The Pretending Lovers
假装情侣
China, 2011, colour, 2.35:1, 91 mins.
Director: Liu Fendou 刘奋斗.
Rating: 6/10.
Chinese take on My Sassy Girl is wafer-thin but gets by on its two leads’ charm.
STORY
Tromsø, northern Norway, the present day, winter. Put-upon insurance salesman Chen Wen (Huang Bo) flies in looking for his friend Shen Lou (Jiang Yiyan), a kindergarten teacher. A taxi driver (Espen Prestbakmo) recognises her photo as the “Chinese girl in the mountains” and they set off to find her. En route, Chen Wen remembers how the two of them first met by chance in a square in Kunming, Yunnan province, when he tried to help Shen Lou, disguised as a mad old bag lady, in a square one day. After calling an ambulance, he almost ended up in the local lunatic asylum himself thanks to Shen Lou’s hobby of role-playing. However, entranced by her beauty and vivacity, he agreed to play another game with her – to be her “pretend lover”, so she could enjoy the happy part of a relationship, without the pain of the beginning or the sadness of the break-up. Her one rule was to always follow her demands, which started harmlessly enough with a series of dares but gradually became more extreme. Then, just when he started to fall in love with her, she suddenly stopped calling.
REVIEW
The combo of two maverick Mainland talents such as writer-director Liu Fendou 刘奋斗 (Green Hat 绿帽子, 2004; Ocean Flame 一半海水一半火焰, 2008) and comic Huang Bo 黄渤 (Crazy Stone 疯狂的石头, 2006; Cow 斗牛, 2009) would lead one to expect a suitably anarchic result. But The Pretending Lovers 假装情侣, though marginally subversive, turns out to be Liu’s first stab at directing a mainstream movie – a charming, if decidedly whimsical, rom-com held together by its two leads and light touch. Looking normal, and reining back his trademark grotesque style most of the time, Huang doesn’t dominate the movie with physical antics and has a co-lead in actress Jiang Yiyan 江一燕 (One Summer with You 与你同在的夏天, 2005; Deadly Delicious 双食记, 2008) who turns a potentially annoying role into something fresh and ultimately engaging.
A cynical riff on love and commitment that’s sweetened by not taking itself seriously, Lovers owes a big debt to the South Korean hit rom-com My Sassy Girl 엽기적인 그녀 (2001), with Jiang basically taking the part played by Jeon Ji-hyeon 전지현 | 全智賢 of a capricious, self-centred love victim and Huang that by Cha Tae-hyeon 차태현 | 车太铉 of her hapless but willing poodle. Much tighter and more focused, and with a lightness that Sassy lacked, it’s a blatantly irreal comedy – cute girl inveigles a guileless insurance salesman into being her “pretend lover” and catering to her wildest whims – that just about stretches to 90 minutes on screen chemistry and plenty of incident.
The rest of the cast are mostly bystanders, though TV actor Zhang Mo 张默 in the best friend role has some dry comedy dispensing spurious relationship tips to Huang’s confused hero. In a growing trend in Mainland cinema, scenes shot in Europe – here, Norway’s snowy Tromsø, with its Northern Lights – add exotic bookends for local audiences.
The movie mostly has the careful visual composition typical of Liu’s previous films. His unique credit in the main titles of “initial director” 前期导演 alludes to the fact that Liu quit after creative quarrels with the commercially-minded producers, and Shanghai director Wu Tiange 吴天戈 (A Warm Winter 暖冬, 2002) was brought in to complete the movie, including the Norway scenes. The good-looking finished product shows no signs of backroom bickering.
CREDITS
Presented by TIK Films (Beijing) (CN), Yun Wen (Beijing) Films (CN). Produced by TIK Films (Beijing) (CN).
Script: Liu Fendou, Jiao Huajing. Photography: Chen Ying. Editing: An Dong. Music: Tian Ge. Art direction: Ma Yun. Sound: Yin Jie. Post-production supervisor: Li Ang.
Cast: Huang Bo (Chen Wen), Jiang Yiyan (Shen Lou/Lulu), Zhang Mo (Momo, Chen Wen’s colleague/roommate), Xia Jiawei (Chen Wen’s boss), Lu Nuo (White Hat, Shen Lou’s “cake date”), Huang Yonggang (Shen Lou’s ex-boyfriend), Li Haibin (doctor), Wang Yansu (nurse), Dong Lifan (adult-shop owner), Espen Prestbakmo (Norwegian taxi driver), Feng Yijie, Huang He, Lina Chen, Hua Xing, Hao Hao.
Release: China, 24 Jun 2011.
(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 2 Dec 2011.)