Intial D: Driftracer is a simple but effective story laden with a booming soundtrack that electrifies the whole piece.

It’s highly entertaining. Welcome to today’s Hong Kong cinema.

The story revolves around the art of drifting, indeed, the D in the title stands for drifting.

What is drifting I hear you ask? It’s the technique of putting a car into a controlled slide around bends without losing any speed.

Driftracing, where cars race around hairpin bends is a highly popular sport in Asia. OK, lesson over.

This is unashamedly a feel good movie and a good one at that.

The strong cast has a great deal to do with the success of this film.

The combined pedigree held within is full to bursting point.

Its directors, Alan Mak and Andrew Lau, gained previous success from their Infernal Affairs trilogy and have carried over their unique style to this piece.

Onto the actors now and Jay Chou plays Takumi Fujiwara, an innocent, naïve and shy individual who is kept on a tight leash by his dad.

He’s a senior high school student in Gunma Province in Japan.

Film heavyweight, actor Anthony Wong stars as Bunta Fujiwara who is Takumi’s father.

He owns the Fujiwara Tofu Shop and in his day was the premier downhill racer in Mount Akina.

He knows how to customise a car for maximum power.

But you’d never believe that as Bunta is now a washed up, constantly drunk, part time womaniser.

Look out for a hilarious scene where he is being carried upstairs. Pure comedy!

Spending most of his time feeling sorry for himself and taking out his frustrations on his son he cuts a sad figure but occasionally shows flashes of brilliance.

Anthony Wong’s screen career showed early promise in his 1993 film ‘The Untold Story’ which won him a best actor gong at the 14th Hong Kong Film Awards. However, his most acclaimed role to date was playing Inspector Wong in the Infernal Affairs Trilogy (if you haven’t seen those set of movies, please do so).

Actress Anne Suzuki plays Natsuki Mogi who is a classmate of Takumi.

Her breakthrough came in the 2002 action blockbuster The Returner which won her Best New Actor at the 26th Japan Academy Awards.

With Intial D: Driftracer, Anne Suzuki has arrived and you’ll be seeing a lot more of her in the future, mark my words.

Rounding off the cast I have to mention Chapman To, who stars as Itsuki Tachibana.

He provides the comic relief throughout the movie and is great to watch. He plays a spoilt brat with delusions of grandeur and longs to be a street racer. He’s also the best friend of Takumi, which stems from their fathers also being old friends.