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It\'s always a long time between drinks for Mainland writer-director Emily Tang ; but with her third feature — after the semi-impressionistic Conjugation (2001) and way over-arty Perfect Life (2008) — she seems finally to have found a way of melding content and form in a way that engages a viewer\'s feelings. Maybe it comes from co-writing with Han Jie (who directed the fine village black comedy Mr. Tree Hello! , or maybe it comes from a general realisation that Perfect Life was an artistic dead end. Whatever the reason, All Apologies has a very different look and feel from Tang\'s previous grey, downbeat studies of Mainland life. Here the setting is scenic Guilin, shot in a cinematic but untouristy way by Hong Kong China Yiu-Fai Lai; the film\'s tempo is natural and unforced, with an easy flow to the early set-up; and the gentle score, by Roger Lin , beefs up the emotion at key points, to notable effect in the final section.
Tang\'s change of approach prevents Apologies from becoming a cerebral exercise like Life . Apologies is much more of a real ensemble, with cross-feelings registering on-screen and the whole story — of a young married woman, Qiaoyu , who bears a replacement child for a father whose son has died as a result of her husband\'s car accident — given a genuine emotional hook. TV drama actress Yang Shuting brings a quiet strength to Qiaoyu, who gradually emerges as the film\'s main character, and by the end Yang has established a complicit screen chemistry with actor Cheng Taishen (the cripple in Life) that\'s quite affecting. It even raises the forbidden thought that maybe, just maybe, the two may establish some kind of permanent relationship.
The script — and Yang\'s performance — doesn\'t quite manage to make believable Qiaoyu\'s jump from rape victim to surrogate mother, which needs a few extra scenes to really work. But without grandstanding all the obvious issues, the layered screenplay does create a conflicted character beneath her placid front: part rebellious (against her husband\'s selfishness) and part dutiful (paying off a perceived moral debt), Qiaoyu ends up with the least but gains the most in self-respect. Cheng matches her performance in understatement, and the pair contrast neatly with their more emotional spouses, played against the grain by actress Liang Jing (here de-glammed, as in Design Of Death ) and actor Gao Jin .