savage depiction of the unsafe high school environment

●HOW I CAME TO IT
I watched a bullying theme movie and in the recommendation I found this movie. The synopsis seemed interesting so here I am, after finish this masterpiece.it took me three whole days to get back to my senses.

●STORY
Movie starts with a teacher taking an english class. Then the movie jumps back to 2011, in a school campus where students are pressured due to the upcoming college entrance exam called GAOKAO in chinese. Immediately after that Chen Nian only friends commits suicide having one final mortification as her classmates take pictures who had been a mute spectators when she was bullied. She goes to her friend and cover her with a jacket becoming the new target of queen bee. While going home she sees a guy being beaten up, she tries to call cops, but ends up getting caught and humiliated. Later she seeks the guy to protect him from the school bullies.

●PLOT VIEW
The plot is simple, which left me in jeopardy as I got immersed in this masterpiece.
It leaves chills down the spine, showcasing the brutal depiction of the society, mortifying the dead, bullying of weaklings, bad parenting with the ultimate pressure of the exams on the teens.
Though the main focus is bullying however the movie doesnt explain why?
The bullies are like monomaniacs with no empathy. it may start with pranks and when ignored it consumes the bullies to do more, leading to crimes. As in bullied they keep on enduring, because most of the times, bullies arent punished and gets fierce. the death seems only a way to finish the infinite pain of endurance. the school is filled with big red banners of optimistic phrases which is purely overlooked and serves as a piece of decoration.
the vicious bullying tale is compelling as it tries to keep emotional connection between the leads keeps growing as they understand each other pains.
Its an uncomfortable treat with a murder mystery which particularly escalates the story and gives a final finishing touch. They become innocent victims to the cruel law, which failed to protect them when it was needed.
There is minimal dialogue and everything is much conveyed with the actions this intensifies the agony of the movie.

●ACTING/CAST
 Zhou Dongyu as Chen Nian is enduring everything, the home problems, exam pressure, physical and mental bullying yet is sharp headed and focused. her phlegmatic and frigid face is worth praises. She had nailed her character with breathtaking performance.
Jackson Yee as Xiao Bei, is a gold-hearted punk, he shows a touching vulnerability behind his braggadocio. His lean and thin body seemed as if he cant fight and gets beaten up easily, having bruises, deep cuts wearing ripped clothes, living in a small dark room beneath highway. He aced the role with perfection showing the deepest emotions with a bang.
the bullies were being little demons and I hate them to core, but they acted marvelous.

●MUSIC
The music truly transports you into the story as you were watching. It BGM works like magic with least dialogues in the movie.

●REWATCH
The movie is worth watch a million times, due to its touching and vulnerable melomance plot.

●APPRECIATION
I had an emotional breakdown after finishing this extreme graphic bullying movie. I must say the chinese movies depicting bullying is very gruesome way.
The suspenseful and agile camerawork in the latter part gives and a sensational effect.
I read that BETTER DAYS was nominated for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, indeed it deserves the accolades for such a realistic exposure to present pressured high school environment.

●CRITICISM
I hope nobody starts bashing me out for criticizing the over interference of the chinese government to the movie. I read that they banned the movie from releasing and we can understand now why. Its has exposed the bullying in Chinese high schools, where the pressure to achieve is lethal contrasting GAOKAO exam.
Also this movie is based on Novel but due to gov pressure, it has narrative scene saying the perpetrator has got 4year prison sentence, why make it a true story despite being made out of a novel.
final accord is one of the lead actors telling us about how we should be vigilant about school violence, and about oh so many things the government does to prevent it; instead of leaving some food for thought to the viewers, the film decides to spoon-feed, and that does ruin the impression quite a bit.

●FAV SCENE
The shaven head, it is one of the most terrifying scenes of the movies which shakes up souls.

●QUOTES
Chen Nian - Is it my fault they bullied me?
Chen Nian - Revenge may seem normal to most people.But those of us who have suffered. Are we the ones who are wrong?

RECEMMENDATION
Yes I would recommend this movie to peeps who love a soul stirring movie. Also “cry me a sad river” is another aching movie over bullying theme.

●AFTERTHOUGHT
Its very strange to see that she could be nostalgic about her school days or that maybe she is nostalgic about her one melomance.
I havent experienced this painful torture, though I got ragged in college pretty bad but that lasted only a few days with no physical injury. Bullying is physical and mental torture pushing one to a painstaking end.

●NOTE
There is a special post credit scene which satisfy the closure of the emotional saga, it could be missed as its after the end credits.

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its like a silent short film

This is my first Filipino language thing, but alas its short film.
Nevertheless its beguiling. the theme of the story is marvelous, when you help others it might give you a satisfaction but on the other end it may be blessing. The most precious thing you can give to anyone is your time. Money can buy food, books or any materials, but with time you can get friends of lifetime.
First I thought it be some kind of commercial, but it turned out to be a short film. As its mostly silent I am yet to hear Filipina language or say watch a Philippine movie.

Acting is above par, you don’t need words to convey your emotions, the silence can say whole lot of thing. Both the actors just nailed it.

TAGPUAN means meeting place, movie indeed fulfil the title name, as years later they meet at their TAGPUAN, having succeeded in life reminiscing the past is the best scene.

Around the clock watching lots of dramas/movies, this silent movie was a epic mood booster. It gives really good and amazing feels lifting up the stress off my mind.

I wont say rewatch but it definitely deserves a watch

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an eyeopener on the school bullying

●HOW I CAME TO IT
I rewatched this movie and it as the same feeling when I first watched it.
I am writing this review to to make my heart hurt less.
I am overwhelmed with the movies deep trance. For a few minutes I was like what happened. It made a huge emotional impact on me.

●PLOT VIEW
A young school girl who took such a huge step, was it easy for her NO. She feared it too but then life was more painful to her. The abandonment from family, the social ostracization, name calling and murder suspect. With each passing day she struggled hard and reaches out to everyone in the climax river scene who just stood there as passive bystanders in the past and now too.
Mother daughter transitioned relationship was terrific. At the same time qi ming who lived next door, and his happy life gives a great juxtapose with a rich and happy with poor and cold family.
The one childhood friend who talked to her got washed away in the lies and rumors. no one trusted her. he see her fighting back, but where is he when she got stepped on by the bullies.
That friendship among the crowd of bullies is another emotional undertone. She was strengthened but at last she loses that one ray of hope in her life.
Our society thinks, oh she is a school girl what problems could she have. But the same society doesn’t accept us if we don’t have good background or rich parents. If one gets a mental health problem or any kind of disease, people view them as untouchable felonies.

●ACTIING/CAST
Ren Min as yi yao aced her role, with her innocent face and deep eye expression.
Xin Yun Lai as gu sen xi is fresh and upbeat character in the gloomy movie. He really stands out.
Zhao Ying Bo as qi ming as childhood friend seemed nice, he gives his vibes of friendliness nicely.
Vivian wu as the ignorant mother was an ace too. She is like a huge pillar in support of a building.

●REWATCH
I rewatched it and liked it more than the first time.

●APPRECIATION
The cinematography is amazing. The use of lightening, the standout uniform, each scene is bewitching.

●CRITICISM
Where was the school administration when all the bullying was happening. Isn't it a school obligation to give a safe environment to all the students. school also put the blind eye to all the bullying and instead turned her into a guilty for fighting, please do a proper investigation for gods sake.
The parents bully kids should also have kept their eyes open on what there kids are upto. No body is born bully, but what leads them to doing so is. We sympathize with the victim but lets also take a peek on bully and give them an enlightenment on what's wrong and right.

●QUOTES
Death is not painful. Life is. - YI YAO
They know you’re afraid and they are excited. Your fear is the stimulus. You need to fight. Eye on eye. Teeth on teeth. - GU SEN XI

●AFTERTHOUGHT
The movie is sad and depressing reflecting the social norms of the society. Its dark yet realistic movie. Its incredible poignant representation might leave soul stirring impact so if weak hearted avoid it.

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Thriller, suspenseful with good plot twist

•HOW I CAME TO IT
This movie was in my PTW for a long time because I didn’t find the source to watch it. I discovered it on Netflix yesterday so here am writing my review.

•STORY
Movie open up with the scene where a med student finds a dead body. He takes it up home to learn about human body more efficiently as earlier he only got dead animals for learning. He later discover that dead body was an elite official’s son and he was murdered. The police was trying to trackdown the murderer. To avoid being the suspect he hires a low rent detective, who is working to hunt for women cheating on their husbands. There is interesting plot twist which leaves the mind blowing.

•PLOT VIEW
The movie gives a feel of sherlock and watson duo, but am not going to compare the movie with them. Just because sherlock holmes is famous, its still a fictional character and there are lots of detectives who are there out in real life. So let Hong Jin Ho be it. He takes up the job seeing the money but he does his job seriously. He uses pre-electronic gadgets hand-made by an elite lady, who is like a modern day forensic expert. While tracking the murderer he discovers a horrendous bitter truth. With the med student and forensic expert woman, hong jin ho gets to make a trap and very interesting action scene takes place.
The Plot is solid and captivating since the start, and suspenseful with a good plot twist. I think it would have been more better with split personality thing rather than twin.
Near the end, one can see an opening for a sequel which, I wished if it had

•ACTING/CAST
Hwang Jung Min as Hong Jin Ho is not famous but a detective for family spats. He grows up in the character and becomes a hero at the end. He is kind of a hustler, not particularly sharp nor heroic, yet clever than he appears.

Ryu Deok Hwan as Jang Kwang Su was marvelous. His face had the innocence of youth who is worried to become a murder suspect and also he had the passion of medical student to become a good doctor. I had seen him before and he is surely has one of the finest actors whichever character he plays.

Uhm Ji Won as Soon Deok is an elite forensic expert, her role is small but still she stands out in her character. It seems as she has some kind of equation with the detective.

Yoon Je Moon as Eok Kwan  gives the standout performance as a villainous circus performer .I had seen him in some villain role before too and he surely keeps the level of villain above par.

•MUSIC
I didn’t really get engaged with the song, I was so much into the movie. But BGM were mostly natural sound effects with a minimal music, which was fine IMO.

•REWATCH
I am not into so much of spy or detective movies. But this movie can be rewatched .

•APPRECIATION
The film sets a thriller plot reflect the times of that period when Korea was occupied by the Japanese at the beginning of the 20th century. It has a completely different vibe. There are mixes of Western, Japanese, and Korean influences in the clothes, as well as language and sets. undertones of political tensions were done brilliantly which gives chills.

•CRITICISM
The main fault for this lies with the editing which deprives the action scenes from some real dynamic, the action scenes at the last were also very confusing. A chasing scene through the streets was unbalanced, as villain is running in roof top and detective is behind .

•AFTERTHOUGHT
The movie also has its comedic moments which worked naturally into the plot. even with its flaws. it's a story we have all seen before told in an unique manner.

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