Not so long ago, it was fairly common for local filmmakers to have more than one movie to their name in a year. Except if your name is Johnnie To though, those days are largely gone. Consequently, that this movie’s writer-director and co-producer, Pang Ho-Cheung has now come out with a second film in 2007, after the at times uneasy mix of black comedy and crime drama that was Exodus, is something worth remarking on; and, considering how thoroughly entertaining the often very playful Trivial Matters is, a cause for celebration as well.

Based on Pang’s short story collection of the same name, Trivial Matters the movie is made up of seven short tales. Or, really, more like six since the small section of the work that has Edison Chen and Stephanie Cheng in an English language discussion plays out more like a mere scene in a regular movie. And, although it’s not the shortest of all the segments, the story that follows, which purportedly takes place in the future and on a planet named Tak Nga, also has a throwaway quality, especially compared to the rest of the chapters of this work.