I Do

我愿意

China, 2012, colour, 2.35:1, 106 mins.

Director: Sun Zhou 孙周.

Rating: 8/10.

A terrific trio of leads, plus an atypical script, keeps the China rom-com bar high.

STORY

Beijing, the present day. Tang Weiwei (Li Bingbing) is a well-educated, high-earning career woman who works as sales director for an image design company. Now 32, she has had only one love affair in her life, which lasted from the age of 18 to 25, and since then she has been very, very single, devoted to her career. Pragmatically deciding it is time to find a husband, her best friend Jin Xiaoling (Xu Jianing) arranges some blind dates, all of which turn out to be useless. However, during one group blind date she meets Yang Nianhua (Sun Honglei), a divorced, former owner of a publishing company, who gradually insinuates himself into becoming her confidant and friend. Tang Weiwei is devastated to discover that Jim Wang, CEO of her company’s new client, NASDAQ-listed jewellery firm Jinxiu, is in fact Wang Yang (Duan Yihong), the boyfriend who suddenly disappeared seven years ago after she’d supported him through hard times. Now Wang Yang has returned from the US to China as a wealthy businessman and is looking to patch things up with Tang Weiwei. She, however, still can’t forgive him, and Wang Yang also has to deal with the persistent Yang Nianhua, whom Tang Weiwei has put on a “trial period” as a potential husband.

REVIEW

Director Sun Zhou 孙周 and a terrific lead trio keep the China rom-com bar high with I Do 我愿意, which manages to come up with a fresh twist on male-female relationships in aspirational, urban-yuppie New China. Compared with recent Mainland hits, I Do lacks the globe-trotting, high-finance flash and dazzle of Dear Enemy 亲密敌人 (2011), and the goofy charm of office rom-com Love Is Not Blind 失恋33天 (2011); but it has its own singular character that more than compensates for its absence of the usual plot mechanisms. Both Enemy and Love benefited from great screen chemistry between their leads (Xu Jinglei 徐静蕾 and Huang Lixing 黄立行; Bai Baihe 白百何 and Wen Zhang 文章), but I Do, with almost no regular “plot”, entirely depends on it – to the extent that, with a different cast, it could have ended up as just a routine movie about a 30-plus career woman courted by two dodgy men.

The film is adapted from a 2009 novel Yes, I Do 我愿意 by Beijing-based writer/scriptwriter Chen Tong 陈彤, whose practical advice on marriage and relationships has earned her the nickname “a female Zhuge Liang” 诸葛亮 (after the master strategist of the Three Kingdoms period). That extra depth to Chen’s writing carries over into the screenplay, which takes the cliche of a 30-something careerist deciding to look for a husband and manages to treat it in a way that’s not reliant on rom-com plot twists. Hot topics like “How much is love worth?” or “Do women want just a bank account on legs or a man who’s reliable?” that fuel Mainland game shows and dating programmes get a good workout in the dialogue without becoming preachy or disturbing the entertainment. And though the final act, after a hardly surprising twist, comes down in favour of “Yes, a little money wouldn’t hurt either”, the film still packs considerable emotional clout.

Sun, whose long, spread-out career has ranged from the subtle Heartstrings 心香 (1992) through the flashy Zhou Yu’s Train 周渔的火车 (2002) to the intriguing cat-and-mouse spy thriller Qiu Xi 秋喜 (2009), has always brought a strong emotional quotient to his works, and here he gets the balance just right, giving his actors plenty of space but not too much. Li Bingbing 李冰冰, probably the most versatile Mainland actress of her generation (and certainly the hardest working), is especially good, partly because she treats the central role as a real acting opportunity rather than just an excuse to coast in a rom-com. She is, of course, way too smart and beautiful to be completely believable in the role of celibate workaholic Tang Weiwei, but I Do never pretends to be anything more than intelligent mainstream entertainment in a wish-fulfillment world. Li’s chemistry with top-billed Sun Honglei 孙红雷, here at his smiley, laid-back best as her wily pursuer, is tangible, though Sun also strengthens the lead triangle by equally good chemistry with Duan Yihong 段奕宏 (the agile lead cop in Wind Blast 西风烈, 2010, and political hothead in White Deer Plain 白鹿原, 2012).

The main weakness of the movie is trying to include other characters’ relationship problems but only paying them lip-service: brief subplots about the philandering husband of Tang Weiwei’s best friend and a marriage by one of Tang Weiwei’s female colleagues hardly get off the ground. Despite that, performances by the supports are all well-etched – and, to be honest, when Li, Sun and Duan are sparking off each other, the audience doesn’t need much more.

CREDITS

Presented by China Film (CN), Phoenix Media (CN), Beijing Forbidden City Film (CN).

Script: Hu Jiang, Sun Zhou. Novel: Chen Tong. Photography: Bao Dexi [Peter Pau]. Editing: Zhan Haihong, Zhang Hao. Music: Cyril Morin. Production design: Shen Xiaoyong. Costume design: Wu Lilu [Dora Ng]. Sound: Zhao Suchen, Lin Xuelin, Wang Gang. Action: Liu Jun. Visual effects: Li Jinhui, Ding Yanlai (Naga Prime Film Tech).

Cast: Sun Honglei (Yang Nianhua), Li Bingbing (Tang Weiwei), Duan Yihong (Wang Yang/Jim), Xu Jianing (Jin Xiaoling, Tang Weiwei’s best friend), Liu Mu (Fang Qu, Tang Weiwei’s boss), Zhang Li (Lisha/Lisa, Tang Weiwei’s sales colleague), Xia Lixin (Qiao Na/Joanne, business supervisor), Wang Maolei (Liu Jun, documentary director), Li Meng (Qian Wei, Jin Xiaoling’s husband), Zhao Yuetong (Qin, nurse), Wu You (sterile man), Yu Gang, Liu Junling (1 the Store managers), Mu Yan, Lisa Yu (special guests at annual meeting), Cheng Xuan (Sansheng manager), Cheng Huan (host at contract signing), Lin Junpu, Lin Junru (bridesmaids), Li Wenling (old woman at noodle shop), Zhao Suchen (male neighbour), Zhang Ying (old female neighbour), Hu Jiang (emergency doctor), Hai Yan (hospital cashier), Shao Yuhua (Tang Weiwei’s colleague), Sun Minghai (fat rich man), Gao Deng (cross-dressing man), Tan Bowei (China returnee), Li Dongpeng (handsome man), Wang Yenong (glass man), Wang Taotao (policeman), Liu Chang (supermarket delivery man), Zhang Zhen (Yang Nianhua’s secretary), Fu Chaofan, Liu Kai (Yang Nianhua’s assistants), Zhang Baolong (Wang Yang’s vice-president), Meng Xuanchen (Wang Yang’s secretary).

Release: China, 10 Feb 2012.

(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 14 Mar 2012.)