Our Times (2015)

Ahhh such a feel good movie! The plot isn't anything new but the execution was done extremely well. This movie is such a roller coaster of emotions. I definitely think many girls can relate to this movie and reminisce about their past. I loved the cliched parts actually and I thought they were authentic to what happened in many teenage girls' lives- the crushing on the popular boy, the clumsiness+awkwardness, the mean teachers, etc! The production act also made sure everything was from the 90's, the BB callers, the clothes, the food was all authentic from that time period. This is a very Cinderella feel movie, and being a sucker for those, I fell in love with the story.

Loved the cast! The actresses/actors were all cast well and they fit their characters perfectly. I especially loved Wang Da Lu. Wow, he's such a versatile actor, I feel heartbroken when he's crying and impressed by his fighting scenes. Of course, Vivian Sung portrayed the clumsy albeit a little awkward teenager very well. Dino Lee is cute too but his character was just kind of one-dimensional in my opinion. If you read my other reviews, you'll know I love Jerry Yan and I was elated to find out that he played the grown up Wang Da Lu. His scene with Joe Chen, although too short, was adorable and I wished it was longer! I admit I also screamed like a fan girl when I heard Andy Lau was playing a small role as a guest in this movie. He hasn't acted in a Taiwanese movie in ages! The star power of the three of them added to this movie too.

Music was fantastic and contributed to my roller coaster of emotions. My favorite song was of course the theme song, A Little Happiness, by Hebe Tien. I've been playing that song on repeat ever since.

Re-watch value is high! Once they come to the USA, I'm going to try and buy a HD quality version. Movies like this always give me a warm and fuzzy feeling, so if you guys are looking for that don't miss this! (10/9)

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A surprisingly wholesome movie

Coming it to think about it, I don't even know why I started this. It was just a whim of mood that I actually started this. I didn't know most of the cast (even if I had heard of them, I had never really watched any of their dramas or movies) and the plot seemed cliché and wasn't remotely tempting. But, now that I finished it, I totally don't regret starting it in the first place!

Honestly, the story isn't anything new and one may come across tons of this kind of storylines in the dramaland, but you won't come across a movie with a better execution of such a storyline that this one. This movie has many of the most over used troups and tags in dramaland like 'first love', 'time skip', 'makeover', 'coming of age' etc. It even has a love square, but it's not frustrating at all! In fact, they make your heart flutter as these helps the leads to come closer to eachother and recognise their love for each other. The way in which Truly and Tsu Tai Yu fell for eachother without even realising it, and when they finially realised it everything was too late... I really loved such cliché parts of the plot! But, had this been a 20+ episode drama, it might have ruined everything. The pace of the story was perfect to evoke a kind of nostalgia in the audience. The story is extremely simple yet so good and this is one of the plus points of this movie!

As I said before, I was unfamiliar with the cast of the drama. The only person I had heard of was Darren Wang and I had watched Jerry Yan's Meteor Garden. That was all.
I rarely get impressed with actings in movies since they are short and don't explore wide varieties of emotions of the actors and actresses. Now, after watching this movies, I'm really tempted to watch other workes of Darren Wang and Vivan Sung! They were truly awesome here! Darren was amazing portraying the bad boy Tsu Tai Yu and Vivan Sung in portraying the clumsy Truy. There were rooms for improvement for Dino Lee and Dewi Chein, but the over all performance form the whole cast was great. Even if Joe Chen and Jerry Yan were just cameo of the adult version of Truly and Tai Yu, I could feel their dynamics with eachother in the last scenes. I really wish it were longer!

Music was great and apt for the scenes. The rewatch value's fairly high too, compared to the ones I have given to other movies.

I don't usually rate dramas or movies 9.5, let alone a movie with a cliché plot. But this somehow is an exception. I can't even explain why I rated in 9.5! It's just my mind and heart telling me to do it even if the brain's not.

Overall, this is a surprisingly wholesome movie with a roller coaster of emotions portrayed It's a highly recommended movie
if you are someone who is past his/her school life for this movie, I believe, would take you back to your childhood days, when you were crushing on a hansome popular boy.

P.S. Don't mind any typos. I tend to have many of them.

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