Light in the early, dark days of the pandemic
A director returns to acting, portraying a delivery woman in Wuhan, Xu Fan
Jia Ling, with her directorial debut Hi, Mom, a hit that raked in more than 5.4 billion yuan ($847 million) last year, overtook Patty Jenkins, best known for Wonder Woman, to become the world’s highest-grossing female director for a single film.
There is no sign that the filmmaker will return to the director’s chair, but Jia, also a popular comedy actress, has turned a lot of heads with her latest acting effort in Embrace Again.
The film, based on true stories about people in Wuhan when COVID-19 broke out there two years ago, is directed by Xue Xiaolu, one of China’s most commercially successful female directors known for the romantic franchise Finding Mr Right.
Embrace Again has grossed about 650 million yuan since it was released on Dec 31.
Unlike previous similarly themed films such as Chinese Doctors, the new title employs a bright tone to interweave four tales through a parallel narrative, all featuring a sense of romance, a signature characteristic that has helped Xue make her name.
In the first story, a chivalry-spirited courier starring Huang Bo organizes a team of volunteers to help transport consumer goods and medical supplies for hospitals. Even though he cannot, for reasons of safety, reunite with his family during the Spring Festival holiday, his selfless endeavor raises him to superhero status with his little son, an animation fan.
Jia’s tale features her as a physically strong yet softhearted delivery woman. After she goes to the aid of a divorced piano teacher with epilepsy who lives alone, a platonic relationship ensues. Zhu Yilong is in the role of the teacher, a versatile live wire who can effortlessly play a bit of Frederic Chopin or recite Percy Bysshe Shelley, adding a dash of both music and poetry to a city caught in the deathly grip of the coronavirus.
The other two stories, turning the lens on a wide range of people at different ages, are about a pair of elderly lovers — a Cantonese restaurateur and a retired doctor, and an estranged couple, both business people — starting to understand each other during days of the lockdown.
The film has been released in two versions, Wuhan dialect and
Mandarin, but all actors were required to speak the dialect during shooting.
Jia, a native of Xiangyang in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, says bringing emotion to the lines she spoke was far from a challenge — more a leisurely rendering that rekindled memories.
She was not in Xiangyang when the epidemic broke out, she says, and was worried about relatives and friends, keeping abreast of what was going on almost daily with the help of the internet.
After hearing from childhood friends that their communities had solved food supply problems and managed to take delivery of facial masks and hand sanitizers, she says she felt appreciated.
“Although we were encountering an unprecedented disaster, everything was put on a firm footing, making people feel relatively safe.
“As someone from Hubei, I’m honored to be in the movie. Through such a deeply meaningful story it’s great to reflect the optimistic, brave spirit of Hubei people in the face of disaster.”
Xue’s directorial debut, Ocean Heaven, starring Jet Li as a sick father taking care of a 21-yearold son with autism, was something else that drew Jia to the project.
“Xue seems to have this almost magic talent of being able to unravel and explain the most delicate sides of humanity.”
Xue’s works exude strength and warmth, Jia says.
During shooting, her comedic talent spawned delightful splashes of improvisation. One of those was when the delivery woman delivers medicine to the home of the piano teacher, who has an epileptic seizure and collapses as he is taking out his mobile phone to pay her.
Jia says on the spot she felt her character, though caring about the man’s plight, might also be preoccupied by one other little matter — not being paid by the customer.
“So I improvised, adding one detail: picking up his phone and scanning the transaction QR code to make sure I was paid. Xue couldn’t stop laughing as she monitored the filming.”
Jia, a graduate of the Central Academy of Drama, had her entree to show business as a crosstalk performer. In that role she appeared in CCTV’s Spring Festival gala, the country’s most watched television show, in 2010.
With more popular variety shows ranging from Top Funny Comedian to Ace vs Ace, Jia became a top-ranking comedian, which in turn led to Hi, Mom, adapted from a comedy sketch by Jia in 2016 with the same title.
However, Jia insists that in the film world she is still a novice.
“If you have a movie dream you need to pull out all the stops to pursue it. Audiences will see how earnest you are. Never quit your dream, and never forget to constantly check yourself: Are you remaining 100 percent committed?”
If you have a movie dream you need to pull out all the stops to pursue it. Audiences will see how earnest you are. Never quit your dream, and never forget to constantly check yourself: Are you remaining 100 percent committed?”
On how to become an excellent comedian, Jia says, there are no shortcuts. Instead, one needs to rely on accumulating experience over weeks, months and years.
“Sometimes I worry about whether my acting is good enough to make people laugh. The only thing you can do to prepare for this is constantly to adjust and polish your performance and script, treating every performance with utmost seriousness.”
Jia Ling,
director-actress