There are those who are coffee drinkers, jittery, nervous, or else always rushing, hurrying, trying to get somewhere quickly. Then there are tea drinkers, who, well, are more relaxed—at least by comparison. Among the more ‘sedate’ are those who drink green tea, a beverage very low in caffeine, is able to be consumed more easily, and one known for medicine-like effects through its cleansing of the body.
One of the more avid drinkers of this soothing refreshment is Wu Fang (Vicky Zhao), a conservative graduate student in comparative literature, and one of two main characters in the Chinese movie “”Green Tea”” (“”Lu Cha””)–directed by Zhang Yuan and recently screened at Filmfest DC. She and Chen Mingliang (Jiang Wen) pursue an interesting courtship, to say the least. Fang, initially at least, comes across as subdued and academic, while Chen is more of the ‘smooth talker’ type who is really getting over a bad breakup with his fiancee.The two individuals first meet on a blind date–one of many, it turns out, that Fang has been (and will be) on. Early, she establishes her preference for the title drink over coffee, and uses this to go into a story about her friend, who uses leaves to reveal fortunes using tea leaves. She continues talking about this friend, which entices the interest of Chen, who pays for the date and pursues Fang, quite literally for much of the rest of the day…and the film.He wants to see her again—she brushes him off, only this entices him more. She goes on another blind date with someone, whereby Chen buts in, ‘rescuing’ her he feels from the wrong guy. Again, Fang tells Chen that the two of them should go their separate ways, but instead they continue to meet, and Fang tells more stories about her friend with a particular emphasis on the friend’s parents (friend’s mother was a kind of embalmer, a “”make-up artist for the dead”” as she Fang puts it–to which this friend’s father does not approve).As this game of attraction transpires, Chen confides in his friend Jin (Fang Lijun), with whom he frequents a local piano bar. At this lounge, Jin goads his friend into making a move on the female pianist, which he eventually does. After going up to her, Chen discovers, to his astonishment, that the woman, named Langlang–Lang for short, strongly resembles Wang–only Lang has her hair down, and doesn’t wear glasses.Lang insists that she is not this ‘Wang’ person–dismissing this identity business as the two names just sound similar. Chen believes that the two women are one and the same, but nonetheless involves himself with the two “”women”” separately. In other words, he treats Lang almost like a friend, whom he confides in (about Fang mostly), and Fang he tries to develop things more slowly; apparently he truly cares for the latter person.Fang and Lang couldn’t be more different. The former doesn’t speak much, chases Chen away repeatedly, and when she does speak it is usually about this mysterious “”friend”” who provides Fang with advice, and has family issues. Lang, meanwhile, is extremely social–boasting that she has had hundreds of boyfriends–flirts with Chen, and has no problem talking about herself.[pagebreak]””Green Tea””, then, consists of Chen getting to know both Lang and Fang, and his continual conversations with…well, the two women. Hence, the movie contains a LOT of dialogue, almost as if it were based on a play (in fact it is based on the story “”Adeline by the Waters”” by Jin Renshun), and save for some moments with Chen and his friend, really focuses on Chen and Fang…and Chen and Lang. The film starts out light in tone, though shifts somewhat as Fang talks about her friend’s parents, and how a disagreement between these parents takes a strange turn.The dialogue certainly provides much to think about after seeing this movie–whether it is the “”all roads lead to Rome”” discussion later in the film, or the Fang’s storytelling. Another note is how Fang generally drinks tea, as mentioned earlier, but does not in one sequence where she and Chen are standing near a boat. Hmmmm…well, this is more fodder for one to think about.Vicky Zhao and Jiang Wen are two of the more significant stars of current Chinese cinema–the former is in “”Shaolin Soccer””, and previously worked together in “”Warriors of Heaven and Earth””. They provide much believable interaction here—with Wen’s character getting more and more drawn to Fang (Zhao). Speaking of Zhao, she effectively pulls off two diverse character types here, and even within these two, are almost sub-characters—credit for this also goes to the script which demonstrates that divergent personalities have additional traits, making them even more complex.The downside is that between all the talking between the characters, and the twists that are revealed, make this hard for some to follow. At times this can seem dizzying, as one scene late in the movie attests to quite literally (and a bit much at that—the whole theater might seem to spin at this point). Still, this is part of the story, where people are more than what they seem, and can’t always be pigeonholed into basic personality types—the same of which goes for this film which has moments of lightheartedness early on (like the initial date of Chen and Fang) and much later feels almost like a thriller.Another positive is the cinematography of Christopher Doyle, an Australian who has worked on many Asian movies, as well as English-language works such as “”The Quiet American”” and “”Rabbit Proof Fence””. Here he does many overhead shots of the table where Chen and Fang sit, in addition to close-ups of the flick’s namesake, tea leaves swirling around rapidly. Also, during a later blind date involving Fang (and someone other then Chen), the camera is kept off her date’s face and instead just on Fang—we just hear the date’s voice–and on Chen, sitting nearby.””Green Tea”” gets a little peculiar at moments, and turns out somewhat predictably. Still, there are fine performances from the two leads, and developments that draw the viewer in (much like Chen is drawn in by Fang’s stories), along with Doyle’s camera work. The movie then, provides an interesting look at blind dates, not to mention modern China (Beijing in this case) in general, and just may make one crave a certain warm beverage.Grade: B+EM Reviewby Andrew Haas5/10/04