Full 'House'
- Source: Global Times
- [21:46 March 21 2011]
- Comments
caption: Scenes from House Mania. Photos: CFP
By Leng Mo
After the success of low-budget comedies such as Crazy Stone (2006) and Lost on Journey (2010) comes House Mania, showing in cinema from today, and focusing on one of the most talked-about topics in China the house market.
Ordinary lives
Ying Ming (Zhao Yi) is a lifeguard who can't swim, fired when the truth comes out. His girlfriend Xiao Ke (Li Nian), a sale assistant in a real estate company, shares a similar fate after going public with the truth about her company's shady practices.
Forced to pretend a friend's house is their own to placate a traditional mother-in-law, things spin out of control when Xiao Ke accidentally sells the house at a high price, and the pair soon find themselves acting as unwitting real estate moguls. With sub-plots involving a single mother trying to move to a better neighborhood for her son's schooling and a pair of elderly parents selling up to fund their child, the film attempts to present a small cross-section of society caught up in the struggle to get a piece of the booming housing market.
"The film is about people who take the bus every day, are concerned about the price of rice and work hard to buy an apartment so they have a place to live. Many big directors don't know what ordinary people's lives are like now; they hang out with entrepreneurs playing golf, buying diamond watches and other luxuries. How could this lifestyle help make a film about regular people?" asked House Mania's young director Sun Da.
Snail house mania
"The reason to invest in the film was that we know how much the housing issue means to the Chinese people, it is an endless debate," said producer Gao Jun. "Houses should be everyone's shelters, but now they are pain for everyone," Gao added.
House Mania also takes a sideways glance at social issues such as luohun (or "naked marriage," wedding without possessions), kenlao (adults relying on parents' income) and caring for the lower class in society.
Female lead Li Nian rose to fame in TV series Dwelling Narrowness (2009), a popular and controversial drama about the housing struggle. The 26-year-old plays good-hearted Xiao Ke, who works hard to save money in order to get married.
The role is a far cry from playing a xiaosan ("third woman" or mistress) in Dwelling Narrowness, a part now so well-known, the actress doubted if she ever could play another successful, different role again.
"Dwelling Narrowness was a good story and so is House Mania, with the same focus on regular people. I learned from everyday life and perform with that knowledge," said Li.
