SET OFF review
Ning Hao's [i]Crazy Stone[/i] showed the world China could manage [i]Ocean's 11[/i] on a shoestring budget, but he was neither the first nor the last to try a caper movie on the mainland. Liu Jiang's 2008 debut [i]Set Off[/i] was another crime comedy also helped to release by a venture capital program specifically designed to help up-and-coming directors – was it less successful for good reason or do genre fans have another reason to celebrate? Find out after the break.
Ning Hao's energetic low-budget comedy [i]Crazy Stone[/i] was a box-office smash in mainland China. Hailed (rightly or wrongly) as the first Chinese 'caper movie' it became the flagship success story of Andy Lau's Focus First Cuts series of films, the Hong Kong superstar's attempt to fund promising new directors who might otherwise have gone unnoticed by mainstream Asian studios. One year later, the monolithic [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Film_Group_Corporation]China Film Group[/url] announced their own New Directors Project, seeking to nurture further homegrown talent for their domestic and export markets. First to be produced under this agreement was Liu Jiang's [i]Set Off[/i], shot on a modest half a million dollars, also featuring a hapless cast of misfits caught up in the squabbles over a valuable macguffin and the hijinks that ensue.
Yet where Ning Hao's film centred primarily on the macguffin (a valuable piece of jade), [i]Set Off[/i] takes some time to establish precisely what the focus even is. It begins with Cui Guoqing (Fan Wei, [url=https://screenanarchy.com/site/view/city-of-life-and-death-review/][i]City of Life and Death[/i][/url]), a portly everyman whom life in general seems to have it in for. An expat resident in Cyprus, he's not long returned to China to finalise a painful divorce when he discovers his erstwhile business partner back in the Mediterranean is about to sell their restaurant without Cui's consent. On his way back to the airport, desperate to make the flight, his taxi is abruptly hijacked by Xiao Xia (newcomer Ju Wenpei), a young woman who's being tailed by some fairly persistent thugs who seem very eager to talk to her.
In long-standing cinematic tradition (think [i]My Sassy Girl[/i] for a recent example), Cui is left in charge of the drunken Xiao Xia after she leaves the taxi driver less than pleased with her behaviour. Circumstances leave him locked out of her flat, with his passport and luggage still inside – by morning he's missed his flight and still doesn't have them back. Left with no choice but to track the young woman down, he's caught up in a convoluted backstory involving various criminal elements hot on the trail of some missing money Xiao has supposedly made off with.
This all proceeds at a brisk enough pace with sufficient knockabout gags thrown in along the way that the viewer ends up quite happily swept up in the plot, improbable and contrived though it is. [i]Set Off[/i] is an obvious first time film on a limited budget – the small scale, workmanlike cinematography and lack of any expansive set-pieces are proof of that – but right from the start the film possesses enough energy and fellow feeling for its cast (from its broken-down lead to its incompetent toughs and heavies) it's an easy decision to live with its shortcomings.
Fan Wei helps tremendously in this regard; although he will probably be best known in the West (at the time of writing) for Lu Chuan's [url=https://screenanarchy.com/site/view/city-of-life-and-death-review/][i]City of Life and Death[/i][/url] he is better known as a comedian on the mainland, and he excels in fleshing out a genial sad sack who never quite gives up hope regardless of what disasters lies just around the corner. While the script occasionally skirts rather too close to portraying Cui as rather a simpleton, Fan continually drags him back to something more plausible, gamely throwing himself into both physical and situation comedy while never making any of it seem like a cheap laugh. Though she is plainly outclassed by Fan, Ju Wenpei as Xiao Xia also makes quite an impression. A former mainland TV host, the actress turns in a capable performance in her first major film role; as a professional songwriter she also penned the score, which - though it drops into lo-fi midi cheese on occasion – spans an impressive range of styles and elevates a great many of the film's key scenes.
[i]Set Off[/i] does attempt more than simply milking a rollercoaster ride of chance events for comic value – it is relatively obvious the narrative plans on throwing Cui and Xiao together by the end of the film and to Liu Jiang's credit the director treats this with a surprising amount of subtlety. Fan Wei and Ju Wenpei manage a studied, believable chemistry on screen, with their bickering coming across as genuinely funny and their growing feelings for each other dealt with through the unspoken as much as the spoken. One extended scene involving the duo trying to retrieve the money from a public bathhouse hinges on a ridiculous contrivance suggesting a minor supporting character has no idea there are certain things armed police tend to react to with extreme displeasure – but Cui's obvious concern for the safety of his brassy young partner-in-crime manages to comfortably ride over any such plot holes.
The main problem with the film, beyond those that spring from the obvious inexperience of the crew and the financial restrictions, is while it spins an entertaining tangle of plot threads for most of its running time it peters out somewhat come the climax. The script provides some beautifully written wild excuses and running gags, and tries its hardest to end with a wink to camera – the particular contrivance that wraps everything up neatly is certainly very funny – but it feels a little too much like a line drawn at the bottom of the page, an 'Oh, well' rather than a big finale. The coda before the credits is also frustratingly abrupt, and smacks of the nod to the forces of law and order demanded of any mainland production. While again, the 'how' shows a great deal of effort on the part of the writers, the 'why' simply doesn't feel like enough. It isn't frustrating to the point of souring anything that went before – there are no glaring missteps here, no characters sacrificed to keep SARFT happy – but it leaves the impression a little more money, time and bureaucratic leniency could have made [i]Set Off[/i] a good deal more impressive.
All of which is not to knock the film too hard. Liu Jiang's debut is still an impressive feat, a (mostly) tightly plotted, highly entertaining tall tale with a sterling cast who all manage to win the audience over to some degree. It manages to be genuinely and consistently funny, yet also sweet, emotive and while the ending is something of a disappointment the viewer should be left more satisfied than not. The DVD is easily worth multiple viewings and if Liu Jiang manages to overcome his freshman jitters with any further films ([i]Set Off[/i] was a modest success at the Chinese box-office), his career should prove one to follow with great interest. Very much recommended.
