To Russia, for love

A new comedy film is the first production of a 2017 bilateral agreement, Xu Fan reports. 

A marriage proposal may sound romantic to many, but in a new film, it turns into a tough battle for a Chinese man who travels to Russia to seek the blessings of his prospective father-in-law.

That is the story of How I Became Russian, the first Sino-Russian production since the two countries signed a framework agreement on jointly making films in 2017.

Adapted from an earlier Russian TV series of the same title, the new feature-length comedy was released across Chinese mainland theaters on Thursday and is scheduled to debut in Russia in early February.

Many cast members of the acclaimed series, which has been given 9.1 points out of 10 on Chinese film and TV review site Douban, reprise their roles in the film, with newcomer Dong Chang playing the lead character, a Shanghai doctor who speaks fluent Russian and falls for a Russian oligarch's daughter. He follows her to Moscow to meet her parents but unexpectedly encounters a string of harsh tests.

Reluctant to bless the lovebirds, the tycoon father, played by veteran Russian actor Vitaliy Khaev, attempts to use "typical" Russian ways to scare away the young man-from a vodka-drinking competition and jumping nude into icy waters to hunting bears in the wild. When all such means fail, the stubborn father even bribes his daughter's former boyfriend to set up new hurdles