Soi Cheang confirms after Limbo
With Soi Cheang, Hong Kong cinema fans (and not only) have reason to rejoice. Even though a good part of his filmography remains unpublished in France (or only on DVD), and despite his great successes in China (the trilogy The Monkey King), only recently have we begun to become passionate about the director. More precisely with Limbo (2021)a great suffocating and sticky thriller in black and white. Then it’s his modern and nostalgic action film City of Darkness which gave us a slap in the face at the 77th Cannes Film Festival (Out of Competition). And even if this one will be released in French theaters on August 14, there is already a lot to enjoy with his previous production, Crazy destiny (filmed 2 years later Limbo), in theaters from July 17.
Crazy destiny : A Hong Kong Thriller That Turns Into Madness
Soi Cheang is a prolific auteur. And to see him follow his films with such ease without repeating himself or disappointing is extraordinary. The director continues his exploration of Hong Kong, but this time he subverts our expectations by transforming his serial killer film into a sort of friend movie led by two madmen. In Crazy destinyit is the fate that unites two atypical personalities. While a man is killing a prostitute, a mentally unstable delivery boy (Lokman Yeung) rings the victim’s doorbell, leaving the killer in trouble.
Then it rolls a master of feng shui (Lam Ka-tung)convinced that the prostitute is in danger and that he must save her. Both arrive too late and cannot prevent the killer from escaping. Only their meeting will be decisive. The master wants to change the fate of the young delivery boy, whose violent impulses will inevitably lead him to prison.
A clever mix of genres
Can we really go against our destiny? Soi Cheang asks himself this asa dark and desperate journeyand following these two madmen, of whom we do not know which of the two is more disturbed. If the master is extremely empathetic and is himself a victim of past traumas, the delivery boy is in constant duality with his impulses. By bringing together these two very different types of characters, the director sometimes provokes a form of entertainment (a supposed burlesque) and proves very skilled in creating tension in the face of horror. In fact, we find in Crazy destiny codes of the horror genre, with frightening bloody sequences, and a more social aspect obtained by these two misfits lost in this world.
A way for Soi Cheang to assert itself again and again a rather tragic portrait of Hong Kong. Without placing the emphasis on the city as was instead the case Limbothe director here favours a hallucinatory representation of the places. The director also presumes the supernatural aspect without sinking into the grotesque. On the contrary, it uses it intelligently, using it as a powerful tool to make this world increasingly disordered, which will make even the rational detective leading the investigation lose his balance. Therefore, far from resembling the usual thrillers of the genre (for example by making the murderer very secondary), Soi Cheang surprises with its boldness and continues to revitalize Hong Kong cinema.
Crazy destiny by Soi Cheang, in theaters from July 17, 2024. Above is the trailer.
Source: Cine Serie
Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.
