Cry Me a Sad River

悲伤逆流成河

China, 2018, colour, 2.35:1, 103 mins.

Director: Luo Luo 落落 [Zhao Jiarong 赵佳蓉].

Rating: 5/10.

High-school drama about a bullied loner jumps the rails in its third act, despite a strong lead.

STORY

Shanghai, 2007. High-school student Yi Yao (Ren Min) lives in a small back-alley house with her mother (Wu Junmei), who scrapes a living for them as a “masseuse”. From childhood Yi Yao has been friends with the wealthier boy opposite, Qi Ming (Zhang Yingbo), though his mother disapproves of her mother’s way of life. At Heping High School, Yi Yao is the only pupil who doesn’t wear the new school uniform, as her mother says it’s an unnecessary expense. And a new girl in class, Tang Xiaomi (Zhu Danni), starts making eyes at Qi Ming, who is the handsome class head. Yi Yao has been having pains in her stomach, and when she finally goes to hospital for a check-up she’s told she has a sexually transmitted infection, despite still being a virgin. Laser treatment for the wart will cost RMB2,500. Yi Yao doesn’t tell her mother, as the latter is always accusing her of trying to wheedle money from her. But one night alone at home she passes out. Qi Ming takes her to hospital and pays for her treatment, missing a karaoke date with Tang Xiaomi, who gets upset. In revenge, Tang Xiaomi follows Yi Yao and photographs her one night outside a back-street women’s clinic. The picture goes viral at school and makes Yi Yao an outcast. But one pupil, Gu Senxi (Xin Yunlai), befriends her and tells her to fight back against the bullying. She does, but Qi Ming then becomes jealous of Gu Senxi’s interest in her. Meanwhile, Gu Senxi’s elder twin sister, Gu Senxiang (Zhang Ruonan), has developed a liking for Qi Ming.

REVIEW

A teenage Shanghai student with VD is made an outcast by her fellow pupils in Cry Me a Sad River 悲伤逆流成河, which calls itself the first Mainland film to tackle the subject of school bullying. More importantly – and no doubt responsible for its very nice RMB355 million box office – it’s adapted from a novel of the same name by popular writer-publisher-stylista Guo Jingming 郭敬明, 35, of Tiny Times 小时代 (2013-15) fame. As well as co-writing the adaptation, Guo was also the film’s creative producer 监制, though the official directing credit goes to his co-adaptor Luo Luo 落落 (pen name of Shanghai writer/editor Zhao Jiarong 赵佳蓉), here making her second feature after the fine office rom-com The Last Women Standing 剩者为王 (2015). Cry Me, alas, isn’t in that league but, before it blows everything just when the plot has reached tipping-point, it has some performances of note – especially newcomer Ren Min 任敏 in the main role and veteran Wu Junmei 邬君梅 [Vivian Wu] as her mother – within a fairly standard youth-film format.

Guo’s novel, written just prior to his Tiny Times ones, was first serialised in 2006 and then published as a book the following year (see cover, top left). There’s already a TV drama series set to be broadcast in Jan 2019, directed by Lin Hongguang 林红光 and starring Zheng Shuang 郑爽 (see poster, centre left); and back in 2014 a non-profit, non-professional feature-film version was made by high-school students, directed by Yang Yihan 杨以涵 and starring Lin Zixin 林子欣 (see poster, bottom left). Apart from the theme of school bullying, the story’s big riff on the high-school romance genre is that the heroine has a sexually transmitted disease despite still being a virgin. Apart from that, the content is fairly standard: a poor girl and a better-off boy who live opposite each other in a back alley, a pouty new girl in class, potential new suitors for the two leads, and so on.

Essentially the film is about fitting into social norms rather than simply a high-school youth drama. Yi Yao (Ren) is visually marked from the start by her old track-suit uniform – as her mother refuses to spend money on a new one – as well as, in her neighbourhood, by her mother’s dubious profession as a “masseuse” and their relative poverty. The infection she contracts pushes her to the edge of social norms, especially among fellow teenagers obsessed with fitting in. The mystery of how she contracted it is fairly easy to guess but, when revealed, it leads to the film’s most affecting moment, as mother and daughter are finally brought together. This is the story’s key relationship, rather than the more formulaic teen-crushes or the underlying theme of school bullying; but at that point, some 70 minutes in, the film then ditches the mother and tags on a final half-hour of pure melodrama and manufactured crises among the girl’s schoolmates as the bullying theme is brought to the fore. It all ends very didactically with much on-screen text (including bullying hotlines) and vox-pop testimonies.

Dialogue often has an unnatural, literary quality which is clearly deliberate but needs better actors and more imaginative direction to bring off. That’s a pity as Luo Luo’s previous film was notable for the way in which she brought emotional depth to a standard genre, the office rom-com. That was largely thanks to its cast, especially Taiwan actress Shu Qi 舒淇 but also many of the others. In Cry Me most of the acting credit goes to Wu, 52, who’s just right as the girl’s trashy but basically caring mother, and to 19-year-old ballet dancer-turned-actress Ren as the teenage outcast. Still a student at Beijing’s Central Academy of Drama after graduating from Beijing Dance Academy, Ren gives the kind of raw, sullen performance that could, like actress Wen Qi 文淇 in Angels Wear White 嘉年华 (2017), lead to greater things. As Yi Yao’s childhood friend, singer-actor Zhao Yingbo 赵英博, 21, also making his movie debut, is just pretty and wooden, as is the other male lead, fellow newcomer Xin Yunlai 辛云来, 24. It’s a common flaw in Guo’s films.

On the technical side, the film is well-honed, starting with an apparently seamless, 2½-minute take from high above Shanghai, down into a back alley, and into the bedroom of the main character. The Chinese title literally means “Sadness Flows Back Like a River”.

CREDITS

Presented by Beijing Enlight Pictures (CN), Horgos Colorful Enlight Pictures (CN), Beijing Enlight Media (CN), Shannan Enlight Pictures (CN), Horgos Youth Enlight Pictures (CN).

Script: Guo Jingming, Luo Luo. Novel: Guo Jingming. Photography: Gao Hu. Editing: Qiao Aiyu. Music: Yamada Yutaka. Art direction: Liu Jing. Costume design: Wei Xiangrong. Sound: Du Duzhi, Wu Shuyao, Xu Zhengyi. Action: Wei Jintao. Visual effects: He Xuesong. Executive direction: Hao Fangwei.

Cast: Zhao Yingbo (Qi Ming), Ren Min (Yi Yao), Xin Yunlai (Gu Senxi, younger twin brother), Zhang Ruonan (Gu Senxiang, older twin sister), Zhu Danni (Tang Xiaomi), Wu Junmei [Vivian Wu] (Yi Yao’s mother), Tao Huimin (Li Wanxin), Ren Zhong (headmaster), La Muyangzi (Wang Aiyu), Li Kun (You Kai), Song Wei (Hu Pei), Lin Zhiyi (Gu Dan), Zhang Zhihao (He Weiliang), Ha Ha (Zheng Yiqiang), Cai Gang (Qi Ming’s father).

Release: China, 21 Sep 2018.