A BEAUTIFUL LIFE (Andrew Lau). 122 minutes. Subtitled. Opens Friday (May 20). See listing. Rating: NN
A Beautiful Life is a melodrama that will leave you crying – if not from emotions, then from sheer boredom.
It’s the kind of movie that insistently tugs at heartstrings, full of sympathetic characters who try to stay happy despite physical handicaps, the downtrodden economy and more hard knocks banging on the door. What could be more tedious? Well, how about a clichéd love story in the midst of it all?
The film follows Dong (Liu Ye), a low-income Beijing cop who supports a socially handicapped brother (whose ailment is never made clear) and the latter’s doting mute girlfriend. Dong falls for Ms. Li (Shu Qi), a foxy, alcoholic real estate agent from Hong Kong who has her own financial troubles. The two forge a relationship that after a few bumps endures more tragedy.
And if that doesn’t get those tear ducts open, Infernal Affairs director Andrew Lau throws in some soft-focus shots, slow-motion montages and even a few broken-heart ditties to do the trick.
Though the romance is shaped into an allegory for Hong Kong-China relations, that just gives audiences a discussion point for a movie that really has nothing new to say.
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