A man with a white shirt is ascending the stairs to his home, only to find that his door has been forced open. He goes in silently, and finds a man searching his things. He attacks him, beats him rather harshly and ties him up to interrogate him. It turns out the man with a white shirt is a crooked cop, whose wife has left him a while ago after finding out that he deals drugs on the side, while the burglar is supposedly a man who picked this particular house randomly, in order to pay loan sharks, so his wife will not leave him. The two discuss their personal lives, and the cop decides to let the man go, even giving him money for the doctor. Then he calls his wife asking her to meet him, despite the late hour, in order to discuss getting together again. Things, however, do not go as planned.
Francis Lau directs a very interesting short, that follows the rules of the noir/thriller, particularly through the impressive cinematography of Jack Chen. The comment of the narrative, that “No good deed goes unpunished” works quite nicely with the overall aesthetics of the film, allowing the story to have some impact through a slight plot twist. Considering that the film is just 15 minutes long, I would say that Lay has done a rather good job in keeping it simple but filled with meaning.
Sunny Pang gives a very interesting performance as the tough but kind man trying to correct his mistakes, while Louis Wu provides an important catalyst for the story as the “victim” convincingly. Adele Wong as the wife is also good in presenting her inconvenience in dealing with hey husband once more.
“The Postman” shows much promise, both in terms of narrative and production, while the story, although somewhat generic, could be easily extended to an interesting noir/thriller.
