This Is Not What I Expected
Description
An aspiring female chef finds that the way to the heart of a reserved Japanese CEO is through his stomach in Derek Hui’s gastronomic rom-com. Lu Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro at his most dashing) is visiting a Shanghai hotel his company is thinking of acquiring when he sees a young woman defacing his car. Seemingly the bringer of terrible luck, she’s also around when he’s swarmed by bees and partially responsible for a series of events that land him briefly in jail. Imagine his surprise when he finds out that she’s Shengnan Gu (Zhou Dongyu), the hotel’s assistant chef who’s been dazzling his palate with a series of inventive room-service dishes. Though his interest is at first only culinary, it soon takes a turn toward the romantic. The film follows the pair through several twists and turns, including a memorable hallucination sequence after the consumption of tainted blowfish, and depicts the difficulties in sustaining a relationship where one person is a wealthy germaphobe and the other a slob with a dog. A surprise box-office hit, earning over 100 million yuan since its premiere in April, This Is Not What I Expected not only offers numerous mouth-watering dishes, but also another delightful portrait of how opposites attract.
Derek Hui was born in 1982 in Hong Kong. He’s been the editor for several high-profile films, including Bodyguards and Assassins (SFFILM Festival 2010), Man of Tai Chi (2013), and Dearest (SFFILM Festival 2015). Though This Is Not What I Expected is his debut feature, he’s worked with both actors previously, having edited Peter Chan’s Dragon (2011) which co-starred Kaneshiro and SoulMate (2016) which starred Zhou Dongyu.
Film Details
Language Mandarin
Year 2017
Runtime 107
Country China
Director Derek Hui
Producer Peter Ho-Sun Chan, Jojo Hui Yuet Chun
Writer Li Yuan, Xu Yimeng, Jojo Hui Yuet-chun, Joyce Chan
Editor Derek Hui, Tan Xiangyun Zhou Xiaolin
Cinematographer Jing-Pin Yu
Music Chan Kwong Wing, Clem Fung, Patrick Lui
Cast Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhou Dongyu, Ming Xi
Print Source Well Go USA