Go Away Mr. Tumor (2015) (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region 3

Bai Baihe plays the 29 year old Xiong Dun, a commercial artist whose birthday turns out to be a truly terrible day, the unfortunate woman losing both her job and her long-suffering boyfriend, only to pass out during a dinner with her three best friends, boxer Lao Zheng (Zhang Zixuan, who also starred with Baihe in Love is not Blind), workaholic flatmate Emmy (Li Yuan, Death Trip), and colleague Xiao Xia (Liu Ruilin). Waking up in hospital, Xiong Dun initially thinks her luck has changed when she meets the handsome Dr Liang (Daniel Wu, Overheard), though is soon hit with the shattering news that she has an aggressive form of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Terminal illness comedies are not the easiest to pull off, the spectre of impending death not exactly being a natural inspiration for laughs, something which Go Away Mr Tumor attempts to get around through interweaving harsh reality with a series of fantasy segments. This is an approach which will likely work well for some viewers and turn off others, with Han Yan throwing in sequences that range from wuxia and saccharine sweet cuteness through to bizarre nods to Resident Evil and The Walking Dead. Though these are initially kind of fun, they do tend to grate after a while, mainly since only a few serve as effective reflections of Xiong Dun’s condition and struggle, with most coming across as gratuitous and distracting, suggesting that the film was designed primarily for audiences with a short attention span. This adds to a general feeling of unevenness, with these outlandish moments sitting uncomfortably with other aspects of the film, undermining it considerably when it does try to be serious.

Fantasy inserts aside, Go Away Mr Tumor in general plays it safe, with the first two acts sticking mainly to comedy before it makes the entirely expected final dive into melodrama. The good news is that the film is actually quite funny, with some amusing gags that fit the potentially grim subject matter well, helping to lift the mood in the way which Xiong Dun herself was obviously aiming. However, it should be said that this depends entirely on whether or not the viewer warms to her character, or more precisely to Bai Baihe's performance, which is high-energy to the point of mania, perky, quirky, shrill, sassy and everything in-between, all cranked up to eleven.

Appearing in and dominating pretty much every scene, the film is very much her showcase, and to be fair, she’s on decent enough form here, showing the kind of charms which have endeared her to many in China, as well as demonstrating a reasonable amount of acting range – still, the film does come with a warning, and anyone immune to her charms would perhaps do best to back off slowly without making eye contact. Fans will certainly be impressed with her showing, and for those in tune with the film this proves vital during the final tear filled twenty minutes or so which, though manipulative and packed with cheap tugs at the heartstrings, are undeniably quite moving, if mainly through sustained effort rather than anything genuine or substantial.

One surprise is the fact that despite its poster and trailer, Go Away Mr Tumor really isn't much of a romantic comedy, with Xiong Dun’s potential relationship with Daniel Wu's stoic Dr Liang being a background concern for most of the running time. Indeed, Wu’s role in the film is very much a supporting one, the actor not appearing too often and his character being caught up in his own problems relating to his tragic past. This is by no means a bad thing, and the film is all the better for focusing more on her bond with her ragtag gang, making some on-target and occasionally touching observations on friendship, forgiveness and sacrifice. While Zhang Zixuan, Li Yuan and Liu Ruilin are saddled with the usual stereotypical kind of roles so common in the genre, the three are likeable enough to overcome this, and the film is at its best during simple scenes of them bantering with Xiong Dun or facing up to the reality of her condition.

None of this is really enough to make Go Away Mr Tumor much more than slightly above average or to appeal beyond fans of the genre, though to its credit the film does manage to achieve its main aim of putting a smile on a horrible situation. As its impressive box office takings suggest, it's another step up the A-list ladder for Bai Baihe, if one which doesn’t see her stray far from the onscreen persona she's become known for over the last few years.

by James Mudge - EasternKicks.com