Lost in Beijing

A prostitute makes her way to a hotel. She tells her client waiting inside that it's the usual fee but she is in a hurry as she has a dinner date. The customer hands her 1000 yuan and leaves... "I can't make love in a hurry". And so the film begins and you are lost in "Lost in Beijing".

In the background you have smog filled and congested Beijing with its hustle and bustle. In the foreground you have two couples entangled in a web of sex and deceit with a streak of dark comedy cutting through it. A brilliant follow up to  Dam Street by Yu Li.

Rating: * * * +

Dam Street

The film opens in a small town in China in the 80s. Yun (Yi Liu), a young beautiful girl in her teens, finds herself pregnant. Her moral decadance is announced on the school's speakers, much to chagrin of her mother who is a teacher at the school. So in spite of everyone knowing, the baby is spirited away for the family to save face. Yun is in fact told that her baby's spirit now floats in heaven.

As the film drifts into the 90s, Yun finds herself stuck as a singer in a pop troupe catering to the masses. It is at this time that a young boy, Xiao-yong (Xingrao Huang), befriends her and is infatuated by her. The film floats around the realtionship between the two unlikely characters.

Through the life of Yun, directory Yu Li also looks at Chinese society that seems to be stuck in between the Mao era and modernisation. A singing troupe with dancing girls but any hint of promiscuity from the women causes them to be labeled as sluts. The scenery and sorroundings are grim and gritty with some brilliant scenes from every day life. Like that of a couple of men trying to throw half alive fish back into their overturned truck. Yet another fascinating look at changing China.

Rating: * * *