Big World
小小的我
China, 2024, colour, 2.35:1, 130 mins.
Director: Yang Li’na 杨荔钠.
Rating: 5/10.
Over-long drama centred on a son with cerebral palsy is a great opportunity for young actor Yi Yangqianxi but is hobbled by a thin script with no dramatic structure.
STORY
A town in Sichuan province, the present day. Liu Chunhe (Yi Yangqianxi), 20, has cerebral palsy but, despite his appearance, has a considerable intellect and dreams of going to college and eventually becoming a teacher. His mother Chen Lu (Jiang Qinqin), who brought him up on her own and has always resented him, is against him attending college in another city, as she wants him just to stay at home, out of public sight, as much as possible. However, Liu Chunhe is now largely looked after by his eccentric grandmother, Chen Suqun (Lin Xiaojie), who used to live in a care home but was asked by her daughter to come and help. Chen Lu has a combative relationship with her mother, who believes in treating him like a normal human being and letting him mix with people rather than keeping him hidden away. On his birthday, she takes him with her to a lunch with members of her musical group and lets him drink some beer. On another occasion she arranges for him to teach Chinese poetry to a class of young children, who initially laugh at his abnormalities. When her group’s drummer, Diao (Zou Chengyong), resigns, she recommends Liu Chunhe to take his place, even though he’s never played drums. Chen Lu doesn’t agree with Chen Suqun’s freewheeling attitude but can’t really stop her as she’s not around most of the time. Chen Lu also confides in her mother that she’s pregnant by her second husband (Yue Xiaojun); but she tells her not to let Liu Chunhe know at the moment. While rehearsing with Chen Suqun’s music group in a park, Liu Chunhe sees and falls for Yaya (Zhou Yutong), a beautiful young woman who is playing around with some friends. Later, Diao comes back to the group, calls Liu Chunhe “a retard”, and engages with him in a drumming competition. Yaya urges Liu Chunhe on, and Diao learns his lesson. Liu Chunhe has erotic dreams of Yaya in which he no longer has cerebral palsy, speaking and behaving normally with her. One day he goes out on his own and applies for a job in a coffee shop; during the process Liu Chunhe realises he’s not really up to the job but the boss (Li Gengxi), who believes in helping the disabled (and also gets a tax concession), takes him on. While Liu Chunhe’s parents are away, Chen Suqun invites her music group (and Yaya) round to the flat, during which time Yaya asks Liu Chunhe a direct sexual question. When Chen Lu unexpectedly arrives back during the party, Liu Chunhe tells her about his job and how he’s applied to a university in another city. This time he stands up to all her criticisms. Chen Lu eventually gives birth to her second child by C-section. When Liu Chunhe almost chokes to death and has to undergo an operation, her attitude towards him changes after years of hating him.
REVIEW
Boybander-turned-serious actor Yi Yangqianxi 易烊千玺, 24, takes on his most challenging role in Big World 小小的我, an almost documentary-like drama centred on a young man with cerebral palsy. The fourth feature of Changchun-born Yang Li’na 杨荔钠, a writer-director in her early 50s whose roots are in documentaries and whose three other features (Longing for the Rain 春梦, 2013; Spring Tide 春潮, 2019; Song of Spring 妈妈！, 2022) have all been flawed by scripts with little sense of dramatic development. This time she’s handed writing duties to Chengdu-born You Xiaoying 游晓颖, 38, who has a checkered record herself, especially when it comes to script structure (good: Sister 我的姐姐, 2021; bad: Love Education 相爱相亲, 2017, Ordinary Hero 平凡英雄, 2022, Enjoy Yourself 祝你幸福, 2024), so the finished result is much the same – and especially obvious in a film whose thin content is stretched to over two hours.
The actors are not to blame: Yi gives a creepily realistic performance as the central character, 20-year-old Li Chunhe, while veteran actress Lin Xiaojie 林晓杰 (the mother in US indie The Farewell, 2019) is equally believable as his well-meaning, slightly batty grandmother. But despite its noble intentions, Big World is a big let-down as a movie. Released in late Dec 2024, it amazingly took RMB765 million at the Mainland box office, 10 times the amount of Song of Spring, Yang’s mother-daughter Alzheimer’s drama.
The film’s sizeable hawl – more typical of a mainstream commercial movie – is a tribute to the box-office clout of Yi, one of the very few Mainland boybanders who’ve graduated to a serious acting career rather than being just a pretty pin-up in youth-tailored fare. Though still in his early/mid-20s, Yi has just been getting better and better recently – holding his own against the experienced Shen Teng 沈腾 in Full River Red 满江红 (2023), his first grown-up role, and making a strong lead in CNY heartwarmer Nice View 奇迹 笨小孩(2022). In Big World he has mastered all the physical and vocal contortions of someone suffering from cerebral palsy, while still managing to impart some charm to the role, showing glimpses of a relatable human being behind the lack of physical co-ordination. This is no small accomplishment.
The film, like the character of the grandmother, has a clear agenda to normalise people like Li Chunhe, so it’s a double pity that, in one brief section, Yang breaks the fourth wall by showing Li Chunhe speaking and moving normally in a dream sequence. It’s a very filmy moment – maybe playing to the actor’s young fans – in a picture that can’t decide exactly what it is: Li Chunhe’s friendship with a beautiful young woman he sees in the park (TV actress Zhou Yutong 周雨彤, 30, in a typically no-nonsense role) is scarcely believable and an equally filmy idea, while some situations (Li Chunhe applying for and getting a job as a barista) strain credibility.
But the main problem with the film is its lack of any dramatic architecture, its lack of characters naturally developing over the two-plus hours, as well as scenes going on way too long after making their point. Typical of the second weakness is the role of the mother, acidly played by Jiang Qinqin 蒋勤勤 (One Step Away 触不可及, 2014; A Fool 一个勺子, 2014; The Door 完美有多美, 2017) but hardly developed until a sudden sea-change near the end. Regardin the film’s sluggish rhythm, it’s surprising to see the generally sharp Zhu Lin 朱琳 credited as editor.
Yang has worked with a different d.p. on each of her features, though always chosen noted indie names: here the photography by Piao Songri 朴松日 (The Crossing 过春天, 2018; Back to the Wharf 风平浪静, 2020; Sister; Enjoy Yourself), though in widescreen, has his usual naturalistic look that imparts a slight documentary flavour. The film was mostly shot in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, with dialogue largely in the local dialect. The Chinese title means “Little Me”.
CREDITS
Presented by Shanghai Gengxi Pictures (CN), Zhejiang Hengdian Film (CN), Shanghai Taopiaopiao Movie & TV Culture (CN), China Film (CN), Tianjin Zuoyi Pictures (CN).
Script: You Xiaoying. Photography: Piao Songri. Editing: Zhu Lin. Music: Kobayashi Takeshi. Art direction: Zhai Tao. Styling: Wu Lilu [Dora Ng]. Sound: Li Danfeng. Visual effects: Zhao Huijie. Executive direction: Zhou Zhengfei.
Cast: Yi Yangqianxi (Liu Chunhe), Lin Xiaojie (Chen Suqun), Jiang Qinqin (Chen Lu), Zhou Yutong (Yaya), Liao Xueqiu (Xiaojinsang/Little Golden Voice), Yue Xiaojun (Liu Chunhe’s father), Li Gengxi (coffee-house boss), Zou Chengyong (Diao), Bai Xinyu (Jiangjun/The General), Zhang Jiali (Xiaogongzhu/The Little Princess), Li Xiao (young Liu Chunhe), You Xiaoying (training-course leader), Piao Songri (Wang, public-transport manager).
Premiere: Tokyo Film Festival (Competition), 2 Nov 2024.
Release: China, 27 Dec 2024.