There are some things at which the Asian male excels and that includes looking exceptionally fatigued. Not attractively or glamorously so but plain, I-just-got-off-a-16-hour-shift fatigue enhanced by the discomfort of public transportation and too much nicotine.

You look at a guy like that and you know that he will be really, really sexy with a bowl of noodles in one hand, a pair of chopsticks held sloppily with the other. This guy has no rivals; he has elevated dirt-tiredness to an art form. For a sampling, take a look at "Confession of Pain" — the latest Hong Kong noir vehicle directed by Andrew Lau. Not only do we get to see one, but two gorgeously tired guys that fairly reek of low blood sugar and an average four hours of sleep a night. They are: Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro. You're going to love them both. And if not, you will at least want to put noodle bowls into their thin, none-too steady hands.

"Confession of Pain" can be described as the flip side version of "Infernal Affairs" (Lau's breakthrough work, later brilliantly remade into "The Departed" by Martin Scorsese) — i.e., less political, less intricate, more stylized and character-study heavy.