REVIEW : Lost and Love - 失孤 (2015)

At it's core, Lost and Love is a heartwarming, moving film that deals with the abominable crime of child trafficking in China. When a trafficker (cameo by Sandra Ng 吴君如) tries to sell off the abducted child in her arms, the conversation that takes place is nothing but chilling as she tries to coax the client to opt for a girl instead of the boy he is looking for. As if the child was livestock to be traded, she slashes the price for her and tells the man that girls can be a profitable investment as "girls can be sold off in the future". Whether by that she means marriage or prostitution, it's hard to say.

Lei Zekuan (Andy Lau 刘德华) is a father looking for his son who was abducted 14 years ago. With a flag that has a picture and details about his missing son attached to the back of his motorcycle, he travels all across China in hopes of finding him. Zeng Shuai (Jing Boran 井柏然) is looking for the family he was separated from when he was four, and like Lei's lost son, he was abducted. Their paths cross when Zeng helped Lei to get his bike fixed, before they head off as a two-man team to find what was originally theirs.

On the side, a mother (Ni Jingyang 倪惊阳) is distraught after losing her daughter, the same girl mentioned above who is being peddled by Sandra Ng's character. I wish I could say it ended well. Spoiler: it doesn't.

Totes adorbs.

Andy Lau might be the big star who would draw viewers to watch this film, but his acting pales in comparison with Jing who, relatively speaking, is a nobody. It is Jing as the troubled but charming Zeng that makes the movie memorable. But when they duo are paired together, the father-son relationship plays out convincingly. One thing that stands out the most for me was the panic attack that took place when each of them thought they've lost each other, and the annoyed berating that loosely masked their relief when they were found.

I blame Andy Lau's stiffness on his Mandarin

According to the director Peng Sanyuan (彭三源), the story for Lost and Love is based on a real life incident in China whereby a child was reunited with his parents when someone recognised him from a post on the social media website Weibo. That's what a part of this movie is about: searching for missing children by using the internet. While I understand the scenes where messages of missing children would be sent and shared throughout the Internet is the crux of the story, I can't help but feel that they are a little jarring.

There isn't much drama considering the subject at hand. There's no standing under the rain and making confessions while crying, it's by no means a soap opera. There's crying sure, and some screaming, but it's never really the focus here. Lost and Love is slow, it is mild to the taste. But it is also beautiful, it is graceful, it is poignant. Sometimes, movies like these are the ones that will leave the strongest impression after the credits have rolled, and they tell the best stories of life, love, and lost.

Like The Journey, but with more heartbreaks.

I rate it : 7.5/10 stars

THE GOOD : Picturesque landscapes of China's countryside; Andy Lau and Jing Boran have really good chemistry together.

THE BAD : The ending is honest, but not exactly what I'd call satisfying.

WATCH IT IF YOU...

• ...are a parent. 
• ...want an honest, slice-of-life-esque film. 

LOST AND LOVE - 失孤 (2015)

Genre : Drama

Runtime : 108 mins

Director : Peng Sanyuan

Cast : Andy Lau, Jing Boran