Herman Yau Lai-to’s We’re Nothing at All (我們不是什麼) begins with an innocuous sight on Hong Kong’s cityscape, a familiar double decker bus winding its way through Kowloon’s tight side streets on, perhaps ironically, Valentine’s Day. As it nears its next stop it explodes in a violent storm of fire, shattered glass and human body parts. The charred remains of the 17 passengers are scattered across pavement, storefronts and other cars, and the police department immediately calls in one of its semi-retired forensics experts to investigate the blast.
On the surface, the film’s opening presents it as another fiery action thriller by Yau, the prolific one-time exploitation master best known for the now-classic The Untold Story (1993), the Shock Wave (2017–2020) and The White Storm (2013–2023), and most recently Customs Frontline (2024). And indeed, the carnage will turn off some viewers, and the fire may have contributed to pushing the film’s release back from its original Christmas slot to a world premiere at the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival; opening so soon after the Tai Po catastrophe was deemed insensitive.
But Yau has veered off the commercial entertainment track multiple time over the span of his 80-plus credits as director, tackling stories about rights for sex workers (Whispers and Moans, 2007), childhood sexual abuse (Sara, 2015), race and justice (From the Queen to the Chief Executive, 2001) as well as dabbling in romantic comedy (77 Heartwarmings, 2021) and biopics with the Ip Man duology starring Donnie Yen, The Legend Is Born: Ip Man (2010) and Ip Man: The Final Fight (2013). We’re Nothing at All marries Yau’s two instincts in one of his most challenged and assured films.
“The story is loosely based on true events that happened in Wuhan in 1998,” Yau explains of the film’s genesis. “I learnt of it when I was doing the research for Shock Wave 3 [coming in 2027], but the story didn’t really fit the kind of film that my producers expected. So I relocated it to Hong Kong, changed it from a single deck bus to a double decker and bumped the number of deaths by one to account for a pregnant passenger.”
-
- Patrick Tam as forensic investigator Lung, We are nothing at all – Photo courtesy Golden Scene
-
- Fai (Anson Kong) and Ike (Ansonbean) reach a breaking point in Herman Yau’s movie – Photo courtesy Golden Scene
Local but universal
The investigation into the bombing starts when Lung (Patrick Tam Yiu-man, Finch & Midland), a gifted forensics specialist, is called in for his expertise. Unfolding in flashbacks as Lung and his assistant (Wong You-nam, Ciao UFO) work towards identifying the unrecognisable passengers, the events that led up to that moment are revealed in layers. It’s no spoiler that Fai (Mirror’s Anson Kong Ip-sang, Back Home) and Ike (Ansonbean, Good Game) are the duo responsible for the tragedy, so We’re Nothing at All pivots on what led them to their breaking point.
The film is a daring and intentional urban cautionary tale that at first blush feels a tiny bit sloppy and unfocused. It’s as if Yau, who also wrote the screenplay, were simply throwing random hot button topics at the screen and seeing what might stick. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth. It has a great deal in common with The Untold Story, even if it’s not nearly as graphic as that Category III breakout. Yau recalls sneaking into a theatre to gauge audience reactions back then. “Every time I saw some walk-outs about 10 or 15 minutes in, and then another 10 or so would leave after the restaurant murder scene,” he says. “I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens here. But I don’t think anyone will feel uneasy because of violence. I think it will be emotional unease.”
Over the course of the film, Fai and Ike are confronted with a barrage of injustices they have little control over but which impact every aspect of their lives. Fai is a construction worker living on the poverty line thanks in part to unethical construction firms. Ike is an artist who’s been deemed a pest by city ordinances and tossed out of his home for his sexuality. They are surrounded or consumed by drug abuse, homophobia, trauma, constant messaging about how strong the GDP is, leading ultimately to disenfranchisement and feelings of powerlessness.
Lung isn’t particularly secure in his place in the world either, and is only tolerated because he has a skill that’s desperately needed. Yau has created a fable of sorts, but he piles on frustrations familiar to Hongkongers and cleverly wraps a bit of subversive collective therapy inside cinematographers Mandy Ngai Man-yin and Derek Siu Hing-wa’s saturated, sometime garish images and accessible crime thriller language.
“I had no therapeutic intentions. I don’t think [Fai and Ike’s] frustrations are unique to Hong Kong,” he says. “People are suffering oppression, injustice, economic inequity everywhere. In simple words, they’re not happy.”
-
- Struggling artist Ike (Ansonbean) in We are nothing at all – Photo courtesy Golden Scene
-
- Anson Kong as Fai in Herman Yau’s thriller – Photo courtesy Golden Scene
Self-financing for creative freedom
We’re Nothing at All is the first feature produced under Yau’s own The Plan Company, until now used purely for commercial work and music videos. The film’s tricky subject matter and its marginal mainstream appeal, however, made securing actors difficult, with the exception of Kong who agreed immediately and who was eventually joined by a strong supporting cast that includes actor-director Kearen Pang Sau-wai (Mama’s Affair), Ben Yuen Foo-wah (Pavane for an Infant), Rachel Leung Yung-ting (In Broad Daylight), Thor Lok Chan-wai (Measure in Love), actor-writer Mak Pui-tung (Papa) as a furious cabbie, and popular comedian Dickson, also known as Yuen Man-tai.
Unsurprisingly, Yau says it wasn’t easy to secure an investor for this project. “Conventional wisdom of investors means a story involving a gay couple isn’t audience-friendly, it’s going to be a Category III movie, and then trying to sell the film in the future might affect the price, the potential for buyers, and the content can limit markets,” he says with a shrug. Taking all those factors into consideration Yau opted to finance it himself and assume all the risk — which he actually found satisfying. “I didn’t intend the film to be therapy for audiences but it was therapeutic for me on a filmmaking level.”
Following its bow at HKIFF the film is off to Udine for the Far East Film Festival, where international viewers will get the first look. Yau admits there’s plenty that speaks to Hongkongers in the film, and despite the grimness of Fai and Ike’s lives, there are moments of dark comedy in the film. As Yau says, “It’s funny as well as ridiculous, and yes, I think locals will laugh more than others.” But he stresses how widespread Fai and Ike’s struggles are right now. We’re Nothing at All is a prime example of universality through specificity, and there’s just one thing Yau hopes viewers will take away.
“Awareness. Of the world, of other people,” he finishes. “Of anything and everything, and the possibilities for tragedy.”
We’re Nothing at All opens in cinemas on April 3.
Zolima is an official media partner of HKIFF
