Lost in Beijing: Capitalist Pigs, Chinese Style

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ****½

If I were to tell you the plot of Lost in Beijing, along with its various twists and shocks (don't worry, I won't), you would tell me that this was soap opera worthy of Dynasty or the Lifetime channel. But because the film takes places in contemporary China, with its imploding social, economic, cultural and political morass, what happens here seems not only likely but possibly even typical. As directed and co-written (with Li Fang) by Yu Li (Fish and Elephant), the movie simply bubbles along from scene to scene so quickly and deftly that, even if you question something, you'll end up going with it because of the momentum--and the remarkably fine performances from the four actors who make up one of the unhappier quartets in memory.

Tony Leung has given nearly one hundred performances over his 25-year career, and this is one of his best: A wealthy massage parlor owner whose slip-up with one of his girls starts a chain reaction that threatens to topple his business and marriage. Leung is joined by Elaine Jin, Bingbing Fan, Dawei Tong and Meihuizi Zeng, and you couldn't ask for riper, more specific performers. Each nails so nimbly the envy, longing, greed, need and other desires that keep bumping up against each other that, no matter how bizarre the situations become, not a moment seems false.

The sexuality on screen is surprisingly upfront for a Chinese film. It's all necessary, however, because so much of what happens arises from sex--and from the class differences of a supposedly classless society that is changing its stripes with alarming speed. I wouldn't want to hazard a guess where China will find herself in another decade or two, but I hope Lost in Bejing will be archived properly so that history will understand exactly where the world's largest nation was during this post-Millennium decade. It’s sad and scary in equal measure.