Porn freaks take note: despite The Accident's category III rating, it is far more of an art film than a flesh fest. However, it is a film about sex so there is some inevitable tittilation. In fact, it seems likely that this film was marketed based more on its rating than its story, which is quite confusing.

The film opens with a man sitting in a theater viewing an obviously pornographic movie starring Ding Li (Almen Wong). He watches for a brief time, begins to cry, and then leaves the theater and gets in a cab. This is an extremely strange opening, but it also filled with possibilities. Unfortunately, The Accident, while an interesting film, does not quite live up to the promise of its opening scene.

The accident of the title is a train accident, which variously separates and unites the main characters, three pairs of two each. Patrick is in China and needs to return to Hong Kong to meet his girlfriend returning from England (Gigi Lai). He is sidetracked and ends up at the hotel where Ding Li is filming a new movie. Meanwhile, his girlfriend becomes increasingly despairing when he doesn't show up and ends up going to a night club where she encounters an older man. The third couple are a taxi driver and a young man from China, who had intended to take the train home that day but ends up spending the night with the taxi driver, in his cab and around the city.

The film obviously intends to be a slice of city life, chance encounters type of film somewhat similar in style to Chungking Express or Fallen Angels. It has a well written script (based on a novel also written by the director and screenwriter) but suffers a bit from overly jumpy editing and poor pacing.

It took me at least half the film just to get a handle on the various characters, where they were, and what they were doing. I spent quite a bit of time just wondering what was going on rather than becoming involved with the characters and their stories.

Eventually, things start to settle down and the film's stories (and the relationship between the three stories) becomes clear but the payoff is not quite enough to justify the beginning confusion. Much of the confusion stems from the editing and its jumping between stories in a way that seems designed to be confusing rather than illuminating. No doubt this was intended to be artistic but it merely puts a barrier between the viewer and the story. When the film settles down, it does become interesting. The strange opening scene is eventually explained, and I was touched at Patrick's tears.

The acting in the film is fairly good, though given the film's other problems the actors often seem quite distant. The biggest shock in the film is that Gigi Lai is actually not a bad actress. In the films I had seen her in previously, she had seemed like nothing more than a typical flower vase, but in The Accident she actually manages to bring some depth and expressiveness to her role. Perhaps she will turn out to be another Maggie Cheung (ok, that's probably pushing it)!

Despite its flaws, The Accident is not without its merits. I would recommend that people see it if for no other reason then that I think it's important to encourage experimental efforts that show promise. Given a steadier hand at the editing table and a bit more restraint, director and screenwriter Lee Chi Chiu may well produce a great film in the future. For now, The Accident is good enough to be interesting.