Beijing
is a lot like New York. It is a tough city, but you can still find some wildly
romantic backdrops there. Five couples of varying ages and degrees of
matchedness will go through love’s ups and downs all over the Chinese capital,
as well as during a romantic side-trip to Greece in Chen Sicheng’s Beijing Love Story (trailer here), which opens
tomorrow in New York.
Unlike
his married boss Wu Zheng, Chen Feng is a decent enough guy. Unfortunately, he
does not have much money or legal Beijing residency. Nonetheless, the outrageously
cute Shen Yan still falls for him at a hipster singles’ party. Can their romance
survive the pressures of money woes and a surprise pregnancy? Her wealthy ex
and the painful in media res opening say no, but viewers should not put too
much stock in either.
Meanwhile,
Wu’s tomcatting is about to catch up him. Somewhat disappointed by his lack of faithfulness,
his wife Zhang Lei tries to take a page from his playbook, possibly complicating
the life of her boss and platonic friend, Liu Hui in the process. He has an
assignation of his own to worry about. He is meeting his mysterious mistress,
Jia Ling, for a weekend in Greece. Since the two lovers are played by “Big Tony”
Leung Ka Fai and Carina Lau, you would expect things to heat up here and they
do.
Liu
will play Jia’s games in Greece, but he is always serious about being Liu
Xingyang’s father. However, she is rather upset with him, because he will not
allow her to appear on a national talent show with her string ensemble. Smitten
Song Ge is happy to lend a sympathetic ear and maybe even her transportation
money if he can earn enough from after school jobs and maybe borrow some from
his grandfather, “Old Wang.” Of course, Wang has his romantic difficulties as
well. His cousin keeps fixing him on with blind dates, but his heart is never in
it, even with a recently returned expat, who should be well out of his league.
Without
question, Beijing works best when it
follows the Liu family. Leung and Lau have scorching chemistry and the Greek
locale inspires the film’s most visually stylish sequences. In contrast, the
innocence and exuberance of Song’s courtship of Liu Xingyang is like a breath
of fresh cinematic air. As teenaged Liu and Song, Nana Ou Yang and Liu Haoran come
across like good kids at heart, but with massive screen presence.
The
other interrelated couples are not necessarily dead weight, but they do not
deliver the same satisfaction. Frankly,
Yu Nan is absolutely terrific as the wronged Zhang, but her storyline functions
more as a transition from Chen & Shen to Liu & Jia than as a fully
developed arc in its own right. Wang Qinxiang is also surprising moving as Old
Wang, but Chen really pulls out the manipulative stops for the closer. He also
shows big city Beijingers at their most annoying during the initial tale of his
namesake (played by the writer-director). Tong Liya’s Shen has all kinds of
charisma, but there is only so much she can do for this underwhelming slacker
love story.
