Not for the first time in his career, director Huo Jianqi (Postman in the Mountains, Life Show) takes seemingly routine material-here a political biopic celebrating Qu Qiubai (1899-1935), the activist of early Communist Party of China, and his second wife Yang Zhihua (1900-1973)-transmutes it into something special through sheer force of technique plus a distinctly female sensibility towards the characters\' feelings by his regular scriptwriter (and wife) Su Xiaowei. The films of Huo, who studied painting and fine arts, have always looked fabulous and, with the photography Sun Ming again behind the camera, The Seal of Love is one after another burnished composition which sucks the viewer in emotionally even when the subject-matter seems relatively undramatic.
On its own, such high technique wouldn\'t normally be enough. But Su\'s scripts have an ability to approach their subject from a purely metaphysical angle, often concentrating on feelings and emotions above plot and story. With strong performances, the result can have a special magic-as in the Valentine\'s Day movie A Time to Love, with Vicki Zhao, or Life Show, with Tao Hong-and though Seal isn\'t at the level of those films, it still remains involving thanks to the lead performance of Dong Jie (the blind girl in Zhang Yimou\'s Happy Times) as Yang, through whose eyes the story of her political awakening and love for Qu is told.
Apart from a slightly bumpy ride structurally, as their story traverses a decade, the main weakness of the film is the performance of young Chinese-born Canadian-raised actor Shawn Dou ( Under the Hawthorn Tree ), who brings over the charisma of Qu that first attracted Yang-an initial classroom scene is quite magical-but not an equivalent depth of feeling. (The eight-year age gap between the two actors, playing characters who were actually only a year apart, is also distracting in certain scenes, with Dong looking considerably older.) That apart, however, the movie is strongly cast, with subtle playing especially by experienced TV actress Yi Chunde as an older woman who takes Yang under her wing.
The film\'s untranslatable Chinese title refers to the four characters on a seal that Qu makes to symbolise their love, intertwining their two names.
by Derek Elley