Lost in Beijing - Alles ist möglich

I just saw Ping Guo at the Berlin International Film Festival, Germany. It was really the best movie i saw there. In 2002 Li Yu was at the Berlin International Film Festival with her first feature Elephant And Fish and now I'm more than happy to see that she came back with her third movie. Ping Guo has such an amazing attitude towards its figures. The acting is amazing and thanks to the great script you follow all the twists trustfully because they just come along authentically. The cinematography is amazing. It's never just aesthetic but follows the action organically. I really hope we will see Ping Guo in the cinemas soon! China is lucky to have such a talented female director - I hope I will see a lot more by her!!!!

Ping Guo is a gem of a movie! I've been watching a lot of Chinese movies recently, but Ping Guo is one of the best of the bunch.

The story is about two couples intertwined due to unlucky circumstances, but most of them in their hands. During the movie, a very harsh and very real light is shed on the difference between poor and rich in modern Beijing and it will leave your mind thinking about it long after the movie is over. This is a very good thing - in my opinion movies are supposed to make you think, supposed to move you. Ping Guo did just that and is worthy of watching for everyone who isn't afraid of foreign movies and who is willing to look at something else than popcorn Hollywood.

This movie will keep you entertained for nearly two hours and will make you want for more movies of this director. And that's a very good thing!

A truly wonderful movie.

It is rare (incredibly so, given the number of mindless and/or self-pitying movies that spew out from Hollywood) to find a movie that portrays the strengths, weaknesses, goods and ills of its protagonists so well.

The people (note: not characters) in this flick are so well portrayed that, by the end, you don't know whom to hate and whom to side with (with one obvious exception -- but are even that person's decisions the right ones?) Given that it has been banned in China, I perhaps foolishly succumbed to the current US government's anti-China propaganda, and expected there to be political reasons for the ban, but that is quite obviously not the case.

If anything, the ban was more from the fear that people "down on the farm" would come to think that living in a major Chinese city carries with it the same fears and worries as living in a major US city -- which, let's be absolutely honest, is nowhere near the truth.

It's beautifully written and beautifully realised. Far and away better than any Western movie I've had to sit through, lately -- the words "sex" and "city" come to mind. In some ways, it's the same basic idea as that movie , but there's just no comparison.

The only possible bug-bear for Western viewers is that Chinese emotions may be "inscrutable" to them, because they're not used to the East/West differences in facial characteristics. I'm British, with a Royal Navy background, so I can perhaps see such things more easily than someone from "down on the farm" in the US -- but it can't be that hard to see what the characters are feeling, when the actors are playing the parts so well.

Be ready to laugh, to "maintain a stiff upper lip", to hate people for what they do, and to love those same people for other things they do.

It's a blinder, this one. Watch it.

Addendum: Could the IMDb spellchecker be made to take note that the Websters is not a real dictionary?

Peng Guo is the story of a young provincial Chinese woman in Beijing, Liu Pengguo, caught between the sexual and financial desires and demands of her husband, An Kun, and her boss, Lin Dong.

It is said that all cultures pass through certain distinctive stages before reaching decadence and decline. I would like to think that one of these stages, one that comes somewhere towards the end of industrialisation, relates to the need to make rather miserable social realist films with wobbly camera work, jump cuts, shallow focus, piano scores in minor keys, and long takes of (non-professional) actors "acting", which win Golden Somethings at European film festivals. China, it appears, is no exception.

OK, I'll admit to being cynical. It is clearly a well-funded, well-produced, and well-observed drama. And I suppose that social realist films don't generally have happy endings, so I shouldn't be smug about that either. Yet, if I had to distil my criticism down to one thing it would be the director's wilful conformity to the "genre". I find myself yearning for Zhang Yimou's films of the late eighties and early nineties, when Chinese film had a real sense of identity. Now it seems to be a mish-mash of various Western influences and little substance, a bit like Mando-pop (just with less smiling). This "conformity" takes on an ironic edge, not just because it was made under a communist government, but because the government banned it. In addition, the producers have been banned from making another film in China for two years, which strikes me as being just enough time to promote this film in Europe, write another one and get some European funding for it! OK, OK, still being cynical. It is a good film. The script is engaging and occasionally quite surprising (especially as we all know it's going to end in tears). The acting is good all round, especially thanks to two Asian cinema stalwarts Tony Leung Ka Fai and Elaine Jin (think Robert De Niro and... um... Juliette Binoche?) playing the boss and his wife, Wang Mei. Elaine Jin steals the show really, creating a character who is both impetuous and enigmatic at the same time. There are some nice insights into Beijing life, which are welcome post-Olympics razzmatazz. The direction is a bit contrived as I have noted, but when director Yu Li finally shakes off film school and gets the camera on a tripod it makes for a nice last few scenes.

That said, the film struggles to find its focus. While it's clearly a film about Fan Bingbing's physically and emotionally abused heroine, the POV shifts to that of her husband for large swathes of the narrative and we are left feeling rather sympathetic for him despite his (rather unsubtle) faults. The second act lightens in tone so much that it seems to be heading towards black comedy. The one and only sub-plot involves a prostitute who seems to be there to remind us that the four central characters are not the only ones having a crappy time – and she drops out of the story just as conveniently.

And then there's the controversy. Yes, it's got sex in it and no, Beijing wasn't happy with that. Would the film be any different without the sex scenes? Not really - decide for yourself. Two swallows don't make a summer, just as two arses don't make a controversial film necessarily polemical. Mind you, 2007 was quite a year for Hong Kong film royalty showing their posteriors - the other Tony Leung (Chiu Wai) bared his for 'Lust, Caution'... But I digress.

If you have watched a lot of these films from emerging economies, you will recognise the format all too well and, given the necessarily downbeat subject matter, the only pleasure might be guessing exactly how everyone is going to plunge into the misery for which they were all destined. Oh well. As films of this genre go it's not bad, so give it a go and make your own mind up.

What happens to a collectivist, traditional society after it is traumatized by two extreme social experiments within a period of half a century – dehumanizing communism and equally alienating rampant materialism? Perhaps the best film to come out of mainland China in a decade, Yu Li's Ping Guo is both a scathing social commentary on the state of present day China and a moving human drama. The film, as well as its characters, looks like Beijing: Grey, polluted, crowded and confused. Acting is uniformly excellent. Bingbing Fan, the stunning young actress with morning-after eyes, is superb in the title role as the all-too-human Ping Guo. As the story unfolds and the humanity of the other three leads begin to rise above their greed and apathy, Ping finds her inner strength. The ending, which should be predictable, comes as a touching surprise.

Others have commented enough on the story. It is best to walk into this film without knowing too much about it. If you are a frequent visitor to China or an observer of its mind-blowing ascent, the film will have more to say to you. However, both the story and the characters are universal. Even a passing knowledge of that fascinating society is sufficient to enjoy this minor masterpiece, although you might miss its many subtle ironies.

Chinese authorities banned the film from being shown in China. They also banned its producers from working in the industry for two years. The decision, which is almost an unofficial award, won't stop those who want to watch it.