The Bracelet of the Universe
乾坤镯
China, 2019, colour, 2.35:1, 92 mins.
Director: Wu Shuang 吴双.
Rating: 3/10.
Lame costume martial-arts comedy has a TV look and sensibility.
STORY
Fulu village, somewhere in central China, Ming dynasty. In the remote village a young carpenter (Yang Huangyin) unearths a skeleton wearing a gold bracelet. Sensing an opportunity to make some money, the village head (Sun Xing) says it’s the Heaven & Earth Bracelet that proves the village is the birthplace of the god Nezha. He decides to turn the village into a tourist attraction and sends his daughter Xiaohui (Pi Yijia) and her boyfriend the carpenter to the capital to generate publicity. There, however, they attract the attention of eunuch Cao Ruyi (Yao Luoming), local head of the Eastern Depot – the Ming dynasty’s secret police – who’s heard the legend that the bracelet belonged to the world’s greatest fighter and therefore he wants it for himself. Keeping his plan quiet from the Eastern Depot itself, Cao Ruyi adopts the disguise of popular theatre idol Xu Huachun and sets off to Fulu village. Meanwhile, two grave robbers, young Kaidi (Du Tingjun) and his oafish sidekick Hu, have been lurking round the village, intent on stealing the bracelet. Also on their way from the capital are three martial artists – a swordsman (Li Jiafan), a swordswoman, and drunken beggar Hong Ritian (Wang Yihuan).
REVIEW
A costume martial-arts comedy that looks more like a knock-off TV drama than a fully fledged feature film, The Bracelet of the Universe 乾坤镯, shot in 2017 but only released two years later, comes from the stable of one-man film industry Wu Shuang 吴双, a Henan-born former stuntman who’s worked as producer, director, writer, d.p. and action director in a career so far spanning over 20 years, mostly in comedy and action and always on the commercial edges of the industry. Box office was hardly a blip at RMB48,000.
The central idea of an ambitous village head trying to exploit the tourism potential behind the chance discovery of an ancient gold bracelet has possiblities. But it’s largely lost in a lot of idiot rural comedy and a parallel plot of various parties (including grave robbers, martial artists, and an evil member of the Eastern Depot, the Ming dynasty’s gestapo) descending on the village to grab the bracelet, which is meant to have supernatural powers. Action sequences in the second half are just average, with so-so VFX, and performances likewise, with Hong Kong actor-singer-model Yao Luoming 姚洛铭 getting the fruitiest role as the louche Eastern Depot member who travels undercover as an idol actor. Wu’s co-editor, Huang Xiaojiang 黄笑江, co-directed Wu’s rural Party drama, Malan Flower Blooms 马兰花开 (2018), shot the same year by the same d.p. (Wang Ruike 王瑞珂) and marginally better.
CREDITS
Presented by Shi Jie Media (Beijing) (CN), Oscar Cinema Line (CN), Huanyu Pictures (CN), Beijing Zhong Yan Media (CN). Produced by Henan Huanyu Film & TV Production (CN).
Script: Tong Yun, Wu Shuang, Zhang Lei. Photography: Wang Ruike. Editing: Wu Shuang, Huang Xiaojiang. Music direction: Ji Yafei. Art direction: Li Xinyuan. Styling: Zhao Hai. Action: Yang Haiting. Visual effects: Jin Lei. Executive direction: Du Tingjun.
Cast: Sun Xing (village head), Pi Yijia (Xiaohui, village head’s daughter), Yang Huangyin (young carpenter), Yao Luoming (Cao Ruyi/Xu Huachun), Li Jiafan (swordsman), Du Tingjun (Kaidi), Wang Yihuan (Hong Ritian, beggar swordsman), Wang Liang.
Release: China, 18 Jul 2019.