Review | Yum Investigation movie review: supernatural comedy drama and Cantopop idol vehicle an allegorical tale about Hong Kong after the protests
- On the surface this film satirises the Hong Kong property market with a story about developers using demons to drive people out of a block they want to revamp
- However, its banter about dreams and fighting for one’s home should resonate with Hong Kong cinema-goers who lived through the social unrest of recent years
3/5 stars
Based on a web novel and directed by Dickson Leung Kwok-fai, a long-time assistant director making his feature debut, Yum Investigation is at first glance just the latest Hong Kong film to satirise the property market with a recurrent premise: wicked developers driving out innocent residents through the use of demonic forces.
Soon after a new collectible that the anime geek has bought turns out to be a sentient samurai sword with a long history of slashing demons, Taro crosses paths with a trio of paranormal detectives working at the private agency Yum Investigation.
These colourful characters are Marlboro (Ng Po-ki, aka Poki), who can generate physical barriers out of thin air; Stone (Leung Yip, aka Fatboy), who can see ghosts; and Patrick (Denis Kwok Ka-chun, aka 193), who is smart but cowardly.
Together the four are tasked with solving a case brought to them by two young women, Yuen (Mandy Tam Man-huen) and Cloud (Suey Kwok Sze), both residents of an old tenement building that has been the target of “evil developers” with ruthless plans for redevelopment in mind.
While the supernatural mystery at the heart of Yum Investigation suggests that ghosts – appearing only as dynamic clouds of red mist – are “raised” by people working for the developers to drive the remaining residents to jump to their deaths, this hardly qualifies as a horror film.
Instead, it is the deadpan banter among the quirky cast that will most satisfy the film’s target audience. Yum Investigation’s story may be a little light on substance, but its knowing talk of dreams and fighting for one’s home should easily resonate with Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong cinema-goers who have lived through the social unrest of the past few years.
One might well expect to see more such thinly veiled cinematic responses to Hong Kong’s situation – perhaps disguised, like this film, as unclassifiable genre productions – now that political satire as an outlet for public resentment has gone out of fashion.
