SoulMate

This weepie from China concerns a lifelong bond between two girls who nevertheless grow up to become rivals in love, as well as bitter frenemies entangled in one another’s ever-shifting destinies. The relationship between the undisciplined, rootless, alcoholic Ansheng (Zhou Dongyu) and the more responsible, play-by-the-rules, dull Qiyue (Sichun Ma) is not overtly sexual, yet they are happiest during sensuous and emotional rituals shared in bed. The twist that raises the stakes even higher for those pained characters is that both are in love (maybe) with the same man. Jiaming (Toby Lee) is a smart, decent guy, but also a kind of emotional meathead who never knows his own heart, and it’s hard to understand how two bright women would carry a torch for him for decades, allowing their individual lives to be shattered. Filmmaker Derek Tsang’s SoulMate could have been a complex narrative about two women who use their alleged conflict over a man as a medium for a far deeper, unspoken struggle (unanswered desire, or mutual jealousy, or desperately wanting something the other can’t give). But the hollow theatricality of this three-way slow-motion trainwreck doesn’t reach those heights, although the film does boast lavish production design, arresting cinematography, and lush music. A strong optional purchase. (T. Keogh)