2016 ‘樹大招風’ Directed by Jevons Au Man-Kit, Frank Hui …
The film is set in Hong Kong before its handover to China in 1997, when the city’s booming economy inadvertently attracts three infamous criminals from Mainland China to cross the border and make their fortune in Hong Kong. Although unknown to one another, their notoriety has bred the rumor that the triumvirate will join forces to stage a shocking heist together, so much so that the criminals themselves get wind of it and are tempted to do just that.
Richie Jen Gordon Lam Jordan Chan To Yin-Gor Zhang Kai Le Zi-Long Philip Keung Thimjapo Chattida Aoi Ma Lau Ga-Yung Kam Loi-Kwan Sam Kai-Sen Huang Tommy Wong Wong Wa-Wo Lam Suet Ben Yuen Belinda Yan Law Chi-Sing Ho Ka-Wah Hui Bing-Hang Li Ying-Tao Leung Kin-Ping Elliot Ngok Stephen Au Vincent Wan Yeung-Ming Chiu Chi-Shing Lee Man-Biu Frankie Ng Chi-Hung Xiong Xin-Xin
Chu tai chiu fung, 수대초풍
Only example I can think of in a crime film when a character ingests too much coke and it's the soft drink.
there's a shot of a gangster holding his cigar with his chopsticks and it's the coolest thing i have seen in my entire life
A Johnnie To produced triptych about a trio of gangsters in the approaching days of the 1997 holdover and dealing in their own quiet desperate way with their irrelevance in face of the new order. Each story is handled by a different director (Frank Hui, Jevons Au and Vicky Wong) but edited together in a way that suggests To’s earlier Life Without Principle. It seems like every 10 year anniversary of the holdover brings new batch of movies haunted by it (2006-2007 batch included Milkyway’s own Hooked on You), this one can be a bit muddled on spots but the anxiety is real and carries the film along.
Trivisa is the latest product of Johnnie To’s Milkyway Image studio (at least, until his new film opens here on June 24th). Directed by the young trio of Jevons Au, Vicky Wong and Frank Hui, it’s a crime story set on the eve of Hong Kong’s handover to Mainland China in 1997. A trio of arch-criminals, the so-called “Kings of Thieves” try to make ends meet in the increasingly troublesome last days of the British imperium. Lam Ka-tung tries to keep a low-profile, going after small jewelry store scores, Richie Jen transitions from firearm-heavy bank robbery to business-like smuggling operations, sneaking electronics into the PRC with the full complicity of the local government (and necessitating a series of humiliating meetings…
I live life to the fullest. C’est la vie. There’s no other way.
-Cheuk Tze-keung
No surprise to see after the fact that Johnnie To was one of the producers as the film could be passed off as one he directed.
Three very different criminals, who have never met, but are notorious and known as the “Kings of Thieves” have their lives changed by the simple fact that people know that they are all in Hong Kong at the same time.
I liked the premise quite a bit. They aren’t even doing anything that should affect the others lives, it’s just that people can’t imagine it’s a coincidence that they are all in Hong Kong. Quite liked the performances too
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Degrees of Separation from Last Movie:
-Trivisa with Gordon Lam
-Was in Election 2 with Andy On
-Was in Black Mask 2 with Tyler Mane
-Was in Victor Crowley
Not much to say on this: it has a vaguely intriguing premise, but the three stories are of differing qualities, with Richie Ren’s being the best, and Jordan Chan’s being by far the worst.
This is probably the last time I’ll be using Shudder. Their UK collection feels empty, they significantly cropped the bottom part of the screen in Noroi, and their servers are terrible; every 10 minutes the quality (including the hardcoded subtitles) would drop to about 240p.
A Johnnie To produced gangster drama directed by Frank Hui, Jevons Au and Vicky Wong, Trivisa tells the stories of three gangster kingpins on the cusp of the Hong Kong handover. The crooks in question all have some form of need or hankering to return to former glory days (naturally reflecting the anxieties of the Hong Kong people in 1997).
There's some good deconstruction of genre tropes here, and some themes that are timely even in 2020, with the overbearing presence of police on the streets, corruption and collaboration between police and triads, and friction between Hong Kongers and mainlanders.
There are compelling performances from the leads, and most impressively, supporting player Phillip Keung, who is something of a sympathetic anchor for the audience in among all of the deeply unlikable protagonists, but the plot never really builds to anything. That's maybe the point, but it doesn't make for a hugely satisfactory watch.
Considering that Johnnie To produced this, it's not surprising that this film feels like a huge love letter to Johnnie To gangster films like Exiled. Still, considering that his latest output has been a bit off center, a film like Trivisa comes as a throwback breath of fresh air. Instead of the big spectacle that China has been craving, this one goes for the subtle and the intentionally slow build and it works splendidly. The casting is perfection and the tone/atmosphere works to craft a film that's all about the weight of power instead of the flash of it. Fair warning though, this is NOT an action movie and instead grinds itself into the dramatic thriller genre, so keep that in mind before seeing it. Well worth the watch though.
three fallen kings as twilight falls on their world. like to's three the curtain falls just as we expect the climax, and realize we weren't watching that kind of film after all. lovingly obsessed with procedure, language, manners, and a sort of formalized/falsely-convivial dialogue; none of the shoot-outs are half as interesting as the obsessive exchange of vases. as always lam suet gets the best laugh.
Berlinale 2016 #12: Johnnie To's Milkyway Productions, which took this project under its wings, presents an intertwined tale of the portraits of three legendary gangsters from Hong Kong. A film that combines the efforts of three debutante directors. The time and place is just moments before the handover in 1997 in HK itself and in Ghuangzhou, China, where they try to set up a new business in trading luxury goods illegally. The cinematography is done quite well and you'll find some Hk styled pathos and humour, too - as well as some blood shedded heroically. This is not an unforgettable film, but a solid effort that knows very well how to entertain.
Slightly underwhelming plot, but the acting is pretty solid. Gordon Lam really sells the image of a ruthless criminal.
When the credits roll, I'm not surprised to see the director for Yip Kwok Foon's part is Jevons Au. Quite ironic how the Chinese officials seem to be more greedy than the criminals.
P.S. one of the most notable anecdotes about this film's production is that the crew was sued by the government for printing fake bank notes
Even Hong Kong's criminal masterminds are no match for China in a game of guile and chicanery.
