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Quality Femme Melodrama -- Give it a try!
As a Westerner, the only way I can feed my C-Drama and C-Feature addiction is to follow actors around. SHE AND HER GIRLS and WAR OF FAITH sold me on Lan Xi Ya, and her playing a deaf girl here sold me the ticket to WE GIRLS.
I was pleased to discover a supporting actress from BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI in attendance too! And ten minutes in I realized I knew the other female lead (Zhao Li Ying) from THE UNSEEN SISTER. So I was very excited to watch the movie, no matter what it was actually about.
I won't ruin the story, but I was surprised to learn right off the bat the movie starts in prison. This is the kind of story where our girls get out and find life outside of prison harder than inside. AI informed me that the film made prison life a little nicer than it really was, but the outside word of criminals and poverty and desperation rang insanely true, so no worries there.
In America this would be called a TV-movie or Netflix film, because it's low budget and most about humans instead of car chases. I learned that in China this did have a theatrical release and was a big success. This is why I watch Chinese media because I'm all about the human condition and couldn't care less about car chases and guns.
This film has it's violent moments, but you're here to watch these women struggle on the outside. And struggle they do. The story can run kinda bi-polar where a rotten thing happens, a great thing, a rotten thing -- etc. You watch because of the great acting across the board.
But I must confess that Lan Xi Ya is simply great. If you're new to her, she can emote like nobody can. She pulls you inside her soul and everything that happens to her -- happens to you. It's a very hard gift to describe, but she's got it.
I don't want to say anything more except see this when you can. As heartwarming as it is heartbreaking. And the strangest bit of trivia ever: Lan Xi Ya plays a deaf girl in another movie from this same year I can't wait to see.
I was pleased to discover a supporting actress from BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI in attendance too! And ten minutes in I realized I knew the other female lead (Zhao Li Ying) from THE UNSEEN SISTER. So I was very excited to watch the movie, no matter what it was actually about.
I won't ruin the story, but I was surprised to learn right off the bat the movie starts in prison. This is the kind of story where our girls get out and find life outside of prison harder than inside. AI informed me that the film made prison life a little nicer than it really was, but the outside word of criminals and poverty and desperation rang insanely true, so no worries there.
In America this would be called a TV-movie or Netflix film, because it's low budget and most about humans instead of car chases. I learned that in China this did have a theatrical release and was a big success. This is why I watch Chinese media because I'm all about the human condition and couldn't care less about car chases and guns.
This film has it's violent moments, but you're here to watch these women struggle on the outside. And struggle they do. The story can run kinda bi-polar where a rotten thing happens, a great thing, a rotten thing -- etc. You watch because of the great acting across the board.
But I must confess that Lan Xi Ya is simply great. If you're new to her, she can emote like nobody can. She pulls you inside her soul and everything that happens to her -- happens to you. It's a very hard gift to describe, but she's got it.
I don't want to say anything more except see this when you can. As heartwarming as it is heartbreaking. And the strangest bit of trivia ever: Lan Xi Ya plays a deaf girl in another movie from this same year I can't wait to see.
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