Years ago, on an unusual day, a dozen people suddenly stood sparsely at the door of the classroom. At that time, I was still a senior in high school, and I was confused about the future. And all of them frowned, their eyes lowered, and they looked preoccupied. From that day on, we drowned in the sea of books and exam papers together until July 6th of the following year (the July college entrance examination at that time). We are classmates, but they have already taken the college entrance examination once. In order to distinguish each other, we became fresh students, and they were collectively called repeating students.
"Youth of You" just opened, and Chen Nian, played by Zhou Dongyu, was revealed as a repeater. Unlike those who failed the list, Chen Nianzhi was admitted to a first-class university in Beijing, which was almost the only way for her to change her fate. Chen Nian immediately became the number one target of the "school violence gang" headed by Wei Lai after a female classmate who was also a repeater couldn't bear the bullying and committed suicide by jumping off the building. Wei Lai has excellent grades and a wealthy family. Compared with Chen Nian, whose mother ran away in debt, Wei Lai's life is a future.
It's a stifling start. Almost without preparation, the audience was quickly drawn into a dark abyss. Anyone who has gone through the high school entrance examination and the third year of high school is full of fear of the darkness that goes hand in hand. Waking up from a dream in countless nights, looking down at the bed in the university dormitory, who has never had such a terrifying experience, it is simply the afterlife of an ordinary person. In the days when I was overwhelmed by the college entrance examination, my original spirit was almost collapsed. If I suffered school violence again, it would be tantamount to worsening. They were seventeen or eighteen-year-old children who should not have been under such a heavy burden, and when the string could no longer be stretched, death became a cruel relief.
From the beginning, the director did not intend to give the audience good fruit to eat. Hu Xiaodie's death was silent, under the background of a group of shaking cameras, the atmosphere instantly fell to freezing point. For the audience, the colder the film is, the harder the boulder that squeezes their chest. However, the director has no intention of restraining, and continues to use realistic methods to show the cruelty of school violence. Every time poor Chen Nian received a slap, the audience felt like a knife had been stabbed in their hearts. It is hard to imagine that if a person who has been bullied on campus watches this film, will the scar in her heart that has not healed for a long time spit out blood again?
As a male, it is also difficult to say no to school violence while growing up in adolescence. In the third year of junior high school, a gangster blackmailed me for fifty dollars and blocked me with a bicycle every day. Every time after school, I trot home like a frightened bird, and I was frightened for a semester. Therefore, seeing Chen Nian's tragic experience, she was naturally indignant, and at the same time she understood her resignation: firstly, there was still a lack of relevant laws and regulations to protect young people from bullying, and secondly, she had a firm belief, That is the high school entrance examination. But when she realized that if she continued like this, she might not even see her on the day of the college entrance examination, Xiao Bei, played by Yi Yang Qianxi, appeared dramatically.
In Chen Nian's bitter life, Xiaobei was a piece of candy. Young you, innocent and hazy feelings, quietly ignited in the hearts of two children who were abandoned by reality. Xiaobei's appearance is a little embarrassing, like Zhang Yu in "The Elephant Sitting on the Floor". But in terms of his hot-blooded character, he is similar to Zhang Yu in "I'm not the God of Medicine". But Yi Yang Qianxi proved with his strength that he doesn't need to be the second Zhang Yu, he is Xiao Bei. Just like when he rode a motorcycle with Chen Nian for a ride, he didn't need to be the second Jia Hongsheng, and Zhou Dongyu had already proved that she was not inferior to Zhou Xun in terms of talent and intelligence, although this scene is indeed hard not to remind people of " Suzhou River".
This is the best moment in the movie. Although it is not a pure love movie, as long as two people are together, even the shabby and messy house becomes warm and sweet. Since then, Xiaobei has become a "stalker", silently guarding Chen Nian. Anqiao is not Gotham City, but Xiaobei is Chen Nian's Batman. "You protect the world, I will protect you." A seemingly childish sentence turned into a promise stronger than a rock. Even if Chen Nian committed manslaughter, they never wavered in the face of the police's various interrogation skills. This makes even the seasoned policeman unable to figure out the motive, "Me and you will not, but they are still teenagers". Yes, it is precisely because of the youth that it is a little bit farther away from the filth and indifference of the adult world.
In the handling of the second half of the film, the young director Zeng Guoxiang showed an old way of transcending his age. Regardless of scene scheduling or rhythm control, they are all textbook-like models. In particular, the filming techniques of suspense films are also introduced, and the almost explosive conflict and tension during the interrogation have extremely high requirements on the overall level of the director. Compared with the previous "July and Ansheng", Zeng Guoxiang has undoubtedly taken a big step forward. Xu Yuezhen also contributed a lot. As a gold-medal producer for Chen Kexin's royal family, she can now give Zeng Guoxiang, Xu Hongyu and other young directors the most effective escort. A solid script is the cornerstone of success, and the three screenwriters, including Lin Yongchen, are also heroes behind the scenes that cannot be ignored. Zhou Dongyu doesn't need to boast any more, Yi Yang Qianxi has proved that he is a good actor with a promising future. Such an excellent team can naturally deliver a satisfactory answer sheet.
This may not be the best Chinese movie of 2019, but it must be the most surprising Chinese movie of 2019. Just like the fate of the hero and heroine, it is not easy for "Youth of You" to finally meet the audience on the big screen. Such difficulties also make the movie more powerful: on the one hand, there are too few youth-themed movies that can be produced in China; In the face of the reality that school violence occurs from time to time today, it is like a timely rain from the sky. It tells the story of a cruel youth, but it is by no means a copy of "Guling Street Teenage Murder". Like a ray of light in the darkness, what ultimately leaves people is hope. Those bruised scars will fall off inadvertently one day. Maybe sadness, maybe joy, our adolescence is always only once.
How long has it been since you gave a domestic movie five stars? I've been a long time anyway. But today, I want to solemnly give it five stars. For yesterday, for the college entrance examination, for the lost youth, for the young you.
View more about Better Days reviews
