(PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Writer-director-actor Jia Ling’s Hi, Mom might still be around on Mother’s Day in May, given the film’s generally sunny outlook and  peerless ability to make viewers want to check in with Mom as soon as the curtain comes down. It is China’s Lunar New Year box-office monster — the second-highest grossing film ever in China, just behind Wolf Warrior 2, with US$820 million.

Hi, Mom is a chirpy, South Korean-style time-traveling/body-swapping comedy, laced with an emotionalism that would be saccharine if it weren’t so sincere

Colorful, bright, polished, and shamelessly sentimental, Jia’s directorial debut is a chirpy, South Korean-style time-traveling/body-swapping comedy, laced with an emotionalism that would be saccharine if it weren’t so sincere. The movie started life as a 2016 sketch on the competition series Comedy General Mobilization. Jia, a massive xiangsheng star, has made no secret of the fact that the film is a tribute to her mother, and indeed, it works as a tribute to all mothers. 

ALSO READ: Spring Festival collections bring joy to film industry

The story starts with a quick bio of Jia Xiaoling (Jia), detailing her various failings, from kindergarten up to graduation from high school in 2001. After a humiliating banquet meal meant to celebrate her surprise acceptance into an elite arts college, Xiaoling and her mother, Li Huanying (Liu Jia) get into a traffic accident, and Huanying winds up on life support in the hospital. Xiaoling wishes to travel back in time and be a better daughter, and lo! A magical trip through the clouds and some black-and-white photography transports Xiaoling back to her Hubei hometown — in 1981.

During her time in 1981, Xiaoling masquerades as a cousin from far away and quickly becomes the BFF of Huanying’s, played as a young woman by Zhang Xiaofei. Naturally she tries to rewrite history by ensuring Huanying connects with a factory manager’s son, Shen Guanglin (comedy superstar Shen Teng), thinking it’s the path to a better life. There are hijinks, and a handful of laugh-out-loud gags. 

Hi, Mom is more of a woman’s reflection on and recontextualization of her relationship with her mother. Xiaoling flits around 1981 believing she’s going to fix everything with her meddling, but ultimately, nothing changes. The so-called opportunities are missed, and the alleged “ideal” husband is passed over in favor of a man she truly loves (and who, mysteriously, never factors in later). Xiaoling’s only take-away from the experience is a deeper understanding of her mother and, to a degree, of herself.

READ MORE: Moviegoing boom livens up festival for theaters

Jia commits a few errors in her rookie outing in the big chair: The film is too long, and casting her fortysomething self as the lead is reminiscent of the notorious “teenagers” in the 1978 Hollywood movie Grease, whose female lead, Olivia Newton-John, was nearly 30 years old at the time. Those are minor quibbles, though, as Jia’s light touch juggles innately emotional material, obviously near and dear to her, with a deft hand, never allowing schmaltz to dominate. She’s fortunate to have Zhang as the young Huanying, whose natural turn balancing naivete and confidence carries the film and sends its key message loud and clear: Call your mother.

Hi, Mom

Directed by Jia Ling, written by Jia Ling, Sun Jibin, Wang Yu, Bu Yu, Liu Honglu. Starring Jia Ling and Zhang Xioafei. China, 128 minutes, I. Opened April 8 in Hong Kong.