I Am Somebody

The extras take center stage in this multi-strand drama about people trying to make it in China’s ever-burgeoning film industry. Peng, who grows up in a small village, finally convinces his parents to let him go to Hengdian, home of the largest film studio in the world. There, he falls in with a retinue of other aspiring actors who often meet at a local café to swap stories and eat cheaply. There’s Ting, who faces boorish behavior by performers higher up the ladder than she is and slowly develops feelings for the besotted Peng. And Kai, one of the restaurant’s proprietors, who’s always on the verge of getting a speaking role. Paying moving tribute to the millions of faceless people who make up the background of countless Chinese movies, director Derek Yee (The Great Magician, HKC 2012) cast the film’s main roles with real-life extras and wrote the script based on stories told to him by these struggling performers. Adding to the verisimilitude are several memorable cameo appearances by noted actors and directors, including Anita Yuen, Daniel Wu and Ann Hui.