Lovesick

恋爱恐慌症

Taiwan/China, 2011, colour, 2.35:1, 91 mins.

Director: Long Yi 龙毅 [Rocky Jo].

Rating: 7/10.

Taiwan’s Lin Yichen bounces back into movies with a slick rom-com about a love-shy young woman.

STORY

Taibei, the present day. Five years after falling for a handsome pop singer, Aaron Cui (Li Yifeng), while a student in China and then discovering he was two-timing her, Liang Ruoqing (Lin Yichen) still has a phobia of falling in love. Her distrust of men is fuelled by a women’s support group run by Chen Qin (Lang Zuyun) that she joined after returning, shattered, to Taiwan. Between working at a flower shop run by best friend CoCo (Yang Zishan), Liang Ruoqing starts as a volunteer at the hospital of her grandfather (Tao Chuanzheng), where she works on a Laughter Therapy Programme for bedridden patients. One day, despite all her alarm systems going off, she falls head-over-heels for the new young head of neurosurgery, Lu Zhehan (Chen Bolin). Panicking, and helped by Chen Qin and young nurse Xiao’an (Huang Peijia), she tries everything to resist his charms, even though Lu Zhehan is more interested in his work than seducing her. The two finally go out for dinner, during which she discovers he already has a girlfriend. In fact, the photo is of his beloved younger sister, Lu Xiaorou (Yuan Xinyu), who is a patient in the hospital and has been suffering from a serious spinal injury since a car accident in her teens. After a rocky start, Liang Ruoqing and Lu Xiaorou finally become friends. But then a new problem arises with her undeclared love for Lu Zhehan: the arrival of the beautiful doctor Li (Lu Mingjun), who has been away on research in Beijing.

REVIEW

A slick rom-com by Chinese American Long Yi 龙毅 [Rocky Jo], Lovesick 恋爱恐慌症 is a terrific comeback vehicle for Taiwan actress-singer Lin Yichen 林依晨 after a big-screen absence of seven years. After starting her movie career in two films directed by Wang Yuya 王毓雅 [Alice Wang] (Karate Girls 空手道少女组, 2003; Love Me, If You Can 飞跃情海, 2003), Lin then made her name in TV dramas. But now, at the age of 29, and cast opposite Taiwan heartthrob Chen Bolin 陈柏霖, she emerges as a fully mature comedienne-actress.

The movie is pure fluff from start to finish, and hardly original in content: a young woman, wounded by her first love, panics when she falls for a handsome, laidback doctor (the original title literally means “Philophobia”). But Lovesick mostly works a treat, thanks to the petite Lin’s goofy playing, which is like a cuter Taiwan version of Mainland actress-singer Xie Na 谢娜 (Rose War of Nana 娜娜的玫瑰战争, 2010); her chemistry with Chen, whose mumbly delivery actually fits his character here; and a cast that is strong down the line, from veterans like actress Lang Zuyun 郎祖筠 (as a female support-group head), through actress-model Lu Mingjun 陆明君 (whose soignée appearance triggers the third act) and comic A Ken 阿Ken (in multiple cameos), to Mainlanders Yang Zishan 杨子珊 and Yuan Xinyu 苑新雨 who fit seamlessly into the Taiwan setting.

In his first feature – funded by Mainland and Taiwan companies – Texas-born, California-based Long looks like he’s been directing rom-coms half his life. Like Sophie’s Revenge 非常完美 (2009), though with a less extreme look in US d.p. Chris J. Lytwyn’s clean photography, the film has the feel of a semi-fantasy in real settings, with Lin’s character using plenty of voice-over and the line between fantasy and reality sometimes blurred. And in Lin, unlike Zhang Ziyi 章子怡 in Sophie’s Revenge, the movie is driven by an actress who shows a natural talent for goofy rom-com.

Showing his background in commercials and sports videos, Long uses a full technical battery (split screen, visual effects, soundtrack songs, mobile editing), and even slides into a larky musical number at one point. But he also knows when to rein back and just let his actors get on with the job. He and Chinese American co-scripter Qin Wanrong 秦宛榕  [Wynne Tsing] – a California-based writer, casting director and hypnotherapist – don’t stray from mainstream Asian formulae, but keep the plot bubbling with lively dialogue.

Without the film’s quieter moments its last act – almost entirely devoted to what looks like a typical “airport finale” – wouldn’t have worked emotionally. Too bad, then, that Long almost blows the audience’s accumulated good will with add-ons (NGs the audience is ordered to watch, plus a heavily-evangelical church sequence) that seem like two bridges too far.

CREDITS

Presented by Talent International Media (CN), Hope Production (CN), Wohu Canglong International Cultural Communication (CN), CalFilm Production (TW). Produced by CalFilm Production (TW).

Script: Qin Wanrong [Wynne Tsing], Long Yi [Rocky Jo]. Chinese translation: Liang Hao. Chinese screenplay revisions: Zhao Danni, Yu Shangmin. Photography: Chris J. Lytwyn. Editing: Long Yi [Rocky Jo]. Music: Samuel Bisson. Theme song vocal: Kong Lingqi [Jeffrey Kung]. Art direction: Tang Weixuan. Costume design: He Yunqiao. Sound: Du Duzhi. Action: Yang Zhilong. Visual effects: Christopher Gwynne.

Cast: Lin Yichen (Liang Ruoqing/Tina, doctor), Chen Bolin (Lu Zhehan/Brandon), Li Yifeng (Aaron Cui, pop singer), Lu Mingjun (Li Sha/Lisa, doctor), Yang Zishan (CoCo, Liang Ruoqing’s best friend), Yuan Xinyu (Lu Xiaorou/Denise, Lu Zhehan’s younger sister), Lang Zuyun (Chen Qin/Glenda, auntie), Wang Yue (Lu/LuLu, auntie), Cao Lan (Bing, auntie), Qian Demen (Yong/Tom), A Ken (DJ; wedding party guest; skateboard kid; taxi driver), Tao Chuanzheng (Liang Ruoqing’s grandfather/Grandpa Walter), Jin Qin (Jin He), Zeng Peiyu (music-maker/Candy), Ji Yawen (priest), Xi En (Moli/Molly, check-in clerk), He Jie (Haozi/Carlton), Huang Peijia (Xiao’an/Miki, young nurse), Zhao Shuting (Hua/Gina, nurse), You Zhenyi (Mei/Janice, nurse).

Release: China, 14 Oct 2011; Taiwan, 16 Dec 2011.

(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 6 Jan 2012.)