Do You Love Me As I Love You
可不可以你也刚好喜欢我
Taiwan, 2020, colour, 2.35:1, 107 mins.
Director: Jian Xuebin 简学彬.
Rating: 6/10.
In her first major role, Taiwan actress Chen Yu powers this well-packaged, if whimsical, college-set rom-com.
STORY
Taiwan, the present day. Tian Xiaoxiang (Chen Yu) is a fourth-year physics student who is soon to graduate, though her real interests are astronomy and fortune-telling. She has huge admiration for her roommate, fourth-year fine arts student Song Yijing (Lin Yingwei) who has a live-streaming social media platform, for both her beauty and her public charisma. At the same college is Li Zhuhao (Cai Youning), Tian Xiaoxiang’s best friend since high school whom she’s finally secretly fallen in love with. Tian Xiaoxiang consults her tarot cards to see whether she should declare her love for him or not, and the cards tell her that today is the day. However, seconds before she publicly declares her love for him, Li Zhuhao stands up and declares his love for Song Yijing. The reaction on Song Yijing’s social media is very positive, so Song Yijing decides that, if Li Zhuhao can match up the three most hopeless cases on the Mission Impossible (MI) board – a listing of people least likely ever to find a partner – she’ll accept Li Zhuhao’s declaration. Tian Xiaoxiang swallows her pride and stays friends with her roommate; but when Li Zhuhao, in a panic, asks her to help him, she refuses, saying it’s not her business. When Li Zhuhao defends her against some bullies in a shopping mall, the two accidentally kiss, which is embarrassing for both. Finally Tian Xiaoxiang agrees to help Li Zhuhao, as she can’t get him out of her mind. The pair draw up a list of the top three MI candidates: fearsome gang leader Lin Guanyu, aka Sister Yu (Li Xing), who owns a bar opposite the college, and second-year philosophy student Shan (Chen Yanming), by whom she was impressed when seeing him calmly talk someone out of robbing a minimart; cool and aloof fine arts lecturer Shi Dong (Yang Jinhua), who’s said she’ll never marry, and gym owner Liu Zhiliang (Huang Jianwei) who has adored her for years; and brilliant but introverted physics student Yu (Cheng Yuxi), who has no social skills at all, and college hunk Luo Danni (Liu Mingkai), who is fed up with her perpetually offering to help him with his studies. Li Zhuhao and Tian Xiaoxiang start by trying to match up the fine arts lecturer and the gym owner. Meanwhile, Song Yijing tells Tian Xiaoxiang she thinks she quite fancies Li Zhihao, and asks Tian Xiaoxiang to arrange a private meeting with him. When gang boss Li Guangyu hears she’s on the MI list, she decides to teach Li Zhuhao and Tian Xiaoxiang a lesson; and later Song Yijing tells them to drop the whole thing. Then, during a heart-to-heart in their room, Song Yijing tells Tian Xiaoxiang she’s guessed Tian Xiaoxiang is secretly in love with Li Zhihao. Song Yijing asks her to spend less time with him, as Li Zhihao and her are now a couple.
REVIEW
In her first lead role in a feature film, Taiwan actress Chen Yu 陈妤, 27, is the engine that drives Do You Love Me As I Love You 可不可以你也刚好喜欢我, a youth rom-com that’s pretty whimsical but just about goes the distance thanks to a likeable cast and warm packaging. It’s the debut feature by Jian Xuebin 简学彬, a Taiwan writer-director in his late 30s who’s worked on local TVDs, a TV movie for the island’s Public Television Service (ghostly crime thriller Ping Pong 乒乓, 2017), and documentaries and commercials. The film took a so-so NT$79 million on local release in summer 2020 and recently got a Mainland release, scoring a tiny RMB15 million.
The script by no less than eight people – including the pseudonymous Siyi 肆一 (literally, “Fourone”) who penned the original essay that inspired it (see collection, left) – bears the strong marks of lead writer Lin Xiaoqian 林孝谦 [Gavin Lin], a director in his own right (Revenge of the Factory Woman 与爱别离, 2010; Welcome to The Happy Days 五星级鱼干女, 2015; More Than Blue 比悲伤更悲伤的故事, 2018) who’s notable for avoiding simple stereotypes in genre fare. (One of the co-writers, Lv Anxian 吕安弦, has worked regularly with Lin, while another, Zhang Zhisheng 张智昇, has done the same with Jian, who only gets sixth billing among the lineup of scribes.) Though it’s set in a college, the film has hardly any classroom scenes, rarely shows anyone studying, and there’s a complete absence of any parents. Instead it focuses on three final-year students who are completely obsessed by their emotional problems: a physics student who’s deep into tarot cards and fortune-telling, her glamorous roommate who’s obsessed with her social-media profile, and the rather wet-looking guy between them.
The slight variations on the formula are that the physics student and the guy are best friends from high school but she’s now realised she’s actually in love with him; and the roommate, who’s admired by the physics student for her poise and beauty, has just received a declaration of love from the guy. The bigger twist, which comes at the end, is clever and unexpected, though it does show most of the characters up as very superficial. The way the writers spin this into a feature-length film is by the roommate challenging the guy to match up three no-hoper couples on campus (the so-called Mission Impossible list), in which case she’ll accept his public declaration of love. After setting this up, the film does have a problem keeping all the various stories on the boil without losing sight of the central one, which is firmly focused on the physics student and her relationship with her best pal and her roommate.
It’s a part that the slightly goofy, big-eyed Chen, whose only other major roles have been as a pink-haired punk in the Hokkien TV movie The Loser’s Guide 青春鲁蛇物语 (2019), and latterly as one of the lesbian lovers in PTS movie Secrets of 1979 弓蕉园的秘密 (2021, dir. Zhou Meiling 周美玲 [Zero Chou]), attacks with a physical glee, stealing the show as a comic/pathetic character without ever letting the character become maudlin. She has a relaxed chemistry with basketball player-turned-actor Cao Youning 曹佑宁 (Kano Kano, 2014) – though he is unremarkable on his own – and ditto with Lin Yingwei 林映唯 (About Youth 有一种喜欢, 2018), who underplays her self-absorbed character’s preening. Among the supports, Li Xing 李杏 has some fun as a scary female gang-leader.
The whole thing could easily lose 15 minutes, especially from the second half whose resolution is very drawn-out. Jian and his experienced editor Gu Xiaoyun 顾晓芸 can’t quite smooth out the rather bumpy rhythm that later results from so many subplots, but his direction is always in the service of the cast and his easy style is complemented by the warm photography of Lin Xiaoqian favourite Feng Xinhua 冯信华 (Revenge of the Factory Woman; Welcome to The Happy Days). The film’s Chinese title means “Can You Just Like Me Too”.
CREDITS
Presented by Sky Films Entertainment (TW), CMC Entertainment (TW), Shinetime International Entertainment (TW), Lots Home Entertainment (TW), IDSON Communication (TW), Man Man Entertainment (TW), Bossdown Digiinovation (TW), Macchiato Digital Imaging (TW). Produced by Sky Films Entertainment (TW).
Script: Lin Xiaoqian [Gavin Lin], Lv Anxian, Lin Yifeng, Siyi, Zhang Zhisheng, Jian Xuebin, Huang Jifan, Huang Zhixiang. Script advice: Jiejie. Original essay: Siyi. Photography: Feng Xinhua. Editing: Gu Xiaoyun. Music production: Shen Baise. Art direction: Li Chenxi. Costumes: Zhang Wanhua. Styling: Li Yiying. Sound: Chen Guanting, Du Duzhi, Jiang Yizhen.
Cast: Cao Youning (Li Zhuhao), Chen Yu (Tian Xiaoxiang), Lin Yingwei (Song Yijing), Huang Jianwei (Liu Zhiliang, gym owner), Li Xing (Yu Guanyu/Sister Yu, gangleader), Chen Yanming (Shan, philosophy student), Cheng Yuxi (Yu, physics student), Liu Mingkai (Luo Danni/Danny, college hunk), Lin Hexuan (Chong, Li Zhuhao’s roommate), Yang Jinhua (Shi Dong/Stone, fine arts lecturer), Siyi (himself), Huang Tenghao (Chen Xinfan, doctor friend of Shi Dong), Matzka (Ma, rival gangleader).
Release: Taiwan, 21 Aug 2020.