Mei ren cao

"Fate is fate whether or not it binds you to another person. Likewise, Love is love whether or not it binds you to another person."

According to China.Org.Cn, "This heart-wrenching film, The Foliage, is to date, the most touching love story to hit the Chinese box office." While this movie is not bad, the above description is grossly exaggerated. The Foliage is a decent recount of life when young Chinese intellectuals were required to move to the countryside for re-education. Shu Qi aficionados and those who can identify with pre-commercialized Mainland China will probably discover the most fondness here.

This movie offers a thought-provoking take on fate. It reinforces the notion that we are all connected in a big web, and Anyone has the power to alter his/her life or someone else's life, whether intentional or not. To make this point unmistakable, the filmmaker concludes the film with the tip of an iceberg to an ALTERNATIVE fate of the story, caused by a slight difference in one character's action. Who can say what the outcome of the story will be in this alternative fate?

As a side note, the story takes place in south China's Yunnan province, and the entire cast seems to speak either the local dialect or the Beijing-accent Mandarin, except for our lead actress Shu Qi. Coming from Taiwan, her Mandarin has an unmistakable Taiwanese flavor, and the film does not try to disguise her accent or explain why it is out of place with the rest of the characters.

A lovely story that like Chinese films, ends in a heart breaker. I did feel that the love story was quite heart wrenching, and the movie overall deserves considerable applause (one of the best Chinese films I have seen). However I am extremely disappointed in the director's choice of lead female actress. Being Taiwanese, she has none of the common characteristics of a mainlander. She is flat and boring, and delivers her lines in a recitation manner that severely detracts from the movie. Plus her accent is extremely distracting, sticking out like a sore thumb. It really taints the movie's setting and mood. But besides the mistake in the female lead, it is a movie worth watching.

Sorry, but after reading the above review bashing the female. lead Qi Shu, I just had to comment. The ONLY reason I viewed this film is because Qi Shu was in it. I have been following her career since she was a popular model of age 17. She's a beautiful girl inside and out with a natural personality that everyone loves(accept the above reviewer of course,perhaps she's jealous?) Yes, she's from Taiwan and not from the native area of the movie's location. So what!, such things are not uncommon in films. The movie was quite enjoyable even with such flaws as although the story was supposed to have spanned over 30yrs, nobody aged? OK, aging making takes many hours to apply and is very expensive so they decided to skip it. The story and script was obvious, kinda Korny and lacking depth. This is often true with foreign films in my opinion. Being a major Qi Shu fan I was hoping for a little T&A since she is well known for nude modeling and was disappointed in that department. Oh well, I should expect that for a mainstream Chinese flick. For Qi Shu fans, she was adorable as ever so don't miss this film!