A Beautiful Life
Description:
Among the steady stream of new Chinese movies opening in America, “A Beautiful Life” stands out — rather than an overstuffed, jingoistic historical tale or martial-arts blowout, it’s a contemporary romantic melodrama with a plaintive pop soundtrack that might call to mind “Terms of Endearment,” “The Other Sister” or, most strongly, a Nora Ephron comedy minus most of the laughs. (There’s also a bit of “Memento” thrown in.) It’s no great shakes, but a substantial number of American moviegoers — soft-hearted, slightly masochistic and largely abandoned by Hollywood — would like it if they found their way to it. The first hour, especially, is charming, before the balance shifts from romance to melodrama to, in the final minutes, the kind of maudlin crescendo that Asian audiences are accustomed to. The director, Andrew Lau, gives further proof of his versatility, having already shown that he can make very good gangster movies (“Infernal Affairs”) and so-so kung-fu epics (“Legend of the Fist,” which opened in the United States last month). He practices heroic restraint and delicacy, given the five main characters he’s been handed: one’s blind, one’s autistic, one’s mute, one has early-onset dementia and one’s a healthy, bitter drunk. Mr. Lau is helped by his charismatic stars, Shu Qi and Liu Ye, both of whom are very appealing within the narrow range set for them. Mr. Liu plays an upright cop who’s slowly losing his memory and leaves himself notes to remind him of his daily tasks; Ms. Shu has the Holly Golightly role as a real estate agent trying to strike it rich in Beijing so that she can support her parasitic Hong Kong family. (One not very convincing theme of the film is Beijing incorruptibility versus Hong Kong decadence.) She’s a bit forced and shrill in her drunk scenes, but otherwise she underplays adroitly and flashes some sly humor.
Country: Chinese
Status: Completed
Released: 2011
Login to Drama Cool
Log in with Google- Genre
- Coming Eps
- Ongoing
Genres
-
Accident
-
Action
-
Adventure
-
Alien
-
Amnesia
-
Ancient legend
-
Animals
-
Animation
-
Arthouse
-
Artificial Intelligence
-
Award Winning
-
Based on a Comic
-
Based on True Story
-
Betrayal
-
Biography
-
BL
-
Bodyguard
-
Bromance
-
Business
-
Chambara
-
Childhood
-
Christmas
-
Cohabitation
-
Cold Man
-
Coma
-
Comedy
-
Concert
-
Conglomerate
-
Conspiracy
-
Contract Relationship
-
Corruption
-
Crime
-
Criminal
-
Curse
-
Dance
-
Deity
-
Demon
-
Detective
-
Disability
-
Disaster
-
Documentary
-
Drama
-
Eastern
-
Educational
-
Entertainment
-
Environment
-
Erotica
-
Espionage
-
Exorcism
-
Exploitation
-
Fairy
-
Family
-
Fantasy
-
Fashion
-
Feminism
-
Food
-
Foreign
-
Friendship
-
Game Developer
-
Gangster
-
Geishas
-
Gore
-
Goryeo Dynasty
-
Grudge
-
Gumiho
-
Harem
-
Hidden Identity
-
Historical
-
Horror
-
Hostage
-
Human
-
Hypnotism
-
Idol Drama
-
Indie
-
Instructional
-
Investigation
-
Jidai Geki
-
Josei
-
Kidnapping
-
Kung Fu
-
Law
-
legal
-
Lesbian
-
LGBTQ+
-
life
-
Love Triangle
-
Mafia
-
Magic
-
Manga
-
Manhua
-
Martial Arts
-
Mature
-
Medical
-
melodrama
-
Mermaid
-
Military
-
Miniseries
-
Misunderstanding
-
Monster
-
Murder
-
Music
-
Musical
-
Mystery
-
Mythology
-
Nature
-
Neighbours
-
Noir
-
Novel
-
Omnibus
-
One shot
-
Parody
-
Phobia
-
Poison
-
police
-
political
-
Power Struggle
-
Prison
-
Professional
-
Programmer
-
psychiatry
-
Psychological
-
Reality
-
Reality Show
-
Reality TV
-
Rebellion
-
Religion
-
Renzoku
-
Republic
-
Resurrection
-
Revenge
-
Rich Man
-
Robot
-
Romance
-
RPG
-
Rural
-
Samurai
-
Scholar
-
School
-
Sci-fi
-
Seinen
-
Serial Killer
-
Short
-
Sismance
-
Sitcom
-
Slapstick
-
Slice of Life
-
Society
-
Soulmates
-
Sports
-
Supernatural
-
Survival
-
Suspense
-
Swordsman
-
Taiga drama
-
Teamwork
-
Tearjerker
-
Teen
-
Terrorist
-
Thief
-
Thriller
-
Time Travel
-
Tokusatsu
-
Tomboy
-
Tragedy
-
Tragic Past
-
Transmigration
-
Trauma
-
Treason
-
Triad
-
Underworld
-
Unrequited Love
-
urban drama
-
Vampire
-
Variety
-
Variety show
-
War
-
Warrior
-
Web Series
-
Webtoon
-
Werewolf
-
Western
-
Witch
-
Workplace
-
Wuxia
-
Yakuza
-
Yaoi
-
Youth
-
Yuri
-
Zombie
Coming Episode
-
News Sokuho wa Nagareta (2009) Episode 10
Delayed -
Love Naggers 3 Episode 210
Delayed -
Unpredictable Family (2023) Episode 132
Delayed -
Unpredictable Family (2023) Episode 133
Delayed -
The Escape of the Seven: Resurrection (2024) Episode 12
About 8 hours -
Chief Detective 1958 (2024) Episode 6
About 8 hours -
Running Man (2010) Episode 704
About 1 day -
Beauty and Mr. Romantic (2024) Episode 13
About 1 day -
Beauty and Mr. Romantic (2024) Episode 14
About 1 day -
Missing Crown Prince (2024) Episode 7
About 1 day -
Missing Crown Prince (2024) Episode 8
About 1 day -
Lovely Runner (2024) Episode 9
About 3 days -
Midnight Photo Studio (2024) Episode 16
About 3 days -
Secret Ingredient (2024) Episode 2
About 3 days -
We Are (2024) Episode 6
About 4 days -
Frankly Speaking (2024) Episode 3
About 5 days -
Kare no Iru Seikatsu (2024) Episode 5
About 6 days -
In Cold Blood (2024) Episode 75
About 6 days -
Soo Ji & Woo Ri (2024) Episode 30
About 6 days -
The Third Marriage (2023) Episode 133
About 6 days -
My Sibling's Romance (2024) Episode 11
About 6 days
Popular Ongoing
-
Chief Detective 1958 (2024)
-
Blood Free (2024)
-
The Escape of the Seven: Resurrection (2024)
-
Lovely Runner (2024)
-
Nothing Uncovered (2024)
-
Pyramid Game (2024)
-
Missing Crown Prince (2024)
-
Midnight Photo Studio (2024)
-
Young Babylon (2024)
-
Beauty and Mr. Romantic (2024)
-
Frankly Speaking (2024)
-
Lady Revenger Returns from the Fire (2024)
-
Ploy's Yearbook (2024)
-
Memory in the Letter (2024)
-
We Are (2024)
-
Two Worlds (2024)
-
Tempting Heart (2024)
-
Summer Strike (2022)
-
The Cheating Heist (2024)
-
The Opera of Love (2024)
-
Enigma (2023)
-
Love in Translation (2023)
-
23:23 (2023)
-
Shadow Enemy (2022)
-
Mr. Rose: The Secret Spy (2022)
-
My Queen (2022)
-
Bad Beauty (2022)
-
My Dear Rescuer (2022)
-
Makkali The Love Tree (2022)
-
Music and Krasue (2022)
-
Sweet Prison (2022)
-
Love With Benefits (2021)
-
Circle (Korean Drama)
-
Perfect Wife (Korean Drama)
-
Love on a Shoestring (2024)
-
Pandemic Pulse (2024)