We're Nothing At All: Psychological Thriller Examines Perpetrators' Lives in a Hong Kong Bus Bombing
By Alice Shih
Rating: A-
It’s Valentine’s Day 2025, and a double decker bus explodes in Hong Kong, killing 16 people and injuring 22. Prematurely retired forensic police specialist Lung (Patrick Tam) is called back to investigate and match dismembered body parts so distraught families can identify the remains.
A crime thriller or a terrorist tale? No, the Audience Choice Award winner of the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival, We’re Nothing at All, is actually much deeper.
Anson Kong and Ansonbean are in a relationship that takes a bad turn in We’re Nothing At All
Herman Yau is a seasoned genre film director. He has directed more than 80 films since the late ‘80s, shot more than 30 and written close to 30 screenplays on top of producing when needed. He’s a real film veteran and industry renaissance man. However, this is his first ever self-financed independent project.
Yau’s visual style has always been bold, using unflinching images to deliver the story over expository dialogue. Viewers be warned that the crime scene is gruesomely depicted. This heightens our anguish for both the victims and, eventually, the victimizers. We follow the detective’s discoveries with an eye as to why the offenders committed such a cold-blooded act.
To that end, the title references the powerlessness felt by a same-sex couple when they confront discrimination in their community. Fai (Anson Kong) is an underpaid construction worker. Traumatized by childhood abuse, he connects with people awkwardly, until he meets Ike (Ansonbean), a struggling artist who is rejected by his father (Suk-Yi Chan) because of his sexuality.
They fall for each other. But love alone cannot keep them afloat, as they struggle with money and family issues. Despair and possible criminal prosecution lead to suicidal thoughts.
Blaming apathetic people around them for their spiralling misfortune, they decide to bring down the community with them as a protest. In Hong Kong, this “Perish Together” mentality can be seen in deprived youths. Written on their door is, “In an avalanche, not a single snow flake is innocent.”
This is their mindset when they are subjected to anti-LGBTQ+ violence and other indignities. Unable to take revenge on the real perpetrators, they see vengeance towards the seemingly innocent as justified to showcase the stench of a society that excludes them.
What Fai and Ike don’t realize is that Ike’s caring, pregnant sister is also on the bus. Had they known, would they re-consider? Is every “snow flake” really responsible? The defiant “Perish Together” retaliation is dangerously non-exclusive, destroying virtuous people who might be on their side. Yau is making a statement by writing this plotline into the narrative.
It is a pleasant surprise to see the performance of the gay couple, who are both Cantopop boy band members offscreen. They shed their sexy idol appearances to play unappealing brutes. Portraying homosexuals is still taboo by some in the Asian entertainment industry. In contrast to his fluid dance moves in concert, the physicality Anson Kong brings to his blue-collar character is stiff and jagged, as befits an overworked labourer.
Another scene-stealing performance is delivered by Amanda Lee, who plays Fai’s addict Mom, a character that sent chills up my spine.
The credibly portrayed characters drive the story, but the reason why Lung left the police force and his marital relationship seems plot-driven, a tag-on to boost LGBTQ+ appeal.
As an experienced genre film writing/director, Yau adds emotional layers to a story he obviously cares about. By using the thriller mystery genre as bait, he shares with the audience his view on social prejudice towards the underprivileged and marginalized and makes an implicit call for change..
We’re Nothing at All. Written and directed by Herman Yau. Starring Patrick Tam, Anson Kong, Ansonbean and Amanda Lee. In theatres June 19.