You still might want to check out “Schemes in Antiques” just to see Yuan get around various overweening antiques experts. Kwok knows how to build up even the flimsiest scene for maximum dramatic tension, both in terms of visual composition and moment-to-moment pacing, so his movie often feels bigger than its petty subjects. That’s no small victory given how often Yuan has to explain to what’s put him a few steps ahead of disbelieving opponents like Bu Ran.
Sometimes, Yuan’s explanations are illustrated with computer animation that oversells the jaw-dropping qualities of historic antiques. Other times, Kwok lets Yuan’s impenetrable, but assured decisions lead us and the plot around by the nose, as when Yuan and Bu Ran hunt for the next illuminating artifact at an illegal antiques market. We follow these two hucksters as they turn fellow scavengers and salesmen into happy accomplices, some more savvy than others. The climax of this scene doesn’t even concern the latest whatsit that Yuan and Bu Ran must acquire in order to finally locate the Buddha’s head. It’s really about the last-minute discovery that these two guys were never really pursuing the same thing. Even here, Yuan’s somehow a few steps ahead of us.
That said, “Schemes in Antiques” is ultimately about Yuan and his family. He realizes that the only way to succeed is by working with several prickly competitors, including Bu Ran, and those collaborations ultimately lead him to the movie’s pat, anti-climactic finale.
I’m not sure how Yuan’s story ends in Young’s novel, but there’s nothing in “Schemes in Antiques” that’s as attractive or as dynamic as Kwok’s presentation. Yuan is not interesting enough to warrant so much attention, and he never really goes anywhere unexpected or interesting enough to make you care if Yuan will succeed where both his dad and grand-dad failed.
“Schemes in Antiques” is, however, a pleasant enough time-waster whenever it’s racing towards its final destination. Kwok’s latest may run out of steam about 15-20 minutes before it ends, but it’s also fast and clever enough to keep you hoping that the next scene will be even bigger and better than the last show-stopper.
Now playing in theaters.
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