A Journey to the Seaside
亲密旅行
China, 2019, colour, 2.35:1, 91 mins.
Director: Sha Yi 沙溢.
Rating: 5/10.
Likeable but very lightweight odd-couple road movie between a taxi driver and a pesky kid.
STORY
Beijing, the present day, summer. Slovenly, hard-up taxi driver Shen Tong (Sha Yi), 40, is fooled into taking on a long-distance fare to Zhoushan – some 1,400 kilometres, off the coast of Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai – by the pretty Qiqi (Xu Lingyue), who produces a wad of cash and also brings along her young cousin Zhao Zhengnan (An Ji), 7, and his dog Galileo. At a rest stop, Qiqi skips off back to Beijing and Shen Tong is saddled with Zhao Zhengnan, who withdraws RMB23,000 on his mother’s bank card to pay the needy Shen Tong. Zhao Zhengnan wants to take Galileo to Zhoushan to be reunited with Na’na, the dog it made pregnant that belongs to his young friend Xiaoya (Li Yiqing). In Ji’nan the two stay overnight in a boutique hotel run by Wen Li (Zhao Ziqi), a friend of Shen Tong’s ex-partner Zhao Jing (Zhu Rui), whom he abandoned when she became pregnant seven years ago. After eating too much mango, Zhao Zhengnan has to briefly visit a hospital; Shen Tong recognises the symptoms as he also has an allergy to the fruit. Next day Zhao Zhengnan insists on stopping off at a planetarium and temporarily goes missing. Shen Tong is concerned and starts to wonder whether Zhao Jing changed her given name after their painful separation and whether Zhao Zhengnan is actually his son. That night they camp out, and the following day narrowly manage to rescue Galileo when he’s apparently kidnapped by thieves for a dog-meat restaurant. That night Xiaoya tells Shen Tong by phone that Zhao Zhengnan’s mother, Zhao Yuepo (Yao Chen), has found out where he’s going and has already arrived in Zhoushan to meet him. The following day Shen Tong and the boy arrive in Zhejiang province, and Shen Tong braces himself for a possible meeting with Zhao Jing.
REVIEW
A slovenly Beijing taxi driver and a seven-year-old boy become joined at the hip in a long-dstance trip south in A Journey to the Seaside 亲密旅行, a likeable but very lightweight road movie that marks the directing debut of Mainland actor-comic Sha Yi 沙溢, 42. With his elder son Sha Junbo 沙俊伯 (here credited by his nickname An Ji 安吉) as the pesky seven-year-old and Sha himself as the driver, there’s no lack of chemistry between the two leads; but after a lively opening, with plenty of incident and interaction, the film loses its edge as it becomes just a series of comic episodes underpinned by the cabbie’s growing suspicion that the boy may actually be his long-lost son. Box office was a tiny RMB4 million.
Sha, who played the wannabe martial arts hero in TV spin-off My Own Swordsman 武林外传 (2011) and suave businessman in super-thieves caper The Adventurers 侠盗联盟 (2017), has copious acting experience and projects a simpatico screen presence as the penniless taxi driver with a disreputable past. The interplay between him and the street-smart tyke just about sustains the movie, despite the fact that the script by Chao Lin 巢琳 and Wang Min 王敏 (Caught in Trap 破局, 2014) is untidy in specifying details and doesn’t really go anywhere in the second half, increasingly relying on filler like comic montages and animation and fantasy inserts. Bright widescreen photography by Liu Yin 刘寅 (My Old Classmate 同桌的妳, 2014; The Wandering Earth 流浪地球, 2019) helps – though there’s little geographical sense of the north-south journey – as does the light, perky score by Hu Xiao’ou 胡小鸥 and smooth editing by the experienced Kong Jinlei 孔劲蕾. Among the character cameos, those by TV actress Zhao Ziqi 赵子琪 as a flirty friend and Yao Chen 姚晨 (who co-starred with Sha in Swordsman) as the mother both stand out.
The film’s Chinese title means “Intimate Journey”, in the sense of one undertaken by relatives.
CREDITS
Presented by China Film (CN). Produced by Gosh Film Entertainment (CN).
Script: Chao Lin, Wang Min. Photography: Liu Yin. Editing: Kong Jinlei. Music: Hu Xiao’ou. Art direction: Du Guangyu. Styling: Pan Lunlin. Sound: He Bochen. Action: Zuang Yuanzhang. Visual effects: Wu Wen, Li Geng. Executive direction: Qiu Zhongwei.
Cast: An Ji [Sha Junbo] (Zhao Zhengnan), Sha Yi (Shen Tong), Yao Chen (Zhao Yuepo, Zhao Zhengnan’s mother), Zhao Ziqi (Wen Li), Xu Lingyue (Qiqi, Zhao Zhengnan’s cousin), Zhao Rui (Zhao Jing, Shen Tong’s ex), Li Yiqing (Xiaoya), Sang Ping (Mo, Wen Li’s husband), Qiu Zinuo (Xiaodouzi, Wen Li’s daughter), Liu Xin (summer-camp organiser), Chen Ying (wife of Shen Tong’s landlord), Gong Cuiying (Zhao Zhengnan’s great-aunt), Wang Tianze (young Shen Tong), Li Dong (Shen Tong’s father), Liu Yifang (security guard).
Release: China, 3 Oct 2019.