Papa

"How far can a father's love go?"

2024 2h 10m CN

🙌

8.1

BANGER

★8.1TMDB · 6

CrimeDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A 15-year-old boy murders his mother and sister. The father, Nin Yuen, returns to his cafe, haunted by memories of a once-happy family: his wife preparing breakfast, his son playing video games, and his daughter caring for their calico cat. Yuen finds himself unable to hate the living or forget the dead. As they confront life’s cruelty, will Yuen and his son’s strained relationship ever find redemption?

“How far can a father's love go?”

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Cast

Lau Ching-Wan
Yuen Wing Nin
Jo Kok Cho-Lam
Kam Yin
Dylan So
Yuen Hau Ming
Lainey Hung
Yuen Hau Yan
Yeung Wai-Lun
Edan Lui
Yuen Hau Ming (Adult)
Helen Tam Yuk-Ying
Doctor
Cecilia Chan Lai-Wan

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Philip Yung Chi-Kwong
Writers: Philip Yung Chi-Kwong
Languages: Cantonese
Countries: Hong Kong

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 2 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

AWARDS

Did you know

Directed by Philip Yung Chi-Kwong, shot by Chin Ting-chang. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Ding Ke. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jojo Shek shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Lau Ching-Wan and Jo Kok Cho-Lam and Dylan So carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "How far can a father's love go?".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt33499985 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 6 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Philip Yung Chi-Kwong directs. Chin Ting-chang behind the camera. Ding Ke scores. Jojo Shek cuts. Produced in Hong Kong. Dialogue in Cantonese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 2 years ago.
2Directed by Philip Yung Chi-Kwong, shot by Chin Ting-chang. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Ding Ke. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Jojo Shek shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Lau Ching-Wan and Jo Kok Cho-Lam and Dylan So carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "How far can a father's love go?".
7IMDB entry: tt33499985 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 6 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Chin Ting-chang
Original score: Ding Ke
Editing: Jojo Shek
Sound: Wu Shu-yao
Runtime: 130 min · 2h 10m
Status: Released
Box office: $2,806,606
Original language: CN
IMDB: Papa (2024)

Also by

Philip Yung Chi-Kwong

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-03-12
★ 7/10
This is a tough film to watch, but it’s worth it. “Papa” (Ching-wan Lau) runs a bustling café and we first meet him looking forlornly at his apartment from the street outside. It transpires that there has been a double-murder and that his wife and daughter have been stabbed to death by their son. The young lad has openly admitted the crime and is soon committed for psychiatric care as schizophrenia is suspected. Over the next two hours we learn a bit about the family dynamic and each character has their moment in the sun to explain just who they are and how they fit into this tight and typically loving and bickering family unit. Of course, there are signs that “Ming” (Dylan So) has some sort of mental illness, but like any family they are confident that with love and care they can manage this, and for the most part the teenager appears to thrive with his mum (Kam Yin) and lively sister “Yan” (Lainey Hung). What comes across strongly here are the older man’s senses of grief and disbelief, yes - but also of his guilt at not being there to stop the attack, or even to succumb to it; and there is also a palpable sense of forgiveness emanating from a man who ought to hate his son deeply but who doesn’t. As we delve deeper into the story, it’s left up to us to form our opinions about what may or not have been warning signs or triggers as well as appreciating just how difficult it was for this couple running a 24/7 business that left them emotionally drained and sleep deprived at the best of times. It’s a film about coping, prioritising and doing the best possible and just like everyone else, hoping that we can be left to cruise along undisturbed by trauma - large or small. It’s not a doom-laden exercise, there is a fair degree of light-heartedness and a great deal of eating (well it’s more like shovelling, really) has there’s even a mother-in-law joke! Now there are some quirks in this production that do occasionally make you think that the director wasn’t paying enough attention and as with anything trying to weave timelines and characters together, the continuity is not the best - but if you take a wide vision view of just how a tightly-knit family deals with life, love, disaster and possibly forgiveness then this is a poignant film to watch with solid efforts from both Ching-wan Lau and from a less prominent, but still effective, Dylan So.

Production companies