Rent Mountains May Depart (2015)

Potentially great film crashes and burns in the final third - Mountains May Depart review by LC

I found this a frustrating experience. Divided into three clear sections, this film follows the effects of a love triangle throughout the years. The first two parts set in China are wonderful - moving, subtle human drama, well acted and with gorgeous cinematography. Sadly however, the final segment sees a switch to English language as we jump to near-future Australia, and suddenly it's all awkward, stilted dialogue, bad acting and unconvincing aging makeup. What a shame.

A muddle - Mountains May Depart review by JG

A muddled film. It attempts a grand historical sweep, but founders on unsimpathetic characters and poor scripting. The lead is so self obsessed it’s almost unbearable...

An ambitious film that fails to deliver - Mountains May Depart review by Philip in Paradiso

In 1999, in the Chinese city of Fenyang, a 25-year-old shopkeeper called Tao finds herself caught between two men who are both keen on her: the 1st one is Liangzi, a good friend, who has a low-level job in the local coal mine, while the 2nd one is Jinsheng, the owner of a petrol station in the town, who is your typical, ambitious spiv. The love triangle is at the heart of the story in this dull town dominated by the coal industry. The movie (released in 2015) covers 3 separate periods: 1999 (when the story starts), 2014 and 2025. The storyline in the first 2 parts takes place in mainland China, in Fenyang essentially; the 3rd part takes place in Australia, as some of the characters central to the story have emigrated over there.

The film is ambitious in its scope: it would want to be one of those family sagas that cover a quarter of a century, showing the social and economic changes that China has been going through over the past decades. Unfortunately, the film has many flaws and fails to live up to its ambitions. The first 2 parts are interesting enough, but not that exciting; the 3rd part of the story, which takes place in Australia, as other reviewers have rightly said, feels stilted and fake, with characters sounding like the cast of a sentimental TV series. Right through the film, the dialogues can feel laborious, particularly in the first 2 parts of the film, with long silences and frequent pauses, but that is probably, I suspect, due to the fact the film is Chinese, i.e. cultural differences - presumably, that is the way people express themselves in such a context in China, unless it is a device used by the director. The story moves forward somewhat slowly, and feels a bit contrived and predictable at times.

Overall, the first 2 parts of the film make sense and are of (relative) interest; the 3rd part is a mess. Therefore, one must admit that it is not a particularly good film, despite the raving reviews it got in many quarters, and God knows why. Unless you have really nothing better to do and/or you are fanatical about Chinese films, I cannot quite see why you would want to inflict this movie on yourself. I must say I expected something far more interesting overall.