Chinese Movie: Better Days

Hello everyone and I wish you all are in good health

I come back today with this blog after being absent for a while.

I actually feel compelled to write about this masterpiece. It is now on my list of best asian movies watched.

LET'S START

First, let's start with the general information (taken from google)

:book: Plot :book:

A bullied high school student and a small-time criminal become the prime suspects in the murder of a teenage girl who turns out to be the student's nemesis for the state Gaokao exam.

Based on: In His Youth, In Her Beauty by Jiu Yuexi

📽 Cast 📽

I'm only going to present the four pillars of this movie

:woman: Zhou Dong Yu as Chen Nian :woman:

She is our story's main character, poor, an introvert and a hard working bright student.

🧑 Jackson Yi as Xiao Bei 🧑

He is the male lead in this story also poor, a thief and a major belligerent.

:man: Yin Fang as Zheng Yi :man:

He played one of detectives on Chen Nian's case. He is young and can relate personally to our main character's struggles. A character purely driven by a sense of justice and eagerness for uncovering the truth.

:no_good: Zhou Ye as Wei Lai :no_good:

She is the queen bee of the bullies, she is their leader and the mastermind behind the "pranks". Over all she is a promising student and her parents expect her to do well on her tests.

Now to my own rant about this movie

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I guess a spoiler alert is in order so

:rotating_light: SPOILER ALERT :rotating_light:

Just to start off with a warning, this is going to be long.

Our story deals with bullying, such a sensitive and pretty common problem teenagers face in this day and age.

This is about struggling teenagers who had to go through humiliation and abuse both physical and psychological and who were utterly failed by the justice system that was proved unfit to deal with such transgressions.

You know a movie is bound to be great when it starts with a BANG, here it was a suicide, following which a humanitarian act from Chen Nian puts her right on the bullies' radar.

Chen Nian is living day to day trying to her Goakao exams so she can a good University and become an "adult". That is not an easy task when her mother is involved in the selling of contraband products and often running from debtors, it goes without saying that the mother was completely in the dark when her daughter was being chased and beaten by Wei Lai and her gang.

Chen Nian after a while of being picked on by the bullies, decided to press charges when their attacks became physical and all hell broke loose.

Another act of kindness brings Xiao Bei into Chen Nian's life and from that day on they formed a kind of alliance, he kept close and tried to protect her literally every step of the way and she was kind enough and at the same time strong enough to make him open up to her.

Xiao Bei is a troubled teenager, abandoned by his mother and had to live on the streets and learn how to steel in order to put food in his stomach. He didn't have any goals or aspirations, never got the chance for a proper education and had to be on his toes for most of his life.

Chen Nian and Xiao Bei found each other at a critical point in both their lives and their relationship was quite unique and exceptionally beautiful, full of tenderness and sacrifice, , understanding and most importantly purity. And I'm not referring to sex when I say purity, I am talking about blind faith in each other about that kind of clarity that was never clouded by neither doubt nor judgment.

I'm trying to across what I felt watching how their romance progressed and how it was the driving force that kept them pushing trying to move forward and patch up the biggest mistake they made that could end both of their lives.

I try not to give much about how the story unfolds but I promise everybody who had the patience to read this rant, you're up for great twists that will blow your minds and a terrific realistic ending.

I deliberately left out the murder part because it's the one big plot twist here. It's the event that in my opinion made the two teenagers into two adults.

The flow of the events, the scenery, the close ups and the wide angles all fit perfectly to make every moment in this movie thrilling and exiting. The screenwriters took us back and forth leaving me :100: focused trying to piece the puzzles together. I give them a "chapeau bas" for their efforts.

The acting is everything that you might be looking for.

From their facial expressions to their breathing and the movements of their eyes, the actors, every single one of them, gave one hell of a performance, portrayed their characters with diligence and dedication.

You guys must know the scene from "V for Vendetta" where Natalie Portman got her hair shaved. Do you the look of fear mixed with desperation? Well we have a similar scene here and it looks nothing less than that one and it's one of the greatest scenes I personally have came across in a movie.

This is the end of my blog i really hope you guys put this movie on your lists. And if you don't then you are missing out.

PS: I'm going to start looking for an English translation for the book, I really want to read it.