Touches You

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

City Radio talk show host of "Passing Through Your World" Chen Mo (Chao Deng)—in China surnames come first—advises people on their problems. A female caller complains of being lonely on her birthday. He tells her she shouldn't be; millions of people all over the world are sharing the same birthday with her. She is not alone. His female co-host (Baihe Bai?) calls it quits ("It's break up.") He helps all kinds of people with their problems. Who is going to help him?After two years of diminishing ratings, nobody will co-host with him … except for one fresh intern Yao Ji (Tianai Zhang) ("I'm Birdie.") For all her self-efface­meant, she manages to "erupt with unexpected elegance" when he gets in a bind.His best friend "Chubby" Zhu Tou (Yu Yunpeng) after yearning greatly for the prettiest girl in college Li Zhi, seizes an opportunity to help her finish and graduate, earning her appreciation if not out­right obligation.Female beat cop Yan Zi (Liu Yan) spends her days chasing petty miscreants and dreaming of promotion until one day by mistake she chases a nerd Mao Shiba (Yang Yang) whose only contraband was used electronic junk he collected to recycle. In his nerdy way he was afraid and ran on account of her being so pretty. Having similar minimal relation­ship experience, they hook up with each other. He loves her extravagantly ("Such devotion to Yan Zi") with home­made gizmos and gadgets, which may sound corny, but he really puts him­self into it.Add some financial troubles at the station, a stern female program director Xiao Rong (Dun Juan), and a fading dear mother Madame Liu, and we've got all the makings of a fine drama.The title "I Belonged to You" may be misleading in English. The tense of Chinese verbs can be a bit ambiguous, may even have elements of past, present, and future all at once. Maybe the oriental view of time is different than in the west. How­ever that may be, we have in one movie here three couples who will end up, when the credits roll, in a relation­ship either in the past, present or future. The challenge is to figure out which one will be which, and thanks to some clever writing it may not be the ones you expect."I Belong" has all the hallmarks of a Chinese drama film. The tears on their occasion are copious, and the declarations of love effusive. It's a triple romance with no mushy stuff. One couple goes so far as to discuss intimacy in a relation­ship, but only indirectly. The callers, on the other hand, are direct to the point of being shocking. The film itself is rated PG in Canada (British Columbia) & Singapore.Chinese is a simpler language than English, so the subtitles seem to go by too fast when you're trying to follow writing that's more complex than the spoken parts. The scenery captured on film is at times breath­taking. There's some brief but decisive martial arts thrown in from a surprising quarter. The male leads (nerd, slob, and fatso) are made to look different enough for a western eye to tell them apart, and one of the women is always seen in a fetching uniform.I'm a Chinese film aficionado to the point of having taken a couple years of Mandarin Chinese just so I can understand the movies better. I just love this stuff. The acting did not suggest any Oscars, to be sure, but it was done well done enough for an enjoyable viewing experience. Some few scenes put the strain on suspension of disbelief, but we were able to pass on them due to the pleasure of the plot. Screen­writer Zhang Jiajia appears fleetingly towards the end of the credits.

A great look at life in a large Chinese city with 3 young guys and a number of women whose lives are woven together into the story. The age is never really specified although I would guess at 20 to 30 something. There is amazing scenery including areas of the city and countryside something old and something new. I really enjoyed the whole thing. There are some happy moments, some really poignant moments and some very sad - take your tissues.Well worth a sitting. My friend and I go to the movies most Friday's and try to see art house as well as mainstream. Well done to the Paramount and Penthouse in Wellington New Zealand for making the effort to show the unusual.