Keep Rolling
大场面
China, 2024, colour, 2.35:1, 99 mins.
Director: Li Ji 李季.
Rating: 7/10.
Modestly produced black comedy on the film industry and human selfishness doesn’t run out of breath thanks to plenty of character interplay and several changes of tone.
STORY
An island in the South Pacific, 9 Feb 2024, Chinese New Year’s Eve. On a deserted beach a Chinese film company is shooting the final sequence of a big WW2 drama, Tropical Action 热带行动, so everyone can fly back home in time for Chinese New Year. However, at the last moment the film’s arrogant megastar, Lin Dong (Ma Xudong), decides he wants a more spectacular death scene during the beach landing. He tells his regular stunt double, Sun Zhiqiang, aka Qiangzi (Wang Tianfang), to stand in for him for the action shots while he has a leisurely drink and massage. However, when Lin Dong walks onto the beach for his final close-up, he steps on a real landmine buried beneath the sand – and freezes. Everyone in the crew just wants to fly home, and no one – including producer Yang (Kukude Teng) and director Sun Mantang (Lv Yan) – wants to take responsibility for rescuing Lin Dong as it’s so dangerous. Finally, Qiangzi, who was helped by Lin Dong to get a start in the film industry, takes two crutches over so the star can at least support himself. He then goes with props man Xiaoliu (Li Fei) and the unit’s interpreter (Wang Yiwei) to the nearest village to get help. On the way the interpreter explains that that the are where they’ve been filming was a war zone not so long ago and still hasn’t been properly cleared of unexploded ordnance. At the local police station the chief (Gao Weilun) tells them they already broke the law by filming in a retricted zone and then locks them up. It is now a hour since Lin Dong stepped on the landmine and the crew are already placing bets on whether he’ll survive. They give Lin Dong food and drink using long poles. The director then suggests to the producer that, if they film the whole thing, it will make great publicity whether Lin Dong is blown up or not. Meanwhile, the trio break out of the jail by using a fake prop grenade that Xiaoliu has, and drive back to the beach, deliberately letting the police follow them. The police chief says they need an army specialist, but the paperwork would take a week. He says, however, that an old retired soldier, Bumi (Gong Jinguo), who lives in a nearby village, may be able to help. Bumi finally agrees to help as his daughter is a fan of Lin Dong’s films. It’s now been four hours since Lin Dong stepped on the landmine. Bumi inspects it but says it’s a complex type that he can’t help with. Meanwhile, an ox runs onto the beach and is blown up, meaning Lin Dong is actually in the middle of a live minefield. Producer Yang says he’s located a foreign specialist who will arrive in the evening, but Lin Dong says he won’t last that long. Finally, it’s decided to use a technique that one of the crew saw in a film. But it needs a volunteer – and only Qiangzi is willing.
REVIEW
On the last day of filming a war movie, an arrogant megastar steps on a live landmine and gets stuck in a no-man’s-land between life and death in Keep Rolling 大场面, a promising first feature by young Mainland writer-director Li Ji 李季. A rare example of a black comedy that doesn’t run out of breath in its second half, this modestly produced satire on the film industry in general and human selfishness in particular manages to morph into a serio-comic portrayal of group action triumphant, and be quite uplifting along the way. Alas, despite being cast with a large number of online/TV comics, it took a nothing RMB12.5 million at the box office last autumn, maybe due to the lack of big names and any head-turning production values.
Li previously directed a micro-drama (Melodies of Life 生活乐章, 2020) and the online short Expectation 望 (2021); but his major credit prior to Rolling was as associate director to Wang Zizhao 王子昭 on World’s Greatest Dad 二手杰作 (2023), a classy black comedy about the hollowness of fame. A remake of the 2009 Robin Williams comedy directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, Dad was co-produced and co-funded by film-maker Ning Hao 宁浩, whose fingerprints were all over it. Ning’s company Dirty Monkeys wasn’t involved in the production of Keep Rolling but several of Dad’s crew worked on it, including writer Xu Luyang 许渌洋 (black rom-com My Dear Liar 受益人, 2019; scamming drama No More Bets 孤注一掷, 2023), d.p. Wen Yu 文郁 and composer He Li 何立.
The basic plot is laid out in the first 10 minutes or so, as an arrogant megastar, Lin Dong (Ma Xudong 马旭东), decides he wants a more spectacular death in the WW2 movie he’s shooting on a remote island in the South Pacific. Even though it’s Chinese New Year’s Eve and the last morning of shooting, the investor and director can’t say no. But when Lin Dong walks on the beach for his final close-up, he steps on an unexploded landmine – and freezes. The rest of the film is essentially how Lin Dong is rescued, despite the fact that the crew can’t stand him and just want to fly home for Chinese New Year. Only one crew member feels a sense of obligation – Lin Dong’s regular stunt double, Dongzi (Wang Tianfang 王天放), who owes his career to the star’s patronage.
Li keeps the script busy with plenty of interplay between the crew – a slimy investor (Teng Zhe 滕哲), toadying director (Lv Yan 吕严), bullying production manager (Zhang Youwei 张祐维), weedy props guy (Li Fei 李飞), and a quietly sympathetic sound girl (Guan Le 管乐) – while misfortune piles on misfortune for the hapless megastar, now reduced to a frozen, terrified wreck. Meanwhile, the plot rolls from one problem to another: the local police are useless, the crew start betting on whether Lin Dong will survive, and even a local war veteran is little use when finally persuaded to visit the location. Then, at the hour mark, the whole plot flips as Qiangzi volunteers to play a key role in helping his mentor.
The characters evolve and the cast work smoothly together, underplaying the black comedy and the script’s mordant view of film-industry people, before again flipping the plot into a celebration of group action over individual selfishness. The idea is hardly new, especially in Mainland cinema but, in what is essentially a modest production, it’s handled cleanly and free of schmaltz, well supported by He’s score. Throughout, Wen’s widescreen photography is good-looking without getting in the way of the performances.
Largely set on a single beach, the film was shot in a month, from mid-Nov to mid-Dec 2023. Its Chinese title means “(The) Big Scene”, as in the megastar’s towering moment.
CREDITS
Presented by China Film Creative (Beijing) (CN), Zhejiang Hengdian Film (CN), China Film (CN), Shanghai Independence Film (CN), Beijing JQ Pictures (CN), Beijing Ultra Comedy Culture Communication (CN). Produced by China Film Creative (Beijing) (CN), Shanghai Independence Film (CN).
Script: Li Ji. Script advice: Xu Luyang. Photography: Wen Yu. Editing: Sun Xun, Zheng Yuelong. Music: He Li. Art direction: Li Ang. Styling: Liu Guolan. Sound: Wang Yanwei. Visual effects: Li Tao.
Cast: Wang Tianfang (Sun Zhiqiang, stunt double), Ma Xudong (Lin Dong, star), Guan Le (Lele, sound engineer), Kukude Teng [Teng Zhe] (Yang, chief investor), Lv Yan (Sun Mantang, director), Ye Liu (Shi Liu, assistant director), Zhang Youwei (Ma, production manager), Li Fei (Xiaoliu, props), Tudou [Guo Hongze] (reporter), Zhang Cheng (reporter’s assistant), Wang Yiwei (interpreter), Gong Jinguo (Bumi), Gao Weilun (police chief), Guo Fan (himself), Zhang Yixing (Pan Sheng).
Release: China, 15 Sep 2024.