"Mei ren yu (Mermaid)" (2016 release from China; 94 min.) brings the story of Liu Xuan, a real estate developer. As the movie opens, he wins a bidding war at an auction for the Green Gulf conservation area. He plans on converting it into a development of some sort. Meanwhile, we learn that an old ship wreck on Green Gulf is the place where a bunch of mermaids live. They decide Mr. Liu needs to be eliminated, and send their cutest looking girl mermaid, Shan, as the honey trap. To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: this movie is directed by well-known Chinese actor Stephen Chow. Here he brings an all-too obvious story line that provides some laughs at times, but for me the movie is simply too "politically correct" (too much money: bad! hurting the environment: bad! etc.). Thankfully the chemistry between the two leads (Chao Deng as Liu Xuan and Yun Lin as Shan) is palpable and that helps a lot. The first hour of the movie is heavy on the rom-com, while the last half hour is bigger on the action scenes. I rate the movie 6/10 because I feel it's an okay but nowhere near a 'great' movie, as seen from my (American) perspective.
In case you hadn't heard yet, "Mermaid" is the all-time highest grossing movie in China. The movie opened this weekend on a single screen here in Cincinnati, and I was curious to check it out, to see what the hoopla was all about. The Saturday evening screening where I saw this at was attended okay (better than I had expected). I was the inly non-Chinese/Chinese-American in the theater I might add. There were some jokes and scenes that were well received by everyone besides me, making me think that there were quite a few 'inside' jokes that simple went over my head as a non-Chinese. "Mermaid" is worth checking out for the cultural phenomenon that it has become in China.
Couple of comments: this movie is directed by well-known Chinese actor Stephen Chow. Here he brings an all-too obvious story line that provides some laughs at times, but for me the movie is simply too "politically correct" (too much money: bad! hurting the environment: bad! etc.). Thankfully the chemistry between the two leads (Chao Deng as Liu Xuan and Yun Lin as Shan) is palpable and that helps a lot. The first hour of the movie is heavy on the rom-com, while the last half hour is bigger on the action scenes. I rate the movie 6/10 because I feel it's an okay but nowhere near a 'great' movie, as seen from my (American) perspective.
In case you hadn't heard yet, "Mermaid" is the all-time highest grossing movie in China. The movie opened this weekend on a single screen here in Cincinnati, and I was curious to check it out, to see what the hoopla was all about. The Saturday evening screening where I saw this at was attended okay (better than I had expected). I was the inly non-Chinese/Chinese-American in the theater I might add. There were some jokes and scenes that were well received by everyone besides me, making me think that there were quite a few 'inside' jokes that simple went over my head as a non-Chinese. "Mermaid" is worth checking out for the cultural phenomenon that it has become in China.