Strangers When We Meet

朝云暮雨

China, 2024, colour, 1.85:1, 107 mins.

Director: Zhang Guoli 张国立.

Rating: 8/10.

Fan Wei and Zhou Dongyu show terrific screen chemistry in this offbeat, odd-couple rom-com, beautifully directed by veteran actor Zhang Guoli.

STORY

Yizhou city, somewhere in Anhui province, southern China, 2016. Three months before he’s due for release from prison, Qin Guiheng (Fan Wei), 56, is visited by his village head, Zhao (Yang Haoyu), and informed that the house of his late parents has been demolished and he will receive RMB1.5 million in government compensation. On his release he’s told by Zhao that, because his parents’ graves had to be moved to make way for a reservoir, he’ll receive a further RMB20,000 in compensation. Now free and independently wealthy, Qin Guiheng decides to get married and have children to fulfil his late parents’ wishes. One fancy dating agency rejects him when it learns he’s been in prison. The owner (Deng Fei) of a smaller one sets him up with a date (Song Jia) who, knowing he’s rich, tries to scam him out of RMB500,000. In desperation Qin Guiheng stands outside a women’s prison on release day with a sign saying he’s looking for a wife. He gets no takers; but a young woman, Chang Juan (Zhou Dongyu), who says she’s been sleeping outside the prison for two days because none of her family has comed to take her home, offers herself to him. Qin Guiheng politely refuses but reluctantly agrees to buy her a meal. She proposes he buys a flat and they enter into a trial marriage to see if they suit each other. She later reveals she’s 24 and was convicted at the age of 14 for premeditated murder. Qin Guiheng gives her some money to go home but she throws it in his face. She says she actually has no family left and, like him, is totally alone. She repeats her offer of a trial marriage and he finally agrees to take a chance. She gets him to die his hair to look younger and she dies her hair and buys some smarter clothes. She stresses that, if he ever tries to force himself on her before she’s ready, she’ll sue him for rape and he’ll get up to 10 years in prison. After living together for a short while, she suddenly suggests they should get married – no ceremony, just the two of them. His only demand is to have a family; her only demand is that he gives her RMB184,400 to feel secure. Afterwards, they get drunk on Huangshan and expand on their backgrounds: he’s had two terms in prison, totalling 27 years, first for killing a grain thief from another village and then for transporting illegal goods; she says she was imprisoned for revenge killing the 12-year-old daughter of the drunken driver who killed her parents in a car crash. Both of them bond deeply, for the first time. But then suddenly Chang Juan starts to backtrack on having a child.

REVIEW

Inspired casting of its two leads – plus a script that cleverly melds drama and comedy in a richly human mix – makes Strangers When We Meet 朝云暮雨 a delightful surprise, an offbeat, odd-couple rom-com beautifully mounted by veteran actor Zhang Guoli 张国立, 69, in his first excursion into directing a theatrical feature since Phone Number 601 第601个电话 (2006), a slick but tonally uneven comedy-drama starring Zhang Bozhi 张柏芝 [Cecilia Cheung]. As the two ex-cons who come together in an unlikely relationship, veteran comedian Fan Wei 范伟, now 61, and elfin actress Zhou Dongyu 周冬雨, 32, bounce off each other in unexpected ways, sustaining a simple, two-hander story virtually on their own. Shot three years ago, it finally got a release this spring but, despite its considerable qualities and well-known names, failed to make an impression at the box office, taking a measily RMB19 million, more typical of a hardcore art movie (which it’s not).

The script by pseudonymous female writer Ye Hao 也好 (literally, “Also Good”) is based on a true story by Xia Longlong 夏龙龙 called 穿婚纱的杀人少女 (“The Murderous Girl in a Wedding Dress”) that appeared on Truman Story 真实故事计划, the first Mainland online platform dedicated to true-life tales. The 17-page story was later published in a 2020 collection of Truman Story tales, entitled 模拟人生 (“Imitations of Life”, see cover, left). Zhang himself takes no scriptwriting credit but, given his wealth of acting experience (often as authority figures, especially emperors) as well as having directed over 20 TVDs since the mid-1990s (often starring himself), it’s likely he had a major role in shaping the script.

The first 20 minutes are dominated by Fan, as he’s seen leaving prison, hearing he’s come into a sizeable amount of government compensation for his late parents’ house being demolished, and deciding, at the age of 56, to find a wife and have a family after years as a convict. Zhang’s good-looking but unobtrusive direction gives Fan plenty of space as he draws a portrait of a meek, compliant man who just wants finally to have a quiet life and fulfil his late parents’ wishes. The actor’s gift for straightfaced comedy, and all his training in stand-up, comes into its own here as he makes clear that his character, Qin Guiheng, may be quiet and a bit goofy-looking but he’s no pushover: an attempt by a dating agency to scam him (with a lovely cameo by actress Song Jia 宋佳) doesn’t even get out of the starting gate.

So by the time he bumps into the young and pushy Chang Juan (Zhou), who’s just out of jail and claims to have been abandoned by her family, the viewer already knows that Qin Guiheng isn’t going to fall for her repartee, especially when she immediately offers herself in a trial marriage. The on-screen chemistry between Fan and Zhou – in their first pairing – is instantaneous, with him quietly watchful and suspicious and her mercurial and (possibly) just after his money. Though in her late 20s at the time of shooting, Zhou could easily play 24; but even then she already had the acting experience to give her role the necessary extra depth, always keeping alive, even in the most heartfelt moments, the faint suspicion that she may be taking the “old man” 老头 (as she always calls him) for a ride. It’s that uncertainty that sustains the relationship and the movie, alongside the equal uncertainty over whether Qin Guiheng will ever lower his guard completely.

By the halfway point the pair have married (with an alcoholic “honeymoon” on scenic Huangshan), declared their pasts to each other, and seem to have finally bonded, with no reservations. But then the script pulls a surprise twist, leading to a more serious second half that occasionally comes close to melodrama but ends with a moving coda. It’s rare nowadays to see a Mainland feature film of such assured simplicity, beautifully cast with two major names and free of directorial self-indulgence. The fine balance between drama and comedy owes much to Fan’s poe-faced expertise, but also is finely judged by director Zhang – nowhere better than in a scene where Qin Guiheng takes a crucial telephone call hanging upside down from a wall cupboard.

The chamber score by Dong Yingda 董颖达 (So Long, My Son 地久天长, 2019; The Chanting Willows 柳浪闻莺, 2021) provides effective support with its repeated motif and transparent lines. Ditto the camerawork by d.p. Chao Ming 晁明 (in his first feature after TV work), which is always thoughtfully composed but doesn’t get in the way of the performances.

The film was shot from late Mar to early Jun 2021, largely in Anhui province, southern China. The Chinese title means “Morning Clouds, Evening Rain”.

CREDITS

Presented by China Film (CN), Shanghai Taopiaopiao Movie & TV Culture (CN), Beijing Orange Trust Media (CN), Beijing Zhengfu Pictures (CN). Produced by Beijing Orange Trust Media (CN).

Script: Ye Hao. Story: Xia Longlong. Photography: Chao Ming. Editing: Liu Yi. Music: Dong Yingda. Art direction: Liang Honghu. Costumes: Wang Yuzhu. Styling: Jin Zhu. Sound: Zhao Suchen. Action: Fu Xiaojie. Visual effects: Liu Zhaohua, Ye Renhao.

Cast: Fan Wei (Qin Guiheng), Zhou Dongyu (Chang Juan), Liu Mingming (Li, prison officer), Yang Haoyu (Zhao, village head), Deng Fei (dating-agency boss), Song Jia (Qin Guiheng’s blind date), Mao Hai (male restaurant owner), Fan Tiantian (female restaurant owner), Wang Lei (Wang, doctor).

Premiere: Beijing Film Festival (Competition), 20 Apr 2024.

Release: China, 17 May 2024.