Entertainment

‘33 Postcards’ review

Were it not for the staccato bursts of violence, this Chinese-Australian co-production about how an adorable orphan brings love into the life of a hardened convict would feel like a film from Hayley Mills’ heyday. Mei-Mei (Zhu Lin), the teenage orphan, even sings.

That isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker, and for the first half-hour things work surprisingly well, largely due to the radiant sincerity of Lin, as she breathes life into her character’s absolute innocence. Mei-Mei is abandoned to a Chinese orphanage, but she’s able to attend school due to the sponsorship of Australian Dean Randall (Guy Pearce, as wiry and haunted-looking as he was in “L.A. Confidential,” 16 years ago).

The orphans’ choir that Mei-Mei conducts goes on tour to Sydney, and the plucky girl seeks out her postcard Papa. Unfortunately, he’s in prison, and being menaced by a protection gang.

Pauline Chan’s direction is unobtrusively vanilla, save for a couple of rear-projection shots on a motorcycle so retro-bad they seem imported from an Elvis movie. At times the sweetness is affecting, as in Mei-Mei’s first visits to see Dean.

The main problem is the criminal subplot, full of Aussie villains snarling “mate” at one another and landing bloodless punches on Dean. “33 Postcards” is what happens when someone grafts a prison angle onto “Pollyanna” — the tough guys just get in the way.