Taiwanese filmmaker Chang Jung-chi on his movie Partners in Crime
The Taiwanese filmmaker discusses his suspense film Partners in Crime, the appeal of detective stories, and working with Hong Kong's Wong Kar-wai
(2012).
I'd describe Partners in Crime as more of a suspense movie than a horror film. The story, which follows three young boys as they gradually get to the bottom of their schoolmate's death, belongs very much to the detective genre. If you look back on the early scenes of the film, you'll realise that I've given a few clues in the story.
When I came across this story, it was already ready to be adapted for the screen. The script at that time was not very polished, but I could still see a story about youth in it. It felt very different from that in my first film. It's a very different form of storytelling; it's a cruel story about the loneliness felt by teenagers, and it allows me to look at adolescent life from a new perspective.
I wouldn't dare say that they had no influence on me. I've watched quite a lot of them, and I'm sure the author of the original novel must have felt the impact of those stories, too. When we talk about today's youth culture, we will inevitably touch on Japanese and Korean stories. We want to tell the story of today's teenagers in Partners in Crime.