After “Parasite”And “Squid Game” struck planet-wide notes with their critique of elitism, Trevor Choi’s “Smashing Frank” is a timely Hong Kong twist on the revenge-against-the-rich theme.
It will be pitched at the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum, (HAF), which this week runs alongside FilMart rights markets.
“This is a comedy-drama about four millennials who form a squad to rob the rich. During the course of the crime, they are outraged as they gradually realize that the older generation will never change their ways. This motivates them to use stealing as their way of fighting back against the rich and the unkind,”Choi speaks out about the project being presented this week at the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum.
Hong Kong has long had a massive gulf between the super-rich and the poor and other films, including Josie Ho’s “Dream Home” and Fruit Chan’s more recent “Coffin Homes,”It has been explored. What might it offer? “Smashing Frank” another edge is the complicated political context in Hong Kong that has arisen from the pro-democracy movement, its put-down by the city government and the territory’s self-isolation strategy under COVID. All of these factors have caused tension in the city. Choi insists that he will take a measured approach.
“That [the protagonists] only target wealthy, older folks is a socio-political angle. The film is a metaphor. Audiences will have to work it out for themselves,”Choi explained to Variety that “Smashing Frank”It is neither an obscure film of art nor budgeted as such.
It is priced at $1.5 million. $100,000 of that was secured prior to HAF.
“Hong Kong film making is very tough at the moment. It has become very polarized,”Choi says. Choi explains that commercial films must target China’s mainland market. They have gotten stuck in the cops and gangster veins or are very low-budget art houses titles.
“In my case it is neither. ‘Smashing Frank’ is not addressing only a Hong Kong market, but audiences everywhere. It is intended to be a piece of entertainment with something meaningful at its core,”Choi. “To me these are the best movies. Like ‘Parasite’ or [2017 Taiwan title] ‘The Great Buddha Plus’.”
Choi, who was partly educated abroad, returned to his native Hong Kong in 2018 to take up a course at the Hong Kong Film Directors’ Guild. Fruit Chan, the rebellious veteran writer/director and now producer of The Hong Kong Film Directors’ Guild, mentored Choi. “Smashing Frank.” “Initially, in 2019, we thought that the First Film Initiative might be the place to fund it, but that was not successful and turned to HAF instead.
That setback has been turned to the project’s advantage. “Since then I’ve had almost weekly meetings with Fruit Chan and he has helped push it through maybe twenty rewrites,”Choi. “From HAF we are looking at all kinds of collaboration, from co-production to distribution, and will release a concept video after the market.”