I Miss You

Had Potential to be Greater

This movie was a decent watch but seemed to only scratch the surface of what could have been a really great love story. The casting choice was good. The acting was strong and kept me engaged and the plot setup was interesting but I found trouble connecting with the story. I felt as if the details of this story was missing. There were a lot of time jumps, reminiscing and bits of situations being presented but not much was being shown about their relationship except for some of the ugly moments. We didn’t see much of the build up or connection being built between the two so it left a lot to be desired. I did enjoy the literary references as it attempted to provide a deeper connection with their love story.

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A Very Great Movie

I waited for this and Thank god it delivered. The moment I saw this uploaded on *cough* sketchy sites *cough*. I immediately stopped everything that I was doing and sat down to watch it.

The story is predictable and formulaic, but hold on! Let me explain. I don't really read the synopsis. None at all. I like going in blind whenever I watch something and just let the story do its job. Now, what I mean by "predictable and formulaic" is that the way the story is structured already follows a blueprint that I'm familiar with because when I watched it just 5-10 minutes in, I was like "Ahh, so the movie is gonna about the struggles and the challenges that they have to face, like this and that" just from how they are speed running the build-up on how they become a couple in the beginning. And I didn't mind that just because I've seen it being similarly done before a thousand times doesn't mean I'm not going to enjoy it. I still kept watching because I was curious how they gonna do it. Even though I already called it what the movie is going to be about, I was still wrong when it came to the story beats because how they did it is pretty unpredictable. I even cried at some scenes for how impactful it was.

When it comes to the characters, I felt the same. It's heavily focused on the main couple. They're readable, but I love their chemistry. Even though the movie doesn't tell, it is more about just showing you what it can do. And that's how you know that the actors did a great job of conveying the thoughts and emotions of the characters through their acting. I was so engrossed by the character writing that my attention is sucked in and the main couple are Writer and Artist, basically my 2 aspirations. Also, oh my god!!! Zhang Jing Yi's hair😭😭😭 The stylist has to go to jail for that!!! Thank god it got fixed after the time skip. ML is handsome and cute, I wish they'd added some extra details to his illness to make it more relatable and scary.

While watching this, I kept pausing every time just to commentate and analyze what just happened, as if I had someone beside me, I might as well have made a reaction video at that point and posted it online.

Overall, a very great movie, despite the story structure being familiar to me. I highly recommend it.

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A modern day romance inspired by the work of Edgar Allan Poe

“I cannot, for my soul, remember how, when, or even precisely where, I first became acquainted with the lady Ligeia.”

But 白晓宇 Bái Xiǎo Yǔ, the Edgar Allan Poe fan and graphic designer, certainly could remember the day and date (2010, June 8) he knocked over 王斤斤 Wáng Jīn Jīn ’s desk. Her face and name stuck in his memory, not only because of the strange meaning of her name (a “catty”, 斤, is a traditional Chinese unit of mass used across East and Southeast Asia, notably for weighing food and other groceries) but also because of her unusual Gothic hairpin.

Bai Xiao Yu (his own name meaning “white”, “dawn” and “universe”), having failed to follow her all the way home on his bicycle when she took a taxi, immediately drew a portrait of her.

He came across her again after college and following her, overheard her mentioning Poe in a Beijing bar on Liangmahe bar street (an area which existed, north of Sanlitun, but which has undergone lots of changes and demolitions in the early 2020s ; the Seven bar looks fictional - I know none of that name thereabouts). When Xiao Yu ordered two newly invented cocktails (I liked the recipes!) with titles from Poe’s stories, JinJin turned to face him, and they went home together after a long night's intellectual communing reintroducing themselves at dawn, and next, traveling on a dare, all the way to their hometown, hooking up and living as a married couple for a year.

But Jin Jin feared routine and the “mundane” life. She was insecure about her talent as a writer, despite Xiao Yu’s comforting words. She drifted from tourism to script assistant, with her job taking her away for months on film sets.
Xiao Yu had also experienced setbacks at work, and changed his job to set up a business of escape rooms and refurbishing the hometown horror theme park. His eyesight worsened and he was wistful when he described to a fellow sufferer the beauty of the sunset seen from the hospital window.

It was thrilling to hear the budding couple, at the dawn of their relationship, excitedly recite the excerpt “I mean to say that, subsequently to the period when Ligeia's beauty passed into my spirit, there dwelling as in a shrine, I derived, from many existences in the material world, a sentiment such as I felt always aroused within me by her large and luminous orbs.” Although Wang Jin Jin was not like the fictional heroine, from a “decaying city on the Rhine in Germany”, sporting dark curly tresses, she was in a way like Ligeia, fascinated by literature and yearning for more learning. But unlike Ligeia, she did not die and come back taking possession of a corpse. The last images of the movie, where the horror theme park was revamped with a secret room designed specially for Xiao Yu, provided an esthetic and welcome surprise.
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The movie is adapted from the novel 《被我弄丢的你》 ("You Whom I Lost") by Zheng Zhi (郑执) also screenwriter for it ; the director was Han Yan (韩琰). Filmed between February and May 2023, it was announced to be airing for the anniversary of filming wrap, on Women’s Day March 8, 2024.

On February 20, the film released a trailer with the theme song “You Whom I Lost” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQG-t0nmFiU ; MV with pinyin & English translation here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u4Zm9S5MkM), composed by Jia Wang & Chen Wenhua, lyrics by Guo Dongnan, sung by Chinese diva Karen Mok (Mok Wenwei).

The movie was widely anticipated with over 20 million pre-sale tickets and breaking 100 million at the box office on March 11.

Zhang Jingyi played the free spirited but finally regretful JinJin, who missed her love repeatedly, figuratively, and physically when the train and the truck went in opposing directions. Some will be shocked by the fringe and hair style JinJin kept (although attenuated in the end): whatever, nothing can really make her ugly.

Tan Jianci played the young man cursed by upcoming blindness, with delicate movements of his eyes and posture as the lights dimmed for him. Xiao Yu wanted to treasure his happy past and the moments with JinJin whom he could never totally read the mind of, but whom he never totally lost the memory of, despite she had broken up with him.
The mention on screen in the end of the movie is 你就是我的想要生活 (you are my life’s yearning).

For those who would like to read “Ligeia” or more of Poe’s work, here is a link : https://poestories.com/read/ligeia

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I Will Be Your Eyes

I watched this movie twice, and each time it touched me deeply.

It's a story about young people who experience youthful love and emotions, which are eventually replaced by daily routine. Their life becomes mundane. They love each other deeply, but don't yet know how to reconcile everyday life with their career ambitions. Misunderstandings and stubbornness lead to a devastating break-up, but they still miss each other. The more time passes, the harder it becomes to renew their relationship... Meanwhile, his eyesight is deteriorating due to retinitis pigmentosa, an incurable condition that inevitably leads to blindness.

Finally, they reunite. This part of the dialogue: 'But my eyes are getting worse,' 'I will be your eyes,' makes me cry.

Tan Jianci, with every single role, proves he's a brilliant actor. In this movie, his on-screen relationship with Zhang Jingyi, who is nine years younger, makes them a great couple. This is the first movie where I've really watched her, and she is a truly beautiful woman and a good actress. I wish her all the best in her career :)

This movie is really worth watching.

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My impression of ” I miss you” the movie

My review for * I Miss you* with Tan Jianci and Zhang Jingyi

I watched the movie *I miss you* with Tan Jianci as main lead and Zhang Zingyi as the female lead. with name Wang jinjin
I really like the story plot, it's very close with the *these days* story in life.
Tan Jianci as Bai xiauyu .
They met at the end of final examen of senior high, Bai Xiaouyu fell inlove at the first sight to Wang jinjin . Any way that moment at examen day ..that the last time they saw each other.
Somehow that first encounter remain in Bai Xiaouyu mind..After some years passed, at the one event the fate emerging ..they meet again. With some trick Bai Xiaouyu talk with pretending applying some work opportunity. Then Wang jinjin actually also was having him in her mind...
Since then they go together... building the career and future by living together.. Both were content....
The love that have filled between them were sincere but from Wang jinjin side .., she is very insecure in the heart. She doesn't dare to have commitment because she doesn't believe that anything can stay good and fine ....
On the other hand Bai Xiaouyu is in full commitment in loving her, he is such kind of tender, loving , supportive boy friend, but in the middle of his love insecurity...even the most sincere love can not keep their relationship.
To avoid too much information to those who is yet will watch the movie, I can say, this kind of VERY positive and lovely way how young couple put their pride down when the realization that all ambition, insecurity and sad traumas from the past should not be the reason to let your sincere love to the one you are the most content and appreciating life with to be broken.
They both did'nt give up of each other even it seems like it is so hard.
So I think, that they both come to the honesty of themselves...which lead them to do the right decision.
It's worthied to watch and ...after watching the movie, it leads contemplating to ourselves....what would we choose...if it was me as Bai Xiaouyu, or as Wang jinjin.
Very emotional plot of story...as well so much good time.
Tan Jianci's art acting has always been captivating and inprinting...He made the movie very likable, enjoyable very much❤️❤️
Maybe I am the only one who was impressed in this way...

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Romance dai richiami gotici e un omaggio - pur con poche risorse - ad Allan Poe

L'idea alla base del film è sicuramente particolare, un romance che richiama sfumature gotiche in un omaggio all'intramontabile Edgar Allan Poe.

Cosa mi è piaciuto del film:
- il fatto che i due protagonisti siano - appunto - appassionati lettori dei racconti di Allan Poe e che ne abbiano tratto spunto, lui nel disegno, lei nella scrittura.
- il tema della retinite pigmentosa, malattia congenita di cui molti ancora oggi ignorano l'esistenza e che con una diminuzione inesorabile e progressiva del campo visivo condanna nella maggior parte dei casi a una cecità totale.
- il non aver tergiversato a lungo sulla formazione della coppia, preferendo dedicare la maggior parte del tempo a mostrare come il rapporto tra i due venga messo alla prova dalle difficoltà quotidiane, con tutto il carico di insicurezza e responsabilità che comporta e dove una forte forza di volontà è strumento necessario per giungere all'epilogo.
- la caratterizzazione estetica della protagonista, una fantastica dark girl con tanto di outfit prevalentemente nero, smalto scuro, e un formidabile taglio a caschetto a frangia corta con tanto di forcina in stile gotico. Anche per quanto riguarda la recitazione, Zhang Jing Yi si dimostra ancora una volta un'attrice di talento (in questo film la prova migliore è indubbiamente la sua, mentre quella del protagonista maschile direi senza infamia e senza lode).

Cosa non ha funzionato:
- zero sviluppo dei personaggi secondari
- in generale, un approccio un po' "povero" in termini di regia, sceneggiatura, scenografia, fotografia e budget. Il film è l'adattamento di un romanzo, una storia con un grande potenziale per una trasposizione cinematografica, ma che è finita nelle mani di una produzione con tanta buona volontà ma risorse limitate.

Non è quindi un film che affascina per la qualità, ma sicuramente stupisce per la sua particolarità.

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