Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon; Hero; Memoirs of A Geisha; The Banquet – all films which I associate strongly with Zhang Ziyi, one of my favourite Chinese actresses. I was really quite surprised to see her do this romantic comedy called Sophie’s Revenge, which she also co-produced. The fierce, strong, sword-slashing, heroic characters often linked with Zhang turns into a clumsy, eccentric comic artist called Sophie who has just been dumped by her financé Jeff, swapping for the diva film star Joanna (Fan Bingbing – from 环珠格格 – yes, I get excited when I see actors from that show because it was the best everrr). Thus Sophie embarks on a series of schemes to break the new couple up and get Jeff back; with the help of Gordon, who she assumes to be Joanna’s ex. The plot is so, so predictive: Gordon falls in love with the adorable Sophie, she is oblivious to his feelings, he is actually Joannas’s brother, he confesses his feelings blahblah. But there are some slightly less cliché rom com plot lines which I shall leave in mystery. This South Korean-Chinese co-production has no doubt some elements of a Korean drama (sigh), particularly with the poor girl chasing rich guy with superstar girlfriend storyline. Admittedly K-dramas are kind of a guilty pleasure in small doses.. One charming thing about this film is the CGI that they use, bringing illustrations to life, as well as portraying Sophie’s emotional distress in a comedic way. The wardrobe in this is absolutely fantastic, Joanna’s character has so many amazing costumes, and Sophie has her own array of adorable outfits, except for the horrible baby blue tracksuit she wears to the gym.. It just makes me miss China and some of the amazing fashions you come across there. Zhang Ziyi really shines in this film, playing a comedy character convincingly, without making her completely over the top or unrealistic – just shows that she is a jack of all trades. The other main characters fit nicely around her, though I feel the ex-fiancé isn’t played out as much as he could be, as I would have like to have felt less sorry for him at the end. An uplifting film, I hope to see Zhang in some more like this, though maybe a character with some more substance inside, not just outside :P Oh, that other one from 环珠格格 is also in this – Ruby Lin (geez where the fuck are all these English names coming from :/) – who plays some slutty best friend, lols.
There’s something about Chinese films that just makes me feel *yay*. I think it’s got something to understand the speech and the subtitles, and realising that it’s better without subs as you lose some in translation. Makes me miss China a lot. My parents are going again soon, when uni starts. Dad’s work decided to send him to Shanghai for some work for 2 weeks during the time he asked off. Arghh, I wish uni never got in the way of travel opportunities :(
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