Valentine’s Double Feature: This Is Not What I Expected (2017) & Us and Them (2018)

Third before last double feature in this Valentine’s romance double feature theme. I’m starting to think about when to do another themed alphabet month because it was just so much fun. Not sure what to do or what theme would be interesting enough. Maybe an international film theme, which would open up more genres. Any suggestions.

Moving onto the T & U selections. Talk about international films: I ended up choosing a Zhou Dongyu double feature and a Chinese film double feature and coincidentally, because its such a rarity in my movie watching life: a double 5 star rated films as well. All around an awesome time which had one feature that gave me a ton of laughs and fun and the second that gave me all kinds of emotions and some tears. If nothing else, these two films show that China is an upcoming force to put on our radars, especially with Netflix acquiring some as Originals.

Let’s check these out!

This Is Not What I Expected (2017)

Director: Derek Hui

Cast: Takeshi Kaneshiro, Dongyu Zhou, Yi-zhou Sun, Ming Xi, Kuo-Chu Chang, Tony Yo-ning Yang, Chiling Lin

An obsessive CEO of a company meets a ragged chef by chance. They are drawn closer together because of their love for delicacies, yet their personalities clash big time. – IMDB

Romantic comedies are a dime a dozen. Honestly, the Hong Kong (can’t say for China because I haven’t seen enough films to comment on it) landscape doesn’t really have any ground-breaking films in this regard. No one sits down to enjoy a great romantic comedy because its just generic. This Is Not What I Expected might not be anything ground-breaking in its formula because the course of events are quite predictable and generic, what it does do is for the first time (to my knowledge) dive into a screwball comedy style. Its quirky and hilarious. There are contrived events and things that get way out of proportion where its impossible to imagine any of it actually be accepted normally, but then there is a point in film that we find a line between reality and challenging its limits and something about the charm of This Is Not What I Expected hits it perfectly. Its been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a film and felt so fulfilled and happy about it all the way through. Not to mention, the movie also is right up my alley as it has a lot of artistic shots of food and cooking.

The main reason is its main leads. For one, Takeshi Kaneshiro is a fantastic actor and he has been in many films. However, it may be the first time he’s done a role that feels so serious but at the same time, so hilarious because of his expressions. It definitely isn’t a frequent type of role for him and this feels so refreshing to watch. At the same time, she is opposite the younger Dongyu Zhou who is a rather popular Chinese actress and truly excels in this type of role. She has this out of control nature and yet there is something so genuine about even the most absurd things that she does and yet it makes her quite adorable as well.

Us and Them (2018)

Director: Rene Liu

Cast: Boran Jing, Dongyu Zhou, Zhuangzhuang Tian

During the hectic chunyun (aka Chinese New Year) period, 2 strangers travelling home meet on the train. – IMDB

Us and Them is a Netflix Original and it tells a wonderful love story. Its quite reminiscent both in color palette and plot of a story like Blue Jay and One Day (the book, not sure how the movie is structured), except this story has much more context as we see a colorful past of Xiao Xiao (Dongyu Zhou) and Jian Qing (Boran Jing) from how they met to how they got together and the conflict that drove them apart. Ten years later, as they meet again and each in their different phase in life, how they have changed and how they face each other. Perhaps the story itself isn’t very unique but its honestly in the details as we see why their present is in black and white and their past in color. Especially with the background music as well as the artistic shots and structure of some of the scenes. Its hard to imagine that this is a directorial debut of Rene Liu who is an accomplished singer and actress but the first time taking the helm of the director.

However, true credit goes to how the characters are developed in each phase of their life. There is a deep knowledge of them as they change and grow over the years. It is a genuine relationship and progression that makes them so real. At the same time, the story isn’t just about their romance but also pulls in masterfully a second plot line related to family. The movie extends itself the entire way through the end credits as they pull in some real people who write messages to their past loves and then an ending scene which talks a lot about the message behind this movie being in telling those you love them (whether lover or family) before you lose the chance to and letting the regrets hang in the air. Just like the tagline of this movie which translates to: “After, we had everything except each other.” Its both a heartwarming film for a part of it and yet such a heartbreaking film that ends up being bittersweet as well. Just like Xiao Xiao and Jian Qing reflect on themselves and their relationship, the movie will end and made me reflect on a few things as well. Us and Them is a beautiful movie both in cinematography, soundtrack, character building and story. Its full of style and so very unique because its been pieced together so well.

This double feature is the absolute highlight of not only this marathon but probably the past while of films I’ve seen.
Have you seen This Is Not What I Expected or Us and Them? Thoughts?

Book Review: Annie’s 1st Break by Willee Amsden

Getting back into some light easy reading to clear stuff off my Kindle before jumping back into some books that I had gotten over the past year. I’m pretty horrible after the whole PC debacle earlier this year so things get pushed back. Trust me when I say that I’m working hard for the rest of the year.

Annie’s 1st Break (Annie McCauley #1)
by: Willee Amsden

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Look out New York City! Ms. Rayanne “Annie” McCauley from little old Mesa View, Texas has set her sights on being a high fashion model. Despite her humble beginnings in the Mesa View Mobile Home Park, hot tempered Annie thinks she can make it all the way to the cover of Women’s Wear Daily (as long as she follows her own rules).  She may also snag the heart of sexy Tomi Di Ponti, the CEO of Di Ponti Cosmetics and Fashions, but not without a lot of trouble from her arch rival, Brittany Carstairs, another alumnus of the trailer park and a woman who never met a nasty trick she didn’t use. When it looks like things can’t get any worse, along comes Luther Grolsch, handsome, dangerous and possibly the most annoying man Annie ever met. – Goodreads

Its been a while that I’ve felt such indifference for a book or a story before. Annie’s 1st Break is pretty average. It stomps itself a little worse for being a very predictable and generic romantic comedy. Its like watching a Hollywood romantic comedy that lacks the charms and goes through the motions. That might sound harsh but I also have been in a romantic mood of sorts and this should tug at my heart strings. The deal with this one is that nothing exactly is wrong other than that in some ways. For one, the writing is adequate. Its decent enough. There’s nothing flawed with that. There are some parts that felt a little weird as I was reading it but nothing bad.

I can’t say whether its just the story layout and the execution that was the main fault. However, this also lead to the characters being a little ridiculous. For myself, it feels like I say this with every story now that while this one isn’t erotic (which is a nice change in pace), Annie McCauley’s character never makes me want to be behind her actions. She makes some pretty odd choices. While I get the appeal of this handsome rich guy that would break her own set of rules, she is also presented with the bodyguard option who seems to be more caring even if more un-serious. Perhaps its because I’ve never made the conventional choices in my love life that I can’t seem to relate to why she has this fascination over her boss Tomi that I thought wasn’t a great guy to begin with, who has his own character flaws and much of it has to do with the fact that her trust in his values stand on shaky grounds to begin with. But then, her feelings for Tomi is what constantly makes her character on the verge of breaking her rules and turns her into a victim of her situation, essentially mostly created by herself if not facilitated by someone else.

The story is meant to be odd in the screwball comedy and in the beginning, it works well enough but the story falls apart so fast and grows so thin that its hard to give it a better rating or in this case, want to keep reading more of the series.

Goodreads rating: 2.5 (rounded to 2) out of 5