Wo de wai xing nu you [My Alien Girlfriend] (2017)

(On TV, January 2020) With a title like My Alien Girlfriend, one shouldn’t expect a finely tuned exploration of love across species as much as a silly romantic comedy, albeit with a shape-shifting love interest. The premise, as bluntly stated as it can be through an animated sequence, has an alien presence visiting Earth and looking for love, but being forced to take over different bodies every three days. In walks our protagonist, a lonely young man working as a veterinarian. Through an unconvincing plot device having to do with a thrown glass of water and no one noticing a piece of jewelry going into the water, our young man is pursued by our shape-changing alien. The comic premise is rich, and by the time our likable alien takes over the bodies of an older woman, a young girl or the protagonist’s best friend, My Alien Girlfriend makes the most out of it. (I was a bit surprised to see the film acknowledge homosexuality, albeit never without a punchline.) Of course, romance isn’t quite enough for the screenwriter—there has to be a mad scientist chasing down the alien with armed goons in order to make it more suspenseful. It concludes on a semi-optimistic note, although I still can’t see how they’re going to make it work. The filmmaking here from director Ding Yajun is unobtrusive and the plot thread is broad enough to be accessible. The standout performance here is from Yuen Qiu (best known to western audiences as the landlady from Kung-Fu Hustle) as the veterinarian clinic’s owner, not shy about her feelings for the protagonist. My Alien Girlfriend all makes for a nice comedy with just enough Science Fiction elements to justify its fantasy. It should be better known in the west—I can’t even find a listing for it on IMDB. [March 2025: One has been added in the past five years, but it’s still barebones]