BABY (宝贝儿) (2018)

Genre: Drama
Director: Liu Jie
Cast: Yang Mi, Guo Jingfei, Lee Hong-Chi, Wang Yanjun
RunTime: 1 hr 37 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Filmgarde
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 19 October 2018

Synopsis: When 20-year-old Meng (Yang Mi), who was abandoned at birth because of a genetic disorder sees a child facing the same fate, she finds herself trying to persuade the child’s parents to reconsider and goes to extreme lengths to save the child. The stakes are high, not only for this newborn teetering between life and death, but for our heroine, whose own humble life is suddenly galvanized with purpose. Baby, executive-produced by Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-Hsien, sweeps you up in its propulsive drama and doesn't let go until its conclusion.

Movie Review:

How far would you go to save the life of an imperfect child, if you believe that someone who has been born with a genetic disorder is such?

That is the crux of the narrative of writer-director Liu Jie’s social realist drama ‘Baby’, which is really a story of two parts – one, the foster child Meng (Yang Mi), who is turning 18 and can no longer under the law stay with her guardian; two, the new father Xu (Guo Jingfei), who has to decide whether to preserve the life of his severely ill baby or let her die a natural death.

The lives of these individuals intersect when Meng takes up a job as a cleaning lady at the hospital where Xu’s wife had given birth, and is indignant that Xu has decided not to go ahead with a key operation to preserve his daughter’s life. So Meng goes on her own quest to save the baby, including confronting Xu at his residence, contacting the police, and even stealing his baby from the hospice Xu has left her in in order to bring her back to the hospital for treatment.

The quest itself has deep personal significance for Meng: she had the same congenital malformations when she was born, and managed to survive only after six subsequent operations. Yet Xu thinks that extending the life of his child would be akin to prolonging her suffering, and is of the view that he is simply taking the compassionate option in the child’s best interests. It is this ethical dilemma that Liu brings to the fore over the course of his movie, which defies any easy answers or straightforward conclusions.

At the same time, Liu has never shied away from tackling social issues in his films, and here he trains his sights on the foster care system in China. Without directly critiquing the system, Liu highlights the coldness of the regulations, which while for good reason may not want the foster children to eventually become a burden to the family which had taken care of them, neglects the emotional bond that would inevitably be formed. You can almost feel Liu’s indignation in Meng’s, as she is forced to see her foster mother being sent to an elderly home just because the law doesn’t allow her to stay with her mother anymore.

Frankly, there are little surprises in the story, or for that matter, much surprising about the characters themselves. Ultimately, the plot and the characters which inhabit it are but a device for Liu to illustrate the very human consequences of the law in his country’s social governance and therefore the gaps which he feels need to be addressed. Seen in that light, you can forgive the simplistic character definitions here – whether Meng, Xu, or Meng’s deaf-mute childhood friend Xiao Jun (Lee Hong-chi) whom inadvertently becomes an accomplice in her illegal baby-snatching deed.

There is no artifice, theatrics or histrionics to Liu’s filmmaking; in order to respect the sanctity of the issues which he raises in the movie, Liu keeps it gritty, realistic and authentic every step of the way. Ditto his lead actress Yang Mi, who pulls off the role of a determined, convicted and courageous one-woman crusader convincingly. It’s a departure from the usual archetypes she plays, and Yang impresses by simply keeping her performance grounded and restrained.

That ‘Baby’ hasn’t caught on with its domestic audience as much as other socially conscious comedies have is a bit of a pity; after all, it is very much a well-intentioned film, with an important message at the centre. Still, even though the context may be different, it remains very much an emotionally resonant film, one which also leaves you with much food for thought over the value of human life and what we may lose as a society with a legalistic application of our laws. It is certainly one of the mature dramas we’ve seen in Chinese cinema, so we’d urge you to give this ‘Baby’ a chance to show you what it can be worth.

Movie Rating:

(Yang Mi's grounded performance anchors a thought-provoking film that raises both ethical and social issues about foster children and those born with genetic disabilities)

Review by Gabriel Chong