A Beautiful Life

A Beautiful Life

Hong Kong Movie Poster for A Beautiful Life(2011).

A 2011 film that follows the unlikely love story of two people living in Beijing China. Directed by Andrew Lau and starring Qi Shu, Ye Liu, Liang Tian, Danying Fen, and Anthony Wang Chau-Sang. Other titles that apply to the film are Don't Be Lonely, I Will Never Let You Be Lonely Again, and Mei LI Ren Sheng.

Plot Synopsis

One seemingly normal night in Hong Kong at a karaoke bar quickly becomes the starting point for an unexplected and amazing love story between Feng Zhengdong and Li Peiru. After spending the night with some soon-to-be wed friends Fang Zhendong leaves early only to be puked on by Li Peiru and unwittingly becomes selected to carry her home. Fang Zhengdong, thinking their interaction will stop there, begins to unexpectedly meet the impulsive and fun woman man places throughout his life. The two become unlikely friends as Fang Zhengdong becomes increasingly infatuated with the manic woman he has befriended. Li Peiru on the other hand, seems to be too caught up with her own sexual affair with her married boss to notice.

After running into Zhengdong at the story Peiru manages to take his groceries to make dumplings for her married boss. Peiru fails to properly cook the dumplings and convinces Shengdong to come to her apartment to help her. After Peiru's boss arrives she convinces him that Zhengdong is just a hired cook. Peiru's affair ends shortly thereafter since he begins sleeping with another of Peiru's co-workers.

Meanwhile, Zhendong struggles to keep his disabled brother afloat. Zhendong's brother, a talented artist, dresses up as a lion and hands out flyers on the street. Unbeknownst to Zangdong his own brother has fallen in love with a pretty deaf girl who works near him. The two fall in love and eventually asks to be married to Zhangdong.

Peiru and Zhangdongs relationship becomes more complicated as Peiru becomes increasingly manic and confused in her own life. Eventually she is fired from her job and becomes completely broke. Zhangdong chooses to selflessly sell his own home to provide her the money to start her own expensive business. The business quickly fails and Peiru returns to Hong Kong to live with her family.

Shortly before Zhangdong's brothers wedding things begin to go awry for the now broke police officer. As a result of a previous job related accident Fang Zhengdong's mental abilities begin to fail. He begins to forget things a little too easily and his constant reminder notes are not even enough to keep his memory on track. He then loses his job as a result of using a police vehicle to run shady errands for Peiru. He is fired from his job and left in the care of his disabled brother.

Peiru lives in Hong Kong for a short time and begins to reflect on the selfless care and love that Zhendong has shown her. She discovers a note Zhengdong left her that said "I will never let you feel lonely again." The note inspires her to track him down and express to him that she now loves him back. With hard work she finds him and tells him that she is in love with him. Zhengdong tries to get her to leave and instead the two agree to be together and work through his failing mental state together.

The two soon become married as well as pregnant despite Zhengdong's dementia-like state. The lives of these two unlikely lovers becomes more and more tumultuous as Zhangdong becomes more and more incapable living in the world around him. The two work through hard times as they attempt to work through his situation. One day, when Zhangdong chooses to go on a short morning walk, he witnesses a young man robbing a house. After Zhangdongs police instinct kick in, he begins to chase the young man. After an intense chase the young man hits Zhangdong in the head with a brick. He ends up in a coma in the hospital and Peiru refuses to leave his side. She does not eat or sleep for three days and collapses just as Zhangdong's heart unexpectedly stops. Peiru wakes up shortly after to find Zhangdong alive and well next to her. He apologizes for worrying her and the two, despite the hard work required, live happily ever after.

Director

Andrew Lau began his career as a cinematographer, but quickly moved into directing as well. After becoming sick of dealing with directors who brushed off poor shots, Lau decided that he wanted to have the control needed to create compelling films and also featured the cinematography that he knew they deserved. Lau has directed over forty two films, including the Infernal Affairs Trilogy which becomes some of the highest grossing films of all time in China and also won an array of awards for the films. He frequently works alongside Alan Mak and the two have worked on carious films together. He also has directed films across an array of genres and chooses not to become stuck in one specific genre.

Actors/Characters

Qi Shu- Shu plays Li Peiru in A Beautiful Life and is known for the manic acting style that she portrays in the film. Shu's career started with humble origins as she worked her way from the adult film industry up into the mainstream Chinese acting world. Her career boasts over 70 mainstream films and she will be appearing in two American films in 2013. Shi plays the part of Li Peiru as exactly what the character needed to be played as. Through her acting he creates a character that is genuinely lovable by Fang Zhengdong and the audience alike. This convinces the audience to connect with Peiru and Zhengdong in a way that few other actresses would be able to pull off. The manic acting style, which could be considered a downfall, quickly becomes one of her greatest triumphs as the manic personality quickly becomes one of the important themes in the film (as we will explore later.)

Ye Liu- Liu's acting career boasts over 36 mainstream films. The actor gained instant recognition after he received a nomination for best supporting actor at the Chinese film awards after just his first film. Known for his good looks the actor has shied away from making the easy career choice of becoming a teenage heart throb. Instead Liu is known for choosing more difficult roles over the kind that will garner more money and attention. He was even lucky enough to work along Meryl Streep in an American film in 2007. Liu plays the character of Zhangdong perfectly as well. Through his acting he is able to create a lovable character who would have become pathetic in any other actors hands. Instead of feeling pity for his character the audience instead feels acceptance and love for the never-do-wrong cop who cant help but fall in love with his manic co-star. His Mr. Nice Guy role quickly becomes important to the overall theme of the film.

Liang Tian- Tian's career only boasts four titles, but the young actor proves to be quite formidable in A Beautiful Life. Tian plays the disabled but artistically gifted younger brother of Zhangdong. His role quickly becomes an important one in the film as the concepts and stereotypes of disabled characters quickly becomes noteworthy in the film.

Western Stereotypes in A Beautiful Life

For a western viewer one thing becomes readily apparent in A Beautiful Life. The film begins like almost any other Romantic Comedy from America. An unsuspecting man's life is turned upside down when he meets a beautiful and impulsive woman who lives life to the fullest. These usual stereotypes become important to the western viewer as they become more complicates, inverted, and changed from what usual western stereotypes dictate. A few of the stereotypes noticeable are the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, Mr. Nice Guy, Happily Ever After and the use of disabled characters.

The Manic Pixie Dream Girl- The character of Li Peiru serves as the manic pixie dreamgirl in this particular film. The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a film stock character that has existed in western film almost from the beginning of Hollywood films, but was not officially named until 2005 when a film reviewer named it after watching the film Elizabethtown. Examples of this characters can be found in Garden State, Whats up Doc?, Ruby Sparks, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and (500) Days of Summer. Li Peiru initially seems to fit this stereotype which quickly changes.

Mr. Nice Guy- Fang Zhangdong serves as Mr. Nice Guy in this film. Mr. Nice Guy is another stock character (dubbed by me) which appears in many films as well. Usually paired with Manic Pixie Dream Girls, Mr. Nice Guy characters are usually the type of men who will always do the right thing no matter what. They generally fall in love with the types of girls who don't love them back and generally settle for being friends instead of lovers to these women. Examples of this character are found in The Wedding Singer, Win a Date With Tad Hamilton, (500) Days of Summer, Blast From The Past, and many others. Zhengdong also initially fits this stereotype which quickly changes.

Happily Ever After- The Happily Ever After stereotype is generally happens in western romance movies. The guy gets the girl, they get married, they win the lottery, they never have to worry about anything in the end, and their relationship will seemingly be perfect forever. While the film A Beautiful Life seems to work up to this for quite some time, the important thing is that after the "happily ever after" moment. The movie is only about halfway done.

Use of disabled characters- Several disabled characters appear in A Beautiful Life. The film begins with the introduction of Zhangdong's brother and then introduces his blind girlfriend, a blind character, and eventually Zhangdong himself. These characters at first glance seem to the usual western stereotype of disabled characters. This also quickly changes.

Commentary on Western Stereotypes

A Beautiful Life is an important Chinese film. As preciously stated, the film boldly follows western stereotypes while simultaneously breaking them down and challenging them. This plays a very important role in the film as it breaks many stereotypes in an incredibly watchable way. While many western filmgoers may believe this movie to be a copy or ripoff of general western film tropes, I argue that it uses them to specifically create a movie that opposes western stereotypes in its storytelling.

The fist aspect of western stereotypes in the film is the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. As mentioned before Li Peiru fits this stereotype, but only at first. While she in introduced as an impulsive and loveable woman who could possibly serve solely the purpose of being Zhengdong's love interest. This stereotype is almost immediately broken down. Instead of being just some impulsive girl for the protagonist to fall in love with Peiru quickly becomes a very complex character who is haunted by her own problems with alcohol as well as a troubling affair. The Manic Pixie Dream Girl also follows one important rule, which is to be tamed by the Mr. Nice Guy and live happily ever after with him as he takes care of her for the rest of their lives. This would be true for the first half of the film, but quickly the roles are reversed as Peiru becomes one of the caretakers of poor Zhengdong. Instead of being tamed and taken care of Peiru quickly breaks out of her western stereotype and becomes a character that holds far more depth than the usual Pixie girl. This is important to the overall theme of the film as it directly opposes the stereotype that is initially seemed to set up for itself.

The second western stereotype that A Beautiful Life initially seems to set up is the Mr. Nice Guy character who is Fang Zhengdong. As mentioned before Zhangdong is a character who initially seems almost too nice to be believable. He risks his job and his home for Peiru and has spent a huge portion of his life caring for his younger disabled brother. This concept quickly becomes problematic as Zhangdongs ability to have people rely on him becomes impossible because of his failing mental state. Instead of choosing to take care of his brother and his love interest for the rest of his life, illness turns him into someone who will need care for the rest of his life. His ability to be nice to everyone is also compromised as he becomes more and more frustrated with his downhill mental state. There are key scenes in the film where the audience is able to see a darker and more mean side of Zhangdong as he becomes more and more incapable of taking care of the people in his life. This is important to the film because we see a stereotypical nice guy character become something far more complicated than most western movies would allow.

The third western stereotype we see is the happily ever after moment. Most western romance movies end on a note that tells the audience that the main characters in the film will live happily ever after. This scene seems to happen in A Beautiful Life, but the audience is privileged enough to see the lives of characters AFTER their happily every after. Instead of seeing what western filmgoers might expect, the audience sees the characters in the film go through the types of hardships that would actually occur in their situation. There is no magical cure for Zhangdongs illness or his financial state. The two main characters end up together and in love, but not everything is perfect. The film shows that although they promise their lives to one another, they still have more hard work ahead of them than any western romantic couple would ever seem to have to face. This is an important aspect of the movie because while the film sets up this situation it immediately breaks it down and changes it. In the end of the film the characters still have yet another happily ever after moment, but not before the audience witnesses the hardships they will have to face.

The fourth western stereotype we see in the film appears in the use of disabled characters. Western films generally use disabled characters as a plot device. Characters like Zhangdongs brother, his brothers deaf girlfriend, and Zhangdons blind friend, are set up to simply show how kind Zhangdong is and used simply like set pieces for the main characters to interact with. Zhangdongs brother and the deaf girl seem to fit into this western stereotype at first, that is until their own love story somehow seems to take a front seat to Zhangdongs. Their love story becomes more heartfelt and interesting than the one displayed by the main characters. Most important of these disable characters is that in western movies disable characters either find some way of being independent in movies, or find convenient help for life, usually in the form of Mr. Nice Guy. In A Beautiful Life the disabled characters actually end up as the caretakers of who would usually take care of them for the rest of their lives. A Beautiful Life once again sets up a serious western stereotype and quickly breaks it down and inverts the stereotype in on itself. Another disable character that seems to serve some importance is the blind character. Most western films would immediately define a blink character by the fact that they were blind. In A Beautiful Life the blind character does not become noticeably blind until halfway through the film. This serves an important role in that the western stereotype is again directly opposed and introduces a blind characters by their personality and friendship to the main character instead of the simple fact that they cannot see.

Videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3AKtzrSgdI