For the past decade, Herman Yau directed massive co-productions like “Shock Wave” and “Crisis Negotiators,” balancing high budgets with Mainland box-office requirements. With his latest project, “We’re Nothing at All,” he chose a different path. He spent HK$8 million of his personal savings to make an uncompromised, Category III local picture that will not screen in Mainland China.
Blacklight Global Entertainment plans to release the gritty drama theatrically at the Laemmle Monica Film Center in Los Angeles on 16 October 2026, following a West Coast premiere at The Culver Theater on 10 October.
The story begins on Valentine’s Day 2025, when a double-decker bus detonates in the middle of a crowded Hong Kong street. The police recall retired forensic specialist Lung Sir, played by Patrick Tam, to untangle the blast. The trail leads directly to two passengers: Fai, a manual labourer played by Anson Kong, and Ike, an ostracised street sketch artist played by ANSONBEAN. The pair are lovers pushed into extreme isolation by poverty, homophobia, and systemic neglect.
A Promise Fulfilled
Yau based the premise on a real-life 1998 bus bombing in Wuhan that actor Andy Lau shared with him years earlier. Instead of creating a simple procedural, Yau anchored the tragedy in the day-to-day strain of modern Hong Kong, documenting illegal industrial housing, unpaid labour, and quiet domestic cruelty.
Read more: The Last Auteur of Hong Kong Urban Despair: A Conversation With Herman Yau
“When I was young, I once said that if I ever had money, I would use it to make films,” Yau stated, describing the independent production. “Many years later, We’re Nothing At All is, in a way, the fulfillment of that promise I made to myself. I didn’t let it become a lie—the world already has far too many lies.”
He also pointed out that “society is not as open-minded as you imagine,” noting that “when an avalanche occurs, no snowflake is innocent.”
Breaking the Idol Mould
Casting the two leads presented practical obstacles. Multiple younger actors passed on the roles due to the explicit queer romance, coarse dialogue, graphic violence, and the absence of a Mainland release.
Read more: ‘We’re Nothing at All’ Review: A Blistering Look at Systemic Injustice and Forbidden Love
Mirror member Anson Kong committed immediately despite hesitation from his agency. He told his team, “I won’t allow the company to say no,” taking on the part of an ex-convict living in an industrial subdivided flat. ANSONBEAN joined later, shedding significant weight to capture a young artist cast out by his father.
The film won the Audience Choice Award at the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival and played at the New York Asian Film Festival, Far East Film Festival, and Taipei Film Festival earlier this year.
