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Frost_edelweiss

Frost_edelweiss

Our Shining Days chinese movie review
Completed
Our Shining Days
0 people found this review helpful
by Frost_edelweiss
Apr 24, 2022
Completed
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 10.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

A very enjoyable movie about young music students involved in ancient instruments revival

I watched this movie back in 2017, and liked very much the showcase of new musical trends, notably gufeng as it is termed here, which work towards a revival of ancient instruments, from the better known erhu, pipa and guzheng string instruments that are still used in folk music, to really ancient ones that can now mostly be found in museums : the bianzhong bronze bell carillon, etc.. The young yangqing player and the members of her new band played and acted very well as dedicated musicians and shy or outspoken otakus living their lives in cosplay. It showed the emerging subculture of the young who devote themselves to gaming, mangas and fanfiction while they are still at school or in college.

The concerts were highlights : the epic music battle opposing the the classical instrument players and the ancient instruments department, won by the cheeky suona ; the performance of Sun Quan The Emperor at the ACG (anime, comics and gamig) convention with the guest appearance of Luo Tianyi! And the last part with the youth concert and the CGI mythical beasts flying over the stage , followed by the brief apearance of mandopop legend Eason Chan were also very memorable.

It was a thrill for those who already knew something about the music and subculture, and a smooth introduction for those who did not and had to stay on the surface of the youth romance. It could perhaps have benefited from some captions, to better enlighten the older or foreign audience unfamiliar with the tunes and celebrities that appeared there.

The new trends in pop music have been branching out in many directions since the emergence of Chinese pop stars like Deng Lijun back in the 1980s and the disco style of Sally Yeh who took Chinese listeners by storm in 1991 with her song Xiao sa zou yi hui (Gracefully walking). Mandopop or cantopop are relatively well known also abroad, spearheaded by a number of stars who, over the years, took the tunes closer to Chinese spirit, while introducing foreign elements such as rap and hip hop, which first found its footing in tunes by legends such as JJ Lin (Cao Cao) and especially Jay Chou (Fearless, etc) - proponents of the new rhythms that evolved into what is now termed as zhongguofeng incorporating Chinese opera style singing or literal musical quotes such as in the songs Chi Ling or Mangzhong,.
At the opposite end of the spectrum were bands such as S.H.E. from Taiwan who belted out songs like Zhongguohua, but also songs incorporating tunes from western classics such as in Bu xiang zhang da. The new Z.Tao style Cpop is unapologetically influenced by K-pop bands and EDM dance music, as well as by American rap : these songs (T.A.O. Alone, Collateral Love, Cross the Line etc) were composed with the explicit purpose of bringing Chinese music to the attention of global audiences, therefore incorporating titles and lines in English together with the rapid fire rap in mandarin.
Gaming music on the other hand, also pays homage to ancient Chinese culture and singing ; it is enjoying an ever bigger popularity with games such as Genshin impact and League of Legends. The Vocaloid phenomenon Luo Tianyi has also drawn enormous crowds to "her" concerts, which make use of ancient music styles mixed with electronica.
Even though these tunes are not explicitly mentioned in the movie, they are the nurturing ground for the type of music that is heard.

A 24 episode drama version by the same production crew has been released in 2019, retitled "Our Shiny Days".
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