Fall of Ming

大明劫

China, 2013, colour, 2.35:1, 114 mins.

Director: Wang Jing 王竞.

Rating: 6/10.

Well-acted but conventional biopic about a Ming dynasty physician lacks sweep.

STORY

Henan province, northern China, 1642. After almost 300 years, the Ming dynasty is on the verge of collapse. Rebel forces have surrounded Kaifeng, capital of Henan province, south of Beijing, but their attack on the city is temporarily beaten back. Sun Chuanting (Dai Liren), a field marshal who is in prison in disgrace, is summoned by the Chongzhen Emperor (Yu Shaoqun) and given 500,000 troops to put down the rebellion, led by “Nomad King” Li Zicheng. Meanwhile, itinerant physician Wu Youke (Feng Yuanzheng) is tried for allegedly poisoning a patient with his unconventional treatment; the case is dismissed but the judge bans him from practising in his jurisdiction. On his way to Tongguan to visit a relative, Wu Youke is forced by Ming troops to attend to the wounds of Li Tianyou (Sun Qiang), a disillusioned scholar who was en route to joining the rebels. Sun Chuanting arrives in Tongguan with his wife (Feng Bo) and child, and is greeted by He Renlong, a commander, not knowing that the former has come to kill him and his men for abandoning their posts. In Tongguan, Wu Youke stays with his relative, Zhao Chuan (Qian Xuege), a master physician who is told to treat the Ming soldiers when they start falling ill. Meanwhile, Sun Chuanting finds that Tongguan’s grain supplies are seriously low, and kills the registrar for hiding the fact. In Kaifeng, Ming troops are now starving. And in Tongguan, Zhao Chuan can’t stop the spread of the epidemic among the soldiers. The rebels kidnap Wu Youke to treat their troops, but Sun Chuanting’s troops rescue him. An understanding develops between Sun Chuanting and WuYouke, whose unconventional treatment methods are then put to the test.

REVIEW

After making the finely crafted family drama Feng Shui 万箭穿心 (2012) with a different team, Mainland director Wang Jing 王竞 reunites with producer-scriptwriter Xie Xiaodong 谢晓东 – with whom he’s forged a quality partnership over the years (The End of Year 一年到头, 2008; Invisible Killer 无形杀, 2009; Vegetate 我是植物人, 2010) – for the surprisingly conventional Fall of Ming 大明劫. The pair’s first historical drama, and biggest production to date, the film is cast in depth, with a rare costume outing by Taiwan actor-director Dai Liren 戴立忍 [Leon Dai] and an equally rare leading role for Mainland theatre-TV actor Feng Yuanzheng 冯远征; but it lacks sufficient human drama and cinematic sweep to raise it much beyond an average biopic, especially given the fact that its subject is the arcane one of Chinese medicine.

Set during the final years of the Ming, when rebels were challenging the weak and corrupt dynasty, the drama should be about the relationship between an unconventional phsyician, the real-life Wu Youke 吴又可 (1582-1652), and a ruthless Ming field marshal, Sun Chuanting 孙传庭 (1593-1643), who finally entrusts him with curing an epidemic among his troops. Dai looks and sounds impressive on a horse and in military gear, and holds the screen in every scene as Sun Chuanting; but Feng isn’t given much of a stage on which to establish his character, as the script shuffles him around between various other personalities and smaller subplots. When Dai and Feng belatedly get some quality time together on screen, it’s too late to build up much of a head of dramatic steam, even though their scenes together are the best thing in the movie. Feng, whose doctor should be the driving force, doesn’t have the sheer physical presence to overcome the script’s lack of balance.

Other roles, such as the field marshal’s wife, classily played by regular Feng Bo 冯波 (Invisible Killer; Vegetate), suffer in a similar way – well-acted and written but too bittily incorporated into the drama as a whole. Widescreen photography by Liu Younian 刘又年 (Vegetate; Feng Shui) and realistic production design by Bai Hao 白昊 (Feng Shui) complement each other in a non-flashy way, and the limited action is staged in an equally everyday style. By the time the end titles come up with the usual biographical information, End of Ming seems for all the world like a conventional, if well-acted, medical biopic whose real place is on the small screen.

The film was previously known under the English title The Infections and the Cures.

CREDITS

Presented by China Movie Channel (CN), Jiangsu Massway Film Investment (CN), Central Newsreel & Documentary Film Studio (CN). Produced by Jiangsu Massway Film Investment (CN).

Script: Xie Xiaodong, Zhou Rongyang. Photography: Liu Younian. Editing: Feng Wen. Music: Friedemann Matzeit. Title song vocals: Lisa Ono. Art direction: Bai Hao. Styling: Li Nan. Sound: Sha Feng, Hao Jian. Action: Sun Jianshe. Second unit direction: Qiao Heping.

Cast: Feng Yuanzheng (Wu Youke), Dai Liren [Leon Dai] (Sun Chuanting, Shaanxi governor), Feng Bo (Feng Shi, Sun Chuanting’s wife), Qian Xuege (Zhao Chuan, master physician), Yu Shaoqun (Chongzhen Emperor), Yang Yang (Zhao Yunshu), Hu Xiaoguang (Ren Qi), Sun Qiang (Li Tianyou, scholar), Ma Jingwu (Gu Qingyuan), Wang Xuezhi (eunuch), Zhang Hui (county magistrate), Jiang Wutong (Sun Shining), Qiao Heping (soldier), Si Yuan (Qiao Qian), Cao Wei (granary head).

Premiere: Shanghai Film Festival (Focus China), 16 Jun 2013.

Release: China, 25 Oct 2013.

(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 16 Aug 2013.)