Dap huet cam mui

In Cantonese, Mandarin and bits of English. Set in Hong Kong. Based on an actual event.

Contains a strong plot and a somewhat over long narration.

The first part covers the discovery of the crime and the police investigation. The second part tells the story of the 'victim'. The third part unravels the motivation. Horrifying and sad, but gives closure to the detective (Aaron Kwok).

Good human interest story without the psychoanalysis. Aaron Kwok plays an eccentric detective. Fine performances from the young cast; Jessie Lin and Michael Ning.

Warning: It's for an adult audience. Some steamy sex scenes and gore.

Nominated for 8 Golden Horse Awards and it is HK's entry for the Best Foreign Film Award, but seriously I don't get what the hullabaloo is about. Let me count the ways it failed - unevenly paced, oddly edited, directed without clarity, unnecessary fractured timelines, characters feel like walking enigmas. Only they know what they are doing. I didn't care for anyone. I think it is a veiled attempt at social commentary about the state of lonely youths in HK but the characters are not drawn well. The movie does not strive on suspense and we know who the murderer is pretty soon. The film then delves into their motivations but as far as I can tell every character is only painted with one identifiable trait. Getting Aaron Kwok here to be driving force is a waste of talent and I can't understand what's the point of him taking Polaroids and playing that damn kendama toy. I hate it when filmmakers do these dumb stuff and expect us to derive a deep reason about it. Scene to scene, the transitions feel unwieldy. Sometimes odd characters parachute in to pay some lip service and suggest some depth. Yawn! And I hate it when there are false endings. I think there are 3 here. It felt like it didn't want to end.

I do like Christopher Doyle's cinematography in that he refuses to pick up anything glamorous about HK. Jessie Li and Michael Ning as the killed and killer are laudable. Finally the movie doesn't shy away from some grisly gore. Something I don't see often in HK movies.

PS - I googled the actual case which is just grisly. A 16-year-old girl got chop into pieces by a 24-year-old man. Go wiki Wong Ka Mui

Incoreherent and Dull are two words that describe this cinematic disaster.

With Aaron Kwok on the cover (I'm a fan!) and having read the back, I was convinced that Port of Call was well worth the rental. I was wrong.

Based on a real-life case, a detective (Kwok) investigates the presumed murder of a teenage prostitute. By this, I mean that a boat-load of blood has been found - which matches the DNA of a missing girl - but no body... any and all suspense then goes out the window as some bloke strolls into a police station and admits his guilt.

With an excellent DoP and a case that supposedly gripped Hong Kong, I can see why Kwok got involved - hell, maybe the screenplay was decent too? But the end result (perhaps the director's or editor's fault?) is a heavily disjointed mishmash of scenes, none of which hold much dramatic value nor build any of the cast's characters. I honestly tried hard to like the film but it's an almost empty attempt at - what? Being arty? Trying to say something the bland characters cannot spell out? - that after an hour, I couldn't suffer it any more... and with so many films in my To Watch pile and so little time, I can ill-afford wasting a full 90 minutes on what it so obviously a stinker.

And that's my advice to you all too: avoid.

"Port of Call" is a thriller definitely not for everybody, it walks a very fragile line of uncomfortable vices. The approach is done as realistically as possible with crude language and plenty of outright yelling. The scenes are not grand thriller, it's muddied yet invitingly dark, though slightly hampered by odd burst in the pacing.

The movie, on the surface, is a story about certain crime investigation. A young girl is missing and a detective digs into her life and associates. The more he uncovers the more secrets this young lady harbored, soon it's a one way trip into drugs and murder. One strangely twisted beautiful thing about this is how the story of the woman, her concerned and hopes, is told after the crime.

It's an intimately gripping thriller, and the risqué parts are done with finesse, but it might deter the audience with the hectic pace. Transition between investigation and the past can overlap as the movie is divided into chapters, which in turns reveal particular people's connection and aspects of their lives.

This can be dauntingly diverse since the information overload is felt throughout and the shift occurs very fast. It's as though several jigsaw puzzles are thrown in random order, it may fit eventually but it's likely to confuse audience early on. It's not intended for a cerebral crime and more of one with passion.

There's ample of human drama and struggle in "port of Call", admittedly it's engagingly dark, however an occasional plodding sidetrack might be too distracting for the investigation viewpoint.

reasons to watch this movie: 1 Aaron Kwong, 2 unexpected nudity reasons not to watch: boring/predictable story line, no background music or sounds, random time-line (seriously if you blink you will be lost), other than the 3 main character it seems like everyone is a "kalefei" with minimal conversation to the point where they just seems irrelevant, half@$$ ending where it seems just to prolong the movie. the list can go on and on. Don't just listen to me check out others opinion and save yourself some time for other movies

PS what is the point of that detective and his selfie obsession? its completely unrelated and no contribution to the story.