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在线翻译:
szdaily -> Movies -> 
Miss Granny
    2015-01-16  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

     《重返20岁》

    Starring: Yang Zishan, Gua Ah-lei, Berlin Chen, Lu Han, Wang Deshun

    Director: Chen ZhengdaoKevin McGeary

    mcgeary@gmail.com

    IN “China in Ten Words,” novelist Yu Hua claims that “copycat,” pronounced in Chinese as shanzhai (山寨), has more of an anarchist spirit than any other word in the modern Chinese language. A dizzying variety of copycat products has managed to corner the lower end of the consumer market with freedom from official controls.

    After magic-realist romantic comedy “Miss Granny” proved a huge hit in South Korea after its release in January 2014, copyright holder CJ E&M pledged to make a movie with the same premise for the Chinese mainland, where romantic comedies are all the rage.

    Directed by Leste Chen, best known for “The Heirloom” (2005) and “The Great Hypnotist” (2014), and starring Yang Zishang, the Chinese version adapts the story of a nagging, abrasive grandmother who suddenly returns to the body of her 20-year-old self after finding a magic photography studio. CJ E & M insists that the Chinese version is a differentiated project from the original and like nothing that has been seen in China before.

    “It set ‘Miss Granny’ as a motif but was adapted and produced to suit the taste of Chinese viewers,” said a company representative.

    The new version contains some amusing observations about Chinese society. There is an old woman whose idea of success is having a son who emigrates to America. There is the clash between the Mandopop love songs of the 1980s (revolutionary for their time) and the rock music that is popular in Beijing’s underground scene. There is the phenomenon of those born in the 1980s and 90s feeling closer to their grandparents than their parents.

    However, the transposition of the story from South Korea to China is far from neat. The main character is around 70 years old, yet she claims to have been a huge fan of singer Teresa Teng when she was 20, which would push the Teresa craze in Chinese mainland back by at least a decade. One subplot is a severed love story that would have taken place in the 1960s or 70s, yet makes no reference to the Cultural Revolution.

    However, this movie is aimed at the younger end of the consumer market — the only people laughing at the screening I attended were children — and it is likely to do a very good job of winning it. This is largely due to the strong performances all around, especially from 29-year-old actress Yang Zishan, who plays a 20-year-old with some grandmotherly traits and impersonates the older actress Gua Ah-lei perfectly.

    It is sensitive in the way it deals with how people sacrifice their own happiness for their family members. This is a major theme in Chinese popular culture. The biggest music hit of 2014, “Little Apple” by The Chopstick Brothers, contains the line “Like a candle, I will burn myself out to give you light.” Self-sacrifice is the force that drives the story to its climax.

    “Citizen Kane” it isn’t, but “Miss Granny” is a well-paced and emotional portrayal that covers some of the lighter sides of Chinese society, which is something very few serious works of art do well.

    The movie is now being screened in Shenzhen.

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Shenzhen Daily E-mail:szdaily@szszd.com.cn