This review may contain spoilers
Was it Real? Does it matter?
8/10 is my rating for this 2017 Chinese comedy drama. Run time is 1 hour and 30 minutes. It is a remake of a 2015 South Korean movie entitled "Wonderful Nightmare."
Review
My rating 8/10
For a movie-length story, I thought it did a reasonable job emotionally connecting you to the characters in a short amount of time. The premise itself was compelling with a blend of fantasy, family drama, and romance. The focus was not on the romance but more her journey and a transformative experience.
What stood out most to me was the emotional growth of the female lead and how the film explored the value of ordinary life, family, and connection. The movie has a very warm emotional core, especially in the quieter moments between the family members. The little boy absolutely stole the movie for me. His scenes felt the most genuine and emotionally impactful. That is what showed her the sweet side of being someone's mother.
One thing that kept the movie from rating higher for me was how much potential the concept had for a longer format. This easily could have worked as a drama series because there were so many emotional layers and unanswered questions that the film simply didn’t have enough time to fully explore. The ending especially leaves a lingering sadness because of everything the female lead experienced with the family and how abruptly that connection disappears.
A lot of viewers seem split on the ending. Some appreciate its emotional ambiguity and focus on personal growth, while others — like me — found it heartbreaking and frustrating not knowing what truly happened to the family after the timeline reset. The emotional attachment built during the story makes it hard to simply accept that separation so easily.
Spoilers
The emotional core of the movie is really about the female lead (Li Yitian) learning how to love, connect, and value relationships rather than focusing only on career success and personal ambition. After the accident and supernatural intervention, she temporarily experiences an "alternate life"? where she is married with children — something completely opposite from the isolated life she originally lived.
What makes the movie emotionally difficult is how real that family becomes to her. And how real it is to the audience. The little boy especially forms a genuine emotional bond with her, which is why the ending feels so sad. After spending that much time loving and caring for him, it feels almost impossible to imagine simply returning to normal life and moving on.
One of the biggest unanswered questions is what actually happened to the "alternate family" once Li Yitian returns to her original reality. The film never fully explains whether that timeline was erased, whether the family continues existing without her, or whether they were only part of the supernatural “lesson” she needed to experience. That ambiguity was likely intentional, but it also leaves a lingering emotional emptiness. It was even more confusing because her spiritual guide says what happened to the real mother and that if she wasn't there they would have already experienced that loss. So that alludes to the fact that they are real and had a real wife/mother.
To me the story felt as much about that family as it did about her so not knowing what happened with them made it feel very incomplete.
The man on the plane and her flirtatious connection with him shows she is clearly open to having a romantic connection with someone. Open to love. Ready to have that be a part of her life. But that also felt sad, weirdly like cheating, because she didn't try that hard to find out what happened to the family she was briefly a part of.
Li Yitian seems to have accepted that family is no longer accessible to her. But viewers, such as me, would feel no closure for the other characters we became equally attached to. Did they lose their wife and mother as the spirit guide had indicated? Since they were able to write her into their story, did they just then erase their existence after she left entirely? Or, did they change them back to the way they were and thus she would not be able to find them because their names and everything may have changed? It was a nebulous and sad way to close that off.
That unresolved feeling is probably why the movie sticks with people emotionally after it ends. There’s a sense of grief attached to the experience because the family felt real, here spirit guide seemed to indicate they were real, and yet her actions indicate, once she tried a little, her complete willingness to give up on that family.
Review
My rating 8/10
For a movie-length story, I thought it did a reasonable job emotionally connecting you to the characters in a short amount of time. The premise itself was compelling with a blend of fantasy, family drama, and romance. The focus was not on the romance but more her journey and a transformative experience.
What stood out most to me was the emotional growth of the female lead and how the film explored the value of ordinary life, family, and connection. The movie has a very warm emotional core, especially in the quieter moments between the family members. The little boy absolutely stole the movie for me. His scenes felt the most genuine and emotionally impactful. That is what showed her the sweet side of being someone's mother.
One thing that kept the movie from rating higher for me was how much potential the concept had for a longer format. This easily could have worked as a drama series because there were so many emotional layers and unanswered questions that the film simply didn’t have enough time to fully explore. The ending especially leaves a lingering sadness because of everything the female lead experienced with the family and how abruptly that connection disappears.
A lot of viewers seem split on the ending. Some appreciate its emotional ambiguity and focus on personal growth, while others — like me — found it heartbreaking and frustrating not knowing what truly happened to the family after the timeline reset. The emotional attachment built during the story makes it hard to simply accept that separation so easily.
Spoilers
The emotional core of the movie is really about the female lead (Li Yitian) learning how to love, connect, and value relationships rather than focusing only on career success and personal ambition. After the accident and supernatural intervention, she temporarily experiences an "alternate life"? where she is married with children — something completely opposite from the isolated life she originally lived.
What makes the movie emotionally difficult is how real that family becomes to her. And how real it is to the audience. The little boy especially forms a genuine emotional bond with her, which is why the ending feels so sad. After spending that much time loving and caring for him, it feels almost impossible to imagine simply returning to normal life and moving on.
One of the biggest unanswered questions is what actually happened to the "alternate family" once Li Yitian returns to her original reality. The film never fully explains whether that timeline was erased, whether the family continues existing without her, or whether they were only part of the supernatural “lesson” she needed to experience. That ambiguity was likely intentional, but it also leaves a lingering emotional emptiness. It was even more confusing because her spiritual guide says what happened to the real mother and that if she wasn't there they would have already experienced that loss. So that alludes to the fact that they are real and had a real wife/mother.
To me the story felt as much about that family as it did about her so not knowing what happened with them made it feel very incomplete.
The man on the plane and her flirtatious connection with him shows she is clearly open to having a romantic connection with someone. Open to love. Ready to have that be a part of her life. But that also felt sad, weirdly like cheating, because she didn't try that hard to find out what happened to the family she was briefly a part of.
Li Yitian seems to have accepted that family is no longer accessible to her. But viewers, such as me, would feel no closure for the other characters we became equally attached to. Did they lose their wife and mother as the spirit guide had indicated? Since they were able to write her into their story, did they just then erase their existence after she left entirely? Or, did they change them back to the way they were and thus she would not be able to find them because their names and everything may have changed? It was a nebulous and sad way to close that off.
That unresolved feeling is probably why the movie sticks with people emotionally after it ends. There’s a sense of grief attached to the experience because the family felt real, here spirit guide seemed to indicate they were real, and yet her actions indicate, once she tried a little, her complete willingness to give up on that family.
Was this review helpful to you?
