20 Once Again, the Chinese remake of the Korean blockbuster Miss Granny (FEFF 2014), retraces the story of the original, but not the atmosphere or the cultural references. From the opening scene we are thrown into the overriding theme of the film in magnificent style: it outlines the transformation of a family from one generation to the next with no continuity, allowing us to guess that the film will explore the passing of time and how it comes back on us. The bulk of the action takes place in a schoolroom in present-day China, where a teacher asks the pupils to describe the negative sides of being old. We soon realise that the cynical and somewhat disillusioned question is driven by the teacher’s personal situation, or rather his mother’s! A seventy year-old widow living with her son and his family, who seems to encompass all the negative clichés of the “Chinese mother-in-law”. This includes spoiling her young male grandson and treating her daughter-in-law disrespectfully, almost driving her to a nervous breakdown. But a sequence of “magical realism” resolves the situation: the elderly lady understands that she must leave the family in peace and, passing by a photography studio, decides to have a photo taken of herself to put on her tombstone, convinced she is about to die. Unexpectedly, by magic, she is transformed into the person she was 50 years ago, with a Teresa Teng-style look!
And here the film, which initially seems to be a run-of-the-mill study of the contradictions of the typical Chinese family, just when it turns into a fairytale abandoning all claims to realism, becomes surprisingly credible. This is mainly thanks to the extraordinary interpretation by Yang Zishan, a rising star in Chinese cinema who, after debuting in So Young by Zhao Wei, confirms her major talent. The risk of transforming the character – an old woman trapped in the body of a young one – into a caricature was great, but Yank manages to imbue it with humanity. She excels in imitating the gestures and attitude of an older woman, one who is not afraid to speak her mind and that has no time to worry about what others think. She grows fond of the new – or rather old – her, and is no longer sure if she wants to break the spell and become the mother-in-law she once was. The film is a kind of game of mirrors, one in which all the characters will sooner or later be reflected and examined.
Both the setting and the photography of the film help to create a fable-like atmosphere; it was shot in Tianjin, but the places have a surreal quality, one that allows them to pass effortlessly from the modern day to the 1960s. The lighting is tinged with a golden hue, and the music and songs – romantic ballads sung by the protagonist who becomes a successful singer in the film – are decidedly retro and call to mind the music of the aforementioned Teresa Ten, the idol of the character.
The film, a Chinese/Korean co-production, was conceived at the same time as Miss Granny, but it was shot when the Korean film had already become a hit. Despite the many iconographic references to the original – in one scene we even see a photo of the Korean actress who stars in Miss Granny – the spirit and cultural references of this version are distinctly Chinese.
Maria Barbieri