In contrast to "auteur theory" art films of Taiwan New Cinema that placed the director at the center of the film, The Touch of Fate was set against the serious problems with drugs and crime in contemporary Taiwan. The film's story of a high-school dropout falling to the crime-ridden bottom rungs of society offered a realist depiction of the terrible prices paid in the transition to adulthood.
相較於台灣新電影以導演為中心的「作者論」電影，《指間的重量》就是以現今台灣社會毒品與犯罪的嚴重性為背景，描繪中輟生淪落社會底層的偷竊犯過程，寫實表達出用青春換取成長所付出慘痛代價的故事。