JohnnyRobinson
Springfield, MO
WARNING: Do not watch this movie by yourself, unless you have one and a half boxes of tissue handy!
I did like this movie over Middle Student A, but the director, Luo Luo, left a few unanswered questions at the end of this one.
WARNING: Do not watch this movie by yourself, unless you have on and a half boxes of tissue handy!
(I just LOVE the idiots who 'edit' movies like this, trying to change the outcome or such; I originally wrote this review after seeing the 1 hr, 34 min version of this movie online; however, after finding the full movie of 1:43, a few of the dandling ends were found!)
First of all, my compliments to the director for taking a chance on so many new faces in making a movie like this; only one of the support females had any experience in movies prior.
I also want to give a compliment to Vivian Wu the veteran actress who played Yi Yao's mother, Lin Huo Feng; if i had a way of contacting her, I would like to ask her if her response after finding out how her daughter got her 'ailment' was improvised or not. Her response was something that a veteran actress would have improvised if it was not in the script!
She played a great support role in this movie; turning her daughter away when she thought the kid just wanted new things, but became a very caring mother after finding out the real need for the money! I do not blame mother one bit in telling her to wear last year's uniform to school. I also understand her asking Yi Yao not to come around at her place of work.
I don't see her mother as being ashamed of her, as much as I see the mother being ashamed of what life has given her after losing her middle-class family life when Yi Yao was younger.
My main criticism of this movie is so many unanswered questions at the end that were left dangling or not answered at all.
Young school girl Yi Yao (Ren Min) went from being part of a middle-class family (shown through a flashback) to going up with a mother struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table for the two of them. Luo Luo could have added a minute or two on the movie in explaining what befell the two females.
The next-door neighbor boy in the same grade, Qi Ming (Zhao Ying Bo) was nice to her and fed her and looked after her, even stealing for her. However, Qi Ming is also cute and also a model student at the top of his class.
Everything was on a level where most situations could be handled; but the movie needed some adversary to happen!
Two twins, [Gu} Sen Xi (Xin Yun Lai) and his twin sister [Gu] Sen Xiang (Zhang Ruo Nan,) appear at Yi Yao's school; Sen Xiang has been seen by Yi Yao before, but she denies it.
However, Sen Xiang develops a crush on Qi Ming, and follows Yi Yao to a shady part of town, and stats a vicious rumor about the young girl who is struggling inside already.
In dealing with wife and child abuse, those who have been 'abused' in the past are those who continue the cycle of abuse; while Sen Xi tries to start a relationship with Yi Yao, his movie sister reinforces her inner struggles the only way she knows how, and Yi Yao is her victim! Others join in on what they think is easy fun!
However, Sen Xi teaches Yi Yao to stand up for herself, and the students get some of their own medicine back!
Unfortunately, things get worse for Yi Yao!
I liked the topic being addressed by a mainstream movie, but I wish the characters would have been developed better; another 10-15 minutes could have meant a better movie!
The main characters I felt actually acted as if they were high school students and the chemistry, for so little time together were good!
The support cast made the main cast look good and made the movie flow well, as in real life! I already complimented the senior actress Vivian Wu for their support role!
The movie has a couple of "twists" in it that I didn't see coming; I will let you find those out yourself!
For a brief moment after the mother pays for her ailment to be healed, Yi Yao can hold her head up proudly at school, knowing her mother's true feelings about her, and she witnesses one of the students who bullied her get the same treatment; but of course, this is the calm before the storm!
Th ending really sucked! Much is basically left up in the air.
First, whether or not Yi Yao dies is a question that most people watching this movie want to know later. I even had to refer to the original manga to find out myself.
The tables are turned on one of the main female characters near the end of the movie and it does not really give any setup for what happened, and the followup that happened (if you blink, you will miss it!)
I was able to hold my tears until the speech Yi Yao gives Qi Ming after the class trip to the museum (1:05:00 on), where she told him that she wanted to be one of the girls who used tampons with scent (not generic!)...i grew up as poor as Yi Yao did, and I know where she is coming from!
No reason is given for the death of one of the main female leads near the end of the movie; as I said, another 10-15 minutes could have answered this question for all!
Other unresolved plot twists with no further info:
Near the end of the movie, Sen Xi tells Yi Yao that his sister Sen Xiang is going to Australia as an exchange student for the next three months;
The parents of Qi Ming are devastated by the death of one of the female leads right after that...was Qi Ming 'connected" to her in any way, or was he the reason she was going to Australia as an exchange student?
(Actually, I was glad that Qi Ming's mother got taken down a notch or two.)
Why did anyone suspect Yi Yao as being involved with the death of the other female lead? The only clue was someone dragging a pipe on the concrete; Yi Yao didn't need a pipe to whoop another female's butt if it needed whooping!
The other person who was listed as a main female cast member Tang Xiao Mi (Zhu Dan Ni, who wasn't a main cast member, since she didn't show up until the last few scenes of the movie) received a phone call about the time of the death; only one other very brief screen mentions this as the credits are rolling!)...was she the one that killed the other female lead, and why?
It showed a news reel of " Tang, less than eighteen years old, committed the crime..." Did she kill the other female lead?
This could have easily been a '10' movie, but there were so many unanswered questions at the end before the credits rolled.
I cried again when Yi Yao was attempting to scrub the graffiti off the concrete and crying - though I don't know what the graffiti said!
Why did Yi Yaos' mother move out of the ghetto? How did Yi Yao's mother move out of the ghetto? Was it with the money she was saving for Yi Yao?
Sen Xi changed schools; did he move somewhere in China? Or did he take his sister's place as the exchange student?
Did Yi Yao die? Or did Sen Xi talk to a ghost in the end?
Did the ghost of Yi Yao smile at the sight of Qi Ming in the last scene?
WARNING: Do not watch this movie by yourself, unless you have on and a half boxes of tissue handy!
(I just LOVE the idiots who 'edit' movies like this, trying to change the outcome or such; I originally wrote this review after seeing the 1 hr, 34 min version of this movie online; however, after finding the full movie of 1:43, a few of the dandling ends were found!)
First of all, my compliments to the director for taking a chance on so many new faces in making a movie like this; only one of the support females had any experience in movies prior.
I also want to give a compliment to Vivian Wu the veteran actress who played Yi Yao's mother, Lin Huo Feng; if i had a way of contacting her, I would like to ask her if her response after finding out how her daughter got her 'ailment' was improvised or not. Her response was something that a veteran actress would have improvised if it was not in the script!
She played a great support role in this movie; turning her daughter away when she thought the kid just wanted new things, but became a very caring mother after finding out the real need for the money! I do not blame mother one bit in telling her to wear last year's uniform to school. I also understand her asking Yi Yao not to come around at her place of work.
I don't see her mother as being ashamed of her, as much as I see the mother being ashamed of what life has given her after losing her middle-class family life when Yi Yao was younger.
My main criticism of this movie is so many unanswered questions at the end that were left dangling or not answered at all.
Young school girl Yi Yao (Ren Min) went from being part of a middle-class family (shown through a flashback) to going up with a mother struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table for the two of them. Luo Luo could have added a minute or two on the movie in explaining what befell the two females.
The next-door neighbor boy in the same grade, Qi Ming (Zhao Ying Bo) was nice to her and fed her and looked after her, even stealing for her. However, Qi Ming is also cute and also a model student at the top of his class.
Everything was on a level where most situations could be handled; but the movie needed some adversary to happen!
Two twins, [Gu} Sen Xi (Xin Yun Lai) and his twin sister [Gu] Sen Xiang (Zhang Ruo Nan,) appear at Yi Yao's school; Sen Xiang has been seen by Yi Yao before, but she denies it.
However, Sen Xiang develops a crush on Qi Ming, and follows Yi Yao to a shady part of town, and stats a vicious rumor about the young girl who is struggling inside already.
In dealing with wife and child abuse, those who have been 'abused' in the past are those who continue the cycle of abuse; while Sen Xi tries to start a relationship with Yi Yao, his movie sister reinforces her inner struggles the only way she knows how, and Yi Yao is her victim! Others join in on what they think is easy fun!
However, Sen Xi teaches Yi Yao to stand up for herself, and the students get some of their own medicine back!
Unfortunately, things get worse for Yi Yao!
I liked the topic being addressed by a mainstream movie, but I wish the characters would have been developed better; another 10-15 minutes could have meant a better movie!
The main characters I felt actually acted as if they were high school students and the chemistry, for so little time together were good!
The support cast made the main cast look good and made the movie flow well, as in real life! I already complimented the senior actress Vivian Wu for their support role!
The movie has a couple of "twists" in it that I didn't see coming; I will let you find those out yourself!
For a brief moment after the mother pays for her ailment to be healed, Yi Yao can hold her head up proudly at school, knowing her mother's true feelings about her, and she witnesses one of the students who bullied her get the same treatment; but of course, this is the calm before the storm!
Th ending really sucked! Much is basically left up in the air.
First, whether or not Yi Yao dies is a question that most people watching this movie want to know later. I even had to refer to the original manga to find out myself.
The tables are turned on one of the main female characters near the end of the movie and it does not really give any setup for what happened, and the followup that happened (if you blink, you will miss it!)
I was able to hold my tears until the speech Yi Yao gives Qi Ming after the class trip to the museum (1:05:00 on), where she told him that she wanted to be one of the girls who used tampons with scent (not generic!)...i grew up as poor as Yi Yao did, and I know where she is coming from!
No reason is given for the death of one of the main female leads near the end of the movie; as I said, another 10-15 minutes could have answered this question for all!
Other unresolved plot twists with no further info:
Near the end of the movie, Sen Xi tells Yi Yao that his sister Sen Xiang is going to Australia as an exchange student for the next three months;
The parents of Qi Ming are devastated by the death of one of the female leads right after that...was Qi Ming 'connected" to her in any way, or was he the reason she was going to Australia as an exchange student?
(Actually, I was glad that Qi Ming's mother got taken down a notch or two.)
Why did anyone suspect Yi Yao as being involved with the death of the other female lead? The only clue was someone dragging a pipe on the concrete; Yi Yao didn't need a pipe to whoop another female's butt if it needed whooping!
The other person who was listed as a main female cast member Tang Xiao Mi (Zhu Dan Ni, who wasn't a main cast member, since she didn't show up until the last few scenes of the movie) received a phone call about the time of the death; only one other very brief screen mentions this as the credits are rolling!)...was she the one that killed the other female lead, and why?
It showed a news reel of " Tang, less than eighteen years old, committed the crime..." Did she kill the other female lead?
This could have easily been a '10' movie, but there were so many unanswered questions at the end before the credits rolled.
I cried again when Yi Yao was attempting to scrub the graffiti off the concrete and crying - though I don't know what the graffiti said!
Why did Yi Yaos' mother move out of the ghetto? How did Yi Yao's mother move out of the ghetto? Was it with the money she was saving for Yi Yao?
Sen Xi changed schools; did he move somewhere in China? Or did he take his sister's place as the exchange student?
Did Yi Yao die? Or did Sen Xi talk to a ghost in the end?
Did the ghost of Yi Yao smile at the sight of Qi Ming in the last scene?
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