Embrace Again
Promotional poster
Traditional Chinese穿過寒冬擁抱你
Simplified Chinese穿过寒冬拥抱你
Literal meaningEmbrace you through the cold winter
Hanyu PinyinChuānguò Hándōng Yōngbào Nǐ
Directed byXue Xiaolu
Screenplay byXue Xiaolu, Liu Qing, Zhang Bolei, Hao Zhe
StarringHuang Bo
Jia Ling
Production
companies
China Film Co., Ltd.
Alibaba Pictures
Changjiang Huasheng Media (长江华晟影视)
Release date
  • 31 December 2021 (2021-12-31)
Running time
125 minutes[1]
CountryChina
LanguageStandard Chinese / Wuhan dialect[2]

Embrace Again is a 2021 Chinese romance film directed by Xue Xiaolu and starring Huang Bo and Jia Ling. The film was released in mainland China on 31 December 2021 and depicts love stories between ordinary people during the COVID-19 lockdown in Wuhan, Hubei.[3][4][5]

Plot

The film features four parallel storylines and is based on true stories about people in Wuhan during the lockdown early in the COVID-19 pandemic. It is lighter in tone than Chinese Doctors, another 2021 film set during the Wuhan lockdown.[2]

One storyline, starring Huang Bo, follows a courier who works to transport goods for hospitals. Another, starring Jia Ling and Zhu Yilong, depicts the interactions between a delivery person and a piano teacher.[2] The third storyline is about an elderly couple, a restaurateur (played by Hui Shiu-hung) and a retired doctor (played by Wu Yanshu).[2][6][7] The fourth is about a middle-aged couple, two businesspeople who run a travel agency and a supermarket, played by Xu Fan and Gao Yalin.[2][6][7]

Cast

NameRoleDescription
Huang BoAyonga courier
Jia LingWu Gea takeout delivery person
Zhu YilongYe Ziyanga piano teacher
Xu FanLiu Yalan
Gao YalinLi Hongyu
Wu YanshuXie Yongqin
Hui Shiu-hungPei Ye
Zhou DongyuXia Xiao
Liu HaoranZhang Zhe
Qiao XinJunjun
Wang Yinan
Wang Xiao
Tian Xiaojie
Sun Xi
Liu Tianzuo
Shang Yuxian
Zhang Youhao

Production

The film was directed by Xue Xiaolu.[2] In the early stages of production, Xue interviewed a variety of people who had helped with the epidemic response and gathered their stories as source material for the film.[8] Xue had Jia Ling and Zhu Yilong in mind for their parts when writing the script.[9]

Xu Fan and Zhu Yilong are from Wuhan,[8] and Jia Ling is also from Hubei.[10] Jia said "As someone from Hubei, I'm honored to be in the movie." Although she was not in Hubei during the outbreak, she had friends who were in the province at the time, and filming the movie brought back memories for her.[2]

Two versions of the film were released, one in Standard Mandarin and one in the Wuhan dialect.[2] Wuhan native Zhu Yilong taught the dialect to Jia Ling and Huang Bo for the film. Huang Bo said at a press event that he worked hard to learn the dialect so that his accent wouldn't ruin the audience's suspension of disbelief. Jia Ling is from Xiangyang, where the local dialect is more similar to Henan dialect, but she said that she was familiar with Wuhan dialect from going to school in the city.[9]

Release

Embrace Again had its premiere on 24 December 2021.[11] It was released in mainland China on Friday, 31 December 2021. It was the highest-performing film in the Chinese box office upon its release, grossing more than 270 million RMB on its first day.[12] On 3 January 2022, the film's box office total surpassed 570 million RMB.[13] A week after its release, it remained the top-performing film in theaters in mainland China.[5]

It was released in Australia and New Zealand on 6 January 2022 and in the United States on 7 January 2022.[14][15]

One of the film's taglines was "Warmly step into the new year" (温暖跨年).[16]

Reception

As of 28 December 2021, Embrace Again had high ratings from advance screening viewers: 9.6 on Taopiaopiao and 9.5 on Maoyan.[17]

The film has received positive reviews from critics.[18] Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critics Association, described the film as romantic and warm and said the characters were believable and likeable.[19] Zhang Jinfeng of China Film News (中国电影报) said that it was "written with warmth and artistic depth" and called it "a work that depicts a new age, a new journey, and a new hope".[19] Giving the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, Richard Gray of The Reel Bits called it "a vehicle for national pride and feel-good spirit" but praised its attention to individual characters and its theme of body positivity.[14]

Critics praised the film's depiction of women, saying the female characters were authentic, brave, and healthy.[19] Li Chunli of Guangming Daily said that as a woman, the film's director Xue Xiaolu "quietly gives voice to women; she is expressing women's tastes and depicting women's dignity."[19]

References

  1. ↑ "Embrace Again (Film)". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Light in the early, dark days of the pandemic". global.chinadaily.com.cn. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  3. ↑ "《穿过寒冬拥抱你》曝黄渤独白预告 贾玲背朱一龙". 1905. 30 November 2021. Archived from the original on 28 January 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  4. ↑ "《穿过寒冬拥抱你》贾玲用家乡话旁白，12月31日相约跨年". 新浪. 17 November 2021. Archived from the original on 3 January 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  5. 1 2 ""Embrace Again" stays atop Chinese box office chart-Xinhua". www.xinhuanet.com. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  6. 1 2 "《穿过寒冬拥抱你》发人物海报 周冬雨刘昊然友情出演_Mtime时光网". content.mtime.com. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  7. 1 2 "《穿过寒冬拥抱你》温暖跨年预告 黄渤贾玲领衔群星诠释人间真情". 北青网. Archived from the original on 9 November 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  8. 1 2 "《穿过寒冬拥抱你》周冬雨刘昊然出演 群星笑对寒冬温暖跨年". 猫眼电影. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  9. 1 2 "《穿过寒冬拥抱你》举办发布会，贾玲朱一龙有很多浪漫戏". 新京报. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  10. ↑ "《穿过寒冬拥抱你》曝黄渤独白预告 贾玲背朱一龙_华语_电影网_1905.com". www.1905.com. Archived from the original on 28 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  11. ↑ "《穿过寒冬拥抱你》成都云首映 贾玲演的外卖骑手看哭观众". 红星新闻. Archived from the original on 22 August 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  12. ↑ ""Embrace Again" tops Chinese box office chart on debut day – China.org.cn". www.china.org.cn. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  13. ↑ "《穿过寒冬拥抱你》电影票房超5.7亿". 腾讯. 3 January 2022. Archived from the original on 3 January 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  14. 1 2 Gray, Richard (9 January 2022). "Review: Embrace Again". The Reel Bits. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  15. ↑ "Embrace Again – Financial Information New Zealand". The Numbers. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  16. ↑ "《穿过寒冬拥抱你》发温暖跨年预告，黄渤贾玲领衔群星诠释人间真情_疫情". m.sohu.com. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  17. ↑ "《穿过寒冬拥抱你》北京首映口碑票房领跑 黄渤贾玲送新年拥抱". 北青网. Archived from the original on 9 January 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  18. ↑ "《穿过寒冬拥抱你》曝片名特辑 票房5.9亿同档期第一破多项影史纪录". 北青网. Archived from the original on 9 January 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  19. 1 2 3 4 "电影《穿过寒冬拥抱你》举行观摩研讨会，温暖笔触打造人民史诗". 北青网. Archived from the original on 9 January 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
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