I Love Beijing
| I Love Beijing | |
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| Traditional | 夏日暖樣樣 |
| Simplified | 夏日暖洋洋 |
| Mandarin | Xiàrì nuǎnyàngyàng |
| Directed by | Ning Ying |
| Produced by |
Han Sanping Wang Zhonglei Ning Ying |
| Written by | Ning Ying Ning Dai |
| Starring |
Yu Lei Zu Baitao Tao Hong Wang Jing |
| Music by | Zhu Xiaomin |
| Cinematography | Gao Fei |
| Edited by | Ning Ying |
| Distributed by | Celluloid Dreams |
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Release date
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Running time
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99 minutes |
| Language | Mandarin |
I Love Beijing (simplified Chinese: 夏日暖洋洋; traditional Chinese: 夏日暖樣樣; pinyin: Xiàrì nuǎnyàngyàng; literally: "The Warmth of Summer") is a 2000 Chinese film directed by Ning Ying. It constitutes the third film in Ning's "Beijing Trilogy," a loose coterie of films detailing the rapid changes that have befallen Beijing in recent decades. In this final installment, a recently divorced cabdriver, Desi (Yu Lei) feels disconnected from the modern city of Beijing as he picks up fares around the city, all while engaging in a series of short-term relationships with the various women he meets.
The film was written by Ning and her sister and collaborator, Ning Dai, and was produced by Eurasia Communications and Happy Village.
The film's title in Chinese was originally meant to mirror the English title "I Love Beijing." Ning Ying's ambivalence towards the city's modernization, however, made censors concerned that people would interpret the title as sarcastic, leading to the altered title which translates as the "Warmth of Summer."
With each entry into Ning Ying's Beijing Trilogy, the focus has been on a different generation: the elderly in For Fun, the middle-aged in On the Beat and now the youth in I Love Beijing. The film follows the twenty-something taxi driver Desi (Yu Lei) and opens on his divorce proceedings. Finding himself alone, Desi becomes something of a Casanova, and is soon dating a waitress, then a librarian, then a radio talk show host. Each woman, however, lacks something he desires. It becomes clear that despite his serial monogamy, Desi is really a romantic, and wonders when he will find the love of his life in the rapidly changing city he lives in.
Like Ning's earlier films, which were sometimes described as "cinéma vérité" in both camera work and the use of non-professional actors,I Love Beijing uses a naturalistic filming style. This can be seen in the cinematography of Gao Fei, which Variety noted created "casual yet revealing glimpses in long, seductive sequences that recall stylistically the work of Chantal Akerman."
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