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Life Without Principle

2011 · 107 min

A cool, intricate crime drama that weaves financial desperation into a tense, morally ambiguous puzzle, demanding close attention.

Directed by
Johnnie To
Genres
Crime, Drama
Tagline
FOR FIVE MILLION DOLLARS, HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO?
Overview
A criminal, a bank clerk and a police officer find their destinies entwined when a loan shark gets assaulted after having withdrawn $10 million from the bank in the midst of the world financial crisis.

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Directed by
Johnnie To
Genres
Crime, Drama
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • tensestrength 2 of 3
  • cynicalstrength 2 of 3
  • melancholicstrength 1 of 3
  • satiricalstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • greed
  • class
  • crime
  • power
  • morality
Places
  • big city
  • workplace
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
  • ensemble
  • nonlinear
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language mild
  • Violence mild
  • Sex none
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action3
Horror1
Humour3
Realism8
Romance1
Tension6
Darkness6
Complexity7
Emotional weight5

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Cast

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Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
crime, drama
Directed by
Johnnie To
Written by
Au Kin-yee, Jeff Cheung Ka-Kit, Yau Nai-hoi, Yip Tin-Shing
Starring
Lau Ching-wan, Richie Jen, Myolie Wu Hang-yee, Denise Ho Wan-si, Keung Ho-man, Lo Hoi-pang, Singh Hartihan Bitto, Tam Bing-Man
Cinematography
Cheng Siu-Keung, To Hung-Mo
Runtime
107 min
Country
Hong Kong
Languages
Cantonese

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