Only example I can think of in a crime film when a character ingests too much coke and it's the soft drink.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Even Hong Kong's criminal masterminds are no match for China in a game of guile and chicanery.

You cant really tell why it deserves a 5 star. It just about feeling. To me, best movie gives audience the feeling of sth, eg. the atmosphere fimemakers trying to create, emotion which is not tell by lines but acting&filming etc.
The first time I watch this film, I thought its piece of garbage. Why it awards the best picture huhh??? I must be missing sth.
The second time I watch this, wow man, you really did the job. Because I was focusing on the plot but not other elements of movie in the first time(The plot is not impressive tbh). It tells the bewilderment of citizens before 97 handover which portraited by the 3 "Kings of theive". The absurdity of ending uplifts your feeling of sorrowful, reflective emotion. Should definitely check out this one!

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

A bit hard to follow but that’s cuz it the names. Beutiful stuff, liked the themes.

“We will be fatter than Chow Yun-fat!”

Maybe it’s because I was tired, but really struggled to follow it.

Really unfortunate how dull this ends up being.

such a bold imaginative take and phenomenal performances.

Enjoyable crime drama. To follow up on (aka copy) what some others have said here - once you sort out the "anthology" set up, it works a lot better. Good performances from our 3 main Kings of Crime, and all very distinct. Not nuanced, really, but I assume that's not the point. As an ignorant individual, I figure I missed a bit (a lot?) of the subtext regarding the Hong Kong transfer of power from Britain to China. But I never felt lost - at it at least worked in a broad sense. It's got some violence that sort of shocked me too, which doesn't happen all that often.

Wow, I really liked this. Great approach to a unique story. Managing to be about real life thiefs, comment on Hong Kong’s transfer of sovereignty and be a look into connected paths, destiny and coincidence. Very Johnny To, he didn’t direct but he was a producer and these are themes and settings that he uses a lot in his work. Also Lam Suet is in it so there’s that too. Great performances and it looks brilliant too, somewhere between a To film and a Yi’nan Diao film.

Familiar Strangers are individuals that we regularly observe but do not interact with. By definition a Familiar Stranger (1) must be observed, (2) repeatedly, and (3) without any interaction. The claim is that the relationship we have with these Familiar Strangers is indeed a real relationship in which both parties agree to mutually ignore each other, without any implications of hostility.

Their downfall was wanting to be more than this. That's why you don't make new friends.

最后的那个片段真是全片精髓！！

Fantastic direction, great characters, very mediocre plot.

B-

A film directed by three protégés of Johnny To?! I had to see this!

On the plus side, the directors nail the Milkyway Image look and feel.  The style, the characters, the sudden outbursts of violence.  There’s some great stuff here.  The problem is, it’s an experiment.  And it doesn’t quite work.

The film is really an anthology.  Three story threads, with three sets of characters, each shot by a different director.  But the stories are edited together, cutting back and forth among the (way too many) characters, as if building up to some crazy climax where everything ties together.  And it does, sort of, but not in a truly satisfying way.

It’s all supposed to be a comment on the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, but beyond a surface level “they’re all fucked” I’ll be damned if I know what that comment is.