Forever Love
201314
China, 2013, colour, 2.35:1, 92 mins.
Director: Kong Lingchen 孔令晨.
Rating: 6/10.
Watchable rom-com has some good young leads but an awkward construction.
STORY
Qingdao, northern China, 11 Nov 2012. Girl friends Wen Xin (Jin Chen), her Taiwan workmate Miao Ke (Zhu Zhixuan) and the older Shui Ling’er (Shao Sihan) are at a rowdy celebration in a smart bar on Singles’ Day. Depressed after catching her boyfriend Zhu Xiaowen (Liu Baole) with another woman, Wen Xin is drinking heavily. Rich playboy Qian Jiale (Guo Xin), celebrating with his friend Wen Xiaogu (Guo Xiaoran), tries to pick up Ling’er but she gives him the brush off. Caught up in the tiff, Wen Xiaogu ends up with red wine splashed on his shirt by the drunken Wen Xin, who staggers out of the bar when she sees Zhu Xiaowen is also there. Later that evening, Wen Xiaogu bumps into Wen Xin in his apartment building’s lift and realises he lives in the flat directly above her. He demands compensation for his stained shirt but she refuses. Next morning they bump into each other again and he makes the same demand, with the same result. At work, Wen Xin, who is specially liked by her boss Che Youlun (Niu Qun), is assigned the job of arranging a photo shoot for his parents’ special 60th wedding anniversary celebration on the auspicious date of 4 Jan 2013, Love You For Life Day; he also offers her the job of becoming his personal scretary but she politely turns him down. Meanwhile, Wen Xin’s workmate Miao Ke is getting broody and tries to convince her songwriter boyfriend Zhou Mo (Jiang Chao) to marry and have a child; he slides out of any commitment. Separately, Qian Jiale tries to invite Ling’er out on a date; when she stands him up, he enrols in the yoga class she teaches, in order to spend more time with her. Wen Xin, who’s been ordered by her boss to play the female model in the photoshoot herself, has been having difficulty finding a male model her boss approves of. Finally, he tells her to hire Wen Xiaogu. Unaware that Wen Xiaogu is actually her boss’ estranged son, she reluctantly goes ahead – and finds herself spending more and more time with Wen Xiaogu when she injures herself during the photoshoot.
REVIEW
The third feature of Mainland director Kong Lingchen 孔令晨, after his parkour movie City Monkey 玩酷青春 (2010) and kids’ film Baby Don’t Cry 宝贝别哭 (2012), is a promising rom-com centred on three couples that’s very good when it’s clicking but doesn’t really work as a single movie. Manufactured to be marketed around the auspicious date for lovers of 4 Jan 2013 (see below), Forever Love 201314 draws easy, likeable playing from most of its young cast and some fine screen chemistry between two of them, Guo Xiaoran 郭晓然 (Distant Thunder 迷城, 2010) and ballerina-turned-actress Jin Chen 金晨. But the constant cutting back and forth between the three relationships keeps disturbing the emotional flow just when it’s starting to build – to a point where the stories may have worked better as separate episodes in an anthology film, even though all the characters are linked.
The best and most interesting relationship is between Jin and Guo’s characters, two argumentative northerners who are thrown together when she, depressed after a break-up, throws a glass of red wine on him in a rowdy bar one night. The crucial rom-com cement that keeps them meeting each other is that they actually live in the same apartment building: first, he keeps demanding compensation for his ruined shirt and later she needs his help getting around after injuring her ankle. In her first leading film role, Jin, 22, looks a treat and also shows a real gift for slightly spacey romantic comedy, while Guo, who was also strong in the interesting horror Who Under the Bed 床下有人 (2011), matches her character’s moods with good comic timing. Both they and the writers gradually develop the relationship in a way that makes the constant cutaways even more distracting.
Of the other two couples, the better is the pairing of Guo Xin 郭鑫 and Shao Sihan 邵思涵 as a playboy and an older, hard-arsed yoga instructor. The two get some good dialogue moments and also have some chemistry together, but they’re still basically light relief to the Guo/Jin relationship. Weakest is a fluffy sob story between a singer-songwriter, played by Jiang Chao 江潮 from Mainland boyband 8090 快乐天团8090, and his broody girlfriend, played by Taiwan model-TV presenter Zhu Zhixuan 朱芷玄. In her film debut, Zhu is okay playing perky Taiwan-cute but Jiang is bland, and the scriptwriters virtually abandon their relationship from a lack of anything to say.
As the slightly creepy boss of Jin’s character, veteran stand-up comedian Niu Qun 牛群 has an early scene that shows off his skills but later ones between him and Guo Xiaoran don’t really work. After a strong start, the film’s structure becomes progressively more unwieldly, climaxing in an awkward finale; but overall the movie is still worth watching for the main story, delightfully played by Guo and Jin. Production values are bright and fine, making the most of the Qingdao setting without being super-glossy.
The film’s original title refers to the auspicious date of 4 Jan 2013 (2013-1-4 Chinese style), the so-called Love You For Life Day, whose last four figures (1314/yī sān yī sì) sound roughly similar in Mandarin to the phrase “a whole lifetime” (一生一世/yī shēng yī shì). In the movie Wen Xin’s flat number is also 1314. The film starts on so-called Singles’ Day, 11 November (11-11).
CREDITS
Presented by Beijing Fuyu Century Culture Media (CN), China Film (CN), Shanghai Pengjin Film Culture (CN), Pan-Asia Communication (CN), Beijing Wishart Communication (CN). Produced by Beijing Fuyu Century Culture Media (CN), Pan-Asia Communication (CN).
Script: Zhu Bowen, Gao Chao, Xiao Yang. Photography: Cui Lei. Editing: Tang Xiaoxi. Music: DJ Hunter. Theme song: DJ Hunter. Lyrics: Kong Lingchen. Vocal: He Jie. Art direction: Di Kun. Costume design: Li Siqi. Sound: Zhang Zilong. Executive direction: Bao Yinfei.
Cast: Guo Xiaoran (Wen Xiaogu), Jin Chen (Wen Xin), Niu Qun (Che Youlun, Wen Xin’s boss), Wang Luyao (Ye Hui, Wen Xiaogu’s old female friend), Guo Xin (Qian Jiale), Shao Sihan (Shui Ling’er), Jiang Chao (Zhou Mo, Miao Ke’s boyfriend), Zhu Zhixuan (Miao Ke), Tian Zilin (Zilin), Kaike’ermanni (Shui Guo, Shui Ling’er’s son), Wang Hucheng (Wen Xiaogu’s grandfather), Liang Jinhua (Wen Xiaogu’s grandmother), Liu Baole (Zhu Xiaowen), Jin Liang (Xiaoqingdao), Zhu Bowen (Liu Hao), Lang Liang (Lang Lang), Huang Bo (himself).
Release: China, 1 Jan 2013.
(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 5 May 2013.)