Qi yue yu an sheng

The sequence of the story is amazing. The movie talk about the friendship between two friends that thought they will never be separated, and the boy friend of one of them who appears and change the path of their friendship.

What I love most about this movie is the great length they took to depict the time period, the realness and livelihood of ordinary people living in China. There's no rich guy trying to woo the girl or a character who went from a loser to being the hero etc. It is just a story about the friendship of two girls growing up. But the way they have set up the plot is brilliantly captivating and fast paced, unlike most Chinese movie I've encounter. Not many movies have two women as leading characters. The ones that do come in mind are Thelma & Louis (1991) and Bridesmates (2011).

The actors were splendid. Beautiful cinematics. I personally did not like how the tale unfolded and ended. But that has nothing to do with the quality of the movie. I think it is a gem. If you like this one you will for sure enjoy the rest of the movies Dongyu Zhou has acted in. I dare to say her more recent ones are better than this one. Watch Us and them 2018 if you need another but better doze off this movie. I like the realistic realness. I don't like when a story leaves you puzzled. Maybe it won't for you, maybe the English subtitles threw me off, but for me, I didn't quite understand all the aspects of how the story unfolded towards the end.

Chinese cinema have Zhang Yimou absolute gems like To Live (1994), Riding Alone for Thiusand of Miles (2005) and The Flower's of War (2011) in the most prominent Chinese director impressive filmography. Add Raise the Red Lantern (1991), Shanghai Triad (1995), The Roaf Home (1999), House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Coming Home (2014) as excellent films.

Many other known or less known directors were able to surprise me with one clear masterpiece like: 2046 (2004), Aftershock (2010), Ocean Heaven (2010), July Rhapsody (2002), Together (2002) and White Snake (2019)

Ye Lou's Summer Palace (2006) is noteworthy but his Suzhou River (2000) with Xun Zhou's magnetic performance remained to me Chinese's most audacious, disturbing and beautiful Chinese film until I just finished watching Soulmate (2016)!

Soulmate's story is seemingly simple but with amazing dialogue and enough captivating twists. A lot of attention to details and clues make a tight story from the 5 Strong writing collaboration. Then Derek Tsang and the two lead actresses, Dongyu Zhou & Sichun Ma, really take it out the park with amazing performances and poignant scene after scene, especially after the 30 mins mark. Kudos also to the 4 strong editing team. These collaborations coalesced into a very well-rounded effective narrative. Two competent cinematographers to capture it all and voila.

This ifilm is visceral and emotional with life teachings, love, friendship, family and philosophy all finding their ways to add the the mosaic of living. The characters are trying to find their places in the world like everyone.

Very good study of long-time friendship, joys, hardships, distance, dreams, reality, fears and fantasies. This illustrates life's futility, loneliness and beauty while showing the manipulation and illusions we must create for ourselves and others.

Quite transcending and special in many levels. I cant wait to see Better Days (2019) and see if Dongyu Zhou and Derek Tsang can do it again.

Soulmate secures a rewatchable unforgettable ride as well as amazing scenes of pure delicious writing, acting and directing. Bravo!

"That comes as a warning sign that there are concealed happenings which the movie deliberately keeps a lid on from audience, and Tsang's film is full of those masquerades and revelations, the movie ostensibly begins as an adult Ansheng takes a trip down memory lane after reading the titular novel published on the internet by Qiyue, which relates their stories from the very beginning, and the ensuing film blurs the line between reality and fiction, as there are two sources here, Ansheng's own recollection with fidelity and Qiyue's novel whose content could be only a figment of her imagination, and our perception of the story is totally under the manipulation of the untrustworthy narrative, to a point, the final reveal suffers from being too contrived and blasé, its impact is dented."

read my full review on my blog: cinema omnivore, thanks