Hot Soup (China, 2020) review

 "It doesn’t matter if society changes, people's desire to find       happiness remains the same"

Director: Zhang Ming
Screenplay: Zhang Ming, Wu Ming, Liu Qinyu
Cast: Thomas Price, Li Meng, Zuo Yi

The interesting director Zhang Ming (The pluto moment, The bride) returns with his new production, Hot Soup. An interesting film that tells us about happiness, its quest, its meaning, but above all, how we anchor ourselves on that journey to find it and whether sometimes we lose the course of our lives.

 

 

 

As customary in some productions of this director, the film shows the plot from various points of view. In this case we have four protagonists with different plot threads but that by the montage and several common objects gives us the feeling that there is only one main character. Something we found tremendously original and successful.

Four wonderful stories about four great women in search of happiness in modern Shanghai.

A young executive argues with her fiancé about starting a family, her disagreements will lead the couple to make disparate decisions. A PhD student argues with her teacher for her thesis on happiness. A teenage girl fails to find the perfect boyfriend who meets the expectations of her father, a cruel mobster in a wheelchair for life. A girl dreams of going to the United States who falls in love with a young taxi driver. 

 

 

Hot soup is a delight in many of its aspects, sometimes strange and sometimes a very close film, with a slow tempo, but of agile and surprising montage, that will show us the difficult path of four women to find and understand what happiness is. 

As we have told you before, the plot unfolds from a unique and quite original point of view, since all the stories are intertwined as if it were a single protagonist, showing the viewer that tireless quest to get such precious treasure, that even if they don’t share a path, they have the same destination.

At first glance it may seem like a simple film, but director Zhang Ming delights us with endless details and nuances that manage to capture our attention in an excellent exercise of elegance and good work, but always without losing those specks of tradition that we love to see so much in his films.

"What's the point of investigating when you already have the solution"

Technically the film is excellent, thanks to its elegant soundtrack and a gentle photography with a certain predominance for greenish tones and precise camera work. It also worth mention that it has a remarkable cast with very solid interpretations and quite varied locations. 

 

In short, Hot soup is an exquisite film about life, effort, dedication and how humans become obsessed with seeking precious happiness and sometimes we don't realize that you get it from the little things of everyday life. A clear reflection of how demanding modern society is if you are a woman, and how this brave woman keep trying to find the yellow brick road, when their happiness depends on the ruby shoes.

The best: Its original montage.
Visually very cared for.
A luxury cast.

The worst: A somewhat strange film if you can't get into what the director proposes.
The montage, although we thought it was wonderful, can confuse more than one viewer.