Under Current

Shaken from his moral torpor by the suicide of a defeated plaintiff, defence attorney Ma resolves to help the police investigate a dubious nonprofit organisation in this gripping corporate crime thriller.

Tsai Bat Tong, a charitable foundation flush with millions, is hit by a twin scandal: after a massive sum of money goes missing from its books, its CFO is found dead on stage during its annual gala. Master barrister and Taekwondo coach Ma teams up with police officer Or to investigate what seems like an open-and-shut case, but their inquiry takes them deep down a rabbit hole. 

Hong Kong writer-director Alan Mak furthers his longstanding concern with crime and justice in Under Current, a stylish white-collar thriller set in a world of glass, steel and phantom wire transfers. The investigative drama unfolds chiefly through paper trails and digital sleuthing, but also some nerve-wracking rooftop chase and hand-to-hand combat sequences. 

Under Current features murky charity operations and money-laundering schemes, but it refuses to give into cynicism and instead honours the irrepressible human urge to do the right thing. As it interweaves the past and the present, Mak’s film collapses the distance between the investigator and the investigated, revealing the profound moral ties that bind them.

– Srikanth Srinivasan

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