Green tea becomes more and more popular in western world as a healthy drink. It’s a bit bitter, but sends out a mystical fragrance. This movie is like a cup of green tea, or we can say, at least it "looks" like a cup of green tea. It is full of petty bourgeoisie flavors, which is becoming a very fashion theme in Chinese Mainland films. One of the 6th generation directors in China, Zhang Yuan, who got the best director award at the Venice Film Festival and the United Nations’ Peace Culture Prize, chose the theme of this kind for his latest movie.

AVANT-GUARD, yes, this is what the director wants to show from this movie, maybe a bit of Hitchcock’s style also. But because of this, unfortunately, the plot frame doesn’t have any creativities; the story is not strong enough to hold this style. No matter how good you are in logical inference, or you just have a bit of logic, you can guess the ending very easily even when you just reach the 1/3 of the movie. Maybe the reason is story itself, maybe the director thinks he can use its suspense to attract people, obviously, it is not a good idea.

Vicki Zhao is one of the bright spots in this movie. She acts Wu Fang, a mature and steady master student in the daytime; and in the evening, she becomes the charming girl Langlang in the bar, dissolute and uninhibited. Especially Wu Fang, although she always tells the story of another girl that makes her image a bit empty even pale in the whole story, Vicki Zhao breaks away from the comedy role that she usually created. Her acting is not perfect, but is at least successful. On the other hand, Jiang Wen’s acting disappoints us; he doesn’t make a lot of changes.

Another bright spot, the reason why I stay in front of the movie until the end, is the photography by Christopher Doyle. No doubt about the beautiful shots, the graceful background and the dazzling colors made this movie became a visual banquet. He is a master and a man full of amazing ideas. However, just photography is not a movie; the weak plot makes all these amazing images become boring.

This is a good try for Chinese Mainland commercial film; the high box office in China is the answer. But looking around the world, the development of Chinese film still has a long way to go ahead. For supporting Chinese commercial film, maybe you can prepare a cup of green tea, and appreciate this movie slowly.