This highly ambitious piece based on a novel yet to be translated to English, takes us back to Shanghai of the early nineties where we get to experience the joys and pleasures of Huang He Lu, and the colorful characters that inhabit this glitzy version of pre-globalization China.
It's essentially a "Best of Wong Kar Wai," where you get bits and pieces of every Wong Kar Wai film in both visual and audio terms.
The sensory overload will probably be too much for the casual viewer, and most non- Chinese Wang Kar Wai lovers will have an equally hard time, since it lacks the universal appeal of In the Mood for Love. This is not one for the European festival crowds. Only Chinese and seasoned expats can get what this is really about.
Not that Wang Jia Wei has a great relation with Chinese audience. To them, his films don't make much sense. Given that lots of Chinese people dislike the films of Wang Jia Wei, then who is the ideal audience? Probably those with a strong nostalgia for a special period in time in Shanghai that is now gone forever. It's essentially a love letter to Shanghai, its people, and their two big passions : money and food.
The first ten episodes focus mostly on a pair of restaurants run by two women and there doesn't seem to be a main plot, just Chinese people talking about food, money, and the stock market. The middle third is closer to what foreigners would expect from a Wang Jia Wei movie, the focus is on the female characters and their romances. One of the segments that stand out is the "bus girl."
In the last third, the pace moves faster and we get to experience the up and downs of the stock market as well as a personal war between two business rivals.
The whole thing seems very random without a main plotline. Only after episode 25 viewers will start making sense of the director's intentions.
The thirty episodes are supposed to be edited down to two hours for an international theatrical release. I don't know if something like that is possible or which scenes will make the international cut. I suppose those that will remind the foreigners of previous hits Chongqing Senlin, Huayang Nianhua, 2046.
In a weird way, Fan Hua is The Grandmasters with stocks and cash instead of the kungfu.
One thing many viewers may find strange is the lack of any sex drive behind any of the character's motivation. They're all, young, rich, and sexy, but more chaste than a monastery full of nuns. Maybe this is due to censorship.
The lack of recognizable international stars will such as Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung, Zhang Ziyi, mean that Fan Hua will probably be less succesful in the European market than his previous films. That doesn't mean the cast isn't good. Zhilei Xun is stunning to look at but her puffy lips can be very distracting. Yang Tang spends a lot of time whining. Her voice and stupid glasses can be very annoying.
Yili Ma is the best but like everyone else in the cast, it takes some time until you get used to her. Hu Ge in the role of the Chinese Gatsby is adequate enough but lacks a distinct persona.
Photography, sets, costume design, music, and camera are out of this world. But it all seems repetitive, like a ten minute loop repeating itself over and over again.
