The historical epic Saturday Fiction is set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai just prior to the Pearl Harbor bombing. The film is shot in an experimental style, using handheld shooting angles and a non-musical sound design. However, these techniques as well as the overall story make for a film that’s more tedious than tantalizing.
Gong Li plays noted actress Jean Yu, who returns to Shanghai to perform in the eponymous play-within-the-movie Saturday Fiction. Compounding matters is Yu’s costar, her lover Na Tan (Mark Chao). Onstage, Yu shines as a defiant leader of a factory strike. In real life, she is fodder for the duplicitous Captain Saburo Furaya (Joe Odagiri), who grows attached to Yu since she resembles his late wife Miyoko. Despite all this, Director Lou Ye’s style makes this film a chore instead of a spectacle.
Because of the experimental style, the audience can never really pinpoint the parallels between Yu’s character on stage and her current status in Shanghai. She also feels obligated to her ex-husband, who has been imprisoned by the Japanese. But there’s only a vague sense of guilt expressed, instead of a full examination of a possible love trial. Ironically, despite the backdrop of WWII, there’s not a lot of dramatic tension throughout. You’re left with an unnerving narrative of a group of people living in uncertain times, yet you don’t truly feel like there’s anything at stake.
Had Ye been less experimental in his form, and upped the stakes for either Furaya, Tan, or Yu, the film would be a much more streamlined experience. The runtime at a little over two hours feels interminable due to his stylistic choices. You never really feel like there’s anything at stake for the characters, despite their circumstances.
This film would be a fine addition for any college student studying Asian history or military history. Only suitable for university academic libraries.
Discover more titles with our list of drama movies.
1941. Since the Japanese occupation, China has become a wartime intelligence battlefield for the Allies and the Axis Powers. Iconic actress Jean Yu returns to Shanghai, ostensibly to appear in the play Saturday Fiction directed by her former lover. But what is her true aim? To free her ex-husband? To gather intelligence for the Allied Forces? To work for her adoptive father? Or to escape from war with her lover? As she embarks on her mission, with friends ever more difficult to distinguish from undercover agents, as everything spirals out of control, Jean Yu starts to question whether to reveal what she has learned about in the imminent Pearl Harbor attack.
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