A Beautiful Life
Description:
Among the steady stream of new Chinese movies opening in America, “A Beautiful Life” stands out — rather than an overstuffed, jingoistic historical tale or martial-arts blowout, it’s a contemporary romantic melodrama with a plaintive pop soundtrack that might call to mind “Terms of Endearment,” “The Other Sister” or, most strongly, a Nora Ephron comedy minus most of the laughs. (There’s also a bit of “Memento” thrown in.) It’s no great shakes, but a substantial number of American moviegoers — soft-hearted, slightly masochistic and largely abandoned by Hollywood — would like it if they found their way to it. The first hour, especially, is charming, before the balance shifts from romance to melodrama to, in the final minutes, the kind of maudlin crescendo that Asian audiences are accustomed to. The director, Andrew Lau, gives further proof of his versatility, having already shown that he can make very good gangster movies (“Infernal Affairs”) and so-so kung-fu epics (“Legend of the Fist,” which opened in the United States last month). He practices heroic restraint and delicacy, given the five main characters he’s been handed: one’s blind, one’s autistic, one’s mute, one has early-onset dementia and one’s a healthy, bitter drunk. Mr. Lau is helped by his charismatic stars, Shu Qi and Liu Ye, both of whom are very appealing within the narrow range set for them. Mr. Liu plays an upright cop who’s slowly losing his memory and leaves himself notes to remind him of his daily tasks; Ms. Shu has the Holly Golightly role as a real estate agent trying to strike it rich in Beijing so that she can support her parasitic Hong Kong family. (One not very convincing theme of the film is Beijing incorruptibility versus Hong Kong decadence.) She’s a bit forced and shrill in her drunk scenes, but otherwise she underplays adroitly and flashes some sly humor.
Country: Chinese
Status: Completed
Released: 2011
Login to Drama Cool
Log in with Google- Ads
- Coming Eps
- Ongoing
Ads
Coming Episode
-
News Sokuho wa Nagareta (2009) Episode 10
Delayed -
Love Naggers 3 Episode 210
Delayed -
Love Song for Illusion (2024) Episode 15
About 1 day -
Love Song for Illusion (2024) Episode 16
About 1 day -
Queen of Divorce (2024) Episode 9
About 3 days -
Queen of Divorce (2024) Episode 10
About 3 days -
In Cold Blood (2024) Episode 25
About 4 days -
Unpredictable Family (2023) Episode 112
About 4 days -
The Third Marriage (2023) Episode 84
About 4 days -
Between Him and Her (2023) Episode 10
About 4 days -
Flex X Cop (2024) Episode 9
About 5 days -
Flex X Cop (2024) Episode 10
About 5 days -
Our Love Triangle (2024) Episode 9
About 6 days -
Our Love Triangle (2024) Episode 10
About 6 days -
Captivating the King (2024) Episode 16
About 6 days -
Captivating the King (2024) Episode 15
About 6 days -
Doctor Slump (2024) Episode 11
About 6 days -
Doctor Slump (2024) Episode 12
About 6 days -
How Do You Play Episode 224
About 6 days -
Live Your Own Life (2023) Episode 46
About 7 days -
Live Your Own Life (2023) Episode 47
About 7 days -
Goryeo-Khitan War (2023) Episode 29
About 7 days -
Goryeo-Khitan War (2023) Episode 30
About 7 days
Popular Ongoing
-
Flex X Cop (2024)
-
Doctor Slump (2024)
-
Queen of Divorce (2024)
-
Captivating the King (2024)
-
Love Song for Illusion (2024)
-
Live Your Own Life (2023)
-
Branding in Seongsu (2024)
-
Goryeo-Khitan War (2023)
-
To Be Continued (2024)
-
Beauty Newbie (2024)
-
Summer Strike (2022)
-
The Cheating Heist (2024)
-
City of Stars (2024)
-
Blondie in an Ancient Time (2024)
-
Time (2024)
-
Intern in My Heart (2024)
-
The Opera of Love (2024)
-
Dead Friend Forever - DFF (2023)
-
Cherry Magic (2023)
-
Liar (2023)
-
Enigma (2023)
-
Love in Translation (2023)
-
23:23 (2023)
-
Shadow Enemy (2022)
-
Mr. Rose: The Secret Spy (2022)
-
My Queen (2022)
-
Bad Beauty (2022)
-
My Dear Rescuer (2022)
-
Makkali The Love Tree (2022)
-
Music and Krasue (2022)
-
Sweet Prison (2022)
-
Love With Benefits (2021)
-
Circle (Korean Drama)
-
Perfect Wife (Korean Drama)
-
Anti Reset (2024)
-
The Accidental Influencer (2024)