As a fan of tight, quick, succinct filmmaking, I rarely accuse a movie of being too short. In the case of 33 Postcards, however, I can’t help but blame its skimpy length for the bulk of its problems. Directed by Pauline Chan, it’s a slight, sappy drama that feels too unfinished to pack much of a punch.
The film centers on “Mei Mei” (Zhu Lin), a 16-year-old Chinese orphan whose education has been supported for years by her Australian sponsor, “Dean Randall” (Guy Pearce), who communicates with her through postcards describing his marvelous life.
When Mei Mei’s orphanage choir travels to Australia to participate in a choir festival, she takes the opportunity to find Dean, only to discover that his life is not all that his postcards made it out to be.
It’s safe to say that Chan and her screenwriting partners, Philip Dalkin and Martin Edmond, certainly had a particular message in mind when penning the movie’s script.
It’s a story of redemption (for Dean) and belonging (for Mei Mei), and those main ideas come through loud and clear. The trouble is that Chan and company didn’t really bother to do anything other than communicate themes. The story is so blandly predictable that there isn’t any room for character development outside of the obvious, making it difficult to create any fresh or honest emotional impact.
Thankfully, the actors elevate the material significantly, despite its relatively low degree of difficulty.
Lin is a veritable open book, combining naïve vulnerability with a deep soulfulness that belies her years. As for Pearce, he doesn’t have much to do but sit and look pensive, which he magically manages to carry off without becoming a bore.
If 33 Postcards had been about half an hour longer, it would have been a very different film, with more room for character growth and a less familiar plot.
As it stands, however, it’s essentially a particularly well-acted Lifetime movie, with too much schmaltz and not enough smarts.
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