Driverless - 無人駕駛

Driverless (無人駕駛) is a 2010 film out of Zhong Guo. The movie stars Liu Ye, Gao Yuanyuan, Li Xiaoran, and Ruby Lin. The supporting cast include Chen Jian bin, Wang Luodan, and Huang Xuan. The movie is directed by Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang says that this is the 2010 version of his 1997 film, Spicy Love Soup (愛情麻辣燙).

The movie follows 3 story arcs that have common characters. The first story is a love triangle between Liu Ye, Gao Yuanyuan, and Li Xiaoran. Liu and Li are married with a 2 year old son and they have marrital problems. Liu runs into Gao at a business presentation. They dated in college. The second story is of Ruby Lin and her pyramid scheme. Ruby is dumped and looking to get back on her feet. Ruby sucks in a depressed Chen. The third story is Wang and Huang whom play the teenage love story. Wang plays a deaf girl that has had a very shelter life, but finds friendship with an womanizing player in Huang.

Weird happenstance intertwine all three arcs. The car accident that ultimately links them all is a little underwhelming. Unless you see it, you won't know what I mean.

In all, I was sucked in to the movie because of Gao Yuanyuan, Li Xiaoran, and Ruby Lin. Three lovely ladies entering their mid 30s in spectacular fashion. If it weren't for these three ladies, I would have stopped watching. Sometimes, its not about the story as it is about the eye candy casting.

Unfinished Girl - 第三個人

Unfinished Girl (第三個人) is a 2007 film out of China. The movie stars Gao Yuan-Yuan and Xu Zheng. The movie also features Tao Hong and Yan Po in supporting roles.

Gao Yuan-Yuan is Xu Zheng's sister-in-law. Xu is married to Gao older sister, played by Tao Hong. Towards the beginning of the film, you find out a little bit about Gao and Xu's life. Gao is a clerk and Xu is an insurance specialist. Gao however believes that Xu is behind the death of her parents. Gao eventually traps Xu at her residence and forces him to talk or to spill the beans.

The movie was really strange and slow. Xu isn't convincing as a lead, but Gao really lights up the screen. The movie is again quite slow and lots of time is spent on things that didn't flow well. The ending was a little bit of a surprise.

Unfortunately, I was not able to find a YouTube trailer for this movie.

Love in the City - 男才女貌

Love in the City (男才女貌) is a 2007 film starring Shawn Yue and Gao Yuan Yuan. The movie follows 2 love story arcs.

Shawn Yue is a traffic cop in rural China named Yang. Gao Yuan Yuan plays a elementary school teacher named Xiaolou who happens to be hearing-impaired. The two fall in love and elope. But Xiaolou has a condition with her heart. If Xiaolou gives birth, she may die doing it, like her mother. But they find this out to late as Xiaolou is already pregnant when the dad tells her this. What will they do?

The other love story follows 2 Japanese in the same city. Makoto is a Japanese-Chinese and is hired by a movie company to be a translator. Yuko is the Japanese star of this China movie. They fall for each other, but are torn apart when their worlds do not meet. Can these two bridge the gap of their two worlds?

I liked the Shawn and Gao story much much more than the Makoto and Yuko one. The story was innocent and the love comes pretty fast. Impulsive behavior seems to be encouraged. Dealing with the consciouses is also covered.

In all, I like the movie a lot and would recommend it. Beware that its actually quite slow in pace.