together" Music Video (1973, 3 minutes)
  • Booklet: New writing by John Charles, Archival Photos
  • English subtitles

Team

Contact

Inquiries: info@kani-releasing.com
Theatrical Bookings: theatrical@kani-releasing.com
Press: press@kani-releasing.com

Founded by Ariel Esteban Cayer & Pearl Chan
Theatrical Booking: Aaron Hunt
Logo Design: Leo Mak
Ident Theme: The Great Octopus
Distribution: OCN Distribution