Michael's Movie Grade: B
A moving romance film from China.
The most important ingredient to any romance movie is that we care about the relationship between the main characters. This may sound like an obvious statement, but it is in this department that too many of these films fail. Luckily this film works very well in this department. We truly care about these characters, both as individuals and as a couple. As they film goes on, we want more and more to see a happy ending for this couple. This is also a very handsome looking movie, that has a wonderful almost dreamlike quality look that is simply a joy to look at. Even the scenes inside a rowdy bar having a wonderfully fun look to it. In the scenes inside that bar, there is always something going on in the background that makes the environment more real to us.
Partway through this movie, it takes a turn to a more sci-fi fantasy type of storytelling. This is both one of the movie's strongest strengths and one of its biggest flaws. What this film does with this sci-fi type of storytelling is very clever and effective. It ups the ante for the romance story making us have an even deeper connection to these characters. It also leads to a very emotional and clever ending to the film. However, when this change to a more fantastical type of storytelling first happens, it comes out of left field. It is not properly built up to and the sudden and abrupt change simply takes us out of the movie.
This movie also unfortunately has some very bland supporting characters, and some its humor falls flat.
Though this movie is flawed, the things that work are truly excellent.
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