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Reviews
Zhi qingchun: Yuanlai ni hai zai zheli (2016)
It delivered
IMDb gave this film a 4.9 and I was a bit apprehensive about watching it. I still did though. My crush on Crystal Liu won out in the end and I have to watch this film if only because I really like her. Thank God I did. This is an awesome film. Let me explain why.
(Note: Don't watch the MV if you haven't watched the film yet since this is the actual ending of the film that was deleted and eventually released due to popular demand. And no, the film wasn't bad because of the deleted scene. It's still good as is. It remains amazing still. - Also, spoiler sorta ahead.)
First, the whole atmosphere, pacing, and imagery of the film reminds me of Koizora (恋空), albeit with less vendetta from the supporting characters. It shows how love unfolds between two strangers, classmates, friends. Yes, it's ordinary. No, love like theirs is not. At least, not in the real world.
Then there's the cast giving life to the characters. Crystal nailed it. I've seen a bunch of her films and series and she always nails her roles. Su Yujin is as calm as the sea but we feel her every time. We feel her melancholy, her sorrow, her giddiness, her happiness, her disappointment with herself. Hell, I felt her conflicting emotions when he asked her if she loved him after all those years and she can't answer. It effing broke my heart. And this is coming from a person who hates (bold, italicized, underlined) female leads who are mute and meek AF especially when it comes to important scenes. I mean, what is so hard about telling the other party that you effing care? Of course there are valid reasons but they're reasons that barely matter mainly because the storytelling made it so; however, in Yujin's case, you know her reasons matter. She made you feel how much it matters.
The lead guy, Kris Wu, is good as well. He reminds me a lot of Koizora's Hiro without the full on bad boy image. (Or there is, sorta. Heh.) He's good with his role as well. Lacking in some scenes. Overbearing in some but his whole attitude makes up for it. I know he was from EXO and I think his role is close to his image so it worked for him.
The other actors such as the asshole friend of lead guy, lead girl's BFF, and sort of second lead guy were good with their roles as well. Particularly, BFF character. She's damn good. Sadly, we never saw her again after in about the last half of the film.
The whole cast delivered to be honest. Minor things such as supposedly rival girl's stricken face after realizing how she's basically nothing to lead guy (finally!!! after freaking years; how slow is the character even?) which could use a little more work but it's okay because we didn't have to see her after that so all is well.
And the ending.
Let me state here how I am an open ending kind of person. I don't just like it, I dig it. It's probably because I'm a perpetually sad person but I like seeing characters end their stories at a crossroad of their lives. I like being left to wonder whether they find their happy endings (which doesn't exist unless the characters die happily; e.g. The Notebook, then fine it does 😜) or not. Whether they chose to live or die. Because that's how life really is. The story doesn't end even after the storyteller ends their storytelling. It goes on and on and on until life itself ends.
Yet, somehow, for this particular story, I wanted to know if he at least found out that she did and does love him. I wanted to know if she was able to tell him. I wanted her to start catching up to him since that's what he's been doing since they first met. I want her to start being a person who takes chances as they come and not be a total risk-averse lead character. I have tons of ideas why I want her go out of that effing comfort zone and one of that is wanting a lead character, her specifically, to not be a person stuck in life like yours truly. I want her to not be me.
Unfortunately, she, again, ran away and he was still the one running to catch her.
That was my main problem with the film. On the other hand, as this was based on a book, maybe the director didn't really feel to be at liberty to change the characteristics of the characters so... ┐( ̄ヮ ̄)┌
P.S. Eff you IMDb, this film deserves a 7.5 and that's that. 😊
Nerve (2016)
Interesting plot, failed to fully deliver
I'm an anarchist and nope, anarchy doesn't work this way. (At least that's what I've learned from the books I've been reading and not the movies I've watched which are telling me otherwise.)
I like the film. It's interesting. It's realistic given that in today's society with the prevalence of social media among people, teens especially, everything, or most things anyway, is done for the sake of views, likes, hearts, shares, re-tweets, or whatnot. People aim to be internet famous not so much as be an actual TV or big screen celebrity.
That is our reality now.
Not that I'm complaining. I, for one, love the internet and that's not because I also need the constant approval of anonymous individuals (I don't, although getting a nod here and there ain't bad sometimes), but because I get to reach out easily, or at least easier than it would be before the internet was made available to everyone or almost everyone (Jae for example 😜).
But it still remains scary how most people find the necessity to receive nods from complete strangers to feel, well, complete. It's scary but every time I open my social media accounts, I see people doing almost everything to become viral and have their 10 minutes of fame. It's crazy. And have I said that it's scary? Because it is.
And you know what's scarier? Knowing that Nerve's reality is actually not that far from this world's reality.
Given all that I'm still giving the film a 6.5. Why? It could've tried to take itself more seriously but it chickened out and gave us a happy ending wherein good defeats evil (or busybodies who like making other people do dares they won't do themselves even with their lives on the line). Yup, exactly how a teen friendly thriller would run.
P.S. I changed my mind and I'm now giving it an 8 because Dave Franco. I watched this for Emma and stayed for Dave. I know a couple of Ians in real life but his Ian sets the bar for how Ians should be IRL.
Gori Tere Pyaar Mein! (2013)
An average movie goer's POV
I don't understand the hate on GTPM. I read and tried to be open-minded about their comments and all I see is personal dislike against the actors, writers, and director. Seriously. Why watch the movie if all you're gonna do is hate on a personal level? Granted, it wasn't the best but it was good. Would have been great if not for the typical romcom stuff shown in the first half of the film. But yeah, it was tagged as romcom (and romcom wise, it was effective). The second half was amazing though. The Hero did not beat anyone by mere physical strength (e.g., SRK being superhuman all of a sudden in Chennai Express - a film that I also liked a lot btw, but just saying), he actually has never beaten anyone physically. He emerged victorious because of well, heroic stuff that heroes are made of (i.e., bravery and strong will, duh).
This film is fun for family watching. Recommended.