"Surveillance" profits from a warmly human story -- about a lovable underdog pushed around by the state and fate who is saved at the last minute -- but it doesn't have the production values and pace it needs to attract an international audience.
The film, which showed at the Berlin International Film Festival, is also loaded down by a "stop complaining and keep working" message from the government of the People's Republic of China to its subjects that turns an otherwise charming movie into a propaganda instrument.
As a lowly security guard, the sympathetic Ye Minzhu (Feng Gong) has little going for him. Even his girlfriend has started seeing an ex-lover who has more money and a more exciting life to offer. When the local police take up the hunt for a big-time criminal, they need a little extra manpower and order Ye Minxhu and his security guard boss Lao Tian (Teng Rujun) to help, installing them in a water tower where they are to stake out a house all day and all night.
When the police give up their surveillance tactic a few days later, they forget to tell Ye Minzhu and Lao Tian, who keep up the stakeout for another month while Ye Minzhu's personal life goes to hell and Lao Tian dies of liver cancer. Still, they don't leave the tower.
When the police finally catch the crook, he tells them the only reason he had not escaped long ago was because it was obvious that there were watchers in the water tower, and the crook didn't dare go to the house and pick up his huge stash of money until they were gone. That makes Ye Minzhu, otherwise forgotten, a hero for all his troubles, and his girlfriend has decided to stick to him too.
The story of the underdog is a good one, and sad-eyed Chinese star Feng Gong plays Ye Minzhu with long-suffering, understated comedy. If the production values were a little slicker and the comedy a little stronger, some Western audiences might appreciate that much.
However, the obvious message here is: Even though you are a little wheel in a big machine, you too, can contribute to the state, and as long as you are willing to sacrifice everything to obey your superiors, you will be rewarded in the end.
SURVEILLANCE
A Xiao Xiang Film Studio production
A Huang Jianxin/Yang Yazhou film
Directors Huang Jianxin, Yang Yazhou
Writer Sun Yian
Based on the story by Fang Fang
Producer Kang Jianmin
Executive producer Wu Yijian
Director of photography Yang Wei
Editor Lei Qin
Music Zhang Dalong
Production design Teng Jie
Color
Cast:
Ye Minzhu Feng Gong
Bai Lin Jiang Shan
Lao Tian Teng Rujun
Yang Gao Zhang Xiaotong
Lin Daowei Shi Xiaohong
Running time -- 105 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The film, which showed at the Berlin International Film Festival, is also loaded down by a "stop complaining and keep working" message from the government of the People's Republic of China to its subjects that turns an otherwise charming movie into a propaganda instrument.
As a lowly security guard, the sympathetic Ye Minzhu (Feng Gong) has little going for him. Even his girlfriend has started seeing an ex-lover who has more money and a more exciting life to offer. When the local police take up the hunt for a big-time criminal, they need a little extra manpower and order Ye Minxhu and his security guard boss Lao Tian (Teng Rujun) to help, installing them in a water tower where they are to stake out a house all day and all night.
When the police give up their surveillance tactic a few days later, they forget to tell Ye Minzhu and Lao Tian, who keep up the stakeout for another month while Ye Minzhu's personal life goes to hell and Lao Tian dies of liver cancer. Still, they don't leave the tower.
When the police finally catch the crook, he tells them the only reason he had not escaped long ago was because it was obvious that there were watchers in the water tower, and the crook didn't dare go to the house and pick up his huge stash of money until they were gone. That makes Ye Minzhu, otherwise forgotten, a hero for all his troubles, and his girlfriend has decided to stick to him too.
The story of the underdog is a good one, and sad-eyed Chinese star Feng Gong plays Ye Minzhu with long-suffering, understated comedy. If the production values were a little slicker and the comedy a little stronger, some Western audiences might appreciate that much.
However, the obvious message here is: Even though you are a little wheel in a big machine, you too, can contribute to the state, and as long as you are willing to sacrifice everything to obey your superiors, you will be rewarded in the end.
SURVEILLANCE
A Xiao Xiang Film Studio production
A Huang Jianxin/Yang Yazhou film
Directors Huang Jianxin, Yang Yazhou
Writer Sun Yian
Based on the story by Fang Fang
Producer Kang Jianmin
Executive producer Wu Yijian
Director of photography Yang Wei
Editor Lei Qin
Music Zhang Dalong
Production design Teng Jie
Color
Cast:
Ye Minzhu Feng Gong
Bai Lin Jiang Shan
Lao Tian Teng Rujun
Yang Gao Zhang Xiaotong
Lin Daowei Shi Xiaohong
Running time -- 105 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/27/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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