STORY

Wangdu village, Jitai county, Jilin province, northeast China, the present day. Slightly retarded Shu (Wang Baoqiang) lives with his mother and works as a not-very-good car mechanic. (His father and elder brother are both dead, the former having hanged the latter from a tree after he was arrested for hooliganism back in 1986. Shu still has visions of his draconian father.) Following the setting up of Ruiyang Mining Group, the villagers are being encouraged to move into new housing in New Sun City, south of county town Jitai. However, Shu and his mother are resisting the move, despite pressure from local business heavy Er Zhu (Liu Bo), who manages Ruiyang Mining Group and is the brother-in-law of the village head. After going to Jitai for treatment on an eye problem, Shu meets and falls for Zhang Xiaomei (Tan Zhuo), a deaf-mute working in a massage parlour whose parents are looking to find her a husband. At the marriage celebrations of his old friend Gao Peng (Wang Dazhi), Shu meets another friend, Chen Yixin (Li Jingyi), who’s now running a private school with his wife Xiaolu in Changchun, the provincial capital. As Shu has lost his job, Chen Yixin finds him work as a cleaner at his school. Returning later to the village, Shu proposes to Zhang Xiaomei and she accepts. But on the day of his marriage Shu starts acting very strangely.

REVIEW

Mr. Tree Hello! 树先生, the second feature of writer-director Han Jie 韩杰, juggles familiar elements from non-mainstream Chinese cinema (wintry landscapes, economic change, a decaying smalltown setting, an idiot-savant protagonist) into a black comedy-fantasy that’s an easy sit but not terribly original. Sustained by good performances – especially from Wang Baoqiang 王宝强 as the title character who escapes reality by sitting in trees and Tan Zhuo 谭卓 as a pretty deaf-mute who becomes his bride – it lacks the rough energy and social anger of Han’s juvenile-delinquent road movie Walking on the Wild Side 赖小子 (2006) but is similarly free of the more extreme affectations of indie Chinese films. The movie has an easy flow, and plenty of incident; and though the editing is sometimes arty for no good reason, Han lays out his characters and the setting in a clear way, not pushing his audience’s patience or its ability to work out what’s going on.

Wang, whose first break was in mining-disaster drama Blind Shaft 盲山 (2003), and who was excellent as the annoying co-traveller in New Year road comedy Lost on Journey 人在囧途 (2010), shows considerable range as Shu (literally, “tree”), the out-of-it anti-hero with a perpetual smile and good heart who’s seemingly immune to the grim realities of his quotidien life. In the shy courting scenes with Tan’s quietly focused deaf-mute, the two actors create some engaging chemistry, and his interaction with the teacher friend of Li Jingyi 李京怡 and thuggish “businessman” of Liu Bo 刘博 also show the young actor’s gift for sly comedy.

It’s in the final section that the film doesn’t quite deliver as promised. As Shu morphs into a kind of idiot-savant whose predictions gain him new status in the community, the change seems too abrupt and not fully backgrounded, and the fantasy elements less original. On a technical level, however, the film – backed by giants Shanghai Film Group and Bona Film – is way above an indie level, with good-looking widescreen photography by versatile Hong Konger Li Yaohui 黎耀辉 [Lai Yiu-fai] (Love Will Tear Us Apart 天上人间, 1999; Infernal Affairs 无间道, 2002) that mixes wintry landscapes with vivid splashes of colour, especially red. Though the film, like Han’s Walking, is produced by festival darling Jia Zhangke 贾樟柯, it’s stylistically very different.

CREDITS

Presented by Shanghai Film Group (CN), Beijing Bona Film & Cultural Communication (CN), Xstream Pictures (HK). Produced by Xstream Pictures (HK).

Script: Han Jie. Photography: Li Yaohui [Lai Yiu-fai]. Editing: Matthieu Laclau, Baek Seung-hun. Music: Lin Qiang [Lim Giong]. Art direction: Zhang Xiaobing, Liu Qiang. Costumes: Li Changsheng. Sound: Li Danfeng, Zhang Yang, Yamashita Aya. Script advice: Ma Ning, Zhao Jing.

Cast: Wang Baoqiang (Shu), Tan Zhuo (Zhang Xiaomei, deaf-mute), He Jie (Wang Pingping, nurse), Li Jingyi (Chen Yixin, teacher), Bai Peijiang (San Leng, Shu’s younger brother), Wang Dazhi (Gao Peng, Shu’s old friend), Liu Bo (Er Zhu, businessman), Wang Yabin (girlfriend of Shu’s elder brother), Qiu Shijian, Wang Changlin, Wang Suyun, An Jing, Guan Na, Yang Zhongjiang, Li Changzheng, Jiang Maowei, Zhao Xiaolong, Wang Ying, Wang Guiling, Li Zheng, Li Yujie, Zhang Bingxi, Liu Changqing, Zhu Naiying, Zhuo Yuan, Niu Yazhu, Bai Yang, Wang Hao, Ma Shichun, Miao Sheng, Wang Jing, Liu Qiang, Yang Hong.

Premiere: Shanghai Film Festival (Competition), 13 Jun 2011.

Release: China, 4 Nov 2011; Hong Kong, tba.

(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 23 Aug 2011.)