Touching tale of heartbreak promotes Lenovo S10, rends our hearts in twain

While we've been dealing with short-form ad fare in the States, China's gone all artsy on us, with Lenovo releasing a short film to promote its S9 / S10 netbook. We won't ruin the plot for you -- the dialogue is all in Chinese, so it's not like we could -- but suffice it to say that the Lenovo S10 and unrequited love play major roles.

[Thanks, Patrick]

[John R @ Sep 6th 2008 10:41PM]

wtf. translation?

[Gunn @ Sep 6th 2008 10:46PM]

Somebody doesn't want to be somebody's baby-sitter.
blah, blah, whatever.

[tom @ Sep 6th 2008 11:19PM]

Actually, it is a short love story.

When the guy broke up with the girl, she gave the doll to him which the guy gifted her before. From that point on, the girl moved on with her life, but still IM-ing him. The guy helped her out with work and interview and help her getting back to normal.

In the end, the girl wanted to see him. The guy told her to go to this hospital. She found him already dead and reincarnated in that doll. THE END.

SPONSORED BY LENOVO. *lame storyline*

[tom @ Sep 6th 2008 11:27PM]

visited his house (not hospital)

excuse my lack of attention, was Fast forwarding

[nDee @ Sep 7th 2008 2:03AM]

The last line reveals that its plot was from a network fiction.

[Gunn @ Sep 6th 2008 10:48PM]

I think I just misspelled... white-collar, not white-color.
Call me cynical, rather than racist.
lol

[Fernando @ Sep 6th 2008 10:50PM]

best ad ever?

[k2001 @ Sep 6th 2008 11:29PM]

no, it's
Best Ad, Evar.

[ben @ Sep 6th 2008 10:59PM]

I'm sure all Lenovo was thinking about when they made this was if they could somehow squeeze Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates in the ad...but they gave up the night before the deadline and wrote this thing. :-)

[Gene @ Sep 6th 2008 11:03PM]

it's quite sad story in the short film, whatever you are cynic or racist, your comment is such ignorant just because you don't understand chinese...

[Zinger314 @ Sep 6th 2008 11:05PM]

The Lenovo S10: You will love it long time.

[老外 @ Sep 7th 2008 1:26AM]

You are mixing your Vietnamese stereotypes with Chinese

[Jeff @ Sep 7th 2008 2:49AM]

rofl

[The Dude @ Sep 7th 2008 2:57AM]

15 dorrar each and no black versions of the S10, though. Say too big.

[LondonConsultant @ Sep 7th 2008 6:19AM]

The Lenovo S10: It so horny.

[Jeff Lewis @ Sep 6th 2008 11:05PM]

It's not unrequited love.

She gets into a fight with her boyfriend who is trying to give her a toy. The fight continues in IM and she tells him off - and then suddenly, there are no more replies from him. She waits and starts to miss him and then goes to his apartment to find out what's happened, and sees that the apartment has been closed down and all the furniture is draped... She tries to IM him again - only to realise his S10 is right there.... She looks under the drape and finds a medical report indicating that he's died of (or is dying of) multiple myeloma (nerve cancer) and flashes back to all the times she's been bratty to him...

She takes the toy and sits on seawall thinking of him.

[FRiC @ Sep 6th 2008 11:25PM]

Actually, she only went back to his apartment because she no longer misses him, got a good job, and possibly a new bf (the guy in the bar). Then she found that he's been dead a long time and his spirit is embodied in the bear and it's the bear that's been sending IM to her. Notice the bear has a tear.

[totoro @ Sep 7th 2008 1:05AM]

So...she's available again? Is that the message?

[GaryZ @ Sep 7th 2008 3:13PM]

@FRiC
It wasn't the bear's tear, it was her tear dropping on bear's face...

Oh well, why am I discussing this silly ad anyway...lol

[Richard Lai @ Sep 6th 2008 11:10PM]

Very creepy... Reminds me of the movie "Ghost".

I was hoping there would be a twist at the end!

[rayman19082 @ Sep 6th 2008 11:17PM]

this is some patrick swayze demi moore shit.....

[Varuna @ Sep 6th 2008 11:21PM]

That was better than the $300 million one !

[jahcriado @ Sep 6th 2008 11:21PM]

It like Chinese versions of you've got mail & a Childs Play (though not a murderous doll) combined into one heart warming.... ad. For a computer.

[movie critic @ Sep 6th 2008 11:26PM]

I loved the part at the end where she turns into "The Machine Girl" and kills everybody, including the teddy bear. And then uses the S10 to order a pizza...

[k2001 @ Sep 6th 2008 11:26PM]

Girl: You could have it back
Guy: Sure, whatever, don't don't , I beg you
Girl:AAhhhhhhhhhhhhh

-In the bus
He say I am too stubborn, to attach to him, never grow up. But I know that it is all excuses... and that he belong to the other girl now.
guy:I don't want to be your caretaker, your dad, you personal information desk, and your bf. Please forget me. If you really need anything, contact me online, since I am always online.
-girl started to cry.
Those days are my most difficult time in my life. Graduating,looking for a job, I never felt so lonely.
-In the bathroom chat
Girl: Are you there
Guy: Yeah I am here
Girl: Today I have a interview, should I put on lipstick
Guy: You look better without lipstick.
Girl: Go to hell, Go stuck up to you new gf.
-end of chat
I know that I shouldn't contact him, and that I should be independent. I know that Jupiter has 16 satellite revolving around it and I know that ??? is 8.31, I know a lot of things, but..........
-begin chat while walking outside
Girl: I lost my the contract what should I do.
Guy: Go back and tell them that and hopefully they'll makeup the contract for you. Hurry before the they get off work.
-In the elevator
Guy: Elevator pervert? use your high heel.
-In the bar
random guy: let cheer for meritorious workers, xiao yu.
It been a long time since I bother him, I think it's time for me to say goodbye and thank you to him
-Walk into the guy's apartment
Girl: Where are you?
Guy: next to you.
Girl: Stop kidding
Guy: I am really next to you
-Girl going through the guy's medical record and death certificate
He has been inside the body of the bear.
Flashback
Girl: Pickup the phone
Guy: Don't call
Don't meet up
completely forget about me.
End of Flash back
Guy: Sorry, I am very tire, I am going to leave now. It time for me to go, I can't forget about you. You shouldn't come, you should forget about me. I want to hug you for the last time, but..... Don't cry, give me a smile. Goodbye
-By the shore
In the future, I will get marry, learned to lied, blah blah....
you, me, and this world will always be online.

[Luke @ Sep 6th 2008 11:41PM]

thanks for the complete translation. really helps ;)

[SteveoftheDead @ Sep 7th 2008 2:09AM]

Thanks!
And so sad.
My brother's uncle was a plastic bear once.

[Uchiha Sasuke @ Sep 6th 2008 11:32PM]

Forget the S10. Give me the kubrick bear and the cute asian girl.

[rayman19082 @ Sep 6th 2008 11:34PM]

the little bear reminds anyone of the bear in bleach???? Creepy bear with a soul........

[Clay @ Sep 6th 2008 11:36PM]

Why the hell couldn't I stop watching it?!

[Deoc84 @ Sep 6th 2008 11:40PM]

Hmm nerve cancer? My interpretation was that the little yellow doll thing was actually alive and had mad a man puppet to get women. The apartment just being a prop for the man puppet to bring women back to. So missing the man puppet, the woman went to the apartment where she saw the instructions of making the man puppet, and then realized the messages were all actually from the toy, and fell in love with it, and then in love they went to sit by the sea wall. Making lenovo's message about the s10 : a computer ideally suited to helping creepy little yellow toy doll things get women (and possibly instructions for building man puppets to aid them in this task on the internet).

[XenoX101 @ Sep 6th 2008 11:46PM]

I think they've gone a bit far with this ad. They're telling a story about a guy breaking up with a girl while he's got cancer, making you feel for the girl that's going through heartbreak. Then linking her regain of happiness with the fact that she had a Lenovo S10, due to the guy being able to talk to her wherever she was.

I can't help but feel people who buy the laptop because of this ad have been manipulated by the cute couple in this ad. Seems like quite a play with people's emotions.

[stefan @ Sep 7th 2008 6:41PM]

shame on those Lenovo ad-people.... playing with our emotions in order to trick us into buying something... so unlike industries.... fashion... cars... travel...

[jo3c @ Sep 6th 2008 11:48PM]

surprised the English picky engadget reader, none pick out the twain typo

it's Taiwan u dumb dumb..!

[jo3c @ Sep 6th 2008 11:54PM]

ok i should've read the whole thing before i assume it's a typo XD

me dumb dumb

[k2001 @ Sep 7th 2008 12:04AM]

twain = two
Taiwan = wantto have two China (R.O.C. and P.R.C).

[James Scott @ Sep 7th 2008 12:04AM]

This has a lot of potential for improvised subtitles. Your challenge should you chose to accept it is to make a series of youtube copies with said improvised subtitles!

[Jonathan Tyler @ Sep 7th 2008 12:05AM]

I love that scream! It reminds me of Screechy from Care Bears.

SHUTUP!

I hope they make a dubbed version or maybe an Americanized one. That would be rofflelicious.

[cubanresourceful @ Sep 7th 2008 12:17AM]

I wonder if it can play my HD H.264 porn videos...I hate it lagging in all the best parts. :/

[henry jekyll @ Sep 7th 2008 12:19AM]

It's unrequited love from both sides.

It starts with their break-up, where she gives back the Little Bear toy that he gave to her sometime before, so it holds significance for her.

She's riding back on the bus and her voiceover says that he told her she was too emotional and needy andwill never grow. Flashback: "I can't be your dad, your mom, your nanny ... etc. Just forget about me. If you really need my help, just IM me; after all, I'm always online."

She's grieving over the break-up: "That time was the hardest of my life... graduation, finding a job, I've never felt so lonely."

She moves on with her life: "I knew that I shouldn't have anymore contact with him. I knew that I was independent now. I know that Jupiter has fourteen moons and that the molar gas constant is 8.31... but....."

And it shows her giving in and trying to IM him to ask to meet up again on the park bench. He turns her down and she runs off in a huff.

Cue the hilarious elevator groper--(gropist?)-- scene.

She's giving the flirty nod to the guy in the bar. Voiceover: "I've already had a length of time when I hadn't asked for his advice online. I think that when the day comes that I don't yearn to meet with him, I would say "Thank you" when I see him."

She comes to his empty apartment. She IMs him, finds his netbook beeping on the table in front of the bear. But somehow he is still replying to her IMs.

She picks up the sheaf of medical records and realizes that he broke up with her b/c he knew he had cancer.

"It turns out, he had always been inside Little Bear's body."

Flashback to her screaming at the phone. He didn't pick up the phone b/c he was dead and inside the bear. He could only talk to her on IM when his ghost is inside the bear. She's screaming, "Answer the phone!!!" His voiceover: "Don't come to see me, don't call me. Just totally forget about me forever."

Then when the realization hits her that he broke up with her to save her the devastation of watching him die, she starts crying and the frakking bear also starts crying.

She's sitting w/ the bear on the wall: "I will grow up... become more mature [emotionally]... I will marry someone... will learn to calculate and to fight.... I will learn to lambaste people... to deceive people.... to haggle at the market... become old and frail.... we will never meet again save at the end of the time/[the world]... but you and me [the memory] in THIS world.... will always remain..."

[Vincent @ Sep 7th 2008 12:20AM]

why is it that even when the movies are IN Chinese, that their mouths still don't match their lips?

[cheng @ Sep 7th 2008 12:32AM]

chinese movies usually lipsync instead of recording live.

[E @ Oct 8th 2008 8:56AM]

Maybe itz caused by the video uploading.

[momoney @ Sep 7th 2008 12:29AM]

Interesting advertising concept. The S10 did look halfway decent in the ad, but I thought there would have been far more "product placement" of the laptop or other Lenovo products in the ad. So far the best use of product placement in films has to be the BMW in BMW films which I saw years ago.

On a COMPLETELY separate note, is there anyway I can download the theme song of Lenovo's "Always Online" it seems to be a bit catchy. I think they perhaps might have revealed the info in the end credits, but since I can't read Chinese I couldn't make much sense of a title or anything of the sort.

[averox @ Sep 7th 2008 12:31AM]

Anyone know the name of the song in the video?

[Max @ Sep 7th 2008 12:39AM]

There you have it, buy a S10 and you will be able to talk to people from beyond the grave.

[Wlin @ Sep 7th 2008 12:42AM]

The song is called " always online " in mandarin pin yin its " ai zai xian " direct translation " love on line " the singer is called JJ Lin.

enjoy!!!

[averox @ Sep 7th 2008 12:48AM]

Ahhh.

Thank you.

[Jeff @ Sep 7th 2008 1:56AM]

And here's a one minute preview of the actual song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS0R__d0TXA

The album comes out on September 15th....

[cheng @ Sep 7th 2008 12:48AM]

i should mention that it's based on a true story. It says so at the end.