Autumn Sunshine
一路向爱
China, 2017, colour, 2.35:1, 88 mins.
Director: Xu Yihua 徐艺华.
Rating: 5/10.
Quirky rom-com is just about held together by a mercurial lead performance from actress Gao Shuyao.
STORY
Ningbo, Zhejiang province, southern China. After another failed business deal, entrepreneur Xia Fan (Guan Yajun) flies off to escape his creditors, leaving his tearful younger sister Xia Tian (Gao Shuyao) behind. A year later, she’s shaken off the upset, given herself a new look, and is energetically running her own small tour company to help pay off her brother’s debts. But she also has to take care of hospital bills for her father (Yu Chengqun), who had a heart attack after Xia Fan fled. One evening she bumps into Taiwan artist Han Yue (Fan Zhiwei), who’s visiting Ningbo for an exhibition of his works. He helps her out of a tricky situation with some drunks in a bar and another day helps her again when she has a problem with some hotel rooms she’s reserved. As a thankyou she offers him a two-day tour of the area, which he accepts but insists on paying for. He says he’s looking for a man called Zhao Jinghai, a gambler with debts, on behalf of a friend, but offers no more information. When Xia Tian’s flatmate, Fei Zi (Xie Zibin), makes a play for Han Yue and finds he’s more interested in Xia Tian, the two friends fall out. But later, Xia Tian also falls out with Han Yue.
REVIEW
A quirky rom-com that keeps swinging between charming and clumsy, Autumn Sunshine 一路向爱 is ultimately held together by a mercurial lead performance from actress Gao Shuyao 高姝瑶 and a smooth technical package that makes the whole piece of fluff effortlessly watchable. Shot in autumn 2015 and released two years later, the film, by Zhejiang-born indie film-maker Xu Yihua 徐艺华, 38, made no impression at the box office.
It’s a peach of a role for 30-something Gao, who originally trained in musical performance in her native Liaoning province and more often works on TV. She’s so far made three features with Xu (including 黄粱一梦, 2017, and Untouchable Love 无法触碰的爱, 2018, both shot before Autumn Sunshine) and here, in a short hairstyle (as in Love) that very much suits her, she’s the centre of attention as the sparky Xia Tian, a Ningbo tour guide who’s struggling to pay off her fugitive brother’s debts and stay one step ahead of disaster while also yearning to find a man to settle down with. A candidate appears in the form of a visiting Taiwan artist who helps her out of a couple of tight corners but also has a mysterious mission of his own.
The script by Fan Jing 樊菁, who went on to write the Yan Ni 闫妮 vehicle I Am Your Mom 我是你妈 (2018), plays with some rom-com conventions; but Fan’s not yet a skilled enough screenwriter to make them her own, as the plot artificially lurches this way and that. (A sudden manufactured spat between the heroine and her flatmate is a good example.) Gao’s performance gives the movie both energy and purpose, but unfortunately she’s not helped by her co-star, squiffy-haired Taiwan actor-singer Fan Zhiwei 范植伟, 38, who projects no romantic chemistry at all. Mainland actress Xie Zibin 谢紫彬 has a few moments as the lead’s flatmate but, apart from Gao, the other star of the film is the city of Ningbo, whose relaxed and picturesque character is nicely caught by the bright, clear photography of Xin Hua 辛华.
The Chinese title means “Road to Love”.
CREDITS
Presented by Zhejiang Gamson Film (CN).
Script: Fan Jing, Xu Yihua. Photography: Xin Hua. Editing: Hao Xiaoxia. Music: Liu Lu. Art direction: Xu Zhitao. Styling: Xie Qianjin. Sound: Xu Haitao, Dong Xuebin. Executive direction: Guan Longtao.
Cast: Fan Zhiwei (Han Yue), Gao Shuyao (Xia Tian), Guan Yajun (Xia Fan, Xia Tian’s elder brother), Xie Zibin (Fei Zi, Xia Tian’s flatmate), Xu Yiqian (Xiaoqian, Xia Tian’s employee), Guo Wanchao (Li, teacher), Yu Chengqun (Xia Tian’s father), Shang Guangda (head gangster), Chen Bin (wretched-looking man), Meng Liying (Liu Fang, teacher).
Release: China, 28 Aug 2017.