English name: A One
Chinese name: A-1 Headline
Premiere date: September 9, 2004
Category: Action / Suspense / Drama
Director: Herman Yau
Starring: Anthony Wong
Li Xinjie
Tony Leung Ka Fai
Edison Chen
Gordon Lam
Film length: 93 minutes
Country: Hong Kong, China
Introduction:
Ling (Li Xinjie) is a fashion section journalist who writes daily guides on how to spend money in newspapers. She advocates hedonism and herself belongs to the group of people living in debt. On the first day after her breakup with her boyfriend Peter, Ling suddenly receives the news of his death in a car accident, which leaves her devastated. Photographer Ji Zi (Edison Chen), who has secretly loved Ling for a long time, tries to comfort her while hoping she might consider him as an option, but he is rejected. Fei (Anthony Wong), who collects debts for a living and is often pursued by creditors himself, along with Ma Zi (Gordon Lam), suddenly comes to collect a debt from Ling. At the scene where Peter's accident occurred, Fei insists that Peter's death was not an accident. Although the police treated the case as a common traffic accident, Fei firmly believes that there is a conspiracy behind it.
While Ling is uncertain about whether to believe Fei, the editor-in-chief, Zeng Dashi (Tony Leung Ka Fai), starts behaving strangely and shows special attention to Ling, making her inclined to trust Fei’s words. Ling then seeks help from Fei and Ma Zi. Ji Zi, wanting to get closer to Ling, naturally volunteers to join them, so the four of them start investigating the truth together. Ling and Ji Zi use their methods from working on the fashion section to investigate the case, encountering numerous obstacles and even risking their lives. Fortunately, they are saved by Fei in time. It turns out that Fei has a sharp detective mind because he used to be a police officer but was dismissed due to debt, leading him to live a life of indulgence ever since. This investigation provides him with a great opportunity to show his skills. After thorough investigations by Fei and Ma Zi, they discover that the case is related to the death of a female model three weeks ago, which the police had handled discreetly, believed to be linked to the wealthy heir Zhang Chengzhi.
Fei further discovers that the person handling this case is none other than his old colleague Tang (Lawrence Ng), complicating the matter further. Ling finally finds evidence and rushes back to the newspaper office to expose this shocking headline story. However, she is shocked to find that Zhang's father has successfully acquired the newspaper and become their boss. Will the editor-in-chief Zeng Dashi uphold press freedom and publish this A1 headline? Is the case really as simple as everyone expects?