Dias Melhores

I was unable to take my eyes off of the screen for the entire movie. A girl is preparing to take her entrance exams in order to enter Beijing University. The competition is fierce and after the suicide of a fellow student, she is bullied by a few extremely vicious classmates. A street thug crosses paths with her and winds up protecting her from her tormentors. A plot twist involving her foes turns this into a top tier crime drama. The two leads are tremendous and by the end of the film I was emotionally drained. This is an example of what movie is meant to be. It should have won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.

Young runaway thug meets little bullied student. Now, you may be thinking: cliche, cliche, cliche. Well, it may look that way, at first sight. But, matter of fact, the end result is - on the other hand, and by all means - utterly surprising and especially convincing. Never trite, never simplistic, never needlessly tear-jerking, never rhetorical (with the sole exception of the finale, but we'll get there...). An almost-masterpiece of social conscious drama.

Even though - you know, because of the all-encompassing censorship - the movie has to proceed by "suggesting" and "implying", it still manages to convey an interesting point, in a manner which is never - I repeat, never - dull or silly. The movie manages to picture a complex everyday reality for an ever-to-large number of students, to picture an oppressing and uncompromising environment, full of every kind of pressure: scholastic, familiar, societal... Competition at all costs and unrestrained pursue of academic excellence are matched by a society which generally entails full-blown individual oppression. In such a context, there's little room left for hope and little hope left in the possibility of changing things for the better.

Edge-of-your-seat gripping and memorable, "Better Days" crawls you in to never let you go, and as I said it compels you to see and investigate, and not ignore (which is always too easy to do). You will see with your own eyes what it means to grow up in a strictly hierarchical society, where you are from a very young age "put into the right pace" and "educated" to the most complete abnegation and the most fatalistic acceptance. Compelled to always be on-the-top-of-your-game, compelled to never fail, never slow down. Because failing is not an option, failing just one test may complete ruin your future existence. Of course, there's consequentially no time for compassion, no time for any kind of distraction, no time to really socialize (and empathize), no time to play, no time to fool around. You must be always perfect. Perfect. Again: at all costs.

I mean, the unbearable pressure which Asian's students have always be subjected to reaches almost paroxysmal levels (for another example of this state of things, I'd strongly suggest you also give a chance to the chilling Korean movie "Pluto", 2012).

By suggesting and implying "Better Days" seems to have been able to elude censorship to some degree. Yes, the finale is clearly false: the last ten minutes or so have most probably been added because of censorship. But - almost incredibly - this finale doesn't really ruin the good work done in the two hours plus before it. Because it's very critical and very hard-hitting, and not by any chance consolatory or reassuring or uplifting, with all due respect to the propaganda agency.

So, in the end, to sum it all up I would say that the movie doesn't make any new point and doesn't really cover any new ground, but it's able to face its topical subject matter with assurance and ability, and great technical gift, as made clear by the excellent directing, the dark gloomy cinematography and great acting (the two protagonists really have a unique chemistry).

"Better Days" is a great movie. Realistic, poignant and thought-provoking. A little gem. Don't miss it.

The story is heartbreaking! Plus the acting of two main characters are extremely amazing! Not to mention Zhou Dongyu, 27-year-old acting as 18-year-old ChenNian, not presented by a big yelling, only by the drops of heartbreaking tears. She is such a talented actress. Her performance evoked everyone's emotions and totally expressed her fear and hatred. Another scene about Xiaobei shaving her head which is so true and touchable!

Derek Tsang's Oscar Nominated (Best International Film) is an impassioned look at school bullying. The movie can be unsparing in depiction of the maltreatment, and, at times it seems like life for our teenage heroine Chen Nian (Dongyu Zhou) is nothing but abuse, whether it be physical or psychological. Still, Tsang brings to it a style and a sweep that is emotionally satisfying all the while.

Chen is a smart high school student on the verge of taking the national college entrance boards - think SAT but done on a Super Bowl level*. The pressures are enormous enough without having a nasty gang of Heathers using all kinds of tactics to make her life miserable. Chen strikes up an unlikely relationship with a street hustler named Xiao Bei (Jackson Yee) and he agrees to be her personal bodyguard of sorts.

The scenes with Chen and Xiao give Tsang an opportunity to really show off his visual skills, even if some of it seems cribbed from Wong Kar-Wai (he is hardly the first, of course, look no further than Sofia Coppola). Varqa Beuher's electronic score adds to the propulsive mix. Tsang also employs time jumps and a lot of cross-cutting - not always to the movie's advantage. A third act twist somewhat derails the story into legal thriller territory. Still, there is no denying Tsang's prowess even at its most overwrought. Zhou is in her late 20s, but, her waif-like appearance easily convinces that she is 17, and her performance is extremely affecting. HK teen idol Yee has a good screen presence to add to their screen chemistry.

BETTER DAYS tells a universal story about bullying, but, it has a vision of its own. Tough subject matter, but, a very rewarding one.

* There has been some internet controversy about Jiu Yuexi's source novel that the movie is based on being unduly influenced by a similar Japanese book by author Higashino Keigo. Of course, in Japan, the national exams are perhaps the most famously hellish in the world.

We often hear about how students in China are among the most hard-working in the world, real go-getters. The underbelly of this is the severe stress under which they operate. Derek Tsang's Academy Award-nominated "Shaonian de ni" ("Better Days" in English). The protagonist is a bullied girl about to take the National College Entrance Exam. She hooks up with a local hoodlum, but surprises remain in store.

The torment from the bullying reflects the pressure from the exam. It's a truly tough world for this girl as various events conspire to close the walls in on her. The complex characters and the general intensity of the plot make this one movie that you have to see. It's the first of Tsang's movies that I've seen, but I certainly hope to see more of them. A real masterpiece.