Starting off with a pun may seem awkward, but please bear with us, since truly once in a blue moon and not more do avid cinemaphiles receive the honor of watching an elaborately smart package such as BJ Film Academy graduate Wang Quan An's Lunar Eclipse.
From beginning to end, this movie projects an ability to convey its simple yet majestic premise with impeccable panache, unhindered by hyperbole and redolent of the comfort you feel when meeting a kindred stranger by happenstance. Soon enough you'll be elatedly anticipating the film's punchline plot, much like lovers completing each other's sentences.
Lunar Eclipse runs the gamut of stereotypical mainland characters, each of its four protagonists familiar to residents on a daily basis. We start off with Ya Nan (sultry Yu Nan), socially-mobile Beijing sophisticate and ambassador of sweeping changes with her savvy, sharp outlook on life. She plans to marry sugar-daddy Guohao (Hu Xiaoguang), an entrepreneurial, affable and quick to spend Benz-equipped human gold mine the likes of which we all encounter at Suzie Wong et al, entourage of slender hotties in tow.
Although the story initially fixes on these two, it swiftly becomes clear that Xiaobin (Wu Chao), Miandi-driving, foul mouthed nongcun caricature moonlighting as photographer, serves the purpose of gluing everything together. While infatuated with Ya Nan, he repeatedly recalls a mysterious KTV wild child juxtaposing the other woman's urbane civility while passing for her identical twin (hence also played by Yu Nan).
In a fit of zen justice, once the two ladies cross paths reality re-asserts itself, taking the life of one and terminating Xiaobin's tenure as fateful nexus. On top of extolling its tale like a graceful bard, Lunar Eclipse manages several awesome camera tricks, for example, neon lights advancing on Guohao's luxury windshield as if aflame, indicating just how dispassionate his relationships with woman are (note editing credits belong to Bus 44 director Dayyan Eng).
Hard to come by, Lunar Eclipse remains an untainted gem running circles around recent forays into similar areas, most notably last summer's Green Tea. Those in possession of a soul and craving criticism of their present existence must be compelled to buy a copy.
Rating: * * * * ½
