Romancing in Thin Air

高海拔之恋II

Hong Kong/China, 2012, colour, 2.35:1, 110 mins.

Director: Du Qifeng 杜琪峰 [Johnnie To].

Rating: 7/10.

Ambitious riff on Asian melodrama is diverting but lacks real emotional oxygen.

STORY

Shangri-La, northwest Yunnan province, China, winter, the present day. After being dumped at the altar by his fiancee, Mainland actress Ding Yuanyuan (Gao Yuanyuan), following the sudden appearance of her first love Zhang Xing (Wang Baoqiang), Greater China megastar Liu Baiqian (Gu Tianle) goes on an alcoholic bender and washes up at Deep Woods Hotel, a ranch-style guesthouse 3,800 metres up in the mountains. The place is run by Xiu (Zheng Xiuwen), a onetime art student from Hong Kong who worked there while studying in China and fell for the place and its owner, Yang Xiaotian (Li Guangjie). Seven years ago, Yang Xiaotian went into the vast forest surrounding the guesthouse to rescue a young boy and never returned. Hoping he is still alive, Xiu continues to run the place with two assistants (Sun Jiayi, Yang Yi). Seeing a TV news report that Ding Yuanyuan is to retire from acting to marry Zhang Xing, the lovelorn Liu Baiqian tries to leave but crashes Xiu’s vehicle. After being rescued with the help of the local doctor (Tian Niu), he falls seriously ill with altitude sickness and stays on at Xiu’s guesthouse to recover. There he kicks the drink and discovers she was an early member years ago of his international fan club. The two bond. Meanwhile, his manager Barbara (Huang Yi) is still anxiously trying to trace him. And one day, a raggedy rucksack belonging to Yang Xiaotian is found in the forest, and Xiu’s hopes rise that her husband is still alive.

REVIEW

Though it’s technically set in China’s Yunnan province, Romancing in Thin Air 高海拔之恋II actually inhabits a special world in the playful imagination of director Du Qifeng 杜琪峰 [Johnnie To] and lead writer Wei Jiahui 韦家辉 [Wai Ka-fai]. For a start, there’s the cheeky Chinese title (literally, “High-Altitude Romance II”), which makes it look like a sequel to a film that never existed in the first place; then there are its broadly acted Mainland characters who come close to caricature without actually overstepping the line; and then there’s the mountain forest setting and ranch-style guesthouse that could just as easily have been in the Canadian Rockies for all the “local” flavour they have.

It’s often forgotten, especially by those who discovered him only after his career reinvention in the late 1990s, that some 40% of Du’s directorial output has been either comedies or romantic dramas rather than gun-toting crime-twisters, and that some of his best work has been in those genres. Romancing is a straightfaced riff on Asian melodrama conventions and film-world cliches that works a treat for much of its length, as it collides two lovelorn characters (an alcoholic superstar and an introverted widow) in a remote, photogenic setting surrounded by a vast forest that looms like some Jungian expression of their emotional confusion. So far, so good. But then, halfway through, in a way very typical of Wei and co-writer You Naihai 游乃海, the script starts playing around with the audience’s expectations by stirring life-imitating-art elements into the mix.

It’s at that point that the movie starts to become a bit too clever for its own good and reveals the limitations of its two lead actors, both of whom have more charisma than depth. Gu Tianle 古天乐 [Louis Koo], here in his ninth Du outing, is good in the early scenes as the jilted megastar who’s on a giant bender but is less impressive after he sobers up; fellow Hong Konger, singer-actress Zheng Xiuwen 郑秀文 [Sammi Cheng], returning to the screen after her second lay-off, is fine in the subdued role of a raggedy-haired, grieving widow but doesn’t bring anything special to the role that another actress couldn’t have done in her place. Most importantly, there’s none of the special chemistry that Du drew from her in his mismatched rom-com Needing You… 孤男寡女 (2000), opposite Liu Dehua 刘德华 [Andy Lau].

The colour (and humour) in the very wintry movie is largely provided by the supports, especially 1970s Taiwan veteran Tian Niu 恬妞 as a feisty local doctor, striking Mainland actress Huang Yi 黄奕 (The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake 竞雄女侠秋瑾, 2011) as the superstar’s hard-arsed manager, and unknowns Sun Jiayi 孙嘉一 and Yang Yi 杨奕 as the widow’s comically star-struck assistants. After her considerable role in Du’s Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 单身男女 (2011), Mainland actress Gao Yuanyuan 高圆圆 is just okay in what is essentially a cameo.

The pieces of the play-puzzle do add up in the end – including the “II” in the Chinese title – but not to any great effect. Viewers who’ve taken the opening half as a regular melodrama rather than a clever riff will feel confused in the second half by the lack of emotional meat to chew on, and Du’s straightforward, uninflected direction doesn’t guide the audience in any way. If you’re in on the joke, the later filmy twists will be diverting; but this isn’t any kind of deep analysis of life vs. art vs. life, and it also isn’t a full-blown romantic wallow like, say, Du’s A Moment of Romance III 天若有情III  烽火佳人 (1996).

Technically, the film is always a delight to watch, with Du’s regular team all seamlessly hitting their marks; and the whole production is never less than interesting. What the film lacks is some emotional oxygen to really engage the audience beyond a purely observational level.

CREDITS

Presented by China Film Media Asia Audio Video Distribution (CN), Media Asia Films (HK). Produced by Milkyway Image (HK).

Script: Wei Jiahui [Wai Ka-fai], You Naihai, Chen Rui, Ou Wenjie. Photgraphy: Zheng Zhaoqiang [Cheng Siu-keung]. Editing: David Richardson, Liang Zhanlun. Music: Guy Zerafa. Production design: Yu Jia’an [Bruce Yu]. Art direction: Chen Jinhe [Raymond Chan]. Costume design: Zeng Baiquan. Sound: Xie Yaoji, Liang Lizhi. Executive director: Lao Jianhua.

Cast: Gu Tianle [Louis Koo] (Liu Baiqian/Michael), Zheng Xiuwen [Sammi Cheng] (Xiu/Sue), Li Guangjie (Yang Xiaotian), Gao Yuanyuan (Ding Yuanyuan), Wang Baoqiang (Zhang Xing), Huang Yi (Barbara, Liu Baiqian’s manager), Tian Niu (doctor), Liu Haolong (Xiaolei, Barbara’s assistant), Yang Yi (Xiu’s chubby assistant/Teeny), Sun Jiayi (Xiu’s taller assistant/Beauty), Fu Chuanjie (priest), Li Haitao (search party leader), Chen Gong (mechanic), Ji Chen (Yang Xiaotian, in film), Yang Zhongliang (grandfather, in film), Zhao Yinlou (grandmother, in film), Gesanglamu (sister, in film), Hong Weiliang (Liu Baiqian’s assistant), Mai Qiguang (commercials director), Lin Weihao, Zeng Jianyi (reporters), Lao Jianhua (film’s executive director), Fu Shusheng (missing boy’s grandfather), Xu Feifei (missing boy’s grandmother), Li Qiuer (missing boy’s elder sister), Jiang Binshen (professor).

Release: Hong Kong, 9 Feb 2012; China, 9 Feb 2012.

(Review originally published on Film Business Asia. 23 Mar 2012.)