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★★★★☆
4 January 2015
This article is a review of BREAKUP BUDDIES.Seen at the Toronto International Film Festival 2014. (For more information, click here.)
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“I’ll swallow the medicine, no matter how bitter it is,” Geng Hao (Huang Bo) to Hao Yi (Xu Zheng)
These guys are douches. Two best mates on man-child road trip shenanigans for two hours might have been interminable, had it not been for the expert filmmaking craftsmanship. Two films, at two major film festivals, in one year, not bad at all from director Ning Hao (see also NO MAN’S LAND at the Berlin Film Festival).
Opening credits has Geng carving and chopping various household chattels. Flat contents split precisely in half, per agreement, his ex-wife’s lawyer hands Geng the divorce papers, stating that she now relinquishes all possessions. SWINGERS comedy heartache territory has been entered.
These guys are douches. Two best mates on man-child road trip shenanigans for two hours might have been interminable, had it not been for the expert filmmaking craftsmanship. Two films, at two major film festivals, in one year, not bad at all from director Ning Hao (see also NO MAN’S LAND at the Berlin Film Festival).
Opening credits has Geng carving and chopping various household chattels. Flat contents split precisely in half, per agreement, his ex-wife’s lawyer hands Geng the divorce papers, stating that she now relinquishes all possessions. SWINGERS comedy heartache territory has been entered.
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Left for another, self-esteem in the doldrums, Geng tracks down his ex’s paramour. Hammer in hand, he can’t bring himself to commit bludgeoning vengeance. Slasher horror staples averted. B.F.F. film producer Hao insists on Geng tagging along for debauched emotional healing, as the former heads across country (3,000km!) to drop off some movie props.
Meanwhile, in a seemingly unrelated second storyline, a bridesmaid, Kang Xiaoyu (Yuan Quan), kicks open a hotel room door to get her friend the bride ensconced. Kang is pretty, single and clumsy (see THEY CAME TOGETHER for a ridiculing of that genre cliché). Lonely, she decides to go away for some respite. Geng and Hao lad it up in striking locales, while Kang loafs around a hippy-dippy resort.
BREAKUP BUDDIES’ camerawork brings an admiring smile to the face, as director Ning Hao and cinematographer Song Xiaofei exude the confidence of a Ridley Scott production and the swagger verve of a Brian De Palma movie. As the two buffoon about in a hair salon, the camera follows them utilising the plethora of mirrors to dazzling choreographic effect.
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Costumes too raise a chuckle as Geng and Hao visit a kind of theme park where a tacky live action AVATAR musical unfolds, and Hao hits on one of the Na’vi. Men don’t get off either, and are seen in comedy MONKEY MAGIC attire. There is a random, chaotic energy, masking a clever unobvious climax. Shame about the whiff of misogyny and crassness emanating; if not for those, this might have been an excellent film.
Production design and set décor are the real stars of the show. The level of intricacy is wow-inducing: From a hotel suite and hospital waiting room, to a compact disc sculpture in a bar and an alleyway destination for a biker fight.
Fast scrolling subtitles, dual narrative and energetic storytelling make a re-watch a pleasurable necessity.
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