Lost in Beijing Movie Review

Lost in Beijing is a 2007 Chinese film directed by Li Yu and starring Fan Bingbing, Tong Dawei, Tony Leung Ka Fai, and Elaine Jin. It had its international premiere at the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival on February 16, 2007. It was produced by Laurel Films, a small independent production company owned by Fang Li and based in Beijing, and it was released internationally by the French company Film Distribution. Distribution in the United States was picked up by New Yorker Films.

Lost in Beijing is actually the first movie that has come out of China,in my opinion, that is of high quality film. It kind of reminds you of a movie made for T.V.. It is a look at modern-day life in China's capital. It is centered on a ménage-a-quatre involving a young woman, her boss, her husband and her boss's wife. A poor migrant couple and a wealthy couple living in Beijing and how their lives are intertwined through a set of unfortunate and disturbing circumstances.

Liu Pingguo (Fan Bingbing) and her husband, An Kun (Tong Dawei) are a young migrant couple from the northeast of China who have moved to Beijing for a better life. Pingguo and An Kun live in an apartment eking out their existence working menial jobs. An Kun works as a window washer, while his wife works in the Golden Basin Massage Parlor as a foot masseuse. Golden Basin is owned and operated by Lin Dong (Tony Leung Ka Fai), He is also from the south of China. His wife, Wang Mei (Elaine Jin) practices Chinese medicine. Very soon, the two couples find themselves headed for a collision course.

Pingguo's best friend, Xiao Mei (Zeng Meihuizi), assaults a customer, she is quickly fired by Lin Dong. Pingguo, wishing to commiserate, takes her friend out and promptly becomes drunk on bai jiu. Returning to the Golden Basin, she passes out in an empty office. Lin Dong, seeing the vulnerable Pingguo attempts to make a pass, which quickly turns into rape, a rape witnessed by the window washer. An Kun begins a campaign of harassment against Lin Dong and attempting to blackmail him for 20,000 RMB. When Lin Dong ignores the furious husband, An Kun goes directly to Wang Mei who ends up seducing him.

Soon, it is discovered that Liu Pingguo is pregnant but nobody knows who the real father is. Lin Dong, however, sees in Pingguo an opportunity to make things right with his barren wife as well as to settle things with Pingguo and her husband once and for all. Soon, the two husbands have concocted a scheme wherein An Kun initially receives 20,000 RMB for his mental suffering.

As the baby is carried to term, Lin Dong becomes more and more attached to the idea that he will at last be a father. When the baby is born however, An Kun discovers that it is indeed his child. Unable to turn down the money, however, he manages to convince Lin Dong that it is his son, allowing him to collect the 120,000 RMB. Seeing how happy Lin Dong is with the baby,An Kun grows increasingly jealous and attempts a kidnapping of the child. An Kun then attempts to repurchase the child, but Lin Dong will have no part in this. Meanwhile, Pingguo who had taken a job as a nurse maid in Lin Dong house, decides to take the money and the child and walkes out the door. The film ends with both Lin Dong and An Kun broken down on a busy Beijing highway after starting a search for Pingguo.

Li Yu's tale of prostitution, blackmail, and rape in modern-day Beijing has been plagued with censorship problems. The film also found controversy for what some critics described as "gratuitous sex scenes.After nearly a year of delays, the film was finally banned by Chinese authorities in January 2008, but the Chinese people have been able to view it online.

Except for the perplexing ending, Lost in Beijing is quite an enjoyable film and I would recommend it just for the entertainment value alone. It does drive home the fact that no matter what society you may come from there are still some basic instincts that every human has.