Till the End of the World: Love Never Dies, It Just Freezes Solid, Like a Popsicle

It might sound exotic, but Antarctica is not a romantic place. The temperatures regularly hover around negative sixty and the accommodations are pretty Spartan. Nevertheless, a man and a woman stranded on the icy continent will still manage to fall in love during the course of Wu Youyin’s Till the End of the Word (trailer here), which opens today in New York.

The rich but obnoxious Wu Fuchun had a ridiculous idea for an Antarctic luxury wedding agency. He is partly responsible for the crash that left them in the lurch, but Jing Ruyi will not have the luxury of guilt tripping him. The experienced polar scientist understands only too well the gravity of her broken leg. After the crash, Wu manages to find refuge for them in a remote cabin, but its stores of can goods and generator fuel is limited. Eventually, he will have to venture out in search of food, but if his misadventures turn fatal, it will just as surely kill Jing too.

TTEOTW is rightly billed as a romance, yet there is virtually no romancing in the entire film. Frankly, Wu and Jing are too busy trying to survive to spend much time gazing into each other’s eyes. Wu’s narrative, adapted from his own novel, is much more concerned with the one-darned-thing-after-another threats to life and limb, as well as the mental challenges of their extreme situation.

Technically, Till the End is a somewhat mixed bag. It really was filmed on location, spitting-distance from the South Pole. That meant many scenes often had to be iced on one take, but co-leads Yang Zishan and Mark Chao were up to the challenge, acing just abut all of their icy, windswept takes. Cinematographers Lai Yiu Fai and Lau Chi Fai fully capitalize on the expansive ice-shelf vistas. The opening plane crash sequence is also crazy enough to fit in Tsui Hark’s The Taking of Tiger Mountain. Unfortunately, the CGI penguin is just a big, distracting mistake.

Yang and Chao really are terrific together. He totally transforms Wu from a nauseatingly shallow fuerdai-esque embarrassment into a gaunt and haunted shell of his former self, much more devoted to Jing’s survival than his own. Likewise, Yang’s portrayal of Jing’s slow, forgiving fade-away will rip your heart out. The makeup team also deserves tremendous credit for making them look alarmingly weathered, chapped, and frost-bite blackened. Chao and Yang are huge stars thanks to smash hits like So Young, but to their credit, they took a bit of a risk here, because there is nothing vain or remotely glamorous about their work as the ice-bound almost-lovers.

You could say Till the End is a movie romance for people who don’t like romance. It is unabashedly sentimental and emotive, but not at all “mushy.” Joe Hisaishi’s supportive, yet eerily distant score reinforces that fateful vibe (isn’t it time someone programmed a retrospective of his film work?). Given the production challenges, it is also one of the few boy-meets-girl movies that could spawn a genuinely interesting “making of” featurette. Recommended for fans of sweeping, destiny-driven dramas, Till the End of the World opens today (2/2) in New York, at the AMC Empire.

NYAFF ’17: Battle of Memories

When it comes to memory, we’re like Goldilocks. We always want a little more or a little less. It’s never exactly right. The temptation to start fiddling around with how memories are processed, stored, and accessed in that strange device called the human mind has taken on Frankenstein-like implications in speculative fiction and psychological thrillers. When bestselling novelist Jiang Feng has a few select memories extracted, it similarly leads him down a rabbit-hole he won’t soon forget in Leste Chen’s Battle of Memories (trailer here), which screens during the 2017 New York Asian Film Festival.

Pained by his upcoming divorce from Zhang Daichen, Jiang goes in for the Spotless Mind treatment. However, for reasons that will be revealed later, she insists he have them reinstated, before she signs the papers. This is a process that can only be done twice, so the next memory removal will be permanent. In a colossal mix-up, the wrong memories are re-inserted into Jiang’s noggin. Suddenly, he is getting flashbacks to murders he never committed.

Due to the suspense-enhancing circumstances of the process, it will take seventy-two hours for the memories to fully reconstitute themselves. He is also emotionally detached from the dramatic events in question, watching them unfold in his memory like a spectator. Yet, the killer’s identity remains unknown, because Jiang has no context for knowing it a priori. Instead, he will have to deduce it from clues within the flashbacks. The detectives investigating the latest murder, grizzled Shen Hanqiang and his eager junior Lei Zi, mostly believe Jiang, but they are not as proactive as he would like protecting Zhang Daichen. Logically, he figures if he has the killer’s memories, it stands to reason the unknown psychopath must have his.

Memories is the second serious-as-a-heart-attack psychological thriller Chen has made featuring a star of China’s blockbuster “Lost in” slapstick comedies, following The Great Hypnotist, featuring Xu Zheng. In this case, it will be Bo Huang carrying the film quite well as the increasingly disoriented and disturbed Jiang. In fact, his sad hound dog face is rather perfect for Jiang. He always looks like he is confused and suffering from a massive migraine.

NYAFF honoree Duan Yihong is terrific as the flinty Det. Shen and newcomer Liang Jieli (a.k.a. Patricio Antonio Liang) shows real breakout potential as Lei Zi. However, the film’s real not-so-secret weapon is Yang Zishan (star of the monster hit So Young) as police doctor Chen Shanshan, who will keep viewers guessing as her backstory is revealed.

The mystery Leste Chen and screenwriter Peng Ren have devised is devilishly clever and the murder scene flashbacks are stylishly eerie, while scrupulously adhering to their own internal logic. However, the film can be a bit confusing in terms of segues and transitions. Too often, viewers have to piece together on-screen context to get their bearings. However, Charlie Lam’s cinematography (soft, noir De Palma-esque color for the waking scenes and stark black-and-white for the inserted memories) is always visually dramatic and helpfully delineates the past from the present. Despite a few rough edges, Battle of Memories is easy to recommend for fans of psychological thrillers when it screens Saturday night (7/1) at the Walter Reade, as part of this year’s New York Asian Film Festival.

One Night Only: There’s Always Something Left to Lose

Hong Kong cinema gave the world Ko Chun, the Mr. Lucky who can’t lose in the God of Gamblers/From Vegas to Macao franchises. Now Taiwan offers up a corrective in this new Chinese co-production. Gao Ye once had wealth and social position, but he lost it all and kept on losing. He will try to win back some redemption during a long dark night of the soul, but the game is rigged against him in Matt Wu’s One Night Only (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

The audience will know within seconds Gao Ye has seen the inside of a prison cell and has some nasty credits on his case. At this point, he doesn’t much care. Being cashless, he is rather surprised when an attractive prostitute loudly knocks on his door, expecting to do business. Unable to shake the strangely innocent Momo, Gao Ye convinces her to stake him instead. That works out about as well as we expect. Thus begins a series of nocturnal misadventures in the tradition of Scorsese’s After Hours (a lesser work in his filmography), until things take a radically tragic turn.

In fact, that is when the film really starts getting good. Frankly, the first act is a bit of a slog, focusing on Gao Ye’s jerkheel behavior. Yet, Wu and screenwriter Ren Peng also lay the groundwork for future payoffs at this time. Of course, that also means the second act will get pretty darn dark, taking us through the world of indentured prostitution and underground cage-fighting. Still, it crescendos with a romantic crescendo worthy of Camille that miraculously ties up all the suspicious loose ends lying about.

Yang Zishan (who just so happens to be married to Wu) really breaks out of her rom-com So Young/20 Once Again pigeon-holing as the relentlessly sad yet hopeful Momo. This film just wouldn’t work without her. Of course, Aaron Kwok is plenty believable as the dissolute Gao Ye, but he also turns on the star wattage for the big redemptive moments. For extra added heartache, Hao Lei is deeply compelling as Gao Y’s long suffering wife, seen in flashbacks.

Although set in a fictional, gaming-inspired city, One Night Only practically reeks of low life atmosphere. Cinematographer Charlie Lam takes full advantage of all the neon to give it a stylishly urban noir look. It is the sort of film you have to stick with through a long set-up, but it is ultimately worth it. Recommended for those who enjoy gambling dramas and tearjerkers, One Night Only opens this Friday (7/22) in New York, at the AMC Empire.

Surprise: Journey to the West Gets a Ribbing

His name is Sun Wukong. He is better known as the Monkey King and he means business. Unfortunately, nobody else does. When he loses his powers through a wacky chain of events and his loser companions are magically trapped, Stone Ox village will have to rely on the over-confident but underachieving Wang Dachui, who always finds ways to misuse the thimble full of magical powers he possesses. Journey to the West takes a detour through Zucker Brothers territory in Surprise (trailer here), which is now playing in New York.

Technically, Stone Ox village already has a mystical protector, but “Mr.” Murong has not been himself lately. The supernaturally imprisoned evil force his descendants swore to maintain watch over has really been giving him the full court temptation press. Wang Dachui, a sort of wuxia analog of the popular Chinese webisode slacker, thinks he is the man, but he is no match for the cat demon looking to plunder the village’s secret weapon. Fortunately, Murong saves his bacon, but the ensuing battle greatly weakens the guardian, leaving Stone Ox vulnerable as a result.

Feeling unappreciated, Wang decides it might be best to get out of Dodge for a while. He temporarily hooks up with the Monkey King, who has been separated from his colleagues: the monk, Tang Seng (a.k.a. Xuanzang), Zhu “Pigsy” Bajie, and Sha “Sandman” Wujing. Sun is now mostly mortal, but he still has considerable anger management issues and a wicked facility with the quarter staff. However, he is no match for the temper of Su Xiaomei, the rice cake vendor, who reluctantly employed Wang as a delivery boy. Nevertheless, the clumsy would-be-hero will return to Stone Ox to save her from the dark whatever it is that is up to no good (frankly, it is never very clear, but it is definitely bad news).

Whether as director, screenwriter, or co-star (appearing as Sandman), Yi is never intimidated by broad, over-the-top humor. This will be “Chinese humor” an audience member warned me before the screening—and she was right. Yi and rubber-faced star Ke Bai have no time for subtlety or sophisticated word play. On the other hand, few comedies can boast so many earth-shaking cataclysms, aside from Stephen Chow & Derek Kwok’s Journey to the West. Funny how that works.

Ke Bai certainly has no reservations when it comes to realizing the humiliations meted out on Wang. He takes a pasting and keeps on preening. As Su, Yang Zishan (recognizable from So Young and 20 Once Again) probably gets biggest, most exportable laughs cutting Wang down to size. Liuxun Zimo also makes a surprisingly credible action figure as the Monkey King. In fact, there are some pretty respectably choreographed action sequences, especially those involving the cat demon.

Although it is a goofball comedy, Surprise brings plenty of cosmic chaos. If there is another special effects spectacular opening this weekend, they have sure kept it quiet, so fantasy buffs really ought to consider checking out the exploits of Wang Dachui and the Monkey King. It has its charms, like watching the Three Stooges running amok through The Lord of the Rings. Recommended for fans of screwball genre films, Surprise is now playing in New York at the AMC Empire.

20 Once Again: Don’t Call Her Miss Granny

Meng Li Jun is determined to bring back the Mary Tyler Moore bob and the spirit of sugary early 1960s pop. She might be cute enough to do it. Of course, she stills remembers when they were popular the first time around, when she was known as Shen Meng Jun. Shen will get a second chance at youth and the things that come with it in Leste Chen’s 20 Once Again (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

It is a mystical photo studio that spurs her youthful regeneration instead of a fortune telling machine, but you get the picture. She had wondered in to have her eventual funeral photo taken. Yes, she is in a martyring mood, but rather the opposite happens. Restored to the peak of her beauty, Shen still has all memories, including her loving favoritism for her would-be rocker grandson, Xiang Qian Jin. While she keeps her true identity secret, she does the only thing she can to help realize his dreams, joining the band as his girl-singer.

Naturally, he is quite taken with Meng/Shen, which is awkward, especially when their young media patron takes a shine to her. Further complicating matters, Shen’s old loyal companion-never-quite-lover is determined to woo the beauty he fell in love with decades ago.

If 20OA sounds familiar, beyond the obvious Big-18 Again comparisons, than you probably really know your Korean cinema. It is in fact a Mandarin language, Korean-Chinese co-produced re-conception of last year’s Korean monster hit, Miss Granny, helmed by the Taiwanese Chen, co-starring Luhan, a Chinese-born member of the K-pop boy band EXO. (His fans will probably dig his work here, but the rest of us innocent bystanders will be underwhelmed).

There are a lot of upbeat songs and candy colors in 20 2.0, but it is not all rainbows and buttercups. Naturally, it also indulges in a fair spot of sentiment. Yet, as on-guard as we should be for its heartstring pulling, Zhao Lixin delivers a doozey of a speech as Shen’s grown college professor son that will still kind of get to even relatively jaded viewers.

Nevertheless, it is Yang Zishan, the breakout star of Vicki Zhao Wei’s So Young, who is really running this show. Despite her flirty, pixie-like presence, she still projects Shen’s old, traditional soul. She honestly feels far older than she looks.

Whether you have seen Miss Granny or not, you should have a general idea where 20OA is headed. In addition to its cheesy songs, it has some nice moments celebrating the importance of family and an oddly effective lead performance from Yang Zishan. It is a modest yet manipulative film, but somehow still rather endearing nonetheless. Recommended for fans of light romantic fantasy and K-pop, 20 Once Again opens this Friday (1/16) in New York, at the AMC Empire.