Twenty
二十岁
China, 2018, colour, 2.25:1, 97 mins.
Director: Liu Chang 刘畅.
Rating: 7/10.
Re-make of a South Korean youth comedy is both better and livelier than the original.
STORY
A city in central China, summer 2017. Nerdy Lin Yimu (Ye Zicheng), skirt-chasing rich-man’s son Liu Da (Qu Chuxiao) and computer gamer Fu Hao (Kong Chuinan) are three pals, all aged 19 going on 20, in senior high school. Unexpectedy, Lin Yimu passes the university entrance exam but both Liu Da and Fu Hao fail, the latter due to spending too much time gaming. At a school ceremony honouring those that passed and shaming those who didn’t, a fight breaks out between both sides. Liu Da and Fu Hao are determined to prove that, at the age of 20, they’re not losers. Fu Hao, who lives with his wacky, alcoholic single mother (Dai Lele), gets a job in a fast-food outlet but instead of studying is obsessed with proving himself as a computer gamer, especially against local female champ The Beast (Dong Qing) who keeps goading him. Liu Da is imprisoned in his bedroom by his wealthy father (Yang Xinming) and forced to study; but he then pays a lookalike (Zhao Wenjie) to stand in for him at crammer school, and even at home, so he can continue chasing girls. At university, Lin Yimu falls for serene goddess Xie Haiyi (Yu Wenwen) and enrols in a boxing class simply because she has. Meanwhile, Fu Hao is constantly accompanied by the geeky Xiaoxi (Wu Yu Chenning), Lin Yimu’s younger maternal cousin, who secretly fancies him. Bored with current girlfriend Lu Yang (An Yongchang), Liu Da sets his sights on budding actress Li Wan (Xu Xiaolu) but she constantly plays hard to get. When Liu Da confesses to his father about the “stand-in”, his father recognises the latter as his son and kicks Liu Da out of the house. Li Wan refuses to let him sleep on her sofa, thinking it’s just a ruse to get her into bed. Meanwhile, Lin Yimu is stranded in the boxing class with Xie Haiyi’s fat BFF (Yao Siyu) when Xie Haiyi unexpectedly stops coming. Lin Yimu tries to find out why, and discovers some surprising details about her private life.
REVIEW
Slickly mounted and likeably played, Twenty 二十岁 is a youth comedy that’s a slight cut above the norm. With no real star names it hardly made a dent in the Mainland box office on release in late 2018, almost two-and-a-half years after it was shot. Despite that, it’s a strong feature debut by director Liu Chang 刘畅, a Beijing Film Academy graduate whose other credits have so far been in drama series (With You 最好的我们, 2016; Exclusive Memory 独家记忆, 2019). Liu draws good playing from his young cast and, along with lead writers Li Yi 李毅 and Mao Zijian 毛子尖, shakes the familiar youth pot in interesting ways, making Twenty another Mainland remake of a South Korean film that’s better than the original.
The 2015 hit comedy Twenty 스물, written and directed by Yi Byeong-heon 이병헌 | 李炳宪 (see poster, left), was notable for being much lighter than most youth movies from angst-ridden South Korea; but its characters were still cut-outs and the direction by Yi (who started as a writer) was very controlled, with no genuine sense of breaking out. As well as seamlessly adapting the material to an unnamed city in central China – most of the film was shot in Nanjing – Liu’s Twenty has a much looser, more playful feel, with Liu bringing a real cinematic sensibility to the story.
Actually, “story” is a misnomer: though the characters and events don’t follow the Korean film’s very closely, they still hardly add up to a conventional plot, either. Liu’s version is more a series of episodes as it follows three high-school pals after one unexpectedly passes the university entrance exam and the other two fail. There’s the serious nerd, the rich man’s skirt-chasing son and the computer-gaming obsessive – all regular characters in youth movies. But instead of just following the three leads and their shallow ambition to prove they’re not losers, the script fans out in interesting ways, as a group portrait of young people trying to hook up with unlikely partners: a rich kid with a stand-offish actress, a geeky girl with an obsessive gamer, the nerdy narrator with a campus goddess. Humorously, each of the three leads is also afflicted with an injury that cramps his style.
Twenty hardly re-writes the Mainland youth comedy handbook but, like the recent Dude’s Manual 脱单告急 (2018), is an above-average entry in an over-worked and much-abused genre. Of the three male leads (far more diverse than their Korean equivalents), Ye Zicheng 叶子诚, then 21, as the nerdy narrator and Qu Chuxiao 屈楚萧, ditto, as the rich-kid lothario are the most involving, though the film as a whole is very much an ensemble piece. As the wannabe actress on the latter’s radar, Xu Xiaolu 徐晓璐, then 23, exudes the necessary confidence, while Wu Yu Chenning 伍宇辰柠, 20, is fine without overdoing her bespectacled female geek.
In what was actually her first big-screen role, Mainland-born, Vancouver-raised singer-actress Yu Wenwen 于文文 [Kelly Yu], then 26, is perfectly cast as the cool campus goddess, making it a shame her character doesn’t get more script/screen time before suddenly disappearing. Among the cameos by more established players, Dai Lele 代乐乐 is terrific as the gamer’s alky single mum and Yang Xinming 杨新鸣 as the rich kid’s batty father. Major star Bao Bei’er 包贝尔 pops up during the end titles in a cameo that seems totally pointless.
Technically the film is exceedingly well polished, with typically rich, good-looking photography by Taiwan d.p. Wang Junming 王均铭 (My Elder Brother in Taiwan 酒是故乡浓, 2012; Campus Confidential 爱情无全顺, 2013; How Long Will I Love U 超时空同居, 2018) leading the pack.
CREDITS
Presented by Beijing Lajin Pictures (CN), Qingdao Youth Film & TV Culture Communication (CN), Beijing Enlight Pictures (CN), Horgos Youth Enlight Pictures (CN), Beijing Leqi Film & TV (CN). Produced by Qingdao Youth Film & TV Culture Communication (CN).
Script: Li Yi, Mao Zijian. Script associates: Chao Yi, Yao Junchang, Xu Xiangyun. Script co-ordination: Wang Hongwei. Photography: Wang Junming. Editing: Zhang Yifan, Li Dianshi, Lin Yongyi. Music: Liu Ye. Art direction: Zhang Xiaobing. Costume design: Gim Bo-bae. Sound: Xie Yuyang, Wu Hongjuan. Action: Luo Yimin [Norman Law]. Special effects: Li Tao. Executive direction: Luo Dong.
Cast: Qu Chuxiao (Liu Da), Kong Chuinan (Fu Hao), Ye Zicheng (Lin Yimu), Xu Xiaolu (Li Wan), Wu Yu Chenning (Xiaoxi), Yu Wenwen [Kelly Yu] (Xie Haiyi), Bao Bei’er (suicidee at end), Dai Lele (Fu Hao’s mother), Yang Xinming (Liu Da’s father), Fu Disheng (university head), Zhang Mei’e (head nurse), Zhang Xiaoqian (policeman), An Yongchang (Lu Yang), Dong Qing (Huoyun xieshen/The Beast, gamer queen), Yang Haoyu (Wu), Yang Yi (professor), Fang Wenqiang (boss of fast-food outlet), Liu Qiheng (manager of internet bar), Guo Tongtong (professor’s wife), Lei Tian (nurse), Yao Siyu (Ma Li, fat female boxer), Zhao Wenjie (Liu Da’s “stand-in”), Yao Liye, Liu Chang, Wang Hailong (film directors), Luo Dong (gaming champion).
Release: China, 30 Nov 2018.