Some stories are told to such perfection that the small details of good and bad fade away and all that exists is the story that you have lost yourself into. You will become a part of it, holding your breath with the characters in moments of tension, screaming in joy when they are happy, and bawling your eyes out when they are heartbroken. You feel their hidden emotions when their love for a beloved soars but instead of telling them "I love you", they only say "It's alright". But you understand. The story doesn’t need to be complicated or extremely clever or universally monumental for it to be sublime. In these cases, the story surpasses the confines of its format and becomes a moment of pure catharsis.
Upcoming Summer is one of those beautiful moments when everything in the story just clicks perfectly together to tell a simple story about love, heartbreak, denial, friendship, and the power to brave the hard curves in life and come to terms with what you will rather not deal with.

You might like this movie if you like:
1. Coming-of-age stories
2. Stories about music
3. Stories about friendship
4. Unrequited love
5. Family disfunction
6. Subtle but definitely there, queer representation**
7. If you liked the movie, The Half of it, there is a high chance you will like this too.

Summary: Chen Chen bombs her college entrance exam after a spontaneous night-swim the day before the exam. When pushed to reveal the reason, she claims it was because her boyfriend broke up with her. She names Zheng Yuxing, a classmate who all but skipped the exam, as her beau. This puts both of them under extreme scrutiny at school, much to Zheng Yu Xing’s amusement and Chen Chen's mortification. Slowly, however, the two become friends, and ultimately help each other face the hardships they have been avoiding in their respective personal lives.

Plot: The plot was amazing. I don’t even care if the details were not great or anything. The movie has perfect structure. It sets out to answer some questions: about the truth of what happened the night before the exam, about Chen Chen’s mother, Zheng Yu Xing’s past relationship, and how Chen Chen is going to come to terms with all that before entering the next phase of her life. Every single moment in the story has a purpose. There’s perfect harmony in how each scene leads to the next, how the decisions of each character work in tandem with the other, and they all culminate in a perfect climax where everything is revealed. They manage to create such an enjoyable and emotionally charged experience. I loved it!

Acting: It was also great! Naturally, the actors were all perfect in their roles. I knew some from previous works but not Zhang Zi Feng who knocked it out of the park with her raw depiction of Chen Chen in her moment of crisis. Wu Lei was great but I’ve come to expect that from him. I don’t think he’ll ever grow up in my eyes, though! To me, Wu Lei is going to be “the forever teenage boy”! That said, despite this being his third project I’m watching this year, he was completely lost in the character to the point that I only saw Zheng Yu Xing and not the actor. They both have great chemistry and they really sell the emotional moments. Hao Lei who plays Chen Chen’s mother was also amazing in her role. Everyone else was good.

Music and Production: This movie is about music. So naturally, the music was great. Leitmotif was used beautifully and it just stabs at your heart. I’m not a huge fan of electric music but I still think the choices were appropriate for the movie and enhanced the watching experience. The production was also wonderful. The cinematography was gorgeous. The framings were lovely. The play with light! Oh, the play with light! I wanted to eat the lights!!!! The sets perfectly established the mood and introduced important facts about the characters…perfect!

Rewatch value: Hells yeah! Watch me cry over this movie, over and over and over again!

Overall: To be fair, I didn’t wait too long to watch this but the anticipation was there and I am so happy that it was worth it. Although I’m not a huge Wu Lei fan per se, I’ve come to anticipate his projects and almost always end up watching the works he’s in because they’re always really interesting with good productions and storytelling. This movie is no exception. I just really loved this movie. It’s a little sad, it’s a little cute, and it definitely taps into a raw, authentic emotional source that will stay with you long after you finish watching it. Highly recommended.
.
.
.
.
.
.
**SLIGHTLY SPOILERY REVIEW BELOW! Do not read the rest if you haven't watched the movie!
.
.
.
.
.
.
Plot but make it spoiler: Yes, there definitely is a small (read HUGE) subplot that heavily signals a lgbtqa narrative. There’s even a little shot that shows couples of different genders being all cute together. So they knew what they were doing. What I want to credit the movie for is how they manage to show and hint at DJ XYZ’s orientation and Ming’s gender without really saying anything. It’s a bit regressive to gush over queer subtext, I know that. But coming from cultures/countries that are nowhere near as open about this stuff as, for example, The United States, it’s a big deal to see any movie that manages to tell profound stories about these matters and characters despite the stigma and the rules and whatnot. I always appreciate the ways a good writer gets creative so they can stay true to their vision and not give into conventional and sterile storytelling. Double Kudos!