Film review: Trivisa (樹大招風)

 

"Trivisa (樹大招風)" Poster

Source: https://image1.thenewslens.com/2016/04/Trivisa-poster-683x1024.jpg?q=100&w=1000

Trivisa was a gangster movie that consists of three stories based on three real Hong Kong local criminals, Yip Kai-foon, Kwai Ping-hung and Cheung Tsz-keung during 1997. Gordon Lam Ka-Tung, Richie Ren, Jordan Chan Siu-Chun were the main characters played as Kwai Ching-hung, Yip Kwok-Foon and Cheuk Tze-Keung respectively. Three stories were separately directed by three local young directors, Frank Hui, Jevons Au and Vicky Wong. It reconstructed how three criminals’ lives in Hong Kong and their changes before Hong Kong Hand-over.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ2aZaYdB2I

The setting revealed the collective memory for Hong Kongers. Memory is parts of entire common feelings of a group of individuals that they were linked together in the previous days (Halbwachs 1992). It indicated that individuals would share common feelings towards the events and “to call them to mind” (Halbwachs 1992). In the film, three main characters were portrayed and built on the historical events of the “Three Kings of thieves”. It also included some news clip related to the real events, for example, the fight between Kwai Ping-hung and the police. Besides, the film also simulated the living environment in Kowloon city during 90s. In the film, low flying airplane was shown. Sometimes, the airplane noise were placed without the plane. In the film, this situation had been placed with aircraft background to emphasis the living environment. Although the film did not show the location but it could raise the individuals were in that period of time.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ2aZaYdB2I

Furthermore, unlike other gangster film, it focus on the humanity of the characters rather than violence. “Memory industries” (Storey 2010), mass media, produce representations that invited individual to feel and think the past. Directors placed their idea to raised concerns for individual, thinking about the past. From the past, those three real persons were portrayed as criminal, killing people with gun. However, one of the directors, Jevons Au, said that Yip was not fierce as individual imagined and he had found more information about him because he did not hurt individuals with an AK47 (begin tai wan convert 2016). Vicky Wong, another director also said that he used humanity to talk about the criminals (begin tai wan convert 2016). It could also reflect the multi-accentual (Lee 1993) that signs would have different meanings in accordance with their users in various context. Therefore, in the film, directors could assign their certain ideas into the film (Stoke 2013). Thus, film could reveal how directors placed their belief that they are human with emotion. In the film, there are some scene that make us to think about the characters’ personality and their purpose for being a thief. Kwai Ching-Hung, played by Gordon Lam, takes care of his friend’s daughter. Moreover, he gives up to kill his friend when his attempt was exposed because he is his best friend. Also, those characters also repeated the word

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ2aZaYdB2I

“earning money to alive”. From this scene, it could indicated that criminals were described from personal emotion, or even humanity that they have emotions but not killing people on purpose. They just used alternative ways to make a living. Thus, the film gave other views for individuals to think about them from other perceptions.

Official Trailer: 

 

Reference

begin tai wan convert 2016, 樹大招風 製作特輯 陳小春, 林家棟, 任賢齊,    YouTube video, 25 June. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SRWv2kGzTY. [28 March 2017].

Halbwachs, M 1992, On Collective Memory, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Lee, MJ 1993, Consumer Culture Reborn: The Cultural Politics of Consumption,    Routledge, London.

Stokes, J 2013, How to Do Media and Cultural Studies, SAGE Publication, London.

Storey, J 2010, Memory industries, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.