Melvis is Hong Kong’s beloved off-tune busker and imperfect Elvis impersonator. He does whatever it takes to pursue his dream of being The King, at the cost of his loved ones.
Meet Melvis, a 68-year-old Indonesian-Chinese former factory worker turned street performer. On the day Elvis Presley died, his life changed forever. Melvis decided to dedicate his life to honoring his late hero, the King of Rock and Roll. The suits, the hair, the swagger. Elvis is always on his mind. For 30-years he has walked Hong Kong’s neon-lit streets and dingy dives, bringing his dream to life. He has become a Hong Kong cultural icon. He may be out of tune, skinny and sing with an almost incomprehensible accent, but that matters not to Melvis. When he pulls on his bejewelled jumpsuit and straps on his guitar and ornate belt to hit the streets, this moment is the only thing in his life that matters. Melvis has sacrificed everything to pursue his dream every night in front of the cheering and leering crowds of drunken expats and locals around Hong Kong’s bustling bars. He’s quit jobs, sold all his possessions and estranged himself from his family: he is a man alone, In The Ghetto. But as we learn more about Melvis, we see who he really is and it’s far from the performer who is loved and ridiculed in equal measure. We see that his dream, the life he now has is all an act: a mask to help him face people and be part of society. We see and hear the pain of losing his family through his passion turned obsession. We see how his once loving and supportive wife and children live and cope with his infamy. And we see how the role of being Elvis, and walking the streets night-in and night-out takes its toll on his health and mind. Peeling back the layers, we see what fueled Melvis - his traumatic childhood during the brutal Suharto regime in Indonesia; his need to be something other than himself. He wanted to be seen and heard without exposing his real self. When 2019 Protests and Covid locked down Hong Kong, it extinguished everything that Melvis lived for. Unable to perform, his health deteriorated rapidly. It was only once he passed and after a very public outpouring of affection for him, that his family were able to reconcile with and perhaps understand the obsession that drove him. A Hong Kong icon, Melvis’ path towards happiness and inner peace has often mirrored the city’s journey. Through good and bad Melvis has been a part of the fabric of Hong Kong: an often lonely figure showing all those around that here, in this place, at this time, you can be whoever you want to be.
