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Lan Xin Da Ju Yuan
Saturday Fiction
China 2019
produced by Yingfilms, Qianyi Times, Bai An Films, Tianyi Movie & TV
directed by Lou Ye
starring Gong Li, Mark Chao, Joe Odagiri, Pascal Greggory, Tom Wlaschiha, Huang Xiangli, Zhang Songwen, Ayumu Nakajima, Wang Chuan-jun
screenplay by Ma Yingli, based on the novels Death of Shanghai by Hong Ying and Shanghai by Yokomitsu Riichi
review by Mike Haberfelner
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In 1941, Shanghai has been occupied by Japanese forces, but there are
still "neutral" pockets in town, like the Hotel Savoy, which is
French Secession according to international treaties, and thus a happy
trading place for spies from all over the world. In a seemingly
unrelated story, theatre director/actor Tan (Mark Chao) prepares to bring
the escapist play Saturday Fiction to the stage - as even in times
of occupation people like entertainment - and has hired Chinese superstar
Jean Yu (Gong Li) to play the lead, something that's pretty much tabloid
gold as the two of them have once been a couple, while Jean has still been
married to her incarcerated husband (Zhang Songwen). Now Tan's motives are
obvious (to the audience at least), he wants to get back together with
Jean, but it's rumoured she will try to get her husband out of jail. She
stays at the Savoy of course, where the hotel manager Speyer (Tom
Wlaschida) soon involves her in a difficult plot that involves the
liberation of her husband, but only as a lure for top Japanese agent
Furuya (Joe Odagiri), who is to be abducted into the Savoy and drugged,
and it's up to Jean to get some secret information about Japan's war plans
out of him. Thing is, the Japanese secret service has wasted no time to
look for their to agent, and they will even defy international treaties to
get him back - and soon it all culminates in a giant battle/shoot-out
everyone against everyone, and it's more than doubtful that anyone will be
left standing ... Saturday Fiction is quite the film: In
many ways it resembles the quintessential wartime romance Casablanca,
due to its premise, its historical (if not geographic) closeness, and its
pedilection for grey areas, but this resemblance doesn't make Saturday
Fiction a copycat film in the least, plus the movie for the most part
plays much more like an espionage thriller where everyone's fighting
everyone else, with the plot at times getting over-convoluted and
confusing - which weirdly enough works in the movie's favour, as it really
pulls one into its entangled plot. And then there's of course the very
well-staged and pretty explosive finale that gives the film another layer.
But what holds the film together - besides first class performances of
course - is its rich cinematic language, not only in its rather beautiful
imagery and fluid camerawork, but also in its often associative editing
style that gives the film a rather dreamlike atmosphere and really makes
it transcend genre. Totally worth a watch - repeated watching even, if
you want to pick up all the details.
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