Cyclone Review (IFFR 2026)
A cyclone is a mass of air rotating under conditions of low atmospheric pressure. Although many of us will never encounter one, it is a common natural phenomenon that moves propelled by an inwardly spiraling force. For some a natural disaster, cyclones are not only observed on earth but on other planets as well.
In the story of Philip Yung Chi-Kwong, Cyclone is a transgender woman, named after a figure from martial-arts literature, Mei Chaofeng. We meet Cyclone in Hong Kong, at the latest stage of hormonal treatment, awaiting the gender-affirming surgery. Cyclone’s life carries risky and precarious bearings, but her own core is unwavering. Fierce, assertive, and as if in a poised state, Cyclone is a magnet for tense connections. Along with her, we spend electrified moments in the city of constant unrest, a place where all social ties are stretched and frail.
Cyclone is not unfolding in a traditional cinematic sense, and, as the natural phenomenon, it is moving forward, preserving the same core. As time and events challenge Cyclone, the long-desired surgery is repeatedly delayed. In this suspension, she is forced to confront her decision and to rediscover the urgency that once made transformation inevitable. Moments of her past, torturous and brutal, expose the source of the urgency as they rewind us to the onsetting call for acceptance, a question that was left unanswered or picked up too late.
For a rare instance, Cyclone is narrating in an encompassing manner the pain a transgender person has probably suffered from those in their family proximity and fortifying the truth of belonging within unsolicited connections. In doing so, there is absolutely no sentimental residue that often stains such stories with melodrama and cheap story resolutions. (Take this as a precise statement; I’ve been scrutinizing it on the way, as my stomach is sensitive.) On the contrary, Cyclone is raw, despite its warm colors, and often disturbing. And although it does not shy away from the truth of an artificially altered body, nor does it slip into explicit depiction, for some, Cyclone might be too sexually persistent and unfiltered. Is it provocative? No, but it’s a near miss.
Director Philip Yung (his greatest success: Port of Call 2015) has steadily built a reputation within the festival circuit of East Asia, defined by reliable narratives, that are at points shocking, but almost always rewarding in thrills. With Cyclone, despite basically working within genre, he is opening up overseas, contributing respectfully, without a hint of fuzz, to the craft and art of cinema and the representation of transgender communities and their eventful stories.
★★★★
Cyclone (Chiu Fung), 116’ / Dir: Philip Yung / Screenplay: Philip Yung, Thomas Leung, Carmen Hau / Cast: Yuqiao Liu, Edwynn Li, Jenny Suen / Cinematography: Woon Lam Tong, Yau Cheong Leung / Editing: Jojo Shek / Producer: Effy Sun / Hong Kong
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