At the End of Daybreak

What starts as a tender teen romance between a rebellious biker from a deprived background and a young schoolgirl of more affluent parentage subtly mutates into a noirish bungled crime thriller as it transpires that the girl is under the age of consent and her concerned folks want the boy to be locked up. As writer-director Ho drags events to their inevitably horrific conclusion, he also offers food for thought regarding the complex nature of this type of crime as well as asking us to ponder whether a legal system that offers distinct advantages to those who can pay is really such a good thing for fair society? Ying-Hung’s performance as the boy’s perpetually drunken mother is a stand-out.