The Equation of Love and Death (2008) User Reviews

Its all about the girl as Xun Zhou give a performance of a life time trying to figure out where her boyfriend went to

[dbborroughs · 8/10 · 28 June 2009]

Xun Zhou is a cab driver named Li Mi. She is a chain smoking, fast talking cabbie trying to work out the meaning of the universe or more specifically what exactly happened to her boyfriend who has been missing for four years. As the film opens we get a series of inter-cut cab rides as she talks to her stunned passengers about the numbers of their relationship, how many letters sent over how many months? Is there a pattern, a reason behind it all? She also shows them pictures of her missing ex in the hopes that someone will be able to tell her where he is. One day two gentlemen climb into her cab who will up set her life and who will set events in motion that will unravel the mystery of the missing boyfriend.

A hypnotic central performance by Xun Zhou is the reason to watch this very good little film. She is something almost other worldly in a performance that is, simply put, one of the most amazing things I've ever seen on the screen. I'm talking top three or at worst top five. She grabs you from the start and holds your attention and proceeds to rock you back on your feet, or in your chair, six ways to Sunday. Its amazing. If there is any justice this film will get some form of wide distribution and be seen around the world instead of in film festivals or as DVDs imported from Hong Kong. Its simply not right that the work Xun Zhou is doing will not be seen by more people. (And if you want to know how good she is compare her performance to her other great performance in things like Perhaps Love) Outside of Xun Zhou the film is good.

The cast is great. I don't think anyone is even remotely bad. The film belongs to Zhou, but everyone else holds their own and gives her something to act against.

The story is the weak spot here. It's a little too neat in how everything ends up tying together. Some of where this film wanders can seem a bit far a field, which is the reason I haven't given too many details about the plot. It's a bit choppy, with events not always seeming to play out completely, but at the same time the film is more a character study of Li Mi so the film shows us what we need to follow her quest. Its a battle between expectation and actuality and looking at part of the film again this morning I find it plays better the second time since I wasn't expecting it to behave in a certain way.

I really liked this film a great deal.

This is one of those films put on the list and keep an eye out for since it's a little gem thats going to be hidden from view.

Showing Acting Skills - Review of The Equation of Love and Death

[kampolam-75813 · 6/10 · 27 March 2022]

The Chinese actress Zhou Xun, who has attracted the attention of Mainland and Hong Kong filmmakers since "Suzhou River" (2000) directed by Lou Ye. After that, she starred in Fruit Chan's "Hollywood Hong Kong" (2001) and began to gain popularity in Hong Kong. But she has long been called "Four Little Actress" by the media along with Zhang Ziyi, Zhao Wei and Xu Jinglei in the Mainland. Among them, Lin Huiyin, played by Zhou Xun starring TV series "April Rhapsody" (2000), is very popular, and her acting skills have always been highly recognized and won numerous awards. Among them, she won the Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards for "Perhaps Love" (2005) directed by Peter Chan Ho-Sun. In 2008, she became a Hong Kong resident through the Talent Program, and she won the Best Actress at the Asian Film Awards for "The Equation of Love and Death" (2008) directed by Cao Baoping, and entered a peak of her acting career.

In the film, Zhou Xun plays the taxi driver Li Mi. She has been searching for her boyfriend Fang Wen (played by Deng Chao) who has disappeared suddenly for four years. Her boyfriend wrote to her on different days during the four years, which made her even more confused about her boyfriend's thoughts. The taxi asks the passenger if he has seen her boyfriend. One day, she met passenger Wang Baoqiang and Wang Yanhui, and the two encountered a poet who committed suicide by jumping off a bridge while trading. At the same time, Deng Chao who changed his name to Ma Bing, met the poet who committed suicide, and discovered that Wang Baoqiang and Wang Yanhui stole a magazine full of Deng Chao's photos on Zhou Xun's taxi. And then Zhou Xun to meet Wang Baoqiang and Wang Yanhui again, she were hijacked by them and demanded 2,000 yuan to buy a plane ticket to Guangzhou.

The film goes from the center of Kunming to the suburbs, and writes about the adventures between Zhou Xun and Wang Baoqiang, Wang Yanhui. Wang Baoqiang still plays the innocent migrant worker in "A World without Thieves" (2004), who is coerced by fellow villager Wang Yanhui to do illegal business. Wang Baoqiang's performance is not as simple and pleasant as in "A World Without Thieves". As for Zhou Xun playing this straightforward taxi driver who was trapped in love, Zhou Xun was very familiar with everything from modeling to acting. When she went to the police station and found that Wang Baoqiang and Wang Yanhui were helping drug traffickers to Guangzhou, Wang Yanhui died of the explosion of drugs in his body. And Wang Baoqiang asked to see Zhou Xun again, and asked her the girlfriend he had been looking for who had left the country. She told the truth to this migrant worker that she had never met the girl he described. She showed calm and helplessness. Later, when she met Deng Chao and his girlfriend who had gone through the formalities at the police station, her hysterical performance, panic, confusion, added a bit of credibility to the character. Zhang Hanyu and Zhou Xun have many rival scenes in the second half of the movie. Both of them have the right emotional control. When Zhou Xun asked Zhang Hanyu how he felt about seeking a boyfriend for four years, Zhang Hanyu said coldly that he was going through a divorce. At that moment, it was the same feeling of falling into the world, and it took two actors with weight to achieve such an effect.

Although Cao Baoping who went from TV series to film production, performed well in "The Equation of Love and Death", but the film still has many flaws. The progress of the plot and the mastery of the rhythm are lacking in spirit. If there are no actors such as Zhou Xun and Zhang Hanyu overwhelmed, the film may be reduced to a mediocre work. And Zhou Xun fell in love with the role of Li Mi, she knew that this role could give her room to play. She lived up to expectations and gave new life to this difficult role. Just as Hong Kong director Wong Jing talked about Zhou Xun in the TV talk show, he thinks that she has nothing to say to use her acting skills to ascend to the status of a superstar diva despite her lack of appearance advantages, and "The Equation of Love and Death" is nothing more than one of the masterpieces showing her acting skills.

By Kam Po LAM (original in Chinese)

Strong emotional displayed, well acting!

[phebychow · 8/10 · 28 July 2020]

It's easy to think of a movie as a mysterious movie. At the beginning of the movie, Li Mi was madly murmuring about a series of inexplicable numbers, the poet jumped off the bridge, a couple skipped and run, and the gangs kidnapped Li Mi's cap. How all theses unrelated incidents can well link together to develop a meaning story which attracts me to figure out these unsolved mysteries. Until the truth comes out, it looks make sense what all these incidents happened. I did watch enjoyable.

I'm impressed by Zhou Xun's performance and I cannot think of other actress can act like her. Without any makeup, her appearance and behavior like anxious eyes, never-extinguished cigarettes, and her expression projects a full range of desperation. I felt so touched about the scene she totally broken down while crying over the content of each letter. Highly recommend!

A cinematic treat

[harry_tk_yung · 10 March 2009]

"Equation of love and death" is not a superb film. Rather, it's a simple story (crafted suspense notwithstanding) that is well told with cinematic techniques. I suspect that told as a stage play or a book, this story will not be as engaging. For his trouble, Cao Baoping is rewarded with the honour of Best New Director at the San Sebastian film festival.

Unlike the pompous English title, the original Chinese title is sweetly simple: "Li Mi's guesses". Zhou Xun plays the title role Li Mi, an undistinguished taxi driver. Her "guesses" pertain to why her boyfriend, a high school sweetheart who went off to seek his fortune four years ago, refused to show up again despite writing her over 50 detailed letters over the period they are apart. The problem with the script is its grossly over-dependence on coincidences – people happen to be at places at a certain times. Sensible restraint however, is evident, in not overplaying the suspense and twists, as the story unfold with accidents, crimes and searches for the truth. Even better is the dialogue which is crisp at to-the-point.

Obviously, the soul of this movie is Zhou Xun. One local film reviewer refers wittily to her effort to "ugly-up" to give credence to the role. I suspect that to the huge population of devoted Zhou Xun fans, her natural looks make her even more adorable. But it's performance that really counts and in this department, said fans can be proud of her too. She is also supported by a superb cast led by two excellent actors from the enormously successful movie "Assembly": Zhang Hanyu as the taciturn police inspector who helps her and Deng Chao as the boyfriend who tries to elude her.

As mentioned, under the suspense-thriller packaging, this is really quite a simple story. As a motion picture, it has been rendered interesting and absorbing, through skillful direction and excellent acting.

Excellent mystery

[webforge101 · 10/10 · 10 July 2012]

Was not sure what to expect but I knew the cast was superb, but I really loved this movie and highly recommend it. Seen it twice and first time I was on the edge of my seat and moved. Zhou Xun's acting was the best I have seen her and really powerful. You'll be surprised by this film. Much better than the current score would suggest. Will never forget her crying scene...she deserves more recognition for the role she played in this. Everyone else is also very well cast and does a great job. Worthing checking this out for sure especially if you like gritty urban mysteries and surprises, then you'll like this one. You might find yourself wanting to watch it twice yourself.