Once again, I am struck and awed at how different Chinese nostalgia films of your younger and more innocent years are from Western and Hollywood movies.
I think Chinese films are more raw and honest, in certain ways, than American films, in this matter, more clean and in some ways less complicated, focusing on the little things which make each and every one of us human more than the somewhat superficial elements some Western movies frequently like to employ.
The Chinese title for this film is Shui de chun tian bu mi mang, which roughly translates to, "Whose years of youth are not dazed?" The protagonist in this movie is a girl named Lin Tianjiao preparing for a major high school exam which determines whether or not she will be able to go to the university of her dreams, working and studying hard late into the night every single day to become No.1 in her class and earn top grades.
However, her life is complicated when her paths cross with a new classmate, Gao Xiang, who is much more rebellious and independent and far less studious than she. He believes that you should not behave and act according to the judgment and expectations of others or the world, but walk your own path in life while chasing your dreams first and foremost. Under her strict mother, Tianjiao for her part chose to put aside her own love for astronomy in order to focus on academic matters above all else.
While the two characters have a difficult and tense relationship at first, as they begin to interact more, they begin to see different sides to each other, and Tianjiao slowly softens to Gao Xiang, whom she begins to regard as not only a classmate, but as a confidant and a dear friend. When she learns Gao Xiang, having quit school, is going to leave with his grandfather, and having not even said a final goodbye to him, Tianjiao is forced to make the ultimate decision of her own life, one which inevitably reshapes her entire future.
A deeply powerful and re-affirming film to the strength of the human spirit, the power of young love, the complexities of growing up and finding yourself, and how following your heart can sometimes be just as important as following your duties.
I think Chinese films are more raw and honest, in certain ways, than American films, in this matter, more clean and in some ways less complicated, focusing on the little things which make each and every one of us human more than the somewhat superficial elements some Western movies frequently like to employ.
The Chinese title for this film is Shui de chun tian bu mi mang, which roughly translates to, "Whose years of youth are not dazed?" The protagonist in this movie is a girl named Lin Tianjiao preparing for a major high school exam which determines whether or not she will be able to go to the university of her dreams, working and studying hard late into the night every single day to become No.1 in her class and earn top grades.
However, her life is complicated when her paths cross with a new classmate, Gao Xiang, who is much more rebellious and independent and far less studious than she. He believes that you should not behave and act according to the judgment and expectations of others or the world, but walk your own path in life while chasing your dreams first and foremost. Under her strict mother, Tianjiao for her part chose to put aside her own love for astronomy in order to focus on academic matters above all else.
While the two characters have a difficult and tense relationship at first, as they begin to interact more, they begin to see different sides to each other, and Tianjiao slowly softens to Gao Xiang, whom she begins to regard as not only a classmate, but as a confidant and a dear friend. When she learns Gao Xiang, having quit school, is going to leave with his grandfather, and having not even said a final goodbye to him, Tianjiao is forced to make the ultimate decision of her own life, one which inevitably reshapes her entire future.
A deeply powerful and re-affirming film to the strength of the human spirit, the power of young love, the complexities of growing up and finding yourself, and how following your heart can sometimes be just as important as following your duties.