G Affairs (G殺, 2018)
Director: Cheuk Pan Lee
Cast: Hanna Chan, Lu Huang, Sen Lam, Kyle Li, Alan Luk, Chapman To
G Affairs is a 2018 Hong Kong thriller that puts together the pieces after a severed woman’s head rolls into an apartment randomly.
G Affairs plays a bit like a story with connected characters and each of their stories that result in the final scene. Its title can be interpreted in two ones: one of the literal way of “G” Affairs, a story in chapters of words that start with the letter G or in the literal Chinese way, G, the Mandarin pronunciation of chicken, which in Cantonese is the common use for prostitutes. Not only the title highlights two ways but the story itself not only strives to show a side of Hong Kong post 2014 Umbrella Movement but also the two sides of parent and youth expectation, that things can be seen as good or bad as with the final destiny of someone can also be tragic or lucky for anyone with the same situation. Its the debut film for director Cheuk Pan Li and yet, there is a lot of maturity to the content he chooses to portray as well as the way he executes the story as well as shoot the film. Definitely choosing to give a rebirth to the Category III films, equivalent to a hard R rating is one that also deserves praise as Hong Kong films have moved away from it as it becomes dependent on the Chinese market.
The story is portrayed as a scrambled timeline taking place in the present with parts of the past that eventually link all the characters’ timeline together. No doubt a growing popular use of how to portray thrillers especially when executed well, the finale can be well hidden in all the little details. When it isn’t, it can be confusing. Its a test for its audience in the end to capture the details and make sense of it all and that will determine whether the finale will be far-fetched or logical. For G Affairs, other than at times stretching the use of the G vocabulary a little far, therefore making the story feel a bit on rails, it does a good job to not reveal too much but also create a compelling story that involves all these characters and yet also give them their spotlight to highlight the issues they face.To be fair, just like The ABCs of Death might have its more odd selection, G Affairs using that concept also pushes it far but still remains fairly clever and each of these opening up a chapter for one of the 5 characters involved. The film is thought-provocative to take a look into the little world of the different people in the society both as a result of the 1997 Handover after 20 years while also pushing the morals and ethics behind the scenarios as well as the stereotypes that drive the division whether its origin or age or profession.
Its hard to exactly pinpoint how well G Affairs will portray to the general public. In reality, the film embeds itself in a lot of Hong Kong views and to connect better with the material will need a certain level of understanding between the conflicting point of views after the 1997 Handover as well as the post 2014 Umbrella Movement and what it meant for the people living there. However, as a debut director, Cheuk Pan Li commands the camera well, adding in a good level of visually appealing shots to increase the cinematography of the whole piece. While the letter G is used a little bit too frequently and moves probably too fast and a few times, feeling fairly insignificant, the whole film as a whole is done in a clever way using finding its references in an array of elements that do contribute to the film like its music choices.
Tranquil Dreams 