Andy Lau makes composure worth watching: a small change of expression can suggest how much he is holding back. His leading-man polish needs the right part, and Infernal Affairs gives it a purpose.
Fi1m perspective
In Infernal Affairs (2002), Andy Lau makes the effort of keeping a straight face visible in small changes of expression. His criminal has infiltrated the police and must appear useful and trustworthy while concealing his daily betrayal. We felt uneasy watching that composure, because every slight change suggested something he could not afford to reveal. This is where we rate him most highly: when a film makes his leading-man polish part of the character's problem.
Early assessments sometimes found him lightweight or constrained by his idol image. Wong Kar-wai's As Tears Go By (1988) helped establish him in serious cinema; Johnnie To's Running Out of Time (1999) marked a further turn towards acclaimed dramatic roles. The later work has included Zhang Yimou's wuxia film House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Ann Hui's drama A Simple Life (2011). These are different demands on a leading man. We would judge his polish by what each film asks it to do.
In Infernal Affairs, directors Andrew Lau Wai-Keung and Alan Mak Siu-Fai put that composure alongside Tony Leung Chiu-wai's visible exhaustion. Leung looks worn down by calculating his behaviour; Lau makes the calculation harder to see. That difference keeps two neatly opposed roles from feeling interchangeable. Cinematographers Andrew Lau Wai-Keung and Lai Yiu-Fai keep their restless camera returning to people watching and assessing one another. Their glossy images work because the faces still demand our attention.
His restraint needs a script that gives us a reason to keep looking. Infernal Affairs occasionally makes its parallels too tidy, but Lau and Leung keep the danger personal rather than letting the men become matching examples of the premise. Lau's performance holds our attention because we know why this man must keep himself under control. Start there, and watch what he allows his face to reveal.
Biography
Andy Lau Tak-wah (also credited as Andy Lau or Lau Tak-wah) is a Hong Kong actor and singer. He trained at TVB’s actors’ training class, graduating in 1981, and began his career in television before moving into film in the early 1980s.
He is known for roles in Infernal Affairs (2002) as Lau Kin-ming, House of Flying Daggers (2004), The Warlords (2007), and Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010). Lau has appeared in more than 160 films and received multiple Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actor.
