

Director: Lou Ye
Cast: Hao Lei, Guo Xiaodong

First, I would like to applaud our authority for allowing the film to be screened in its entirety, without any censorship ... *clap * ... and also, the distributor for releasing it commercially ... if i am correct, singapore is the second after france to have a commercial release (i.e., NOT incl. film festivals) ...

Now ... to the film ... it premiered in Cannes Film Festival, but became "controversial" because the director and his producer was banned from making movies for 5 years ...

The story spans over a decade and more ... starting from 1987 ... and spans across many areas within China (Tumen, Beijing, Wuhan, Beidaihe, etc) ... and even Germany (Berlin) ... 

In the beginning, Yu Hong (Hao Lei) is elated over her acceptance into the university in Beijing ... She parts with her love one there and gets herself madly in love with another at Beijing, Zhou Wei (Guo Xiao dong) ... Through her story, we get to comprehend youths of that period and time ... their love, their desire, their sexual explorations, their moods, their ideals, their loss, their liberations, etc ... Rather compelling & daring are the credible performance by both leads ... coming across as "real" people on the street rather than some "renowned" actors ...

Included in the film are also real footage of historical moments such as the Tiananmen Square incident, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the dissolution of former USSR, the return of Hong Kong, etc ...

It is a film whereby the audience should just sit back and be immersed into the period and mood, experiencing the lives of the youth then ... to this, i have to credit part of the music/soundtrack ... there are two or three really great ones which aptly conveys the mood ... 

In essence, if you like films such as The Dreamers, Regular Lovers, and the alike, you will probably like this too ... Otherwise, you may want to skip it ... for a film about 2 hrs and 20 min, at one point, many would have thought the film has ended ... but it continues ...

Conclusion:
Recommended, only for those who like The Dreamers and Regular Lovers, etc ... Definitely an art film, NOT a mainstream kind of film ... so, do NOT expect a lot from its plot or pacing ...