Just 1 Day

给我1天

Hong Kong, 2021, colour, 16:9, 94 mins.

Director: Li Min 李敏 [Erica Li].

Rating: 6/10.

Modest two-hander romance is rescued from terminal cuteness by its simple approach and the lead players.

STORY

Hong Kong, the present day. One Saturday, after work, bank employee Chen Shanrui (Cai Zhuoyan) attends a 10-year student reunion at Peimin [Puiman] College, where she meets old friend Ma Zhuoke (Wang Zulan) for the first time since they were fellow students. He’s now a reasonably well-known sketch artist, but still manic about being so short. At the event is also their former college head, Zhou Nianci (Xie Ning), who’s flown from the UK to be there. Afterwards Ma Zhuoke, who always had a big crush on Chen Shanru, drives her back to the flat of her boyfriend, Feng Shuhui (Guo Weiliang), where she’s been staying for the past few days. Feng Shuhui is from Vancouver, where he has a longtime girlfriend whom he’s been promising Chen Shanru he will call to break up their relationship so he can settle down with Chen Shanru. He tells Chen Shanru that his girlfriend has said she can’t live without him, and he feels obligated to marry her. Chen Shanru storms out and goes back to her own flat. Some time later Ma Zhuoke comes looking for Chen Shanru at the bank where she works; as she’s busy, he leaves her a package of crayons and a sketchpad. Later he goes to the bank again, wanting to open an account, and shows her a hospital report that he has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), aka motor neurone disease, from which he will eventually die as his body gradually shuts down. When she asks what she can do to help, he says he just wants her to be his girlfriend for just one day. She finally agrees, stressing the arrangement must be platonic. They agree to meet at sunrise outside the college gates, and Ma Zhuoke has planned the day precisely, with several surprises for her. When they part at sunrise the next day, they share a real kiss. However, sometime later, when Chen Shanru next sees Ma Zhuoke, the ALS has already taken control of his body. Despite his initial opposition, she nurses him through his final weeks.

REVIEW

Prolific Hong Kong writer, essayist, scripter and lyricist Li Min 李敏 [Erica Li], 55, makes an okay debut as a writer-director with Just 1 Day 给我1天, a modest romance between two former college friends that gets by on its lightness and simplicity as well as being deeply underscored by a nostalgia for the territory in former days. Best known on the film side for her decade-plus collaboration with (equally prolific) director Qiu Litao 邱礼涛 [Herman Yau] – most recently thrillers like The White Storm 2: Drug Lords 扫毒2 天地对决 (2019) and Shock Wave 2 拆弹专家2 (2020) but going back to period movies like The Legend Is Born: Ip Man 叶问前传 (2010) and The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake 竞雄女侠秋瑾 (2011) and chickflicks like 77 Heartbreaks 原谅他77次 (2017) – Li draws simpatico playing from her two Hong Kong leads, former Twins singer Cai Zhuoyan 蔡卓妍 [Charlene Choi] and especially baby-faced Wang Zulan 王祖蓝, in a movie that keeps threatening to become unbearably cute or a disease-of-the-week melodrama but never quite does. Already released back in February in the Mainland (under the Chinese title 只属于我们的一天, literally “One Day That Only Belongs to Us”, see poster, left), where it took a tiny RMB2.7 million, the Hong Kong production is set to be finally released on the territory’s Covid-hit screens on 23 Jul.

Like 77 Heartbreaks (which also starred Cai), Day is based on an earlier novel by Li, in this case one published in 2018 (see cover, left). Li is rarely at her best in purely relationships material, and like many of her original screenplays (including Heartbreaks) Day is built on an idea that’s more cute than truthful – here an old college friend who has motor neurone disease asking a young woman to be his girlfriend for “just 1 day” (platonically, of course). But unlike in Heartbreaks the central idea just about comes off: Li’s direction is softer than that of Qiu (who’s generally better with tabloid action drama), and the film, which runs a trim 90-odd minutes, is in three clear acts which propel the action and don’t overstay their welcome.

After sketching the girl’s emotional background and bringing the two principals together at a college reunion, the boy pops the proposal at the 30-minute mark; the day in question takes up a further half-hour; and her caring for him as he gradually dies makes up the final 30 minutes. The underlying cuteness is held in check by the simplicity of the story and the performances of the two leads, both convincingly playing about a decade younger than they really are. Now 39, Vancouver-born Cai, whose career in more “adult” roles was launched by Qiu and Li with Sara 雏妓 (2014) – about which the least said the better – still shows few signs of becoming a major actress but at least is cast here in a credible role which doesn’t over-stretch her.

But it’s Wang, 42, who sustains the whole thing across the three acts: starting in largely comic mode, then as a guy trying to hide his real feeling, and finally (in a believable transformation) as a cripple ravaged by ALS. In a sizeable career in breezy or bland supporting parts (The Jade and the Pearl 翡翠明珠, 2010; My Sassy Hubby 我老婆唔够秤2 我老公唔生性, 2012; Horseplay 盗马记, 2014; Mission Milano 王牌逗王牌, 2016, etc), the actor-singer finally gets the role of his career – and opposite an actress he’s already worked with. Their chemistry is believable, and the strong sub-theme of his love for an older Hong Kong that has now been lost (except through his sketches) and not replaced by anything of consequence, provides a strong foundation for the more visible story. The final minutes, though not containing any surprises, are quite affecting.

Other roles in what is essentially a two-hander are just bits, from Guo Weiliang 郭伟亮 [Eric Kwok], briefly good as the girl’s slippery lover, through Huang Debin 黄德斌 [Kenny Wong] as a flirtatious bank customer (an unnecessary role), to Deng Shurong 邓树荣 as a kindly retiree. Technically the production is smooth, with unaffected photography by veteran Christopher Doyle 杜可风, tight editing by fellow veteran Zhong Weizhao 钟炜钊 [Azrael Chung] and believable costumes by Bai Xipo 白希珀. There’s a magical moment about an hour in when, underlining the theme of a lost Hong Kong, the girl briefly seems to walk down an old-style street entirely created by models (courtesy Toma Miniatures); the idea is reused in the film’s closing moments, though more conventionally. More Hong Kong nostalgia is mined when the pair go to watch a typical “old” rom-com, First Love Unlimited 初恋无限TOUCH！ (1997), directed by Ma Weihao 马伟豪 [Joe Ma] and starring Chen Xiaodong 陈晓东 and Liang Yongqi 梁咏琪 [Gigi Leung].

The film’s Hong Kong title means “Give Me 1 Day”. Qiu was creative producer 监制 along with Shao Jianqiu 邵剑秋 (77 Heartbreaks).

CREDITS

Presented by Emperor Film Production (HK).

Script: Li Min [Erica Li]. Novel: Li Min [Erica Li]. Photography: Christopher Doyle. Editing: Zhong Weizhao [Azrael Chung]. Music: Liang Bingren. Theme song: Liang Bingren (music), Li Min [Erica Li] (lyrics), Wang Zulan (vocal). Art direction: Pang Sihao. Costume design: Bai Xipo. Sound: Guo Zhiwen, Nie Jirong, Ye Zhaoji. Visual effects: Luo Weihao, Xie Zhaoji (Different Digital Design). Miniatures: Li Chiming, Chen Huiji (Toma Miniatures).

Cast: Cai Zhuoyan [Charlene Choi] (Chen Shanru/Shenxianyu/Angelfish), Wang Zulan (Ma Zhuoke/Masaike/Mosaic), Huang Debin [Kenny Wong] (Huang, bank customer), Tang Yi (Huang Jiayi/Joyce), Guo Weiliang [Eric Kwok] (Feng Shuhui/Ken), Xie Ning (Zhou Nianci, former college principal), Deng Shurong (Zheng Gangsheng), Wei Shiya (guest at exhibition), Hu Wenbiao (Ma Zhuoke’s father), Wu Bojun (chess player), Lin Zhengxi (young Ma Zhuoke), Zheng Silin (young Chen Shanru), Feng Zhenchao (Chen Shanru’s father), Li Kailan (Chen Shanru’s step-mother), Wu Peiyi (Mrs. Feng), Fang Fengyi (Luo Tingting, bank customer), Zhang Yongmei (Luo Tingting’s elderly mother), Liang Miaoyan (Paula).

Premiere: Dublin Film Festival, 7 Mar 2021.

Release: Hong Kong, 23 Jul 2022.