To Be Continued
了不起的夜晚
China, 2023, colour, 2.35:1, 107 mins.
Director: Ma Kai 马凯.
Rating: 4/10.
Comedy-horror set one night in a film studio is let down by its over-talky, disorganised screenplay.
STORY
A city somewhere in China, the present day. Three friends – Baozi (Fan Chengcheng), Houzi (Jiang Yi) and Gouzi (Gan Yuchen) – have set up Sanbao Media to make controversial vlogs and attract clicks. One is set in a late-night restaurant which seems to have no staff but in which customers are suddenly scared half to death. However, that vlog doesn’t make much money, and one member of the public demands compensation for medical expenses and loss of earnings after being frightened out of his wits. Baozi’s two partners threaten to leave the company but he persuades them to stay for one last job he’s arranged… Xiaoshan (Jiang Long), a jobbing extra who’s managed to buy his way into the lead role of a costume horror, The Story of Concubine Li 丽妃传, hires Baozi & Co. to make a clandestine, prankster vlog on the film’s making, playing up Xiaoshan’s role and pretending the shoot is haunted by the ghost of Imperial Concubine Li. The film’s plot centres on two imperial eunuchs, played by Xiaoshan and his pal Dou (Kong Lianshun), who have discovered the location of a large jade pearl that was given to Concubine Li by the emperor but went missing when she fell out of favour and was accidentally killed by the chief eunuch. The location is an old imperial building that is reputed to be haunted by Concubine Li’s ghost. The film is shooting at the local film studio at night, and veteran director Liang Long (Liang Long) is becoming exasperated by Xiaoshan’s so-called method acting; however, the producer (Zhou Yiwei) won’t listen to his complaints, as Xiaoshan has invested his fee in the film. During a break in shooting, Xiaoshan shows Dou round the deserted studio, where they’re suddenly spooked by a ghost that looks like Concubine Li’s ghost in the film. That “ghost” is actuallly Houzi in drag. But then, during a stunt scene, Jiajia (Xu Xinwen), the double for the actress (Wang Zixuan) playing Concubine Li’s ghost, is accidentally killed, and her ghost starts haunting the film studio as well.
REVIEW
A comedy-horror set in a supposedly haunted film studio during the course of one night, To Be Continued 了不起的夜晚 is too disorganised on a script level, and way too talky, to really succeed, though it’s a big step up on a technical level from the first feature of writer-director Ma Kai 马凯 from his shoestring mock-documentary The Possessed 中邪 (2016). In the intervening years, Ma, now 34, has learned how to put together a professionally mounted, mainstream picture – and here has experienced comedian/director Yi Xiaoxing 易小星 (Surprise 万万没想到, 2015; Bath Buddy 沐浴之王, 2020) as creative producer 监制 – even though he still needs help on the writing side to clarify his objectives and focus on what’s dramatically important. To Be Continued starts out as a comedy-horror and finishes as a paean to the power of teamwork – an evolution that requires some sudden gear-changing that’s difficult for the viewer to accept. On release this spring, it took RMB47 million in the Mainland, just about reasonable considering its lack of big names but far from a hit.
Apart from its opening sequence, the whole film is set during a single night in a film studio where a costume ghost movie is being shot. Professional vlogger Baozi (Fan Chengcheng 范丞丞, younger brother of actress Fan Bingbing 范冰冰) has done a deal with the film’s “star”, jobbing extra Xiaoshan (Jiang Long 蒋龙) who’s bought his way into the role, to secretly film the shoot and concoct a story that the studio is haunted by the ghost of the film’s main character, Imperial Concubine Li. The “ghost” is to be portrayed by one of Baozi’s business partners, and the whole thing is a wheeze to boost Xiaoshan’s career when the vlog is uploaded to the internet. However, the film’s veteran director is getting seriously fed up with Xiaoshan’s so-called method acting, and then the main actress’ double is accidentally garrotted during a stunt and her ghost starts to haunt the studio.
The script doesn’t reveal the job that Baozi & Co. have been hired to do until some way into the film, and as the ghostly complications get more and more complicated, with sudden twists, the whole thing teeters on the edge of narrative chaos, diluting its comic potential. Since leaving his hometown in 2010 to get into the film industry in Beijing and Shanghai, Ma has had a large variety of jobs and his portrait of the film crew, though exaggerated for humorous effect, rings true for a budget production. Entertaining as this side of the film is, however, on a broader level it’s another diversion from what the movie should be about.
Fan, 23, debuted on the big screen as the sinister security guard in horror The Door Lock 门锁 (2021); he has much more to do here, and is okay as far as his entrepreneurial role allows, but he and his two business pals (Jiang Yi 蒋易, Gan Yunchen 甘昀宸) don’t make a particularly likeable trio, as three ambitious guys whose solo ambition is to get a million clicks on a vlog. As a result, the film lacks a strong emotional centre and ends up as a collection of individual characters. Singer-actor-director Liang Long 梁龙, 45, is believable as the exasperated veteran director, and TV actor Jiang Long, 28, ditto as the no-talent “star” Xiaoshan. But in a cameo role it’s Zhou Yiwei 周一围, 40, who almost steals the show as the film’s slimy producer. It’s another feather in the hat of the actor, already notable for colourful outings like the cocky blackmailer in Brotherhood of Blades 绣春刀 (2014), psycho gangster in Blood of Youth 少年 (2016) and commanding journalist in The Insanity 你好，疯子！ (2016).
Technically the film is fine, from the ghostly night photography by d.p. Qiu Zhen 邱震 (Fish under the Ice 冰下的鱼, 2020) to the tight editing by Qian Fang 钱芳 (crime caper Foolish Plan 呆呆计划, 2016). The point of the English title is anybody’s guess; the Chinese one means “Fantastic Night”.
CREDITS
Presented by MaxTimes (Hubei) (CN), Union Frame Pictures (Hubei) (CN), Beijing Dengfeng International Culture Communication (CN), General Dream (Shanghai) Studio (CN), Asia Pacific National Film (Chongqing) Cultural Media (CN). Produced by MaxTimes (Hubei) (CN).
Script: Ma Kai. Photography: Qiu Zhen. Editing: Qian Fang. Music: Dong Dongdong. Art direction: Wang Zichao. Styling: Zhao Yige. Sound: Zhou Lei, Wu Lei, Du Jiansheng. Action: Nie Jun. Executive director: Zhang Liang.
Cast: Fan Chengcheng (Baozi/Leo), Jiang Long (Xiaoshan), Jiang Yi (Houzi/Monkey/Fan Cheng), Wang Zixuan (actress playing Concubine Li’s ghost), Liang Long (Liang Long, director), Zhou Yiwei (Lei, producer), Kong Lianshun (Dou), Jiang Shimeng (Meng, executive director), Gan Yunchen (Gouzi/Dog), Xu Xinwen (Jiajia, actress doubling Concubine Li’s ghost), Meng Han (Meng, line producer), Qi Yujia (Zhuang, make-up artist), Yi Xiaoxing (Niu Huanhuan, male doctor), Ma Di’ni (Ma Lele, female doctor).
Release: China, 31 Mar 2023.