Lost on Journey
人在囧途
China, 2010, colour, 1.85:1, 95 mins
Director: Ye Weimin 叶伟民 [Raymond Yip].
Rating: 7/10.
Good lead chemistry makes for an enjoyable, odd-couple road movie set during China’s New Year travel chaos.
STORY
Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, China, just before CNY, the present day. Though his mistress Manni (Li Man) wants him to spend the holiday with her, Li Chenggong (Xu Zheng), CEO of United Doll Culture Group, feels he must visit his wife Meili (Zuo Xiaoqing), young daughter and sick mother at their family home in Changsha, 1,200 kilometres south in Hubei province. Arriving at the crowded airport, he finds he’s mistakenly been booked in economy class, where he sits next to first-time flyer Niu Geng (Wang Baoqiang), senior milker at Happy Dairy Farm, who’s also flying to Changsha and is owed back wages by his manager. After taking off, the plane has to turn back because of heavy snow at Changsha airport, but Li Chenggong manages to acquire a train ticket from a tout. On board, he finds he’s been sold a fake one – and for the same seat that Niu Geng has also bought. Next morning, when they have to leave the train in the middle of nowhere because of a landslide, Li Chenggong and Niu Geng find themselves travelling the remaining 490 kilometres together, as one after another mishap overtakes them.
REVIEW
A surprise summer [2010] hit at China’s box office, Lost on Journey 人在囧途 is generic in its set-up – a stuffy CEO is thrown together with an uneducated dairy worker during the mass holiday migration of Chinese New Year – but its realistic approach, as the pair try every way to reach their destination, makes for plenty of entertainment in the capable hands of actors Wang Baoqiang 王宝强 (Blind Shaft 盲井, 2003; A World without Thieves 天下无贼, 2004) and Xu Zheng 徐峥 (Crazy Stone, 2006; One Night in Supermarket 夜•店, 2009). The film’s emotional arc can be seen a mile off, as Wang’s optimistic Hebei dunce gets joined at the hip to Xu’s snooty, duplicitous executive, though the trials they go through are always pretty much believable and Xu’s performance, especially, is nicely calibrated as his CEO is ground down by the realities of travelling in China’s hinterland.
Though much of the key creative talent is from Hong Kong – notably producer Wen Jun 文隽 [Manfred Wong] and director Ye Weimin 叶伟民 [Raymond Yip] (Portland Street Blues 古惑仔情义篇之洪兴十三妹, 1998; My Dream Girl 炮制女朋友, 2003; an associate director on The Warlords 投名状, 2007) – the film has the 100% feel of a Mainland production, using only local talent on screen and not exaggerating the setting or humour from an offshore/Cantonese perspective. The photography by Hong Kong’s Xu Shaojiang 徐少江 of wintertime Wuhan and Hubei province is well composed and lit, without detracting from the central performances, and the large number of supporting performances – including a lightning airport cameo by actress Li Xiaolu 李小璐 (Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl 天浴, 1998) – are fine, especially Zuo Xiaoqing 左小青 as the CEO’s wife. The movie loses a little of its grip in the second half, with a tear-jerking digression involving a female swindler and a rather easy resolution to the CEO’s wife/mistress problem, but these are small flaws in the otherwise tight construction.
CREDITS
Presented by Wuhan Huaqi Movies & TV Production (CN), Hubei Provincial Film Distribution & Exhibition (CN). Produced by Wuhan Huaqi Movies & TV Production (CN), Hubei Provincial Film Distribution & Exhibition (CN).
Script: Holy Palace Creative Workshop (Tian Yusheng, Shi Chenyun, Xu Yuanfeng). Original story: Liu Yiwei. Photography: Xu Shaojiang. Editing: Liang Guorong [Jacky Leung]. Music: Kay Chan @ Click Music. Art direction: Yang Haoyu. Costume design: Zhang Hongyan. Stylist: Xu Jianshu [Lawrence Xu]. Sound: Zhan Xin, Zheng Yingyuan [Phyllis Cheng], Nie Jirong. Visual effects: Hong Tao, Li Xinjian (Beijing Sea King International Movie Investment).
Cast: Wang Baoqiang (Niu Geng), Xu Zheng (Li Chenggong), Li Man (Manni, Li Chenggong’s mistress), Zuo Xiaoqing (Meili, Li Chenggong’s wife), Zhang Xinyi (woman swindler), Zhang Chao (Wei), Qiu Lin (village head), Ma Jian (Ma), Huang Xiaolei (woman in bedroom), Li Xiaolu (Nana, girl at station), Chen Xiao, He Minglan, Ma Xiaoyi, Wang Zixuan, Peng Sisi, Gao Song, Yang Zhenfeng, Wang Lei, Wang Quanxi, Yan Haidong, Wang Bo.
Release: China, 4 Jun 2010.
(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 15 Aug 2010.)