Les Aventures d’Anthony

陪安东尼度过漫长岁月

China, 2015, colour, 2.35:1, 121 mins.

Director: Qin Xiaozhen 秦小珍 [Janet Chun].

Rating: 6/10.

Girly piece of fluff about an overseas student is sustained more by the likeable cast than by dialogue or plot.

STORY

Dalian, Liaoning province, northeast China, 2004. Anthony (Liu Chang) is soon to leave his hometown to study finance in Australia. One of his best friends, Xiaoying (Bai Baihe), is also planning to go abroad, to study sound design in Japan. In spring 2005 Anthony arrives in Melbourne, where he lodges at the home of Mrs. Huang (Lu Yan) with three others – veterinary student Xiaohei (Song Yunhua), science student Jiaming (Bai Jugang) and failed student Pierre (Bruce) who’s now selling antiques on the street. Mrs. Huang presents Anthony with a simple line drawing of a rabbit’s ears; one night it comes alive and Anthony dubs his new friend Anton 不二. Anthony gets a low-paying job in an Asian supermarket, and later Xiaohei finds him a better one as a cook in the upmarket restaurant where she’s a waitress. En route to the interview for the latter, he meets the slightly wacky Xiaoxuan (Tang Yixin) who’s been living in Melbourne for three years and is completely assimilated to life there. To the shock of his parents (Yu Rongguang, Pan Hong), Anthony decides to switch to studying cookery in order to become a chef. Xiaoxuan makes it clear she likes him – especially during a Christmas dinner at Mrs. Huang’s – but he remains unresponsive, and stays in close contact with Xiaoying, who is having some problems working with wannabe film director Fang Jie (Jin Shijia), a high school friend from Dalian. After moving into a college dormitory, Anthony by chance gets a part-time job as a cook at a high-end restaurant in a country house. While trying to record some special whale sounds to send to Xiaoying, Anthony realises he loves her and decides to fly to Japan. But then Xiaoxuan declares her love for him.

REVIEW

A Chinese overseas student finds his way in life but not much love in Les Aventures d’Anthony 陪安东尼度过漫长岁月, a girly piece of fluff that agreeably passes the time and looks consistently gorgeous – thanks to bright widescreen photography by Hong Kong-born Liang Mingjia 梁铭佳 (Murmur of the Hearts 念念, 2015; Old Stone 老石, 2016) – but leaves almost no emotional trace behind it. Based on a semi-autobiographical book of illustrated musings by Anthony 安东尼 (pen name of Dalian-born writer Ma Liang 马亮, aka Anthony Ma), the script by Hong Kong’s Qian Xiaohui 钱小惠 [Amy Chin] fleshes out the very winsome, fairytale-like original into a narrative that’s sustained more by the cast than by dialogue or plot. The movie is best enjoyed as an attractively shot time-waster with some likeable performances; but there’s also the nagging feeling it would have worked much better as a 100% animated feature.

The Mainland-funded film is only the second solo feature by Hong Kong journeywoman Qin Xiaozhen 秦小珍 [Janet Chun], who started off as a writer and assistant director (for, among others, Wu Yusen 吴宇森 [John Woo], co-scripting Bullet in the Head 喋血街头, 1990) before co-directing several local comedies with Chen Qingjia 陈庆嘉 [Chan Hing-kai] as well as The Four 四大名捕 martial-arts trilogy (2012-14) with Chen Jiashang 陈嘉上 [Gordon Chan]. Between times Qin made her solo directing debut with the totally unremarkable costume comedy The Jade and the Pearl 翡翠明珠 (2010) – Hong Kong cast and funded but shot in China – before striking out again as a solo director, with writer-producer colleague Qian. (The movie also marks the producing debut of Mainland actress Zhou Xun 周迅.)

The plot, such as it is, follows young, Dalian-born Anthony (model-actor Liu Chang 刘畅, in his first leading role) as he leaves the family nest in 2005 to study in Melbourne, Australia. While there, he discovers his real interest is actually cookery, not finance, so he switches courses; he’s also hit on by a perky fellow student (Tang Yixin 唐艺昕) but his thoughts are always with his best female pal (Bai Baihe 白百何) who’s studying sound design in Tokyo. If the film has any themes at all, they’re the well-worn ones about following your dream and Mainlanders making it (or not) abroad.

With the metrosexual-looking Liu not giving away much at an emotional level, most of the going is provided by the female cast, chief among whom is Bai as the hero’s best pal. Playing a decade younger than she really is, Bai, 32, starts off looking cute in funny specs but handles her later scenes (centred on what her exact relationship with Anthony is) with some subtlety. As the other woman in his life, TV actress Tang, 26, also fleshes out a cliched ditzy role, especially in her final scene with Liu. Providing background colour throughout are veterans Lu Yan 卢燕 (as A’s landlady), Pan Hong 潘虹 and Yu Rongguang 于荣光 (as A’s caring parents), and younger players like Taiwan’s Song Yunhua 宋芸桦 (the lead in Cafe. Waiting. Love 等  一个人  咖啡, 2014, and Our Times 我的少女时代, 2015) and China’s Jin Shijia 金世佳 (the title character in A Fool 一个勺子, 2015).

As well as the clean, sharp visuals by d.p. Liang (which manage not to touristify Melbourne), and okay visual effects and animation, the use of Chinese, English and Japanese pop ballads jollies things along. Qin juggles her cast and all the elements with skill but at the end of the day the result is as substantial as a snowflake in August, with cute ideas like a magical whale called Alice and an animated bunny figure-cum-alter ego called Anton 不二 left half-developed.

The film’s Chinese title, which is the same as the book’s, means “With Anthony through the Long Years”. The official English title of the 2008 book is A Journey, through Time, with Anthony. At no point is it explained why the film has a French title.

CREDITS

Presented by Beijing Enlight Pictures (CN), Blueberry International Investment (Beijing) (CN), Shannan Enlight Pictures (CN). Produced by Xiyun Senlin Culture Media (Beijing) (CN).

Script: Qian Xiaohui [Amy Chin], Feng Jingqing. Book: Andongni [Anthony Ma]. Photography: Liang Mingjia. Editing: Wang Muheng. Music: Huang Danni, Xie Guowei. Alice’s theme: Chang Shilei. Art direction: Wang Huiyin. Costume design: Ye Jiayin. Styling: Yu Jia’an [Bruce Yu]. Sound: Chen Zhijian. Visual effects: Chen Dikai•Shui [Water Chan] (Eye Eye Studio, Sowa Concepts Studio).

Cast: Liu Chang (Anthony), Bai Baihe (Xiaoying), Tang Yixin (Xiaoxuan/Serena), Lu Yan [Lisa Lu] (Mrs. Huang, landlady), Pan Hong (Anthony’s mother), Yu Rongguang (Anthony’s father), Bai Jugang (Jiaming), Bruce [Hong Qihan] (Pierre), Song Yunhua (Xiaohei), Jin Shijia (Fang Jie), Xu Lingyue (Li Hui, Fang Jie’s girlfriend), Jiang Yiyan (young Mrs. Huang), Gao Shengyuan [Archie Kao] (young Mr. Huang), John Xintavelonis (John, cookery tutor), Paul Denny (chef).

Release: China, 13 Nov 2015.