Lost in Beijing 蘋果 by Li Yu (2007)
2 December 2008I have been wanting to watch this dark drama about the harsher side of life in modern Beijing and the decaying of people’s morals is a great character driven piece with amazing performances by Fan Bing BIng and Tony Leung Ka Fai. The performances really bring the film together, and the handheld camera actually increases the intimacy (though Kelly could never watch it). It is good to be able to see the uncut version which had 15 major cuts made by Chinese censors because of it’s intense scenes of sex. It is great to see Fan Bing Bing playing such a grown up role, and really doing a great job, if she keeps this up she could really be a powerhouse in Chinese cinema in the future.
Fan Bing Bing plays Liu Pingguo, an young immigrant in beijing who works at the Golden Basin Massage Parlor as a foot masseuse, hiding the fact that she is married to Ah Kun (Tong Dawei) from her boss Lin Dong (Tony Leung Ka Fai) so she won’t lose her job. Ah Kun works as a window cleaner for the skyscraper his wife works for. Lin Dong is married to Wang Mei (Elaine Kam Yin Ling) who practices chinese medicine, but he is always out sleeping with whores. When Pingguo’s best friend Xiao Mei (Zeng Mei Hui Zi) is fired from the massage parlor for stabbing a guy who tried touching her breasts, the friends go out drinking and Pingguo ends up going to work completely hammered. Lin Dong finds her and when she mistakes him for her husband, he rapes her, which her husband sees through the window. Ah Kun then starts defacing Lin Dong’s Mercedes, and trying to get 20,000 yen out of him, but he is ignored, so he goes to the wife, who instead of giving him money, starts an affair with him.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Soon it is discovered that Pingguo is pregnant and no one is certain who the father is. Ah Kun sees an opportunity to make money and goes to Li Dong to make a deal, since Wang Mei is infertile. The husbands make a deal to give Ah Kun 20,000 for mental suffering, and the if the kid is his another 100,000, but otherwise Ah Kun and Pingguo will keep their own child. Lin Dong also makes a deal with his wife, where if he sleeps with Pingguo again he will lose half his money to his wife.
Lin Dong starts getting very excited, and tries to take care of Pingguo making Ah Kun very jealous. When the baby is born, Ah Kun learns it is his, but bribes the doctor to change the birth certificate so he can make the money, and Pingguo moves in with Lin Dong as the wet nurse and nanny. Ah Kun and Wang Mei continue the affair and Ah Kun gets more jealous, and doesn’t even deposit the money. Lin Dong meanwhile loves the child and doesn’t even go to work, while Wang Mei sticks around to make sure her husband doesn’t have an affair.
Ah Kun’s jealousy explodes and he kidnaps the kid, tying up Pingguo. When he is arrested, the police test the kid and it is learned that it is his kid. Lin Dong then tries to buy the kid back because he has fallen so in love.
Finally Pingguo is fed up and takes all the money that Ah Kun got, and takes the child and leaves. And as the credits role we see Ah Kun and Lin Dong in the mercedes which broke down trying to find her.
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The opening is quite sexy, and the movie is intense all the way through with powerhouse performances. Really a must see film.
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