A Sealed Book
天之书
China, 2022, colour, 2.35:1, 93 mins.
Chief director: Wang Yingjiao 王应蛟.
Director: Wang Xiaogang 王筱刚.
Late-stage director: Sun Xiaohan 孙晓寒.
Rating: 4/10.
Period fantasy is okay for short periods but is sunk by a garbled script and has the feel of a web movie.
STORY
Willowless township, Guanxi province, China, some time in the Republican era. The world is suddenly plunged into darkness, and in the desert township of Willowless 无柳镇 the population runs for its life as a swarm of deadly bugs is released and a female spirit, Song dynasty concubine Yanruyu (Zhang Nan), appears. Sangjiu (Liu Peiqi) and his son Xiaowu (Li Yan), both policemen, arrive and ask the only person still there, military governor Zhang (Zeng Jiang), what happened. He has no idea and tells them to set off into the desert on their camels to find the reason. The two come across a group of refugees led by the fiery warrior Sand Shark (Ma Jian) and the governor’s son, Zhang Xian (Jin Song). Suddenly they are attacked by masked cavalry under the command of an imperial-looking leader from the Qin dynasty (Xu Jinjiang). After much slaughter, the refugees manage to capture the leader, who says the darkness comes from an underground palace 600 li away; its inhabitants are immortal and own the Book of Heaven 天之书 that absorbs the energy of the Sun and Moon to power the palace; however, the Book is no longer doing its job and is just simply sucking all the energy in; as the guardian of the Book, he is now looking for it. Sangjiu and Xiaowu get to know a group of orphans – Iron Buddha (He Wenhui), tomboy Yatou (Zhang Luyao), and baby-faced midget Shuiwa (Wang Yifei) – led by the giant Da Jinya (Han Feixing). Xiaowu also discovers that the “emperor” has a magic rope that can make the stars appear, and that he, Xiaowu, has some kind of link to Yanruyu. The refugees come across a settlement with a deserted inn, and as they all sit down to eat Yanruyu magically appears. She calls Xiaowu by the nickname Pimple 疙瘩 and asks him how they managed to get separated. Xiaowu says he doesn’t remember her; but then the settlement is attacked by a swarm of deadly bugs. Meanwhile, the “emperor” has disappeared and the group has been joined by a black marketeer last seen in Willowless township, Qiu Hangba (Lv Liangwei).
REVIEW
Shot in summer 2018, certified two years later and finally released theatrically this November, A Sealed Book 天之书 is a period fantasy that’s okay in individual scenes but hopelessly garbled in overall plotting and exposition. Credited to three directors, including Wang Xiaogang 王筱刚 (gay feature Stragglers Birds 迷鸟, 2011; Youku web feature Chang’an Yaoqi Talk 长安妖奇谈, 2018) and Wang Yingjiao 王应蛟 (whose company also co-funded black crime comedy Destinies 灰猴, 2018), it has the overall feel of an online movie that isn’t up to its aspirations as a big-screen production. Mainland box office was an invisible RMB1.4 million.
Writer-director Wang Xiaogang, 35 at the time, had just been in the same territory, with his costume ghost movie Chang’an Yaoqi Talk. Book is set later, some time in the Republican era, c. 1920s, though everything, from the fictional desert setting somewhere on the fringes of China to the use of nicknames for most characters, is deliberately vague. The central plot point, that the world is suddenly plunged into darkness by a miscreant force (the Book of Heaven, of the film’s Chinese title), is never coherently explained and is basically an excuse for a series of adventures as a motley group of refugees crosses the desert to try to fix the problem in an underground palace. As well as no real through-narrative, the film also lacks a climax worthy of its grand theme, and is more a collection of moments than anything else. There’s even a break halfway through for a song’n’dance fantasy sequence between the young male and female leads, and after that the film takes quite a while to recover any narrative drive it had in the first place.
The presence of veterans Liu Peiqi 刘佩琦 (as a grizzled frontier policeman) and Hong Kong veteran Lv Liangwei 吕良伟 [Ray Lui] (who pops up as a black marketeer) help to give the film a bit of substance, as does an early cameo by the late Tseng Jiang 曾江 [Kenneth Tsang] as a befuddled military governor. For the rest of the cast it’s touch and go. For the boyish-looking Li Yan 李砚 (aka Li Jiacheng 李家成), 24 at the time, it was his first leading role, but he’s simply bland as the son of Liu’s policeman. The young female cast make more impression, especially Zhang Luyao 张璐瑶, then 26, as a spirited tomboy orphan who briefly flowers into a beauty, and Dalian-born actress/model Zhang Nan 张南 (also written 张楠), then 21, in her big-screen debut as a wafty Song-dynasty beauty.
The pleasant score is at its best in quieter moments, and the costume design by Zhao Xiaoyu 赵潇雨 has an interesting raggedy look, full of small details, for its band of refugees.
CREDITS
Presented by Zhejiang Yifei Cultural Media (CN). Produced by Zhejiang Yifei Cultural Media (CN).
Script: Wang Xiaogang. Photography: Shang Haitao. Editing: Zhao Kun. Music: Hong Chuan, Zhao Shubo, Wang Ying. Music direction: Cui Shixuan. Art direction: Chang Kai. Styling: Zhao Xiaoyu. Sound: Wang Xiaojie, Li Kang. Action: Liu Jianqi. Special effects: Mo Kong. Visual effects: Sun Bo. Executive direction: Jia Zhen.
Cast: Li Yan (Xiaowu/Hut), Zhang Nan (Yanruyu/Beauty, concubine), Liu Peiqi (Sangjiu/Mulberry Nine), Wang Yifei (Shuiwa/Waterboy), Zhang Luyao (Yatou/Tomboy), Xu Jinjiang (“emperor”), Lv Liangwei [Ray Lui] (Qiu Hangba, black marketeer), He Wenhui (Tiefo/Iron Buddha), Sun Mingming (Huaqianxiu), Jin Song (Zhang Xian), Ma Jian (Shazhongjiao/Sand Shark), Zeng Jiang [Kenneth Tsang] (Zhang, governor), Cheng Sihan (dumpy man), Han Feixing (Da Jinya, leader of orphans), Ba Duo (Duyanlang), Pan Shiqi (female official), Liu Ruichao (Tianchong/Field Worm), Yang Yujie (Dao Long/Sword Dragon), Liu Lin (He Laosan), Guo Jiulong (Tu, old man).
Release: China, 12 Nov 2022.