Program Note
Producer Johnnie To’s old collaborators gather in aspiration to excite fans of Hong Kong Noir films. Director Soi Cheang’s follow-up to which brings the attention at Berlinale is a grisly murder mystery and absurdist comedy, gives his fan what they most ever wanted. Veteran DoP, Cheng Siu-keung’s camerawork is marvelous and Lokman Yeung, a member of the Hong Kong boy band, “Mirror”, manages to bring pathos in portraying the young psychopath, Siu Tung, who resembles the dark city adrift in the midst of Covid-19. Two middle-aged guys hover around Siu. A fortune teller master tries to help Siu to avert his fate of committing murder by using tricks and devices. The other is the detective, who once sent Siu to jail. As high school student, Siu, kills a street cat, the detective believes that Siu’s bloodthirst is inevitable. On a rainy day, mad fate leads Siu to murder, and while he stares at the corpse of the prostitute, he’s fascinated, but he does not want to go to jail. He doesn’t want to succumb to that fate, but is it possible for his free will to defeat the power of “mad fate”? (Creta D. KIM)