Triviṣa

Before Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997, it was hunting grounds for some of China’s most notorious criminals, men so brutal that they inspired numerous films. Here, Johnnie To oversees a project wherein three of his protégés (Frank Hui, Jevons Au, and Vicky Wong) each filmed a separate story about one of these criminals, and To and his editors fused them together into one shimmering, bleak, black portrait of a city whose future is on fire. Cheung Tze-keung kidnapped the son of Hong Kong’s richest man, and was eventually executed in China for offenses too numerous to list. Here he’s bored and looking to pull off the crime of the century. Kwai Ping-hung, once called Hong Kong’s most-wanted criminal is seen trying to pull off a new venture with a pair of Mainland crooks. Yip Kai-foon, famous for knocking over jewelry stores and staging AK-47 battles with cops in the middle of crowded city streets is attempting to restart his career as a smuggler. The word “triviṣa” comes from the Buddhist notion of the “three poisons” that lead to suffering: delusion, desire, and fury. And It’s an appropriate title for a movie about men trying to shoot, claw, stab, and scream their way out of hell. Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York.