Love Is A Gun

​爱是一把枪

Hong Kong, Taiwan | Drama, Crime | 81min | Debut Feature

Director: Lee Hong-Chi

Screenwriter:  Lee Hong-Chi & Lin Cheng Hsun

Producer: Shan Zuolong; Liao Che-I

Co-producer: Li Xiaoyuan; Andy An

Associate Producer: Han Shuai; Wu Gang

Cinematographer: Zhu Ying Rong

Costume Designer: Lee Chi Wei

Editor: Qin Yanan

Production Designer: Lin Zhi Yun

Sound: Tu Duu-Chih

Music: Bruce Su

Supervising Colorist: Tang Qiang

VFX Director: David Tan

Starring：Lee Hong-Chi (Sweet Potato);

Lin Ying Wei (Seven); Zheng Qing Yu (Lulu); Lin Ke Ren (Maozi); Lee Yu Yao (Chief Lee); Edison Song (Bowei)

Synopsis

Since his release from prison, Sweet Potato has been content with running a small business by the sea and with the meager earnings, heedless of others’ advice against it. He is pulled into the whirlpool of the past when the “boss” he has never met, his mother who thrusts all her debts upon him, and his buddy Maozi re-appear. One coming on the heels of another, they regain control of his life at present and in the future. Only Apple can assuage his anxieties ever so slightly. At the smoggy and oppressive seaside, Sweet Potato is finally granted a meeting with the “boss.” He fires a few shots, with which he attempts to destroy everything that is his, disappear into the ocean, and flee to the opposite shore where Gueishan Island is…

Director's Note

About 10 years ago, I was going to interview for the assistant director role in a TV crew, and by coincidence, became an actor. Since then, I have been focusing on acting, though I still want to make my own film.

​

In 2020, my acting work went on hiatus because of the pandemic, which gave me ample time to reconsider what a “film” of my design might look like. Having thought long and hard about it, I came to understand that only hands-on work could help me figure out the through lines. Thus I organized a humble team of people, who would venture outside with me at the height of the pandemic, to help me realize my first ever feature film.

​

During the casting process, because we didn’t have an office or a casting director, we had to mask up and scout non-actors from all walks of life. Movements and expressions true to people’s lives, and how they carry themselves at work, are what I wish to recreate and present on the big screen.

​

Therefore, I set aside the script that was ready to go and acclimatized to “their” life, re-envisioning the story from scratch. These slices of life fascinated me, and from their interactions with each other, I got to witness how the socioeconomic climate of the moment affected everyone else.

​

This is a society under the context of the post-epidemic era, where people are controlled by a large invisible hand. When there are too many uncontrollable elements, people gradually lose their sense of conviction, and the great turbulence and instability start to dissolve the social values.

​

This film has been born in such an era, and I want to show a status quo of we people. At the same time, the film manages to expose the social situation which is full of fatalism, absurdity and emptiness.

​