The garbage piles around the city almost become a visual metaphor for human sins everything people discard, hide, or refuse to deal with.

But somewhere along the way that thought started dissolving. The piles of trash faded into the background and the people came forward bruised, cruel, desperate, guilty, but still painfully human.

And that's what unsettled me the most. Garbage doesn't feel anything. Garbage doesn't regret, suffer, or carry the weight of what it's done.

Humans do.

So the film left me in a strange place disgusted by what people are capable of yet unable to stop feeling pity for them at the same time.

The garbage piles around the city almost become a visual metaphor for human sins everything people discard, hide, or refuse to deal with.

But somewhere along the way that thought started dissolving. The piles of trash faded into the background and the people came forward bruised, cruel, desperate, guilty, but still painfully human.

And that's what unsettled me the most. Garbage doesn't feel anything. Garbage doesn't regret, suffer, or carry the weight of what it's done.

Humans do.

So the film left me in a strange place disgusted by what people are capable of yet unable to stop feeling pity for them at the same time.

i attempted to watch this film 2 years ago but halfway through i found myself not able to keep watching for how dark and depressing it gets (considering i like grimey and disturbing films) it came quite as a surprise to me. 

and now having to revisit this film, the atypical neo-noir aesthetic really brings out the essence of the invisible side of hong kong, it's so loud but yet so hidden. you don't get to see it often, not even when you're in it. is it ironic to call it the aesthetic of garbage?

knowing soi cheang also directed 九龍城寨, he really has his way of portraying the alternate hong kong in his storytelling.

i attempted to watch this film 2 years ago but halfway through i found myself not able to keep watching for how dark and depressing it gets (considering i like grimey and disturbing films) it came quite as a surprise to me. 

and now having to revisit this film, the atypical neo-noir aesthetic really brings out the essence of the invisible side of hong kong, it's so loud but yet so hidden. you don't get to see it often, not even when you're in it. is it ironic to call it the aesthetic of garbage?

knowing soi cheang also directed 九龍城寨, he really has his way of portraying the alternate hong kong in his storytelling.

These cops dumb af

These cops dumb af

really pleasant twist on (unintended?) revenge in crime movies, where the ever changing relationship between the perpetrator and victim serves as the focal point to the movie. couldn't have been w/o wong to, as she not only was the smartest character by far but made more sympathetic by her desire to live despite constantly being confronted w/ death and suffering. loved the black/white... definitely added to the grim environment and hammered in a sense of hopelessness, and had some of the best chase scenes I've seen in a while.

really pleasant twist on (unintended?) revenge in crime movies, where the ever changing relationship between the perpetrator and victim serves as the focal point to the movie. couldn't have been w/o wong to, as she not only was the smartest character by far but made more sympathetic by her desire to live despite constantly being confronted w/ death and suffering. loved the black/white... definitely added to the grim environment and hammered in a sense of hopelessness, and had some of the best chase scenes I've seen in a while.

Some wounds don’t fade; they just change shape.

Some wounds don’t fade; they just change shape.