NYAFF 2026: ‘Unidentified Murder’ Review
A traumatic incident from their childhood quickly unravels 25 years later in Kwok Ka-hei and Jack Lee Chun-kit’s silly extraterrestrial mystery, Unidentified Murder. A film that explores childhood bonds through elaborate pranks and a commitment to the bit, there’s an endearing quality to the duo’s first directorial effort together that comes through in its zany execution on a shoestring budget. The film plays narratively and thematically like Shin'ichirō Ueda’s One Cut of the Dead, skewering its own influences through a structure that keeps recontextualizing itself in service of that critique. While nowhere near as fun and stretched far beyond its limits, Unidentified Murder delivers some satisfying gags—though often undercut by a need to overexplain and constantly rework itself to set up a more intricately wound conclusion later on.
Two childhood friends, Mark (Ling Man-lung) and Kit (Ronald Lam Tsz-kit), are summoned to the forested site where their friend, Ho, disappeared 25 years ago. Presented through a recording of a failed attempt at an alien sightings show, titled “Stardust Memories” and hosted by the Stardust Master (Kenny Wong Tak-ban), Unidentified Murder suggests it might be a self-serious approach at the UFO film before quickly turning its gaze towards Mark’s girlfriend, Man (Renci Yeung), who is devising a prank to play on Mark and Kit regarding that fateful day 25 years ago. Hiring a young actor eager to prove his worth, Man orchestrates a plan to have Kim (Peter Chan Charm-man) pretend to be their missing friend Ho and become an internet sensation from the gag.
What ensues is a comedic spiral, from an innocent prank to a series of escalating situations, creating uncertainty about where the film will eventually wind up. It’s an ambitious, low-budget affair similar to Ueda’s film and other Japanese comedic genre hybrids, such as the screenplays of Makoto Ueda (Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, River). The downside is that Kwok and Lee’s film always feels like it’s losing steam the more it unravels—only to become exasperating when it attempts to sell the audience on an intentional chaos. Instead of being swept up in the rapidly escalating insanity of the night, the film takes the wind out of its sails every time it tries to twist itself into a knot and then untie it.
The payoff of the film’s constant tinkering with the plot is that it ultimately builds towards something intricately layered. At the heart of its mystery is a child who disappeared 25 years ago. The film doesn’t shy away from explaining everything that happened, why it happened, and why it’s revisited 25 years later. That’s part of the mystery that makes Unidentified Murder interesting from the beginning—though it frequently sabotages itself by making the audience think this might not matter as much to the film as it initially suggests. Where it ends up, though, is a somewhat satisfying glimpse into how a narrative—true or false—can take shape with the most inept people at its center.
Stitching all of the hijinks together is an ensemble of young talent leaning on comedic chops to keep everything afloat and moving forward. There’s a spunky attitude to the film that is reflected in the performances, each one more sweaty than the last. The dynamic between the friends is powered by an infectious energy, but it’s seeing the certainty of a plan in action undermined by another plan that gives the actors ample room to demonstrate a range from chaotic to confused to overconfident.
Unidentified Murder feels a bit slapdash in its plotting, but it still comes out feeling more fun than disappointing. Part of its charm is that the illusion of improvisation in the screenplay yields a clearer picture of what the film is trying to say about attention and entertainment in the digital age. As everything seems to go wrong only to be revealed immediately as going right, the film plays with the notion that randomness is more guided than initially perceived. By using the idea of an alien abduction as its inciting incident, it lends its creative reworking of the narrative to something larger and more interesting to most audiences than a mere prank gone wrong. While extremely rough in its execution, where it ends up and how energetic it is in getting there keep the momentum rising in smart, creative ways.
The 25th New York Asian Film Festival takes place between July 10th and 26th. Unidentified Murder celebrates its United States premiere on July 25th, as part of NYAFF’s Hong Kong Panorama program. The full list of films selected for the festival can be found here.
