A town somewhere in China, Chen Jing, sophomore Chinese Music at Zhongxia Academy of Music's Afiliative High School, sees the handsome classical music student Wang Wen practicing on the piano and immediately falls in love with him ... The film goes far beyond the novel, it teaches about Chinese music and proper classical music in a rather energetic, rather entertaining, but fun, youthful comedy driven by an animated performance by TV actress Xu Lu.
The film sustains its energy from a mass of small details and quirky ideas, beginning with the two music departments being so hostile to each other that they are separated by an iron gate in the same building. An innovative film full of energy and innovative ideas that is worth watching.
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Note: I haven’t read the novel this is based on, simply commenting on the film as a single entity.
Story 9.0
I like the idea of old meets new, battle of this vs. that, but in the end they meet in the middle and peace comes over. A dying art, should be cared for by all, both new and old. The instruments melding together was perfect. The only thing lacking I found was the romance line, was predictable. I found myself wanting the plot line to be excluded from this film and focus on the rivalry.
Acting/Cast 9.5
The cast didn’t bother me when it came to acting. It thought that the lead, Xu Lu, did a good job. I couldn’t really think of an actress who could replace her. It’s not the best emotional acting, but the story and plot line doesn’t really call for it. The comedy part really shined for everyone.
Music 10
I don’t really know much about music. I am more of a costume person, but the music in this really was amazing. The battle scene, the last song, everything was so well done, that I couldn’t fathom not giving it a 10. Because this plot follows heavily on music, It was really well done. I even found myself loving some of the classical chinese instruments amazing and trying to find instrumental recordings to listen to. Job well done!
Re:watch Value 8.5
I honestly would watch it over again. I think I would get tired of the story plot after a few watches, but I could watch the battle scene everyday for the rest of my life and never tire of it. The plot line can be repetitive, but the music is beyond interesting to me.
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This review may contain spoilers
The story about culture that we often forget + some youth energy & love. We as modern people, sometimes forget how important, deep & meaningful our traditional, sometimes mostly about our own culture, we often more proud with international or modern stuff. This drama tell story about some student that have enthusiasm for traditional musical instrument & some of them even have enthusiasm about Chinese history itself. While some of them try to find the root for the traditional musical instrument itself.
The story start from Chen Jing (CJ) that see Wang Wen (WW), the handsome classical music student, while he's practicing on the piano and immediately falls in love with him. While WW himself condescending CJ & her traditional musical instrument, thinking that traditional musical instrument outdated. CJ hear that determine to introduce her traditional musical instrument (Yang Qin) & make WW acknowledge both herself & her Yang Qin. With that thought in her mind, she begin her journey to make people acknowledge traditional musical instrument altogether.
In her journey, she meet with unique friend that turn out really passionate about traditional musical instrument than herself. And together with them she finally start to ask herself about her root with Yang Qin itself.
In their journey to make more people know and finally feeling proud with traditional musical instrument. They encounter many condescending word or behavior that think traditional musical instrument just outdated, even their teacher not really support them. But with friend & their love & passionate for traditional musical instrument they keep in their journey.
How the end...? Well I tell you enough, not gonna spoiled the end for you too. So... In the end Music is something everyone can enjoy no matter outdated or not... ^^
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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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