King of Peking

Saw this movie yesterday (it was screened in London as an entry in the Longon Film Festival). It's hilarious, so I hope it becomes available to a wider audience soon - most probably in digital format as the director said during the Q&A. The exchanges between Big Wong and his son Little Wong are priceless, but the rest of the cast are spot on as well.

Having the opportunity to sit down in 2022 and watch the 2017 Chinese comedy drama "King of Peking", from writer and director Sam Voutas, of course I did so. No doubt about it, as I enjoy Asian cinema quite a lot. Now, I hadn't ever heard about "King of Peking", so I didn't know what I was in for here, but it hardly mattered.

While "King of Peking" certainly was watchable and entertaining enough, it just wasn't a particularly outstanding or memorable movie. For me, this movie was the type of movie that you watch once, then check off the to-watch-list and never return to watch it again. Sure, "King of Peking" was enjoyable, but it just didn't warrant more than a single viewing.

Now, I noticed that several reviewers were commenting on the movie's love for cinema, sure, I could see that, but "King of Peking" wasn't just about the writer and director's love for the cinema. No, this was definitely also a movie about the bonds between a father and his son, as well as the lengths a father will go to support his offspring.

I wasn't familiar with the cast here, but I will say that both Jun Zhao (playing Big Wong) and Wang Naixun (playing Little Wong) definitely put on great performances and carried the movie quite well. Not only were their acting performances good, but the characters and their dialogue was nicely written by Sam Voutas as well.

If you enjoy a light drama and enjoy Asian cinema, then "King of Peking" is worth taking the time to sit down and watch.

My rating of "King of Peking" lands on a six out of ten stars.

This film echoed parts of Cinema Paradiso. Growing up around films and cinema in a space and time where it feels like nothing else matters. Nicely styled and visually tight with the occasional very special shot included, this film tells a sweet story of a man trying to hold on to custody of his son. Very nostalgic, very recognisable relationship writing and also very Beijing. To anyone who knows the culture, you will get a lot out of this film, to anyone who doesn't, you may see a more human 1990's Beijing than often portrayed.

When the DVD fever hits hard, a former film projectionist begins a risky scheme with his son.

A love letter to cinema and tradition, inspired by European and American classics (it has several references, whether in names, posters or soundtrack), and in particular in one of my favorite films ever, Cinema Paradiso.

The start of the story seems to show someone (Big Wong) who just does what he does to make money, but as all the personal drama becomes evident, we can find that there's love for the art, both from the father and the son (Little Wong).

The fact that there is no background story for the characters makes it more difficult to create a connection with them, but still, the plot has a decent structure, capable of gripping, and hits the "emotion button" at key moments in the narrative.

One of the best thing a filmmaker can do, is to do a movie about something he or she knows a lot about. And in this case, someone has a lot of love for movies obviously. Now if you picked to watch this movie, you probably have love for movies too. It's not your big budget movie, that everyone has heard of.

Still this has quite a few merits and if you don't mind a few hiccups along the way, you will enjoy the ride. Some of the things might only be obvious to people who either had a similar job or lived through that period of time. But even without that background knowledge you have quite a rock solid movie in your hands here. Enjoy it for what it is