China, comedy, drama, Her Story, Isabella Zeng, Mark Chao, movies, Ren Bin, reviews, Shao Yihui, Song Jia, Zhang Yu, Zhong Chuxi, Zhou Yemang
November 29, 2024
by Carla Hay
Directed by Shao Yihui
Mandarin with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in China, the comedy/drama film “Her Story” features an all-Asian cast of characters (with one white person) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A divorced mother and her bachelorette neighbor become friends and experience various conflicts in their personal lives.
Culture Audience: “Her Story” will appeal mainly to people who are stars of the movie’s headliners and are interested in watching a comedy/drama about friendships and romance from a female perspective.
“Her Story” skillfully balances comedy and drama in this entertaining story about how a divorced mother and her bachelorette friend navigate various relationships. It’s a movie about female empowerment that isn’t preachy or sappy. The movie pokes fun at male narcissism, but “Her Story” isn’t one of those annoying man-hating movies that try to make all men look bad in the name of feminism.
Written and directed by Shao Yihui, “Her Story” takes place in an unnamed city in China. The story begins by showing divorced mother Wang Tiemei (played by Song Jia) moving to a new apartment with her 9-year-old daughter Wang Moli (played by Isabella Zeng), who is an inquisitive and polite child. Moli’s interests are music (she’s is a big fan of Taylor Swift) and creative writing. Tiemei is very outspoken and an independent thinker. She’s teaching her daughter Moli to be a confident feminist.
Tiemei, who is in her 40s, is a journalist who is financially struggling and has recently lost her job. In the past, around the same time that Moli was a baby, Tiemei took a break from journalism because she became disillusioned from feeling that her work was not making enough impact in an oppressive system. However, Tiemei is about to start a new job as editor-in-chief of an online publication that is also financially struggling. The website does a mixture of tabloid stories, news coverage and lifestyle interest features.
Xiaoye, nicknamed Ye (played by Zhong Chuxi), is a bachelorette in her 30s who lives in apartment unit across from where Tiemei and Moli live. Ye is the lead singer and guitarist of a rock band called Unconditional Surrender, which plays moody “alternative” music. Although she’s an entertainer and has an extroverted side, Ye is somewhat passive and reluctant to express her true self, out of fear that it will alienate people, so she has a tendency to lie about who she is and her true feelings.
The opposite personalities of Tiemei and Ye are on display in the scene where they first meet. It’s nighttime, and Tiemei is riding a two-wheel scooter when she notices that a creepy man is following a timid-looking Ye in an alley. Ye knows that a man is following her but doesn’t say anything to him because she’s fearful of getting into a confrontation with him. Tiemei, who doesn’t have that fear, scares off the man and advises Ye to be more assertive and aware of her surroundings when she’s walking by herself.
Tiemei and Ye eventually become friends. Ye sometimes babysits Moli. Eventually, Tiemei and Moli go see Ye perform with Unconditional Surrender at a nightclub. Tiemei is inspired by the performance and encourages Moli to learn how to play a musical instrument. Tiemei advises Moli to learn how to play the drums because it’s an instrument that most people don’t expect girls to play.
Tiemei’s ex-husband (played by Mark Chao), who doesn’t have a name in the movie, is a self-centered jerk and is still in contact wth Tiemei because he has visitation rights for Moli. An early scene in the movie shows the ex-husband announcing that he’s gotten a vasectomy so Tiemei doesn’t have to worry about getting pregnant. Even though he and Tiemei are divorced, his ego is so huge, he thinks that she still lusts after him. He also mistakenly thinks Tiemei doesn’t want to date anyone else because he likes to think that her divorce has “spoiled” her interest in finding love again.
Meanwhile, Ye has begun dating a divorced bachelor named Xiao Hu (played by Ren Bin), who is commitment-phobic and doesn’t want their relationship to be more than a “friends with benefits” situation. As an example of how Ye has a tendency to lie, the movie has a running joke about a lie that Ye told to get past the strict security guard (played by Zhou Yemang) in Hu’s upscale apartment building. When she goes to the apartment to meet Hu for their first date, the security guard tells her that only approved guests and family members are allowed entry. Ye lies and says that she is Hu’s stepmother, which is a charade that Ye keeps up every time she sees the security guard.
Ye quickly falls in love with Hu and wants more of a commitment from Hu. But because Ye is the type of person who’s afraid to come right out and say what she wants, she lies to Hu by saying that she doesn’t want a commitment either because she’s married with a daughter. Ye’s lies get more complicated when she pretends that Moli is her daughter and Tiemei is Ye’s lover. It’s a convoluted ploy to try to make Hu jealous.
It’s around this same time that Ye introduces Tiemei to Unconditional Surrender’s drummer: Ma (played by Zhang Yu), a mild-mannered man who has a day job teaching music lessons to children. Tiemei hires Ma to give private drum lessons to Moli. Ma develops a growing attraction to Tiemei, who is unsure if she wants to date this younger man.
“Her Story” has many amusing situations and conversations that show how men and women are adjusting to dating and romance in the #MeToo era. Hu would like to believe he’s enlightened and open-minded when he thinks he has to “share” Ye with Tiemei, but egos and jealousy inevitably get in the way. Ma doesn’t want to be too aggressive in pursuing Tiemei. By contrast, Tiemei. ex-husband has no qualms about expressing his macho attitude toward Tiemei and Ma, when the ex-husband finds out that Ma is interested in dating Tiemei.
For a long stretch of “Her Story,” the movie seems to be about these romantic entanglements and how they affect the friendship of Tiemei and Ye. But there’s also a parallel story about Moli learning how to play the drums and how it affects Moli’s identity. The last 15 minutes of the film could have gone a certain predictable way, but it admirably does not end up using a safe formula and actually ends in a very realistic way.
All of the cast members do well in their roles, with great comedic timing for the scenes that are supposed to be funny. Song and Zhong are a fantastic duo in showing how the friendship of Tiemei and Ye evolves, as it goes through ups and downs. There are a few stereotypical romantic comedy moments in “Her Story,” but it’s an overall well-written and solidly directed move.
“Her Story” isn’t just a movie about dating and romance. It’s also a tender story about the care and responsibilities involved in raising, guiding and influencing a child. Too often, movies with these types of plots will treat children like pawns or cute pets. However, “Her Story” treats Moli as a person who deserves to be respected as an individual and not just an extension of a parent. It’s a notable aspect of “Her Story” that makes it better than the average movie where single parenting and dating are big themes in the story.
Tiger Pictures Entertainment released “Her Story” in select U.S. cinemas on November 28, 2024. The movie was released in China on November 13, 2024, with an expansion to more Chinese cinemas on November 22, 2024.