Lost and Love

Lost and Love is a 2015 Chinese-Hong Kong road drama film written and directed by novelist and television screenwriter Peng Sanyuan in her directorial debut and starring Andy Lau and Jing Boran.[5] The film is inspired by an actual abduction case in 2010 when a Hubei resident was reunited with his son, who had been missing for three years, when a university student recognized the child after seeing a post on Sina Weibo.[6]

Lost and Love
Film poster
Traditional Chinese失孤
Simplified Chinese失孤
Hanyu PinyinShī Gū
JyutpingSat1 Gu1
Directed byPeng Sanyuan
Written byPeng Sanyuan
Produced byWang Zhonglei
Chan Pui-wah
Zhang Dajun
StarringAndy Lau
Jing Boran
CinematographyMark Lee Ping Bin
Edited byAngie Lam
Music byZbigniew Preisner
Production
companies
Huayi Brothers Media Group
Focus Films
Beijing Yuanhesheng Entertainment
Chongqing Film Group
Xiamen Navigation Media
Good Friends Entertainment
Huayi Brothers International
Distributed byHuayi Brothers (China)
Edko Films (Hong Kong)
Release dates
  • 19 March 2015 (2015-03-19) (Australia, New Zealand)[1]
  • 20 March 2015 (2015-03-20) (China)
  • 26 March 2015 (2015-03-26) (Hong Kong)
Running time
108 minutes[2]
CountriesChina
Hong Kong
LanguagesStandard Mandarin Chinese
Sichuanese
Anhui
BudgetUS$10-25 million[2]
Box officeUS$34,930,117[3][4]

Plot

One day in 1999 when his two-year-old son Lei Da went missing, Anhui farmer Lei Zekuan (Lau) begins his fifteen-year-long journey of hardship searching for his lost son. On his way he meets Zeng Shuai, a young car mechanic who was abducted as a child himself and is also searching for his parents.

Cast

Production

Director Peng Sanyuan revealed that the role of Lei Zekuan was tailor-made for Lau.[7]

Filming began on 10 March 2014 in Quanzhou, Fujian. Besides Quanzhou, filming also shift to many different provinces including in rural southwestern mountains where conditions are difficult.[8] The shoot in Quanzhou attracted many onlookers in the streets as Lau's fans were eager to see their idol in his new look for the film and take pictures.[9] This resulted in a major traffic jam and some fans even climbed a tree just to catch a glimpse of Lau.[10]

On 14 April, the crew was spotted in Nanchang, Jiangxi where Lau was shooting a scene at the Nanchang bus station where he was pasting missing people notice on the pillars before being chased by uniformed security officers. Although the scene caught the attention of the public, nobody was able to recognize Lau.[11]

Filming was shifted to Chongqing on 29 April.[12] During the shoot in Chongqing, an incident happened where a female reporter was injured while running away from crew members who discovered her secretly photographing them[13] Another incident occurred on 17 May during the shoot in Chengdu where a crew member quarreled with a female onlooker. The crew member was seen pushing the onlooker to the floor and struggling with her. Afterwards, Lau, who witnessed everything, was seen scolding the crew member for his mistakes.[14]

After two and a half months of shooting throughout China, the filming of Lost and Love concluded on 23 May in Chengdu. As Lau was leaving Chengdu two days afterwards, he arranged a meetup with his fans.[15]

Release

On 8 May 2014, Huayi Brothers unveiled 32 films slated for production and distribution, with Lost and Love slated to be released in September 2014.[16] On 15 January 2015, it was announced that the film would be set for release on 20 March 2015.[17]

Reception

Critical

Lost and Love received generally positive reviews from critics. Maggie Lee of Variety Film Reviews gave the film a positive review and writes "Notwithstanding some sentimental beats, Peng achieves a delicate balance between bleak realities and a life-affirming attitude, capped by a predictable but necessary catharsis."[18] In Clarence Tsui review for The Hollywood Reporter, he mainly praised Mark Lee Ping Bin's cinematography and writes "These lush depictions of city and country fill in the dots between the film's dramatic plot points, gently driving the story forward while hinting at the social climate of the day."[19] Joe Bendel of Libertas Film Magazine gave the film a score of B+ and praises the performances of stars Andy Lau and Jing Boran, director Peng's direction and Lee's cinematography and concludes his review by writing "Despite some conspicuous loose ends, Lost and Love is a refreshingly mature and accessible drama, recommended for mainstream audiences."[20] Tom Keogh of The Seattle Times rated the film 3 out of 4 stars and writes "Writer-director Peng Sanyuan gracefully cycles through ever-changing shifts in mood and tone, a reflection of the understandably mercurial emotions of the film’s two lead characters, the middle-aged Lei (Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau) and the 20-ish Ceng (Jing Boran)."[21] James Verniere of Boston Herald gave the film a score of A− praising Lau as "the reason to see China Lion’s Lost and Love, a powerful Chinese drama about the widespread problem of abducted children" and refers it as "a film that will appeal to and move everyone."[22]

Box office

Lost and Love grossed US$18.17 million during its opening weekend, finishing in second place at the Chinese box office behind Hollywood film Cinderella.[23] During its second week, the film dropped to third place, earning US$5.31 million between 27 and 29 March. After ten days of release, the film has earned US$32 million to date.[24]

During the opening weekend of its limited release in North America, Lost and Love earned an estimated US$85,000 from 24 locations.[25]

As of May 2015, the film have grossed a total US$34,180,000 in China, US$345,228 in Hong Kong, US$118,792 in Malaysia, US$14,787 in New Zealand, US$82,553[4] and US$188,817 in North America.[3]

Accolades
Accolades
Ceremony Category Recipient Outcome
35th Hong Kong Film Awards[26] Best Actor Andy Lau Nominated
30th Golden Rooster Awards Best Directorial Debut Peng Sanyuan Nominated
Best Actor Andy Lau Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Jing Boran Nominated
Best Cinematography Mark Lee Ping Bin Nominated
16th Huabiao Awards Best Actor Andy Lau Won

Story of character prototype

The character prototype of this film is Guo Gangtang. On September 21, 1997, his 2-year-old son was abducted by a woman surnamed Tang.[27] After that, he spent all his time searching for his son. He rode a motorcycle to search for clues all over China.[28] And in 2012 he founded a website to collect information of missing children.[29] In 2015, this adaptation of his story was released. Guo Gangtang hoped to let his son know that he is being sought through this film.[30]

On July 11, 2021, Guo Gangtang informed the media that his son was found in Henan Province. After that, the police reported that they had cracked a case of kidnapping children, and after comparing the DNA information of the kidnapped child with the information of the missing child, it was confirmed that Guo Gangtang's son was found. After 24 years, the two finally met again.[30][31] Some production staff, including Andy Lau, congratulated this.[32][33][34]

See also

References
  1. "China Lion to Release Andy Lau's 'Lost and Love' in North America, Australia". The Hollywood Reporter. 2 March 2015.
  2. "The Film Catalogue - Lost and Love".
  3. "Love and Lost (Shi Gu) (2015) - Box Office Mojo".
  4. "Love and Lost (Shi Gu) (2015) - International Box Office Results -Box Office Mojo".
  5. "ANDY LAU PLAYS A FARMER IN SEARCH OF HIS SON". 12 March 2014.
  6. "Andy Lau Searches for Abducted Son in "Lost and Lonely"".
  7. "Andy to be in 15 years journey searching for his son in new film".
  8. "电影《失孤》昨起泉州取景 刘德华泉州拍戏". Archived from the original on 2014-03-11.
  9. "Farmer Andy searching for his son in Quanzhou".
  10. "Fans climb trees and cause traffic jam -- all to catch a glimpse of 'dirty' Andy Lau". Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  11. "Andy secretly came to Nanchang to search for his child".
  12. "Andy arrived in Chongqing for location shooting of Lost and Lonely".
  13. "Female reporter injured while reporting on Lost and Lonely".
  14. "Crew member got into trouble with onlookers, Andy went up to mediate".
  15. "Lost and Lonely completed shooting".
  16. "华谊公布今明两年32部电影 目标100亿".
  17. "《失孤》定档3.20曝前导预告海报 刘德华骑摩托农民造型首度揭秘".
  18. "Film Review: 'Lost and Love'".
  19. "'Lost and Love' ('Shi Gu'): Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter.
  20. "Child Abduction in China: LFM Reviews Lost and Love".
  21. "'Lost and Love': Human trafficking connects unlikely pair".
  22. "Andy Lau's 'Lost' a true find".
  23. Clifford Coonan (March 23, 2015). "China Box Office: 'Cinderella' Stays On Top as Andy Lau's 'Lost and Love' Opens Strongly". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
  24. "Kingsman explodes at China box office".
  25. "Abduction drama kidnaps China box office".
  26. "第35屆香港電影金像獎提名名單".
  27. 孔令雯; 赵迎晨 (2021-07-13). "24年终团圆！《失孤》原型郭刚堂与被拐儿子相认 一家人相拥而泣". m.news.cctv.com. Archived from the original on 2021-07-15. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
  28. 卢美慧 (2015-03-29). 闫宪宝; 戴玉玺 (eds.). "《失孤》原型郭刚堂：只有在路上，才感觉我是个父亲". 新京报网. Archived from the original on 2021-07-15. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
  29. 姚萌, ed. (2019-04-16). "助人为乐：郭刚堂". 聊城新闻网. Archived from the original on 2021-07-15. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  30. "郭刚堂寻子24年终成正果，技术照亮孩子回家的路". new.qq.com. 南方周末. 2021-07-14. Archived from the original on 2021-07-15. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
  31. "Man in China reunited with son abducted 24 years ago". www.theguardian.com. Guardian. 2021-07-13. Archived from the original on 2021-07-15. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
  32. 廖艳; 薛莎莎 (2021-07-13). "刘德华录视频祝福郭刚堂找到儿子，呼吁更多的人支持反拐工作". www.thepaper.cn. 澎湃新闻. Archived from the original on 2021-07-15. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
  33. "24年终团圆！《失孤》原型郭刚堂与被拐儿子相认 一家人相拥而泣". 央视网. 2021-07-13.
  34. "《失孤》原型郭刚堂父子团聚 井柏然等发文祝福". 网易娱乐. 2021-07-13.
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