Amphetamine (film)

Amphetamine (film)

Amphetamine (Chinese: 安非他命) is a 2010 Hong Kong film starring Byron Pang and Thomas Price. It revolves around the story of an ethnic Chinese fitness trainer, Kafka, who meets Daniel, a business executive. The film is directed by acclaimed Hong Kong Chinese filmmaker Scud, the production-crediting name of Danny Cheng Wan-Cheung. It was nominated for a Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival of 2010. It explores several themes traditionally regarded as 'taboo' in Hong Kong society in an unusually open, convention-defying way, and features full-frontal male nudity in several scenes. It is the third of seven publicly released films by Scud. The six other films are: City Without Baseball in 2008, Permanent Residence in 2009, Love Actually... Sucks! in 2011, Voyage in 2013, Utopians in 2015 and Thirty Years of Adonis in 2017. The eighth film, Apostles, was made in 2022, as was the ninth, Bodyshop, but neither has yet been released. The tenth and final film, Naked Nations: Hong Kong Tribe, is currently in production.

Plot

Set after the 2008 financial collapse, the story follows Kafka, a swimming instructor, when he meets Daniel, a wealthy investment banker who changes his life. Daniel is openly gay, and Kafka is straight. They fall in love, despite their different sexualities and Kafka's strong Catholic faith which conflicts with this relationship.

Their relationship is further complicated by Kafka's erratic behavior and amphetamine addiction. Another roadblock in their relationship is Kafka's reluctance to consummate their relationship, which can be attributed to him being violently gang-raped by a group of men, then sodomized with a wooden stick and left for dead. Kafka was attacked for rescuing a woman who was the gang's original target. Fortunately, she left and got help so he physically survived the traumatic experience.

Inevitably, Kafka is arrested for possession with intent to distribute, even though he was only caught with .03 grams of ice. Daniel was also detained with Kafka but was released after they learned of his duo Australian citizenship. He retains an attorney for Kafka and after an unspecified time, he is released. Upon his release, he is informed of the death of his mother, whose funeral has already taken place. He visits his drug dealer brother and Kafka relapses and does ice with him. He goes into a tailspin and rapes Daniel's ex girlfriend/best friend, Linda while he was extremely high. Afterwards, he locks himself in the bathroom and floods Daniel's apartment. Linda says she forgives Kafka and begs Daniel to forgive him, as well. While consoling Linda, Daniel and her end up having sex on the living room floor and Kafka sees them.

The next morning, Daniel asks to do amphetamine with Kafka who maintains that despite all of his shortcomings, he still loves Daniel. Daniel affirms their relationship by asking Kafka to return to Australia with him, where they can get married but Kafka asks for more time.

At Daniel's going away party, Kafka is stripped and painted with silver body paint with calligraphy. He was also given a pair of white angel wings to wear (an image which is seen at the beginning of the film). The next morning Kafka gets high and jumps off the rooftop of the apartment, believing he is a fallen angel. Although Kafka survives, he is unconscious and hospitalized.

When he wakes up and does not see Daniel, Kafka escapes from the hospital and looks for him on the bridge where they bungee jumped on their first date. Distraught and hallucinating from detox, he jumps off the bridge into the frozen water and dies with his final thoughts being those of him and Daniel swimming together in each other's arms.