Beijing Love Story

北京爱情故事

China, 2014, colour, 2.35:1, 120 mins.

Director: Chen Sicheng 陈思诚.

Rating: 7/10.

Likeable collection of stories is sustained by its strong cast and easy direction.

STORY

Beijing, the present day. At a singles’ party with his friends – middle-aged married playboy Wu Zheng (Wang Xuebing) and about-to-be-married Ma Liang (Guo Jingfei) – house designer Chen Feng (Chen Sicheng) falls for Shen Yan (Tong Liya) and she likewise. Three months later Shen Yan finds she is pregnant and, though he has no house, no car and no Beijing residency permit, Chen Feng proposes they get married. Shen Yan agrees, despite the opposition of her mother (Gai Ke). Meanwhile, Shen Yan is still being pursued by her wealthy ex-boyfriend, Fang Hongjiang (Geng Le), who offers her an RMB20 million house if she agrees to go to bed with him. Over dinner, Wu Zheng tells Chen Feng that Shen Yan should accept the offer on practical grounds. After staggering home that night after another liaison, Wu Zheng passes out. His long-sffering wife, Zhang Lei (Yu Nan), finds a video on his mobile phone of him having sex with his current mistress. She decides to go out on the town alone and is picked up by a man (Hai Yitian), whom she finally rejects. She ends up in the hotel room of her Hong Kong boss, Liu Hui (Liang Jiahui), who is leaving the next day to meet his wife Jialing (Liu Jialing) on Santorini island, Greece, for a 20th-anniversary romantic holiday. During dinner, Jialing challenges him to play Truth or Dare. Back in Beijing, their teenage daughter Liu Xingyang (Ouyang Na’na) get to know fellow student Song Ge (Liu Haoran), who has fallen for her. When he hears that her father has forbidden her to take part in a TV talent show in Hangzhou with a string quartet she plays cello in, he vows to help her. Chen Feng’s neighbour, 66-year-old Wang Daqi (Wang Qingxiang), has been going on blind dates arranged by Gao Xia (Siqin Gaowa), but is proving over-choosy. Finally, Gao Xia’s colleague in a choir, Mrs. Zhao (Wang Kai), recommends her cousin Xue Aijia (Jin Yanling), a 59-year-old divorcee who has just returned after 20 years in the US and is looking to settle down again in Beijing.

REVIEW

A likeable, if not very original, relationships movie, Beijing Love Story 北京爱情故事 should be more accurately called Beijing Love Stories in English, as it’s basically a portmanteau film of five, tangentially linked vignettes. (The original Chinese title can be read as either singular or plural.) Released on Valentine’s Day in China, this first feature by actor-singer-writer-director Chen Sicheng 陈思诚 owed much of its success to his popular 39-part TV drama series of the same name, even though the script and characters are completely new and only one member of the TV series (Chen’s actress wife Tong Liya 佟丽娅) made the move over. Dedicated to falling in love in all its various forms, the movie is sustained by its large cast of all ages, wide range of moods, and Chen’s easy, good-looking direction that’s always at the service of the actors.

Chen, 36, rose to fame with the TV drama series Soldiers Sortie 士兵突击 (2006) but is also known for film roles like the spy-lover in gay drama Spring Fever 春风沉醉的夜晚 (Lou Ye 娄烨, 2009) and the investigator in genre-bender The Man Behind the Courtyard House 守望者  罪恶迷途 (Fei Xing 非行, 2011). The 2012 TV drama series Beijing Love Story, which he directed and co-wrote, centred on a collection of 20-somethings, the so-called “1980s generation”, played by a strong lineup of young talent that included Li Chen 李晨, Yang Mi 杨幂, Zhang Xinyi 张歆艺, Mo Xiaoqi 莫小棋 and Zhang Yi 张译 , as well as himself and Tong. The movie, however, spreads its age net much wider, from teenagers to oldies, and largely goes for proven big-screen names like Wang Xuebing 王学兵, Yu Nan 余男, Jin Yanling 金燕玲 [Elaine Jin] and Hong Kong’s Liang Jiahui 梁家辉 [Tony Leung Ka-fai] and Liu Jialing 刘嘉玲 [Carina Lau].

It’s a sensible move, as the actors are often stronger than the basic material. The movie is essentially a compendium of romantic tropes: love at first sight (affectingly played by Chen and Tong), a cheated-on housewife’s quest for freedom (Yu, under-used in a glum role), a middle-aged couple on a second honeymoon (Liang and Liu doing glossy big-star turns on a Greek island), high-school first love with pranks and bicycles (charmingly played by newcomer Liu Haoran 刘昊然 and Taiwan cellist Ouyang Na’na 欧阳娜娜), and a bitter-sweet oldies yarn (veterans Wang Qingxiang 王庆祥, Siqin Gaowa 斯琴高娃 and Jin, all effortless).

Chen spices up the familiar material with quirky moments – Yu’s character in a brief lesbian flirtation, Liu’s in a fantastical imagining, Wang stealing all his scenes as an incorrigible womaniser – as well as playing with the audience’s expectations over character’s identities and fates. The overlaps between the stories are clever but not much more than that; Chen saves his showstopper for the final sequence, an elaborate three-minute take that “unites” most of the characters and proves surprisingly moving.

Though its name is in the title, Beijing as a city and collection of people doesn’t make a distinctive impression until the later stages. Widescreen packaging by d.p. Song Xiaofei 宋晓飞 (Cow 斗牛, 2009; Design of Death 杀生, 2012; Lost in Thailand 人再囧途之泰囧, 2012) and Hong Kong veteran stylist Zhang Shuping 张叔平 [William Chang] is versatile, conjuring up a different look to fit the mood of each story. Even though it plumbs no great depths of emotion or perception, Beijing Love Story does its job as an enjoyable date movie until the next one comes along.

For the record, Chen here uses his alternate Chinese name, which replaces his original chéng 成 (“succeed”) with the identical-sounding 诚 (“sincere”). One well-written sequence, which didn’t make the main cut, is included during the end titles and well worth sticking around for.

CREDITS

Presented by Wanda Media (CN), Shine Asia Entertainment Media (CN).

Script: Chen Sicheng. Photography: Song Xiaofei (China), Pei Liwei (Greece). Editing: Tu Yiran. Music: Dong Dongdong. Art direction: Lin Mu. Styling: Zhang Shuping [William Chang]. Sound: Chen Guang, Huang Zheng, Terry Tu. Action: Wu Yonglun. Visual effects: Wan Xiang, Zhang Chao, Zhang Chunmiao (Beijing Huayuelongying Culture Media), Sun Min (China Fish [HK] Media).

Cast: Liang Jiahui [Tony Leung Ka-fai] (Liu Hui), Liu Jialing [Carina Lau] (Jialing, Liu Hui’s wife), Wang Xuebing (Wu Zheng), Yu Nan (Zhang Lei), Wang Qingxiang (Wang Daqi), Siqin Gaowa (Gao Xia), Chen Sicheng (Chen Feng), Tong Liya (Shen Yan), Jin Yanling [Elaine Jin] (Xue Aijia), Geng Le (Fang Hongjiang, Shen Yan’s ex-boyfriend), Guo Jingfei (Ma Liang), Dong Ni’na (Wang Dali), Gai Ke (Shen Yan’s mother), Hai Yitian (man in flowery shirt), Ouyang Na’na (Liu Xingyang), Liu Haoran (Song Ge), Chen Kangfeng (Fatty/Pudge, Song Ge’s school friend), Shi Yunpeng (Black Monkey, Song Ge’s school friend), Xia Lixin (Song Ge’s mother), Bao Shumin, Yu Li’nan, Liu Yujia, Feng Yue, Lu Moyan (choral group members), Tian Shan (blind-date lady), Wang Kai (Mrs. Zhao), Wang Li’na (Sun, doctor), Yang Yuyu, Zhang Xiaoge, Hou Yidi (hot girls in nightclub), Jia Beibei (fat girl), Yang Di (Bony), Yang Mingyue (ugly girl), Li Zhuorong (Liu Hui’s mistress in video), Zha Wenhao, Liu Hanzhao, Chen Erbo, Dai Xu (men in nightclub), Fan Gao (street singer), Fu Xia (passport control officer), Wang Rui, Pang Xixian, Jiang Yi (fighting men), Dai Mo, Xiong Ke (couple in cinema), He Siyu, Wang Jiayu (hospital nurses), Hao Luoqian (baby), Xiao Ke, Ning Caishen, Liu Chun, Kong Ergou, Ma Boyang, Gu Xiaobai, Yuan Hong, Zhou Hong, Zhang Yu, Zhang Zidong, Ma Yuke, Ma Jian, Ban Zan, Zhao Yichao, Zhao Zhigang, Yi Shan.

Release: China, 14 Feb 2014.

(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 5 Mar 2014.)