Nuan [2003] • China

This is very good looking film. It's a fairly typical Chinese story about a village boy who goes to the city for university and returns ten years later for a quick visit and runs into the girl who was his first love, and to whom he promised he would return to after university. Liar! The woman gave up waiting for the guy and married the village idiot who is also mute.

It's a Chinese film, but Japanese actor Teruyuki Kagawa plays the mute guy and it's the first of the many roles I've seen him in that I haven't liked. He pretty much killed the film for me. He won awards for his performance, it's just that I dislike characters who act like ill-mannered assholes, so your mileage may vary.

The whole film is a little slow on the uptake with all kinds of flashbacks going on to show the young lovers. The back and forth from present to past has an odd rhythm. And the big moral of the story comes up wimpy sealing the deal: "I'm a liar but the girl I lied to seems happy, so that's good. I guess I'm a loser". Or something like that. Excepting the beautiful cinematography, the film feels like it was put together by folks with good intentions lacking a mature vision beyond simply capturing a place in time. Some times that works and some times it doesn't. I liked the early love birds and the scenery but the film kept frustrating me in its execution.

★★★

Director: Huo Jianqi
Starring: Xiaodong Guo, Teruyuki Kagawa, Jia Li
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