'Miss Granny': A heartwarming return to youth
- By Zhang Rui
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E-mail China.org.cn, January 14, 2015
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A still of "Miss Granny" [Photo/Mtime.com] |
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
What would it be like if in your old age you could go back to when you were 20? Director Leste Chen Zhengdao explores this impossible possibility in a heartwarming way with the new film "Miss Granny."
The family fantasy comedy features a 74-year-old widow Shen Mengjun (Kuei Ya-Lei) who realizes she is becoming a burden on her family. As she is going to be cast out from home by her son and daughter-in-law, she regains her physical appearance from when she was 20 in a fairy-tale-like photography studio and then the young version of her (Yang Zishan) comes back into the life of her beloved ones with a new identity, Shen Lijun, and helps her grandson Xiang Qianjin (Lu Han) to realize his musical dream. The creative idea is more or less like the American movie "17 Again" by Burr Steers in 2009.
Actually, there was a South Korean version of the film by Hwang Dong-hyuk as early as January 2014. The studio, CJ Entertainment, explained that it was intended to be an innovative idea: Two directors would shoot the film in their own countries at the same time based on the same script, and release the two versions of the film on the same day.
However, the Chinese version (the literal translation of the Chinese title is "20 Again") came out one year after the South Korean version had already received critical acclaim and performed well at the box office. Chen explained that he had to do "The Great Hypnotist" in 2014 first, which delayed the production of "Miss Granny."
But the Taiwan director still managed to deliver the essence of the solid and wittily weaved script with an extraordinary performance by newly emerging actress Yang Zishan, veteran actress Kuei Ya-Lei, actor Chen Bo-Lin and Lu Han, a Chinese-born singer and teenager idol from South Korean group the EXO.
Yang Zishan, who became widely known as leading actress in Vicki Zhao Wei's blockbuster "So Young," did an excellent job in the role of an old soul in a young body.
Yang, as beautiful and sweet as she appears to be on screen, perfectly mimics an old woman's behaviors, gestures, tone of speaking, the manner of walking and personality, mostly inspired by the wonderful performance of 70-year-old Kuei Ya-Lei. The differences between generations lead to hilarious fun and embarrassment, as well as emotional suspense as the story evolves.
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