Hot from the Shanghai International Film Festival a mere week ago, 28-year-old director Ning Hao's Crazy Stone laughed its way into Shenzhen cinemas last Friday. 　　

 

Now distributors are laughing all the way to the bank. "More than 100,000 yuan (US$12,500) was recorded from Friday to Sunday, a fairly good result compared with its China's mainland counterparts," said a spokesman for the Golden Harvest Cinema on Sunday.

 

　　

 

The picture is a wisecracking caper about a group of bumbling thieves who have their eyes set on stealing a precious stone. They're hampered by the mob and a zealous security guard. 　　

 

The film is co-produced by Warner China Film HG Corp., Beijing-based Concord Creation International and Hong Kong pop star Andy Lau's production company Focus Films. 　　

 

Throughout the Shenzhen screening, the cinema was filled with laughter and applause for the fast-paced comedy. 　　

 

It's hard to find any padding in the 100-minute film propelled by dozens of coincidences involving the thieves, five mob members and security guards. 　　

 

All the jokes are small pieces but workmanlike enough to show the director's ability to entertain his audience, rare in most China's mainland movies. 　　

 

Some of the world's most prestigious brands are held up to ridicule. BMW becomes "Bie Mo Wo," meaning "Don't touch me" in Chinese. Nike is misunderstood as a camera manufacturer of Nikon cameras. 　

 

The film's music plays into the comedy, with traditional Beijing Opera combined with Western symphony music. Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake mixed with modern rock is part of every tussle. 　　

 

The Chongqing dialect throughout the movie, expressing a primitive culture in the southwestern China, is delivered without subtitles. 　　

 

Ning has been regarded as a dark horse since joining Andy Lau's Asian New Director Project. The project aims to help promising young directors on the China's mainland, in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. Ning shot two films before Crazy Stone, but this is the first to make it into movie theaters. The film is being released in 300 cinemas on the China's mainland, and in Hong Kong, Japan and Malaysia.

 

Ning, a graduate of Beijing Film Academy, won the Grand Prize at Tokyo Filmex in 2004 for his debut feature Incense (2003).

 

(Shenzhen Daily July 4, 2006)