By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Sanyuan Peng
Starring: Andy Lau | Boran Jing | Sandra Kwan Yue Ng | Tony Ka Fai Leung
Original language title: Shi gu
Country: china
Year: 2015
Running time: 108
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4440036
Thom says: “It’s rather disconcerting to me that this excellent film from China took such a circuitous route to my viewing pleasure. First-time director Peng might have been a minor problem, but must-see Andy Lau is an in international superstar. Even in a city with as large an Asian population as our countries more mighty metropoles we get little chance to see most films from China & Hong Kong here in San Francisco. The theme of the film isn’t terribly exciting but its heartfelt tragic story is told wisely and well. I discovered Andy Lau some 20 years ago as master Hong Kong director Johnny To used him judiciously. For those 20 years I’ve been in love with him and what a joy it’s been to see him age so gracefully with understanding written all over his features. He assays any role with apparent ease, from gangster, to lover, to clown, historical assessments, to gorgeous period pieces. As an entertainer he got his start by being a pop music star in Asian countries, like the Justin Timberlake of Hong Kong but quickly turned his attention to films and at age 58 has some 174 film credits, so I can never realistically see all his films. Here he plays a man (Lei Zekuan) that has been searching for his kidnapped son for over 14 years, travelling back and forth across China, handing out leaf lets, attaching flyers with information about the boy, now some 19 years old, never daring to return home to face the wrath of his wife & mother, who hold him responsible for the kidnapping. Apparently, kidnapping young boys is a common occurrence in China. He also has a network that discovers families that have adopted sons of a certain age. Tracking down one family that feel sorry for him and take him in, he realizes that their adopted boy is some 3 years too old. Nonetheless, Lei & the young man (Zheng Shuai) bond, especially when Lei discovers that the troubled Zheng is tormented with visions of his kidnapping, & desperately needs to find his real parents. So Lei & Zheng set off together, amidst innumerable arguments, disagreements, & contretemps. This film has a beautiful & tender melancholy about it, that thankfully gives us some kind of closure. Lau brilliantly evokes the tragic humanity of his tormented character. Along the way we get to see much of the gorgeous Chinese scenery and quite a slice of its busy nature. That I was able to watch it was something of a minor miracle. It was free on Prime Video but 90% of the Spanish/Chinese/French films that are free haven’t bothered with subtitles, so all the joy is kicked out of watching a film. Blissfully this did have the required subtitles, which somehow are better than the errors that are attached to many Hong Kong subtitled films, go figure. 5 cats“