When news broke of a “schizophrenic 15-year-old murdering mother and sister” in 2010, the whole of Hong Kong was glued to their screens from the moment of the incident to the ultimate ruling. Yet, slowly, people stopped caring. What was left was the father of the family who had to go on, continue moving forward with his son, and continue being a father. 

14 years later, a Hong Kong movie based on this incident premiered. When Director Phillip Yung made the movie, he wasn’t focused on the crime or the motives, the criticisms or doubts. Rather, Yung wanted to find out whether a father who has suffered a tremendous beating to the heart can pick himself out from the pits of despair. Sean Lau who plays the father delivers a raw, nuanced and moving performance that leaves audiences with much to think about. 

After finishing the script for Port of Call (2015), Yung was tasked by another director to gather information about the murder case and to prepare the script for the movie. Through this process, he met Mr Kam, the father in the case. “I talked a lot with him, and I realised that a lot of things can’t be fabricated,” Yung says, “This includes social conventions and the complicated relationships between people.” Yung was deeply moved by the father’s story. 

Yung’s magnum opus Port of Call (2015) is based on the real case of a 16-year-old girl being dismembered in Hong Kong in 2008. The Sparring Partner (2022), which Yung produced, is based on the real case of a son murdering his parents in 2013. When it came to Papa (2024), Yung was also interested in local crimes. “I’m not really creative, I’m not good at imagining something from scratch. If you asked me to think of a script, it might take more than 10 years,” Yung says, emphasising that he was more interested in finding out the stories of those implicated in the cases.

“It’s natural to experience impermanence in life. It’s a crazy but real feeling. This story speaks to how someone tries to overcome, or resolve life’s challenges when they experience impermanence to the extreme,” Yung says, “I want to use the most extreme example to portray the most fundamental conditions of human nature. This includes fear, or the love between people that doesn’t manage to be expressed. I think that using this as the foundation and method of storytelling is the most compelling part of this story.” The father was aware of their intentions to film the movie, and provided a lot of details to support their adaptation process. 

Yung spent 9 months finishing the script for Port of Call (2015), but he ruminated on the Papa (2024) script for 10 years. In these 10 years, he experienced the death of family members, as well as the changes in relationships and in society, all of which allowed him to grow and reflect. “This movie represents my thoughts the best, because I’ve run it through my brain so many times, and it’s changed so many times. A lot of my views towards people’s relationships have been embedded in this movie. This is the purpose of contemplating for 10 years.”

As opposed to the aesthetic stylisation evident in Port of Call (2015), Papa (2024) is restrained. “I want to tell this story by going back to the basics. I want the audience to see something that’s ordinary and quotidian.” Yung hopes that the audience doesn’t sense the presence of a camera, and uses a 4:3 frame. “This sense of ordinariness feels like watching a home video, it’s almost like you’re not watching a movie at all. It suits our movie because it’s just like you’re watching the lives of another family.” That sense of ordinariness is aspired through everything from Yung’s directing to Sean Lau and every actor’s delivery.

After receiving the script for Papa (2025), Sean Lau also deliberated for a long time. “That script has been on my bedside table, desk, living room table, dining table…You know, very few scripts reach the dining table,” Sean Lau says, “I’ve read this script many times and I really like what it says, because this isn’t about black and white truths, righteousness and evil, nor is it an accusatory movie. It’s not about who’s right or wrong, no; It’s not about economic disparity, how the rich act, no. This is a tragedy that happened to a very ordinary family, and it’s possible that it could happen to any family. What now, after it’s happened? The script provides a solution at the end, I think that’s very important.” 

Papa and Son

Sean Lau portrays a father who was all but ordinary originally. Nobody knows how to be a father regardless of whether that’s in reality or in a movie. It is learnt through life experience, growth, memories, observation, spending time with others, learning as you go— Sean Lau did the same. “As I was filming, I was learning how to be a father.” He jokes confidently, “My children are obedient and they’re quite talented in performing.” 

“How I behave as a father actually depends on how my son treats me.” Sean Lau is a three-time Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actor winner. On the contrary, Dylan So who plays Lau’s son was acting in a movie for the first time, but he showed no signs of fear. Their ‘father-son’ scenes were natural and realistic. Taking the noodle-eating scene for example, Lau says, “He was eating, I was watching him, he says “what are you looking at”. From there you know that the son isn’t afraid of the father…we have a very natural exchange.” Hong Kong films tend to be fast paced, Sean Lau got to experience the director intentionally slowing down to allow space for actors to feel and to interpret comfortably, “I could forget what I was trying to say, it was that relaxing. It was a very different experience.”