TRIVISA

樹大招風

Directed by Frank Hui, Jevons Au, Vicky Wong Wai-Kit

Asia Pop! / Hong Kong / 2016 / Thriller / 97 mins / Cantonese, Mandarin, Thai with Chinese, English subtitles / DCP

‹ ›

Watch Trailer

TRIVISA

UltraStar Mission Valley
Saturday, November 5, 2016 9:05 pm

Description

Opening Night Film, 2016 Hong Kong International Film Festival
Official Selection, 2016 Berlin International Film Festival
Official Selection, 2016 Edinburgh International Film Festival

It’s hard out there for a crook. Just ask the three infamous thieves who’ve settled into unfulfilling lives of apathy, insecurity, and embarrassment in this violent and political anti-crime saga. Set in 1997 Hong Kong immediately before the handover to China, TRIVISA is nostalgic for the good old days when shootouts in broad daylight and daring heists made for legends. Now, every crime is merely a transaction.

Former bank robber and AK-47-wielding badass Yip (Richie Jen) has settled down selling stolen electronics in China, but spends most of his time bribing corrupt bureaucrats to keep business rolling. Shape-shifting Kwai (Ka Tung Lam) stays with an old friend as he plans to rob a gold depository after spending years on the run for the murder of three undercover police officers. Cheuk (Jordan Chan) is a flamboyant kidnapper with the dream of enlisting his rivals for a super team of criminals whose mere existence will transcend the surrounding culture of uncertainty.

Directors Jevons Au, Frank Hui, and Vicky Wong weave these stories together with ease, giving each character a singular thread that deals with identity, technology, and self-worth. Faced with the changing expectations and parameters of their profession, this unheroic trio comes face to face with their own mortality. It all builds toward an inglorious crescendo of comeuppance that stands as a fittingly brutal allegory for Hong Kong and China’s tenuous future. –Glenn Heath, Jr.