****

A little girl's quest for her true love, which may only exist in her fantasized world. Baober In Love starts as a romantic comedy, then received some fantasy treat, and then turns darker through the end.

Baober (Zhou Xun) is a little girl grows up along with the modernization of China. Her body shows she is already a woman, but her mind still remains in a child's world. She routinely runs away from home, not because her parents do not love her, but because of her curiosity for perfect life she thinks she could find in the outside world. She needs a father and she really finds one - a lonely retired professor only lives with his huge collection of literature books from around the world. And, after watching a video she discovered in the street, Baober concludes the man, complaining about his unhappy marriage in the video, is her perfect match. She starts following the man, Liu Zhi (Huang Jue), a young white-collar, and harassing his wife, who has been cheating on her husband for over a year. Eventually, Liu Zhi falls for Baober, something he has dreaming about for a long time. However, Baober is eager for a simple and romantic life but Liu Zhi could not resist the life provided by materialistic world. Haunted by the traumas from childhood, Baober runs away. Liu Zhi, after getting Baober back from a young boy in wheelchair (Chen Kun), starts trying to understand her world. But, Baober's memory of the past and her passionate idea about the future finally make her vanishes from his life forever.

The main plot of Baober In Love is a love story and the subplot is about Baober's horrific memory from the past. Though out the film, the subplot repeatedly shows up and each time it makes us getting closer and closer to the truth about what is going on in Baober's mind. Poster of Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon is shown several times throughout the film. Does this mean the subplot of the film is done in Rashomon way or it is just the director showing her respect to the Akira Kurosawa?

Poster of another film, The Cell by Tarsem Singh, also makes several appearance in the film. Both films are visually stunning. Oscar winner Tim Yip shows us his vivid design of production and costumes. Cinematographer Zeng Nianping, husband of director Li Shaohong, uses all kind of camera tricks to keep the film in motion from the beginning to the end. There is a very interest shot, in which the young Baober, played by talented Wang Peiyi, somehow getting trapped inside an empty house about to be torn down. While the adults are trying to break in for rescue, roof of the house is lifted off entirely by a crane. From the little girl's eyes, it is the only thing projecting her being taken away by a monster. She cries the hell out, camera begins moving around her, and then, without warning, gigantic buildings bursts out from the ground, like explosion clouds in a carpet-bombed city.

Many scenes in the film are pushing the audiences through a roller-coaster ride of fantasy - like Baober flying along side of a jet or dishes landing on dinning table by themselves. Are they really happening, or only existing in Baober's mind? They really remind me the magic elements of Volker Schlöndorff's The Tin Drum. However, The Tin Drum is a statement about a real piece of history and Baober In Lover is really about itself.

Makers of film have mobilized four composers to work on the scores - Tetsuya Komuro, Franco Perry, Pierre Bonhomme and Damien Vergnaud, who have shown us some really exotic as well as diversified music. 

Zhou Xun, started her acting career eight years ago, is one of the most active young actress in China. This time she has pushed herself into a new limit, though Baober still shares some similarity with some of her previous roles. And, she even shows up her singing talent by performing several songs for the film. Several brief shots of nudity in the film makes it a little bit controversial in China. Despite being in talk for years, a grading system for films has yet been introduced, which means all films shown in the country must be suitable for all ages. So Baober In Love getting greenlighted by the censoring board is really a little miracle.

Directory Li Shaohong is the only woman member of China's Fifth Generation Directors. With Baober In Love, looking somewhat like a European production with a few Hollywood type special effects, she has maked a little breakthrough, not only for herself, but also for the Fifth Generation. Baober In Love is a real thrill through passion, fantasy and even horror, all through the eyes of a never-growing up girl, with a quest for love of her own.

Baober In Love has been released in China since February 13 and simultaneously premièred at Berlin Film.

(Note: 'baober' means baby or babe in Chinese.)

Written by Zheng Zhong and Wang Yao; directed by Li Shaohong; starring Zhou Xun, Huang Jue, Chen Kun and Wang Peiyi.

Trailer (Real): Hi  Lo      Stills      More      More

Reviewed by Meng Ye