What an enjoyable 2 hrs in the cinema! China's much wittier feminist film than Barbie

I believe my headline says it all. I was surrounded in the cinema by many Chinese women and we were all laughing out loud together because this is by far the best Chinese feminist film I have seen. Lots of feminist films stop at the awakening stage but this film deals with the post-awakening phase of feminism; what happens after you become this capable independent woman who's also a mother and who is a divorcee and you don't miss being married, what does this woman's life look like? It deals with themes of various styles of parenting, past trauma weighing on psychological and emotional wellbeing and behaviour, and the current dilemmas of current stage feminism and gender relations and its discourse on its effects on both men and women.

The trailer doesn't make much sense so this is the synopsis without spoilers: This is a 3 female leads "slice-of-life" film who are each a half generation apart and the tangled web of relationships between each other and the various men in their lives including ex-husbands, new lovers and friends.

I so thoroughly enjoyed it that I'm watching it for a second time this coming week. The question I have is - Did I enjoy it so much because it was in language and culture I understand and will some of those jokes that seem so culturally specific translate into jokes for others who do not speak the language nor have some understanding of the culture? If you notice, there's always somewhat of a discrepancy between the douban scores (china-based) and mydramalist (diaspora) scores with few exceptions.

In short, go watch this film! For any reason you can think of - for cultural study, for laughs, for fun, for language learning, for the witty dialogue, to support female writer-directors.

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