Love in Cosmo
摇摆de婚约
China, 2010, colour, 2.35:1, 93 mins.
Directors: Yan Po 鄢颇, Xiao Weihong 肖蔚鸿.
Rating: 8/10.
In her first lead film role, comedienne Yao Chen shows amazing range in this slick, characterful rom-com.
STORY
Beijing, the present day. Wang Shunjia (Yao Chen), an editor at Cosmopolitan magazine, is happily counting down the days to marrying her longtime boyfriend, company executive Wu Juyuan (Guo Xiaodong). He, however, has fallen for his glamorous boss Miya (Wu Chenjun) and is agonising over how to break things off with Wang Shunjia. After blundering on a photoshoot, Wang Shunjia is demoted by her editor-in-chief (Ma Yanli) to writing fluffy advice articles, where she unwittingly gets into more trouble. At the same time, Wu Juyuan’s old friend Zhang Junhao (Zhu Yuchen), an unemployed professional chef whose mother has just died and who has nowhere to live, comes to stay. With Wu Juyuan always at “meetings” with his boss, Wang Shunjia spends time with Zhang Junhao and gets to like him. So, after Wu Juyuan breaks the news and moves out, she asks Zhang Junhao to go through a paper marriage with her for a short while, to give her face. However, as her career at Cosmo finally takes off by chance, neither of them can decide whether to divorce as agreed.
REVIEW
Though it earned a fraction of their money at China’s box office, Love in Cosmo 摇摆de婚约 deserves to take its place alongside other recent rom-coms like Go Lala Go! 杜拉拉升职记 (2010) and Zhang Ziyi 章子怡 vehicle Sophie’s Revenge 非常完美 (2009) – and is actually superior in several respects. Until very recently, comedienne Yao Chen 姚晨 has mostly been in quirky supporting roles – the spoofy Big Movie 大电影之数百亿 (2006) and Two Stupid Eggs 大电影2.0 两个傻瓜的荒唐事 (2007), and as one of Zhang Ziyi’s pals in Sophie’s Revenge – but her performance in Cosmo proves she has the wherewithal to carry a movie. Her Bridget Jones-like Wang Shunjia, first seen dragging an incontinent donkey into a photo shoot, goes through a whole range of emotions, and the 30-year-old actress, though not conventionally glamorous, makes her character funny, sad, serious and sexy as she reels from rejection by her fiance into the culinary embrace of his best friend. As she proved on TV with her terrific turn as an underground guerrilla in the period spy drama Lurk 潜伏 (2008), Yao can do much more than just goofy.
Though the film is set in the same success-orientated world as Lala, it’s not about making it up the financial ladder or negotiating corporate politics. The densely packed script by Cui Siwei 崔斯韦 (lead writer on Crazy Racer 疯狂的赛车, 2008) and, more surprisingly, Guan Na 管娜 (the multiple rape victim in docu-drama Endless Night 夜未央, 2007) keeps its focus tight on Wang Shunjia’s emotions, and makes the fluffy plot almost believable as her indecision swings this way and that – reflecting the meaning of the Chinese title (“The Marriage Contract See-saw”). It’s entirely down to Yao’s performance, and the charming chemistry between her and TV drama actor Zhu Yuchen 朱雨辰 as the new man in Wang Shunjia’s life, which prevents her character from becoming terminally annoying.
Painter-turned-director Yan Po 鄢颇 has shed the occasional pretentiousness which marred his first movie, Aspirin 阿司匹林 (2006), and with his co-director Xiao Weihong 肖蔚鸿 (an editor on Dazzling 花眼, 2001) provides an extremely slick ride, with beautifully lit, crystal-clear widescreen photography by Chen Ying 陈英 (Green Hat 绿帽子, 2004; Ocean Flame 一半海水一半火焰, 2008) and fluid cutting by Kong Jinlei 孔劲蕾 that don’t draw unnecessary attention to themselves. On the acting side, Yao gets strong support from Jiang Xiaohan 蒋小涵 as Wang Shunjia’s office pal, Ma Yanli 马艳丽 as her ice-queen boss, and, in a relatively small role given his name, Guo Xiaodong 郭晓冬 as her cowardly fiance. Unfortunately, Taiwan actress Wu Chenjun 吴辰君 [Annie Wu], as the “other woman”, isn’t given much of a part aside from looking vampish and power-dressed – one of the few weaknesses in the script.
CREDITS
Presented by Beijing Han Hai Bo Yang Culture Communications (CN), China Film Group (CN), Cosmopolitan Magazine (CN). Produced by Beijing Trends Media Group (CN).
Script: Cui Siwei, Guan Na. Photography: Chen Ying. Editing: Kong Jinlei, Du Yuan, Yan Tao. Music: Wang Zongxian [Nathan Wang], Dong Dongdong. Art direction: Wu Ming. Stylist: Yang Yi. Sound: Wang Yanwei. Visual effects: Wei Na.
Cast: Yao Chen (Wang Shunjia), Zhu Yuchen (Zhang Junhao), Guo Xiaodong (Wu Juyuan), Jiang Xiaohan (Chi), Wu Chenjun [Annie Wu] (Miya), Ma Yanli (editor-in-chief), Zhang Chenguang (Du Shangbie), Ren Long (Zhou Shihuo), Li Yuchun (music-video singer).
Release: China, 13 Jun 2010.
(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 9 Aug 2010.)