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Be There or Be Square
The story of two Chinese immigrants' struggles in America. Yuan Liu has lived in LA for years. He has no stable job, no family and lives in a wagon. He seems content with his life until the day he meets Qing Li, a woman with the big "American dream".
| Release : | 1998 |
| Rating : | 7.2 |
| Studio : | Beijing Film Studio, Beijing Forbidden City Film, Beijing Forbidden City Film Co., Ltd., |
| Crew : | Additional Camera, Director of Photography, |
| Cast : | Ge You Xu Fan Bobby C. King Feng Xiaogang |
| Genre : | Comedy Romance |
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Reviews
I wanted to but couldn't!
It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
This is a nice movie but there are a lot of racial undertones in it. Every scene with an "American" depicts them as stupid or violent. It's true that many American films have given little respect to Asian people. It's true that the roles of Asian actors in American films are usually limited to "Chinese delivery boy" and "nerd".But Bu Jian Bu San seems to serve as a payback for all the injustice done to Asians in American film. It's interesting how the filmmakers pull it off. It's carried out in a way that's culturally Asian; indirect. The subliminal American stereotypes are intricately woven into the story line. One scene, you see the van pull away while the camera fixes its focus on an overweight white woman on a payphone. Another scene, the main characters are talking about how cops in America will shoot you and the girl replies in fear "why?!".Other than all of this crap, the story is nice.
Japanese, Korean romantic movies are well known in Asia. My sassy girl (Korea), love letter (Japan) etc. got universal acceptation. But this romantic Chinese movie never loses to them.Two people falling in love depends on mutual understanding. Appearance is just the secondary thing. LiuYuan finally won LiQing's heart just because of his honesty and kindness though he was not handsome. What LiuYuan dreamed in the airplane was impressive. It just clearly showed how he loved her. To my happy, LiQing finally chose him. In addition to that, the witty words made me laughing from the start to the end.The director XiaoGang Feng is well known in China. From the end of 90s, his every HeSuiPian (happy new year movie) was popular in China. The newest A World Without Thief also succeeded. As to performance, there are no other pairs can be compared with You Ge and Fan Xu. They are really gold partners. Impeccable.The most romantic Chinese movie I ever watched. 9/10
Bu jian bu san: 7.5/10The English title for this Chinese movie is "Be There or Be Square". It covers the lives of two Chinese immigants to the USA, how they struggle to fit in the new culture, with more passive violence and the like. The two get separated several times, and it's hard to tell if they'll ever become romantically involved. The movie goes to and from being a comedy, with the man responsible for most comedic parts, but it stays true to the romance theme. This is a simple movie, but the acting of both leads is tremendous and this has the typically patient build of Asian romances, and is in no way predictable. Good stuff.
This isn't your typical romance movie - it deals with the ups and downs of a romance between two Chinese expatriates living in the USA. Unlike the typical Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan movie, the viewer is left guessing as to whether or not the two lovers will get together. A very touching ending.
