The Last Women Standing
 
                    
Director: Luo Luo
Year: 2015
Rating: 5.0
Love in Shanghai. Love is hard. Love is hard everywhere of course. Especially for women reaching their expiration date. Christmas cakes. Leftover women. Two women have hit the age of 30 and love seems a long way off. The fact that Shu Qi is one of them finding love so elusive seems a bit farfetched at any age but considering that she is stunning at 30 (actually 39 in real life at the time of filming) makes this a fantasy. A pleasant enough one with very little get up and go but perhaps it served as a rallying cry for women across China. Don't give up. There is a guy out there somewhere. Or maybe not. But if you look like Shu Qi, your odds increase considerably. Not a lot of spark here but nicely photographed and Shanghai looks spectacular with skyscraper after skyscraper lining up like soldiers on parade but also many cute restaurants and coffee shops. And everyone seems to be dressed so fashionably.



Ruxi (Shu Qi) and her friend Yu (Lynn Xiong) are in the soup as far as love. Both successful businesswomen, they have reached that age in Asia where men start looking for younger women. Yu even gives away one of her kidneys in hopes of snagging a man. Ruxi's mother nags her constantly to find a man to go into old age with. A 25 year old male (Eddie Peng) joins the firm and over time Ruxi begins to think just maybe this is the guy. A piece of fluff. In truth, this is just a tribute to Shu Qi's beauty. Close-ups so bunched together it is nearly fetishistic. Not that I am complaining. They should bury this film as a time capsule so that Aliens in a thousand years when we are all long gone can see what stood for beauty in the 21st century.



Ok, I am biased. A lot. Ever since she showed up in Hong Kong from Taiwan, I have been a fan and watched her evolve from Cat III nymph to Hong Kong's Sweetheart in a series of glossy romances. Though mocked early on, over that time she has gained recognition as a fine actress and starred in films directed by Stanley Kwan, Hou Hsiao-hsien and Ann Hui. She is still on occasion making glossy romances especially in the Mainland with this film, If You are One, If You are One II and My Best Friend's Wedding. She is terrific here in an otherwise harmless film - very natural, charming and easy to look at. The film is based on a novel by Luo Luo and directed by her as well.