Combining pointed social critique with intriguing characters and story is often the recipe that results in masterpieces. Although not exactly at that level, Liu Taifeng‘s feature debut, “Another Day of Hope”, comes close.
Another Day of Hope screened at Mulan International Film Festival
Wei Li, a product executive at an online food delivery company, is in trouble. He seems to have a big stone in his kidney, his team’s performance has been subpar in a year that promotions are up for discussion, and his adolescent daughter, Mengmeng, who is preparing for high school entrance exams, is having a teenage crisis, meaning she only wants to stay in her room and play video games or be on her smartphone. His relationship with his wife, Shen Junyi, is not exactly ideal either, as his patriarchal tendencies are essentially putting the whole burden of their family on her.
Things, however, get even worse when he hits a delivery guy from his company with his car. Even though the latter was the one who passed a red light, the police are charging Wei Li with secondary liability, while neither the driver’s wife, Xu Xiaoxia, nor her pro bono lawyer, Fen Yuan, are willing to give him a break. They actually cannot, since the driver is in the ICU and Xiaoxia does not have the money to pay for the surgery. Gradually, all protagonists find themselves in impossible situations, which actually get worse with time.
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Although the family/social drama is quite prevalent in the movie, it seems the critique towards the system is where Liu Taifeng wanted to really focus, with his comments coming one after the other. The pressure white collars feel in the highly competitive Chinese corporate world is the first that becomes apparent, with evaluation, promotions and mass layoffs always looming above their heads, particularly for mid-level employees, as in the case of Wei Li. The issues delivery people face, who are not considered proper employees of the companies they collaborate with, but part time contractors who are paid by delivery, makes their work essentially impossible, with them having to break traffic laws constantly in order to meet their goals and get paid.
The health system also gets its share, with the fact that the hospital will not operate on Xiaoxia’s husband without payment, while the cost of the ICU piles up everyday, creates another impossible situation here. The way insurance companies function adds another notch, while the police are presented as highly insensitive public ‘servants’ who do not shy away from lashing out at people such as the two families that feature here. The issue with living permits for people who move from the country to the urban centers, and the toll it takes on their families, particularly when they are in need of public help, is highlighted here too.
It is quite interesting how Liu incorporates these comments into his narrative in order to intensify the drama, essentially having two sides in impossible situations fighting against each other, with both of them being both right and wrong, depending on which perspective one looks at the situation from. At the same time, the toll this and all the aforementioned take on the concept of family is another comment that actually encompasses everything else, with the critique here being equally intense.
And while the buildup towards all the comments and the analysis of the characters is excellent, after a point, the movie begins to falter slightly, with the ending remark, as presented through the interaction with the elderly man, being too much on the nose. Furthermore, there are some arcs, as the one with the former classmate, that were not so necessary, an aspect that actually extends to various parts of the movie, resulting in a somewhat excessive 131 minutes of duration.
These, however, are the only issues, as the rest of the movie’s components are top notch. Song Ningfeng as Wei Li highlights his pride and his subsequent despair convincingly, with the same applying to the moments he hits rock bottom. Zhang Xinyi as Shen Junyi is quite good as the patient wife who frequently emerges as the only voice of logic in the family, despite that no one seems to listen to her. Guo Ke-Yu as Xu Xiaoxia is the main source of tension here and is also quite good in presenting her despair. Lastly, Sun Zhihong as Fen Yuan plays another voice of logic in convincing fashion, in a role, though, that does emerge as too good to be true on occasion. The scene by the road, where all four are present, is the highlight of the whole movie, additionally showcasing the excellent chemistry among the actors.
Daniel Yan’s cinematography captures the many facets of the Chinese urban center with realism, without any particular exaltations, in a style that allows the story and the characters to shine. Bowei Yue’s editing results in a mid-tempo that occasionally picks up, while also functioning as one of the sources of tension here.
Despite some issues with the narrative here and there, which could be attributed to the director’s inexperience, “Another of Day of Hope” emerges as an excellent movie, both meaningful and entertaining, and a rather brave and brutally realistic critique of the current Chinese system.
