Mei li ren sheng

Wonderful movie, I watched it knowing not what to expect. The first hour has a different tone from the second one, but they both complement each other in a beautiful way. What is really lovely is that one of the characters changes for better, and it is a real, deep change, rarely portraited efficiently on screen. The photography is stunning, the soundtrack is beautiful and the actors did a wonderful job. Netflix is allowing me to discover these wonderful and heartfelt movies.

Nothing much left to write, except that it was a great experience and that I will recommend this movie to everyone! Beautiful!

Can Andrew Lau, better known for his Infernal Affairs movies, cop dramas and action films, deliver an outright romantic movie? Sure, as A Beautiful Life shows, although riddled with enough genre clichés compensated by an amazing timeline for the narrative to develop, more than watching a couple develop in their love for each other from a chance meeting until the standard happy ending - it's meant for the Chinese market after all, so I suppose it has to stay within the confines that all will be well no matter how bleak everything can become.

As far as romantic movies go, this one's pretty ambitious in its timeline and narrative development, that it is almost akin to watching the natural progression of a relationship that worked, although for a romantic film, you'd sort of figure a life threatening disease kicking in at some point in order to play up the main theme of sacrifice, a cornerstone for something unconditional. In a tale of two halves, it shows how one party demonstrates that level of care and concern for the other, before tables get turned in almost a reciprocal manner, though you might add that one of the two probably drew the shorter end of the stick.

Another Hong Kong-China co-production, A Beautiful Life follows the life of Li Peiru (Shu Qi in her umpteenth romantic role of her career), a real estate agent who's perpetually drunk, in a relationship with her married boss in the hopes that she can stay in Beijing and lead the life of a tai tai. Well not quite, since she's emotionally miserable almost all of the time. She chances upon Fang Zhendong (Liu Ye), an honest cop who's the immaculate do-gooder, all round Chinese hero of sorts who inevitably falls for the free spirited lass.

As subplots to beef up the narrative, there's the brotherly love between Zhendong and his autistic brother Zhencong (Tian Liang) where the latter is also engaged in his own romantic dalliances with the mute girl Xiaowan (Feng Danying), where this almost blissful couple is in stark contrast to the more testy one between Peiru and Zhendong. And when I mean testy, it's that perennial test of trust and leap of faith where Zhendong goes against the warnings of his blind confidante (played by Anthony Wong no less) when Zhendong coughs out hundreds of thousands of dollars to sponsor Peiru's dream of opening up her own shop.

Seriously, the movie really dragged on and the finale was something that failed to man up, opting for the cop out to sooth audience's expectations rather than to follow through with its own intent involving unfortunate demise. Perhaps it really played to the points of one not having to be afraid when being with the one you love, or if you were to want to read it a little deeper, it's a socio-political suck up made where China stands as big brother despite its flaws, looking after the rogue entities who embrace various frowned upon vices, only to be seen ever ready to embrace them back into the fold, and show them the route to eternal happiness as one big family.

What made this work though happened to be the incredible chemistry between Shu Qi and Liu Ye especially, playing stock characters with aplomb that made their romance believable. One of the scenes that stood out was an incredibly long, single take where the duo had to walk down an extended walkway, one being drunk while the other constantly being that pillar of support, engaging in honest conversation that I would have shuddered to think about the effort that went behind making this one take possible. Cinematography was also top notch in this film capturing the hustle and bustle of the city, in contrast against the more serene villages, though this should come as no surprise given the director's background.

The Chinese title for A Beautiful Life underwent a change from the literal translation of the English title, to the more oomph filled one that reads a vow not to let the other party be lonely. And in some ways it's a more fitting title given the way things progressed between the characters in their give and take, and ambitious melodrama in wanting to cover the different stages, progression and development in a couple's love life. And that with their family as well.

This film is all heart. A policeman rescues a drunk real estate agent who is drop dead gorgeous and takes her home. He stands by her throughout the film despite her sometimes ignoring how good he is to her. The message is anti-materialism and shows there might be hope for china before they follow our path to decline in the USA. He is good to everyone in his life and at work, but tragedy keeps falling on him, but he does not give up hope. He takes care of his little brother. The photography is very well done and the actors are top rate. It has been nominated for Hong Kong Movie awards and should be nominated for best foreign picture if Harvey Weinstein does not promote the Intouchables through the roof.

This movie is way too long. It needs an editor to cut it down to 90 minutes. The first 90 minutes are great. It tells a complete story. We have a beginning, middle, and ending. But this movie continued on for another 40 minutes and it really starts to drag.

The movie could had ended at a very specific part and it would had been a 9/10, but it went on and on and it slowed down to a halt. The final 40 minutes suddenly covers over a year in these two persons' life.

The acting is really good, but this movie really needed a better editor to trim the fat. 6/10

The story starts with Shu Qi as a real estate worker I guess as the translation was not quite clear trying to make it in Beijing on her own. She has difficulities getting what she wants and gets duped and dumped for her partner who is younger by the male character and also shorted of her fair share according to what I understood. She has a cop that falls in love with her and is her shoulder to cry on and tries to help her anyway he can for her to achieve what she wanted when she came to Beijing in the first place. She then leaves and he gets let go of the police force for doing her a favor which was against policy. He also finds out that he has a form of dementia. Even through all of this he promises his younger brothers fiances mother that he would watch over both of them. That is how kind hearted he is. After some time has passed The Shu Qi character finds a piece of paper and scribles some black pencil on it to reveal a message. That's when she sets out to go back to Beijing to find him only to see that he has moved. The blind man tells her what he is going through and asks her if she can love him even though he may wind up forgetting who she is. As you probably figured out she goes to live with him and eventually they get married and then he sustains an injury while chasing a thief and she is crying for him not to die. The ending is you probably know is a Happy one. I always find Shu Qi in these roles of victim or getting killed with the exception of the gangsters daughter. I think that she should play a different role in the future, otherwise she will get typecast for this type of role forever.