Pupule Film Review
Title: No Lonely Angels
Pupule’s Rating: * * * stars

MPPR Rating:
Date of Viewing: Wednesday, November 5, 2003
Location: Dole Cannery/Hawaii International Film Festival

By Paul Honda
Friday, November 7, 2003

What happens when a pop/soap starlet meets one of China’s most stoic actors on screen?

It’s a question worth asking because No Lonely Angels, Zhang Fanfan’s debut as a feature director is economical, meticulously paced (faster, slower and in-between) and his ideas about flow work so well. Song Chunli’s screenplay folds over and back, weaving in a handful of characters who are linked by chance and love—or is it really love?

When Ye, a 22-year-old college student who has a dormitory curfew, meets Lang, he mistakenly assumes the approachable, but cautious Ye is a call girl. Lang is only supposed to be seven years older, but he looks at least 12 years older; that factor isn’t as big a deal as the fact that there is absolutely no believable chemistry between the two.

Regardless, they leave a bar late in the evening—it has an enclosed fountain that streams water around the bar itself—after he offers her a ride home. In pouring rain, she hops over a 12-foot gate at her dorm, and though they seem nothing more than new, casual friends, she gives him her number as she sprints off in the downpour.

Perhaps it’s a matter of cultural differences, but Ye’s sense of independence goes out the door once Mom lays down the facts o’life. Only three things, she tells Ye, are priceless: 1. a child’s smile, 2. youth, which cannot be bought back, and 3. the love of a man.

Suddenly, Ye’s interest in Lang takes a new flavor. That’s cute, but Lang has the emotional range of a crab. When he’s not stoic—and I mean frozen crab stoic—he’s irritable in a harmless way. The one scene that gives us a sense of Lang’s vulnerability is a work of art by Zhang. Lang is getting into his car when he glances toward an alleyway, and there is a boy walking with a girl. He stops her and makes a big announcement: “I love you, Jia.” The little girl laughs, almost mocking the little boy, and the camera returns to Lang. It’s then we realize this is Little Lang having a flashback, and as the camera goes back to the kids—Little Lang’s stumbling but determined message and Little Jia’s laughter—it turns into a poignant and unforced scene that sets the foundation for the arrival of grown-up Jia.

Even after meeting Ye, Lang longs for Jia, who has moved away to Shanghai with her family. Though they are far apart, he keeps a key to his apartment above the front door, constantly leaving her monotone voice-mail messages. Maybe it’s because Ye is so attractive, or because I’m not a big fan of soap operas, that I was as stunned as Lang when Jia shows up at his front door with two suitcases.

The story churns out nice changes of pace. Lang, like many career-minded men and women, makes a move and is suddenly 6,000 miles from Jia. So much for the love of his life. Jia waits, attending school to learn English and living in his apartment. It’s then that Bian enters her life. The undercover cop provides an unexpected, but thankfully different twist to the plot. Jia, mistakenly identified as a drug trafficker by Bian, becomes his sidekick and love interest. Jia, played with delicacy and strength by Tao Hong, is more mature than Ye, and certainly more driven. Jia jumps head over heels into Bian’s mode, keeping a telescope propped directly into the apartment of a woman she suspects to be affiliated with drug traffickers.

Though the plot seems a bit thick at this point, Bian and Jia’s chemistry is outstanding, particularly given their uncomfortable introduction. Their relationship is the highlight of the film, not because of any shortcoming in the script or cinematography, but because Ye and Lang have no spark whatsoever.

The Hype: No Lonely Angels comes from Media Asia Group, the studio that brought Spring Subway to the HIFF. I expected a solid, but similar effort, and all I hoped for was zero delays. The showing of SS earlier in the week was stopped twice due to the film itself “being dirty,” according to an HIFF coordinator. As far as comparisons go, NLA has a similar, patient tempo, but is a superior film to SS because of a broader cast and script.

Strengths: Li Xiaoran (Ye) breathed life into this film early, and her sometimes cold façade melts into disappointment and anger as the story progresses from 1999 to 2001. Tao Hong (Jia) has an amazing chemistry with Bian, and her solo scenes as a wanna-be sleuth are both alluring and worrisome. Jia has a good soul, and she draws us in even moreso when bad decisions are being made. The economy of Zhang’s shots are revealing and indicative of a director who started with TV commercials. I enjoyed his decisions, his tempo, his willingness to be patient, let the film roll through quiet conversations and disagreements. He allows his actors to act in everyday settings, like the dinner table, giving us an undeniable familiarity with these characters.

Love triangles tend to be messy and leave audiences almost forced to pick sides. This is not the case with No Lonely Angels, as Zhang vividly paints the quiet desperation of men and women reaching out in their own unique ways, simply unwilling to remain lonely.

Weaknesses: The problem with Lang is that he may be only seven years older than Ye, but he acts much more like a middle-aged man. Cultural difference or not, I still don’t get what Ye saw in him, and her longing throughout the story about to see him again is bizarre given her beauty and youth. If she’s going to bars and meeting men, is Lang the only fish in the sea? We have but one glimpse into her foray with another would-be suitor that ends horribly, but would a woman like Ye really long for Lang? There wasn’t a single scene where Lang made Ye laugh. He was never affectionate with her. He never wrote her a love letter or got her a gift. They would’ve made a better brother-sister team, particularly with her living situation being up in the air for a good part of the story. The lack of passion early on is the one irritation that I have with NLA, but the film is still worth seeing despite the annoyance.

Best Scene: An abundance of good moments fill this story, but the aforementioned exchange between Little Lang and Little Jia works fluidly and very, very effectively. That’s one of the best stage-setters I’ve seen in quite some time.

Worst Scene: This isn’t an actual scene, per se, but when Jia shows up at Lang’s door, and we have no confrontation between Lang and Ye—not even an acknowledgement by both that the relationship is over—it leaves a major hole in the early telling of the story. After all, Lang had told Ye, “If you heart has never been broken before, how will you handle it later?” I never got a sense of Ye’s feelings for Lang—remember, her mother is all about a man’s love being priceless—and without that passion, it gets worse when we don’t see Ye’s reaction to being booted out of his life.

Summary: Had we seen more of Ye’s passion—Lang expectedly loses his cool late in the film—the film could have been even better. Yes, Ye cries in the final scenes, but by then, it’s too late. I don’t buy it. If that’s a flaw in the script, it’s the only one. I think it had more to do with directional tactics, and had Zhang gotten that passion out of Ye and Lang early on, the story of their relationship would’ve had much more substance at the close.

Still, this is an exceptional vehicle for Li Xiaoran and Tao Hong—two very talented, but distinct actresses—and if Zhang keeps this up, some classics are on the way in the very near future.

Discretionary notes: No nudity, no sex, no profanity, but all adult themes.

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