Hong Kong actor Ng Man-tat passed away in 2021 at the age of 69 due to liver cancer. Recently, a film he made a cameo appearance in, “Variance,” was released on mainland Chinese networks. Despite the promotion emphasizing it as Ng Man-tat’s final work, his screen time in the film was less than one minute. The film has faced criticism for being accused of “exploiting the deceased.”
“Variance” was aired on Chinese networks on the 25th. The story is set in the year 2150, where artificial intelligence mutates, taking control of Earth from humans and launching a campaign to eradicate humanity. The surviving humans band together to form a resistance army, armed with crude weapons, engaging in a deadly battle against the artificial intelligence army.
The film stars Tam Yiu-man and Dai Si in leading roles. Originally planned to be released in 2020, the film was delayed due to the pandemic and has now premiered on Tencent Video and iQIYI. The promotion for the film featured phrases such as “Uncle Da (Ng Man-tat)’s ultimate masterpiece” in the trailer and prominently highlighted it as “Ng Man-tat’s final work” in the main feature, with the closing credits bearing the words “This film pays tribute to Mr. Ng Man-tat.”
However, after watching the movie, netizens discovered that in the 92-minute film, Ng Man-tat only appeared for one minute. Netizens felt deceived and criticized the film for “exploiting the deceased.”
On Douban, netizens left comments condemning the film, with remarks like “If I hadn’t seen Ng Man-tat’s name, I wouldn’t have clicked on it at all,” “Did Ng Man-tat really participate in the shooting, he’s there for just one minute,” “Adding a star for Uncle Da’s face. No matter how bad the special effects are,” “He has been dead for so many years, and they still exploit him, shameless,” “I admit it, I only watched it because of Uncle Da,” and “Exploiting Uncle Da is shameless.”