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Short filmTranscript
00:00In a prison in Thailand, Lee is making a drawing by using paint from the wall mixed with water
00:04and feather tips that he keeps hidden in a book. He also makes a fake stamp that Lee puts on
00:08an
00:08envelope. Meanwhile a guard is asking prisoners if they have any mail to send home, although he only
00:13takes letters from those who can bribe him. When he reaches Lee's cell, he's distracted by another
00:17prisoner throwing a fit, and Lee throws his envelope in the guard's bag. After the guard
00:21is gone Lee thanks the other prisoner, revealing that he misbehaved as a distraction. At that
00:25moment a guard comes to take Lee out of his cell, saying that he's been extradited to Hong Kong.
00:29Lee travels with Detective Ho in a convoy and watches everyone carefully. At the police station,
00:34detectives go over the details of an old case. Two years ago, seven armored truck guards were killed
00:39on a Canadian highway. Four months later, the Golden Triangle Merlin guerrilla was attacked,
00:43resulting in 82 dead and 157 injured. Last year, there was a murder arson at a printing mill. Later
00:49at a hotel, a cop and an art dealer were found dead. All these murders are connected to an international
00:54counterfeit syndicate, and most of its members were killed. Only two survivors remain, Lee and his boss
00:59known as Painter. His identity and location are a total mystery so the police only have one blurry
01:03photo of him in Canada. Ho asks Lee for information about Painter, but Lee is afraid that he'll get
01:08killed if he talks and starts crying. Suddenly an explosion blows up the office, bringing the ceiling
01:12down on Lee and the cops. However, this is just Lee explaining what Painter is capable of. Ho isn't
01:17scared so Lee starts freaking out, asking to be sent back to jail. A detective takes him to a cell
01:22and
01:22punches him. Moments later Lee is given some food, which has a sedative that knocks him out. The cops use
01:27the
01:27chance to get hair, skin, saliva, and blood samples. When Lee wakes up, he's taken back to Ho's office.
01:33A detective explains that the samples match the shooting at the hotel so Lee will be charged with
01:37murder. Lee freaks out as he claims that the evidence is fake and says they can't scare him into
01:41talking. Ho tries to threaten Lee but she's interrupted by the officer who informs her of an
01:45important meeting. In another office, Ho discovers that famous artist Yuen and her lawyers want to bail Lee out.
01:51The lawyers point out that the evidence isn't very good and they can tell Lee is being set up,
01:54but the police still refuse to let him go. Instead they offer a deal. If Yuen convinces Lee to talk
01:59about Painter, they'll release him. In the interrogation room, Yuen tells Lee about the deal.
02:04He reminds her that talking would put them in danger, but Yuen wants the cops to catch Painter
02:08because he killed her fiancé. Lee agrees to talk just to help her, so he sits in front of the
02:12camera
02:12and starts sharing a story. In 1985, Lee meets Yuen in Vancouver. They're both talented painters trying to
02:18have a career, but nobody wants to buy their art. A decade later, they barely have any money to survive
02:23and their home loses power because of unpaid bills. Desperate for real income, Lee goes to
02:28an art gallery and makes a deal to create counterfeit paintings. When he goes home,
02:31he overhears Yuen talking to her manager. The man admires Yuen's creative art but insults Lee's,
02:36saying he only copies other artists. However, Yuen doesn't want him to represent her if he doesn't
02:41take Lee as well. That night Lee turns on the lights, revealing he paid the bill because a gallery
02:45has bought all his paintings. As part of the deal, he's gotten a solo show for Yuen next month.
02:49Some time later Yuen goes to the gallery workshop to visit Lee and discovers that his new job is
02:54forging art, not creating it. She thinks he doesn't give his skills enough credit,
02:58but Lee has given up on regular art and explains that doing these forgeries is actually thrilling.
03:02Yuen says she loves him but she's very disappointed in him. Yuen's art show lasts many days but Lee
03:06doesn't show up until the last one. He's annoyed because she's hung up one of his paintings along
03:10with hers without his permission. Yuen claims some collectors are interested in it,
03:14but Lee knows that she's sold everything except that one. At that moment, Painter starts mocking
03:18Lee's painting for imitating the classic art masters. Guests laugh, but Yuen throws a drink
03:23in his face and kicks him out. Lee follows him to apologize, only for Painter to reveal he bought
03:27one of Lee's copies. He made a scene on purpose to talk to him in private. They go to a
03:32bar and
03:32Lee talks about his forging techniques that help his art look old. Painter explains he's in the
03:36forging business and wants Lee to work with him, so he leaves him his card. In the gallery,
03:40Yuen is arguing with her manager. He's angry that she ruined her show by making a scene and that they
03:44can't declare a total sold out because Lee's painting is the only one left. Suddenly Lee
03:48enters the gallery and proceeds to burn his painting. The next day Lee contacts Painter,
03:52who welcomes him to the team before giving him his first job, to recreate a $100 bill.
03:57Lee freaks out, refusing to do something so dangerous. Painter promises that the job won't
04:01be linked to him and shares some secrets to gain his trust. His name is Fuck Sang and he comes
04:06from
04:06three generations of counterfeiters from Hong Kong. Nobody in his family has ever gone to jail and they
04:10always play by the rules. His team only does distribution and his buyers are powerful people
04:14who keep him protected. However Lee still refuses to participate. When Lee gets home, he discovers
04:19that Yuen is moving to the USA. This makes him change his mind, so moments later he's on a plane
04:24to Thailand with Fuck Sang, who promises to help Lee get Yuen back. Then he shares some details about
04:29the job, the US government released a new dollar bill design with more details that even include
04:33micro-printed words, which has made it difficult to forge. Lee says they'll need a more meticulous printing
04:38plate, so Fuck Sang introduces him to plate maker Yam. The team also has administrator
04:42Wah and brothers Shum and Bobby for logistics and security. Wah mentions that they'll need
04:46color-shifting ink and Yam wants starch-free paper to trick the counterfeit detector pens.
04:50Its ink turns purple on normal paper, but yellow on starch-free paper from bills.
04:55Fuck Sang promises he'll figure it out, meanwhile he wants Lee to concentrate on the watermark,
04:59which is made from the fibers between the paper. In Thailand, the team settles in an abandoned workshop.
05:04Lee spends several days practicing the details from the dollar bills,
05:07from the letters to the strands of hair. Eventually he achieves a perfect result.
05:11One night during dinner, the team looks at a Chinese painting and bets money on its authenticity.
05:15Most of the team thinks it's fake, but Lee thinks it's real and even tells them about the technique
05:19behind it. Chinese artists can cut up their paintings into layers and yet the paint will be
05:23identical in all of them. Lee wins the bet and Fuck Sang explains that they'll use that method for
05:27their bills. They'll push the pattern with an iron drum before the pulp hardens. Once it's hard,
05:32the pattern will become the watermark and they'll sandwich it between two other layers.
05:35Yam points out that they can put the security thread in the middle layer too. For the next few weeks,
05:40the team works on the precision of the details. They mix colors to find the right shade of paint,
05:44and Yam uses all his knowledge to make a plate that paints with a thousandth of a millimeter precision.
05:48It takes them two months and seventeen prototypes to reach the perfect one. Lee enjoys working with
05:53Yam and uses the chance to ask questions about Fuck Sang. Yam confirms that nobody in the family was
05:58ever arrested, although Fuck Sang's father argued with some Russians over money and was killed.
06:02Yam shows Lee a picture of his daughters, explaining that they think he sells antiques.
06:06They still are missing the paper, but Wah couldn't find anything that passes the pen test.
06:10Fuck Sang announces they'll solve this by traveling to Eastern Europe. It turns out they use starch-free
06:15paper to print phone books because there it's not regulated like in the USA. First they stop at an
06:19auction to buy an industrial printer. Then Fuck Sang puts on a disguise to pretend to be a disabled man
06:24and claims to work for a charity that prints educational comic books. He talks to the boss of a phone
06:29book
06:29manufacturing company, who at first refuses to sell to them. However he changes his mind when
06:33Lee tells him this is for the kids in Africa. Soon the printer and all the paper are in the
06:37workshop.
06:38In just a matter of minutes, they manage to print a realistic dollar bill. They only need to fix the
06:43shade of the ink. Sometime later Lee returns to Vancouver to drop off his key, leaving it on a desk
06:47because he refuses to meet Yuen. On the drive back, Fuck Sang calls Lee a coward and points out that
06:52Yuen's very successful show is named after the painting Lee burned. An argument ensues and Fuck Sang stops the car
06:57to
06:57yell at Lee, saying that giving up on Yuen is giving up on himself. Suddenly Fuck Sang leaves the car
07:02and
07:02puts on a mask before pulling out a gun. On his seat, Lee finds a bulletproof vest and a second
07:07gun.
07:07There's an armored car in the middle of the road and when a guard sees the guys, he opens fire.
07:12Lee panics
07:12and puts on the vest while Fuck Sang shoots back, quickly killing one of the guards. However he fails
07:17to bring down the others, so one of his men has to shoot them from a distance. He also shoots
07:21the tires
07:21of the armored car. The rest of the team shows up in a vehicle and together they overpower the security
07:26employees. After they tie them up, they open the armored car and steal several cans of ink.
07:31Another guard is hiding behind the cans and Lee freezes at the sight of his gun.
07:34Fuck Sang pushes him out of the way and is thrown back by a bullet. Furious, he starts shooting
07:38repeatedly to kill the guy, ignoring his men when they tell him to let it go. Before they leave,
07:43Fuck Sang blows up the armored car with all the employees inside. At the workshop, Lee shows his
07:48disapproval of killing for their business and says he'll leave the team after figuring out how to make
07:51ink with the right shade. Fuck Sang throws his glass on the ground in fury but sarcastically tells Lee
07:56to do whatever he wants. Afterward Fuck Sang travels all over the world to deliver suitcases of fake
08:01money to some of the biggest crime lords. Soon the team has huge piles of real money to enjoy.
08:06Meanwhile Lee finds a car with the exact shade of green they need. He acquires the paints that
08:10the car factory uses and manages to mix a tone that works perfectly with their paper.
08:14Now they won't have to steal paint again. One day, the team is visited by people sent by a
08:18Thai crime boss known as the General. Fuck Sang has a drink with the General's right hand and his
08:22counterfeit expert Cao Qing, who admires the quality of the bill's art. At that moment Lee walks down the
08:27corridor and accidentally trips, spilling green paint all over the glass door. As he looks up,
08:31he shares a look with Cao Qing. After the visitors leave, Fuck Sang yells at Lee, but he calms down
08:36when he realizes that they've perfected the paint. The next day, Fuck Sang tells Lee that he bought a
08:41resort under his name so he can retire with Yuan. They travel to a compound in the middle of nowhere
08:45and
08:46meet with the General. Fuck Sang hands Lee a detonator, telling him to hide it until he gives him a
08:50signal.
08:50While walking around the compound, Lee is terrified to see guards shooting civilians.
08:54The General tries to make a good deal with Fuck Sang, claiming that he used to be good friends
08:58with his father. However Fuck Sang knows that the General hired the Russians who killed his father
09:02and reveals he came here for revenge. He opens his jacket to reveal some explosives and tells Lee to
09:07drop the detonator. At first Lee refuses, but since the guards are threatening to shoot,
09:11he has no choice but to drop it anyway. A car explodes near them, destroying the room but failing to
09:16kill
09:16anyone. The General tries to run away so Fuck Sang shoots him in the leg. A few guards surround him
09:21but Fuck Sang fights them and takes their guns to kill them. More guards appear outside and take the
09:25General away while starting a shootout with Fuck Sang. After lots of wasted bullets the guards throw a
09:30grenade. Fuck Sang rolls out of the room right before it explodes. Then Fuck Sang manages to kill several
09:35guards and ends up getting shot in the shoulder. When more men come after him, Shum starts bombing the
09:40compound from afar, destroying most of the buildings and killing most of the army. Fuck Sang gets bigger guns
09:45and starts shooting down the survivors, not stopping even when he's wounded again.
09:49Unfortunately more soldiers keep coming so Fuck Sang is forced to hide behind a pile of bags.
09:53At that moment the rest of the team bursts into the compound in a jeep, throwing grenades to cause
09:57more destruction. In the woods, Shum is trying to run away but the soldiers surround him in open fire,
10:02causing him to lose his arm. This fallen hand loses its grip on a grenade and it blows up,
10:06killing all the guards with one explosion. At the compound, Lee notices that Cao Qing is caught on fire.
10:11He runs into a burning building just to put out the flames with his jacket, then he carries her out.
10:16Fuck Sang and the team keep shooting guards until the general appears in a truck to fire back.
10:20Bobby pushes Fuck Sang and is knocked out instead. Then Fuck Sang makes a risky jump to shoot the truck
10:25driver, followed by a shot at the tires. This causes the truck to crash and the general finally dies.
10:30Fuck Sang takes the general's ring and allows Lee to bring Cao Qing with them. On their way out,
10:35the last explosion finishes destroying the area. Afterward the team stays hidden for a year in the
10:39golden triangle. Cao Qing is taken to the hospital to heal her injuries and Fuck Sang gets her a fake
10:44passport with Yuan's name. Lee doesn't approve, but Fuck Sang ignores him. Sometime later at an art
10:49gallery, Fuck Sang buys all of Yuan's paintings and tells Lee he'll send them to the resort so he can
10:53impress her. However Lee thinks Yuan won't like receiving dirty money. When Lee starts to scold him,
10:58they're interrupted by some reporters following Yuan to ask her about her engagement to her manager.
11:02The news upset Lee so he leaves. Meanwhile the Hong Kong police calls Wing Chit,
11:06a counterfeit expert from the Canadian federal police. Ho has been trying to find the gang that
11:11has been putting fake dollar bills in the market all over the world, so Wing Chit will help her.
11:15Together they start watching an antique store that belongs to Yam. Later Ho and Wing Chit pretend to
11:19be potential buyers and start talking to various brokers until they're invited to a boat party that
11:23the infamous Painter is supposed to attend. However they're disappointed to discover that Painter has
11:27sent Shaman Bobby instead of coming himself. Wing Chit pretends to be aggressively offended and the
11:31brothers bring out their guns just to test him. When they tease Ho, Wing Chit immediately defends her and
11:36proves he's cool by jumping into the water with her. The brothers agree he's trustworthy so
11:40Hua appears on another boat and throws a bag with a phone, telling Wing Chit to wait for a call.
11:44At the same time in a yacht Fuxang argues with Lee because he's discovered that he's leaving with
11:48Cao Qing without his approval. A furious Fuxang grabs Lee and seems he's about to attack,
11:53but he's interrupted by the team announcing that the new clients are ready. They tell him that these
11:56clients are vouched for by one of Yam's antique clients, causing Fuxang to remember Wing Chit hanging
12:01outside the store. The team rushes back to the workshop and Yam learns that one of his clients set him
12:05up.
12:05Yam begs for mercy but Fuxang shoots him to death anyway. Lee freaks out and Fuxang tries to shoot
12:11him too, however Lee grabs the gun and the shot misses. Fuxang punches him instead. Afterward
12:16the team burns down the workshop to get rid of all evidence. Later in the city, Ho puts trackers in
12:20Wing Chit's watch and phone before he meets with the Painter, unaware that the gang knows their cops.
12:25After he leaves, Ho looks at his lighter and finds a note asking her out. In a hotel, Wing Chit
12:30meets
12:30with the team and Fuxang tries to sell him the plate instead of the forged bills,
12:33saying he's retiring from the business. Since Wing Chit turns him down, Fuxang asks Lee to kill him.
12:39Since Lee hesitates, Wing Chit jumps on him to try to get the gun, only for Fuxang to shoot him
12:43down.
12:44Then Fuxang gets angry because Lee continues to be a coward. He drags him to the bedroom and reveals
12:48that he's captured Yuen and her fiancé, who are tied up and blindfolded. Fuxang tells Lee to kill the
12:53manager, however Lee points the gun at him instead. Fuxang knows he won't dare and proceeds to kill the
12:58manager, so Lee runs to rescue Yuen. The whole team opens fire while the duo takes cover. Suddenly
13:03Cao Qing shows up and stabs Hua from behind, causing her to shoot a chandelier that crashes on the table.
13:08Then she uses Hua's gun to kill the brothers, but Fuxang manages to hide behind the door.
13:13When Fuxang offers Lee for his freedom, Lee finally is brave enough to shoot Fuxang in the
13:17chest several times. Lee doesn't want to abandon Yuen, however Cao Qing convinces him they're in danger
13:22so they leave together. Afterward Lee and Cao Qing hide in the resort. They follow the news and
13:26learn that the police didn't find Fuxang's body, also Yam's whole family was killed.
13:30One day Lee informs Cao Qing he's leaving because Yuen will hold a memorial for her fiancé and he's
13:35afraid that Fuxang will attack her there. In the city, he tries to pay for a cafe with forged money
13:39but the cops surround him and beat him up. When Lee is dragged to the police van, he sees Fuxang
13:44nearby
13:44waving a flyer for Yuen's show. In the present, Lee finishes his story and helps a cop make sketches
13:49of Cao Qing and Fuxang. Ho grants him bail but he must stay in town and report to the police
13:53every day.
13:54That night in the hotel, Lee apologizes to Yuen and they get naughty. Meanwhile Ho is shocked to
13:59see Fuxang arrive in a police uniform and enter the station. She immediately sends her men to
14:03capture him but the guy is genuinely confused. He tells them all his personal information,
14:07confirming he's just a normal cop. Ho realizes that Lee saw him when they took him out of prison and
14:12used his description to lie during the story. It turns out there's no Fuxang, Lee was the painter all
14:16along. The woman who came to rescue him wasn't the real Yuen, it was Cao Qing. When Lee took her
14:21to the
14:21hospital to heal her burns, he asked the surgeons to make her look like his ex. Lee's letter had been
14:26for her and included a portrait of her original face. Cao Qing was the one who kidnapped Yuen and
14:30her fiancé, saying that if she had to replace Yuen, the real one had to die. Lee survived the shootout,
14:36thanks to a bulletproof vest and stabbed Hua. It was Cao Qing he saw on the street when he was
14:40arrested.
14:40Now Lee and Cao Qing escape from the country on a boat, however Cao Qing becomes tired of being Yuen's
14:45replacement because Lee will never love the real her. She calls the police and soon they're surrounded.
14:49The boat also has a bomb, and Cao Qing detonates it so they both die in front of the cops.
14:54Sometime later Ho finds the real Yuen and tells her that her fiancé's killer is dead while showing
14:58her a picture of Lee. Yuen reveals that Lee had been a creepy neighbor obsessed with her,
15:02so their relationship had also been a lie. He entered the forging business hoping to win her over.
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