Qiuxi

Writer-director Sun Zhou\'s return to the big screen, seven years after Zhou Yu\'s Train, was unfortunately overshadowed by the release of blockbuster The Message two weeks before, and also by the success of TV spy thriller Lurk (which has a similar plot) earlier in the year.
 

Of the two movies, The Message is the flashier and starrier but Qiuxi the more believably written and acted. Though technically an "official" film celebrating the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the PRC, it stands up - like Tian An Men, The Founding of a Republic, and several others - as a movie in its own right, and also never looks like a de facto TV drama.
 

Despite the title, it\'s only peripherally about Jiang Yiyan\'s servant-girl character; and despite its sizeable RMB 45 million budget, and occasional setpieces, the film is more like a chamber drama between two characters. The elaborate game of charade is beautifully played by Sun Chun (director Sun Zhou\'s younger brother, and largely a TV actor) and Guo Xiaodong, as the suspicious KMT cat and the wily CCP mouse. Sun Chun creates a strong impression from the start as the ruthless Xia, who realises the game is up on the Mainland but just can\'t give up his fanatical hatred of communists. Guo comes through more slowly, as the opium-addicted CCP agent who conceals a host of lies behind his wide-eyed front. Both actors hit their stride in a long dinner sequence of parry and feint, in which they\'re later joined by Jiang.
 

Unfortunately, the script never quite knows what to do with its female characters. Jiang\'s titular role is basically a supporting one that\'s beefed up too quickly and too late to really get under the viewer\'s skin (thus reducing the emotional impact of a clever twist). Qin Hailu\'s "special appearance" as Sun\'s languid, opera-singing mistress is little more than that, and Wang Yajie as Guo\'s co-spy is given too much emotional baggage to carry for such a brief role.
 

Despite those flaws, the main dramatic axis of the repeated games between Sun Chun and Guo is strong enough to support the film. It wouldn\'t be a Sun Zhou movie without a few moments of visual indulgence (Jiang naked in the rain, Sun and Guo in their final confrontation, etc.) but these do serve a dramatic purpose beyond being just eye candy.
 

 

By Derek ELLEY
 

Derek ELLEY is Chief Film Critic of "Film Business Asia." Elley has been writing about East Asian cinema for over 35 years, especially Chinese-language films, and has arranged numerous seasons both in the U.K. and elsewhere. In 1998 he co-founded the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, devoted to mainstream Asian movies, and prior to joining "FBA" was senior film critic of U.S.-based entertainment trade paper "Variety".