Tags: Ann Hui | Simon Yam | Zhang Jingchu

Simon Yam's harrowing performance and Ann Hui's assured direction makes the dark domestic violence saga Night and Fog a tour-de-force...

Hui has stated that she chose to show the killings at the beginning of the film (the rest of the film is then told via flashbacks) so that audiences can focus more on the characters. It's a bold move that pays off thanks to aforementioned strong acting by Yam (who stars as crazed husband Lee Sum) and Zhang Jingchu (as his tortured mainland wife Wong Hui Ling). Watching a couple bicker over money and the welfare of their two daughters is overbearing and depressing considering how it all inevitably ends.

Having just won the Best Director prize at the Kong Film Awards for The Way We Are, Hui may be heading for a repeat this year, because the heartbreaking Night and Fog will stay with you long after it's over.