Actress Zhao Wei's directorial debut is a coming-of-age story set (mostly) in a college dormitory in a Chinese university, based on a bestselling Chinese novel. Set in the 1990s, most of the story focuses on Zheng Wei, a college freshman who falls for a handsome, nerdy and serious architectural student, and the romances of her other dorm mates. The film may lack the larkiness of similar coming-of-age flicks (e.g. "You are the Apple of My Eyes" from Taiwan) but compensates in other ways. It is in many ways more ambitious; ultimately, however, the screenplay involves too many characters, and the film sometimes veers distractingly from one character to another without giving sufficient depth to each. One gets the impression of an opportunity missed--had the director focused on just one or two of the couples, the result will surely be a better film.
On the plus side, Mark Chao is well cast as the male lead and is the best actor of them all. Yang Zishan is good, too, although she is freakin' annoying in the opening scenes. The rest of the cast acquit themselves admirably, but don't make quite as much of an impression.
In short, still worth watching, although quite uneven.
