Miss Puff

泡芙小姐

China, 2018, colour, 2.35:1, 94 mins.

Director: Zhang Xinyi 张歆艺.

Rating: 5/10.

Spin-off from the online material-girl cartoon series goes its own way but soon runs out of creative puff.

STORY

Binhai, northern China, the present day. Hou Paopao (Zhang Xinyi) was born on 1 Jun 1989 and soon became known as Paofu (Puff). Her father, Hou Daye (Zhao Qi), doted over her and she thought he was the coolest dad ever; her mother, Ma Yunyan (Li Jingjing), played majiang all day in the club her husband set up for her. As she couldn’t get into a decent Mainland university with her exam results, her father sent her to a university in Thailand instead. When she returns home, she goes out for some wild partying with her three BFFs – tomboy Mali (Tan Weiwei), empty-headed sexpot Shisanyao (Sun Xiaoxiao) and scrawny Xiaonuo (Yu Shasha) – and next day wakes up alone in a hotel room by the sea. With the clues of a man’s shirt and a badge from the Ocean University of Binhai she tracks down Gu Shang (Wang Yuexin), a student there who also works as a restaurant deliveryboy. He says he took her to the hotel, as she was so drunk, and left her there. Even though she’s five years older than him, Hou Paopao realises she has met her soulmate in life, someone who also dreams of travelling the world and making life and love an adventure. One day they deliberately marry without telling anyone, and afterwards finally consummate their friendship in a hotel room. However, when Hou Paopao finds herself pregnant, both her and Gu Shang’s parents are told about the marriage, with explosive results. Gu Shang’s father evicts his son from home, and Gu Shang disappears. Not even Hou Paopao can find him.

REVIEW

A spin-off from the homonymous Youku web series of cartoon shorts (2011-16), Miss Puff 泡芙小姐 is a chickflicky rom-com that floats along for almost an hour on quirky charm and not much else before quickly losing its magic when a plot hoves into view. The result is a kind of Valentine’s Day film crossed with a kind of cameo-studded CNY movie, but with stronger shades of South Korea’s classic offbeat rom-com My Sassy Girl 엽기적인  그녀 (2001) than of the online originals. It sank during the New Year holiday period with a mere RMB19 million.

The whole enterprise marks an iffy directing debut for actress Zhang Xinyi 张歆艺, who also co-wrote the story with the original creator, Beijing animator San Pi 三皮 (“Three Skins”; real name: Wang Bo 王波), as well as casting herself in the title role. Sichuan-born Zhang, 36, has bumped along in some notable supporting roles during the past decade – the beggar conwoman in Lost on Journey 人在囧途 (2010), bandit leader’s sister in An Inaccurate Memoir 匹夫 (2012), guide’s fiancee in Spicy Hot in Love 爱情麻辣烫之情定终身 (2016) – but is better known for her work on the small screen, such as the magazine editor in the hit TVD Beijing Love Story 北京爱情故事 (2012). For some reason she and her co-creators have ditched most of the cartoon’s special characteristics, starting with Miss Puff’s Amélie-like hairstyle (which only pops up near the end, for no reason) but also the original’s cod-philosophic tone and languourous sexuality.

In the cartoons Miss Puff is a mid-20s urban singleton who whiles away her time hanging out with similar material-girl friends, lounging around her flat with thoughts on this and that, and occasionally doing a little bit of work as a “freelance writer”. In the film she’s a fairly typical rom-com kook who’s deeply attached to her dad and hooked on the idea that life and love should be an endless adventure that involves lots of air travel. During the first half-hour this concept manages to sustain itself with plenty of small comic incidents, a simpatico performance by theatre/TV actor Zhao Qi 赵麒 as her equally weird father, good chemistry between Zhang and singer-actor Wang Yuexin 王栎鑫 (in his first leading role), plus colourful design and photography to support the slightly unreal universe. (Notably, veteran d.p. Hou Yong 侯咏, who also has experience as a director, also doubles on the film as creative producer 监制.) The problems are that (a) the new concept soon starts to run out of steam, and (b) this simply isn’t what the audience – already sated with kooky chickflicks – expects from a film called Miss Puff.

It’s probably impossible to replicate the dreamy flavour of the original 10-15 minute cartoons – which actually blended animation with live-action footage – in a 90-minute feature-film format. But Zhang & Co. haven’t even tried and, even more jarringly, include a brief sequence near the start showing the Miss Puff cartoon original. The film downplays the bonds between Miss Puff and her three BFFs to focus on the central relationship between her and a college student that has strong echoes of the one in My Sassy Girl, with two soulmates rebelling against conventional life and love. (One shot of them holding up their marriage certificates looks like a direct tribute to the final shot of Sassy Girl.)

Zhang, 36, and Wang, 29, sustain the idea for as long as possible via their performances, but the screenplay by Cheng Xiaomao 程小猫 doesn’t really know where to take the idea, beyond glossy, self-contained episodes (often set to well-known western music) or celebrity cameos. On the debit side, actress Zhang Jingchu 张静初 pops up as a fortune-teller in a dream sequence, comedian Bao Bei’er 包贝尔 as a ranting college teacher, and even Zhang’s TV actor husband Yuan Hong 袁弘 as a traffic cop. On the credit side, super-tall basketball star Sun Mingming 孙明明 has a touching cameo as a nice guy, actor Guo Jingfei 郭京飞 makes much of the small role of a security guard, and punky singer Tan Weiwei 谭维维 is okay as Miss Puff’s tomboyish BFF. Why the writers had to invent a simpering gay friend for the male lead is anyone’s guess, though maybe they thought it would appeal to the teenie-girl audience.

A Miss Puff online TVD, directed by Wang Ziming 王子鸣 and starring TV actress Wu You 吴优, 25, started shooting in Xiamen in Jan 2018 (see poster, left).

CREDITS

Presented by Shanghai Youzaoyi Film (CN), Sichuan Zhiyou Media (CN), Zhejiang Hermosa Media (CN), Tianjin 58 Pictures (CN), Yili Joy Pictures (CN). Produced by Shanghai Youzaoyi Film (CN).

Script: Cheng Xiaomao. Original story: Pi San, Zhang Xinyi, Cheng Xiaomao. Photography: Hou Yong. Editing: Dai Bing. Music: Umebayashi Shigeru. Music direction: Wu Yicong. Production design: Bai Furui. Art direction: Liao Sinan. Styling: Huang Wei. Sound: Xiao Jing. Visual effects: Guo Dong. Animation: Pi San. Executive direction: Ma Liang.

Cast: Zhang Xinyi (Hou Paopao/Paofu/Puff), Wang Yuexin (Gu Shang), Li Jingjing (Ma Yunyan, Hou Paopao’s mother), Jiang Shan (Yang Ruoxin, Gu Shang’s mother), Zhao Qi (Hou Daye, Hou Paopao’s father), Wang Lie (Gu Shouyuan, Gu Shang’s father), Zhang Jingchu (fortune-teller in dream), Qin Lan (junior high school teacher), Jiang Xin (Jiang, college director), Zhang Tian’ai (Wu Suowei), Guo Jingfei (college security guard), Bao Bei’er (Bao, college teacher), Chen Zhiyuan (Wang Han, Gu Shang’s gay friend), Yuan Hong (traffic policeman), Lv Xia (woman in traffic accident), Zeng Yijun (Liu Sanmu), Yu Shasha (Xiaonuo, Hou Paopao’s BFF), Sun Xiaoxiao (Shisanyao, Hou Paopao’s BFF), Sun Mingming (tall man in traffic accident), Gao Xiaopan (PE teacher), Yao Anlian (Yao, uncle), Zhang Shan (Zhang, uncle), Cai Xiangliang (Cai, uncle), Zhang Ruoxing (Shi Miao), Tan Weiwei (Mali/Mary, Hou Paopao’s BFF), Diao Xijuan (Hou Paopao’s grandmother), Bi Baobao (Hou Paopao, 100 days old), Jiang Jiantong (Hou Paopao, aged four), Feng Siyi (Hou Paopao, aged seven), Zhuang Dafei (Hou Paopao, aged 15), Wang Dazhi (pub rapper), Li Tianyi (Gu Shang, aged four), Ma Liang (wedding MC), Lan Cheng (Wang Han’s father), Fang Fang (Wang Han’s mother), Zhai Xiaoshu (singer), Wang Weiyi.

Release: China, 9 Feb 2018.