Chris Barden sends in a glowing Variety review of Manhole, a new Mainland film written and directed by Chen Daming.
Manhole
By Derel Elley
A beautifully structured script, in which the
characters ripen and all the elements click together,
makes “Manhole” a fine standard-bearer for quality
Chinese commercial cinema. This entertaining crime
caper-cum-black comedy-romance, which finally opens on
the Mainland in November, has been strangely absent
from most Western fests’ lineups this year, which is a
shame for ordinary auds. First feature by 39-year-old,
onetime actor Chen Daming also has considerable remake
potential.
Three men wait in a car at night, obviously about to
commit a crime. As one of them, Tang Daxing (Sun
Honglei), remembers back, his hands start shaking.
Flashback follows Tang as he is paroled from jail and
is united with his chanteuse g.f., Mao Xiaohui (Ning
Jing), who’s waited for him for seven years. Tang’s
parents (Li Xuliang, Sun Guitian) urge him to marry
Mao who, though trashy-looking, doesn’t sleep around;
but Tang can’t find a job and, in between regular
trips to his parole officer, Capt. Lu (Zhao Baogang),
he hangs out with old school chums Datou (Sun Min) and
Fatty (Jiang Tong), also petty crims.
Meanwhile, Mao starts being courted by a former
schoolmate she once despised — Liu Yi (Zhang Chi),
now a successful businessman.
After three reels of background, the action switches
back to the three men waiting in the car — and then
to another car in which two cops are watching them.
One of the detectives is Capt. Lu, and pic now limns
his backstory: a dried-up marriage to an ambitious
wife (Wang Jinghua).
As Tang and Mao drift apart, Tang drifts back into
petty crime and stops visiting Lu. In an effort to
understand Tang, Lu gets friendly with Mao. Meanwhile,
the cops have noticed Tang & Co. following businessman
Liu around, maybe with nefarious intent.
Pic then returns to the opening, with several
reasonably clever plot twists in the final reels.
The way in which the characters individually grow
gives the picture a sense of assurance that percolates
down to the performances. Though in heavy make-up and
waist-length frizzed hair, Ning reins back on the
trashy side of her chanteuse, preparing the viewer for
later scenes. Sun is very good as Tang, a gentle giant
with an apparently killer punch, who’s actually just a
simple, rather bemused guy who’d prefer to go
straight. But it’s Zhao, as the sympathetic cop with
his own problems, who’s the glue between Ning and
Sun’s performances, and the thesp manages to make him
the most sympathetic character in the movie.
Lensing by Hou Yong, a favorite of Zhang Yimou, is
unshowy, with occasionally jazzy visuals used simply
to edge the movie along. Other credits are pro.
Manhole (Jing Gai’er)
(China) A Youth Film Studio, Asian Union Films production. (International sales: Asion Union, Beijing.)
Produced by Zhou Yanjun, Hou Keming.
Executive producer Dong Ping.
Directed, written by Chen Daming.
With: Ning Jing, Sun Honglei, Zhao Baogang, Jiang Tong, Sun Min, Li Xuliang, Sun Guitian, Zhang Chi, Ying Da, Wang Qian, Lu Yitong, Li Xiaozhou, Wang, Jinghua, Tan Feng, Sun Guilin, Gao Shuangjiao, Zhang, Danlu, Zhang Yongning, Li Jixian, Zhang Bohan.
(Mandarin dialogue)
Camera (color), Hou Yong, Hua Qing; editor, Yang Hongyu; music, Zhu Xiaomin; art directors, Zhao Guoguang, Chen Bugu; costumes, Bi Yuanyuan; sound (Dolby), Wu Lala, Wang Zhe; artistic director, Hou; assistant director, Lu Yitong. Reviewed on videocassette, London, May 3, 2003. (In Far East Film
Festival, Udine, Italy.) Running time: 108 MIN.