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The Story of a Discharged Prisoner (1967) poster

1967 · crime · drama · hongkong

The Story of a Discharged Prisoner

Directed by Patrick Lung Kong1h 58m1967

Lee Jwo Horng is fresh out of jail after doing time for 15 years. By then his fiancée Betty has already become the mistress of triad boss One-Eye Jack. Lee doesn't want his younger brother Chih Shen to look down upon him, so he decides to keep his release a secret from Chih Shen, and finds accommodation with his friend Ah Han instead. Jack forces Lee to team up with him again for more criminal jobs, but, determined to clean up his act and stay out of trouble, Lee doesn't yield to his pressure. Jack then turns his attention to Chih Shen and lures him to the dark side instead...

Our read: The Story of a Discharged Prisoner (1967) reads as a sombre, steady, grounded crime · drama · hongkong entry — measured in intensity, intimate in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook.

Movie DNA

Sombre, steady, measured crime / drama, grounded in texture. Ambivalent, intimate, measured.

ElsewhereIMDb7.590TMDB6.54
  • sombre
Video previewNo trailer available for this one.
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DNA · twelve axes

How The Story of a Discharged Prisoner feels to watch.

Each axis is scored by hand, not from votes or genre averages. The bar uses the film's own colours.

MoodHeavy ↔ Cosy
PacingSlow-burn ↔ Kinetic
IntensityGentle ↔ Extreme
WeirdnessConventional ↔ Surreal
HopeNihilistic ↔ Redemptive
StakesIntimate ↔ Epic
HumourNone ↔ Broad
RealityGrounded ↔ Fantastical
DensitySparse ↔ Twisty
WarmthCold ↔ Tender
AuteurTransparent ↔ Signature
Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

“You want a classic Hong Kong crime drama about an ex-con trying to stay straight amid triad pulls.”

ends bittersweetit stays with yousteady all the waygrips by minute 9attention 3/5earns its lengthsubtitles: full
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upgraphic violence

Skip it tonight — You want heroic cop stories or easy moral victories without underworld gravity.

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