Watch The Sparring Partner: The Sparring Partner is based on one of the most notorious domestic crimes in the history of Hong Kong, which is also very recent. The Cheuk Tin-Ho-directed crime drama is one of the most anticipated International movies of the year 2022, solely because of its skin-crawling subject matter.
In 2013 Hong Kong, a twenty-year-old man, Henry Chung, murdered his parents with the help of a friend. If that was not enough, the bodies got dismembered and then cooked and consumed by the man. Although on paper, this looked like a straightforward crime with a clear-cut criminal at the center of it, the man (and his friend) pleaded not guilty, and a group of jury members had to tussle and scratch their heads over the course of the trial. Deciding to make a movie based on such a subject matter has to be quite a difficult thing to pull off, and director Cheuk Tin Ho has taken that responsibility.
Tin ho does have his fair share of experience when it comes to handling complicated subjects. In 2013, he directed the MMA film “Unbeatable,” in which a former boxing champion with loan sharks hot on his heels comes across a young boxing talent, and Ed becomes the mentor who eventually helps him get his life back on the right track. The film currently has a 7.2 IMDB rating which only proves Tin Ho’s ability to storytelling. Tin Ho followed “Unbeatable” with the short “The Way Home.” Based on a true story of a teenager on the run from his home to avoid eye surgery was not seen by many, unfortunately.
Five years later, Tin Ho is back with The Sparring Partner, inarguably his most exciting as well as challenging film yet. Writer Frankie Term, who has worked like God of War (2017) under his belt, is getting the screenplay credit for Tin Ho’s crime drama. Philip Yung, who also happens to be a writer, is producing the film. One particularly interesting aspect of the film is the rare three-member editing with J. Him Lee, Jojo Shek, and Zhao Zhang.
THE SPARRING PARTNER CAST:
The cast of The Sparring Partner is led by Yeung Wai Lun, who is playing Henry Chung. Angus Tong, Henry’s friend, is played by Mak Pai-Tung. Other names in the cast include Louisa So, Jan Lamb, and Usule Wong, along with a bunch of Hong Kong actors.
WHERE TO WATCH AND STREAM THE SPARRING PARTNER ONLINE?
The Sparring Partner premiered at the Hong Kong International Film Festival on August 30, 2022. Following that, it traveled to other film festivals before releasing in the United Kingdom on November 18, 2022. The festival audience has received it pretty generously. Guardian newspaper has praised the film for being a rather stylish and grounded take on a gruesome violent crime and focusing more on the psychological aspect of it.
As of now, it is not available to stream anywhere online. But now that it had a limited release in the USA by Well Go USA Entertainment, we can expect it to appear on a Video on Demand service soon. We will let you know when we have that information.