The Special Opening Film of the 18th Osaka Asian Film Festival (running from March 10-19) will be the World Premiere screening of “Over My Dead Body” (死屍死時四十四), an ensemble comedy directed by HO Cheuk Tin (何爵天). It will have its World Premiere on March 15 at ABC Hall along with a ceremony.
STORY
Welcome to Seaside Heights, a fancy residential building where a group of residents experience a night of chaos and comedy after the nude body of a man appears and threatens to cause scandal and plunging property values!
It all begins when Ming (WONG You Nam), together with his wife (Jennifer YU), mother-in- law (Teresa MO), and brother-in-law (Alan YEUNG Wai Lun), finds an anonymous naked body lying at their doorstep. Fearing that the presence of a corpse will turn their unit into a “murder home” and its property value will nosedive and impoverish them, their bickering family unite to pass the buck to their neighbours by moving the corpse to other units on the same floor. Their fiendish plot ropes in a motley bunch of people, including retired elderly couple, Mr. & Mrs. CHAN (LAU Kong & Bonnie WONG); a single lady and her maid; the CHEUNG's, an irascible father (Ronald CHENG) and his cantankerous son (Edan LUI); and an overzealous security guard. Last but not least, is a mysterious chain smoking woman named Sue (Hanna CHAN) who might hold the key to helping get the body out of the building…
A dark comedy of manners and Hong Kong home-ownership woes ensues in “Over My Dead Body” as each of these vividly portrayed characters turns on each other in an effort to avoid taking responsibility for both the body and their own personal problems.
ABOUT THE CAST AND CREW
“Over My Dead Body” is the sophomore feature film from HO Cheuk Tin, an up-and-coming director whose debut film, the courtroom drama “The Sparring Partner” (正義迴廊/2022), has taken Hong Kong by storm, becoming the highest-grossing Category III rated film to date and receiving 16 nominations for the Hong Kong Film Awards 2023 including Best Film, Best Director, Best New Director, and more.
This ensemble comedy features a mixture of veteran acting talents and new stars whose careers are really taking off. Their number includes Teresa MO (毛舜筠), “Mama's Affair” (阿媽有咗第二個/OAFF 2022) and “Hong Kong Family” (過時·過節/OAFF 2023), Ronald CHENG (鄭中基), “Elisa's Day” (遺愛/OAFF 2021), WONG You Nam (黃又南), “Wong Ka Yan” (王家欣/OAFF 2016), Jennifer YU (余香凝), “Sisterhood” (骨妹/OAFF 2017) and “Far Far Away” (緣路山旮旯/OAFF 2022), Edan LUI (呂爵安), “Hong Kong Family”, Hanna CHAN (陳漢娜), “Elisa's Day”, Jer LAU (柳應廷), “Mama's Affair”, and Alan YEUNG Wai Lun (楊偉 倫), who was nominated for Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards 2023 for his role in “The Sparring Partner”.
The film was written by KONG Ho Yan (江皓昕), one of the scriptwriters of “Midnight After” (那夜凌晨,我坐上了旺⻆開往大埔的紅 VAN/2014).
“Over My Dead Body” will have its world premiere screening midway through OAFF 2023 as the Special Opening Film. It will be the first title to play at the festival's main venue of ABC Hall on March 15 where there will be an opening ceremony to welcome guests.
