This review may contain spoilers
Resilience in a tough and often unforgiving world
Zhao Liying always delivers solid performances in tough stories ; the resilience of the character she plays also comes from experience in life and acting although the character she played in "The Story of Xing Fu" was not as poor and desperate as Gao Yuexiang who sometimes reminds of the slave girl of "Princess Agents" in her dire straits. GYX is a light grey character with a low moral compass but a strong sense of faithfulness to those she protects, thinking of her daughter, such as deaf and mute Hei Mei (played memorably by Lan Xiya, already noticed as prominent in "She and Her Girls", the biopic series about the mountain high school for girls - she is still playing support with as much brilliance as if she was lead).The two struggle against the hurdles that keep the poor on the threshold of desperation, saddled with that backstory of going through prison for minor or more serious crimes while the gang that forced Hei Mei to break the law went scot free ...until the bloody retribution in the literally dying out gang in the end. Former ways of thieving are on the way of disappearing in a cashless society where Internet fraud replaces lock picking, and animal trafficking is on the rise while kids abducting is still a menace. Going to prison being also to make inmates reflect and reform, there is a clear goal, but former inmates insertion into society, as in most countries, is not easy, even with the sum allowed to start anew, and they are expected to fend for themselves or find support in their families if they have one, even a bad one.
Deng Hong is not a typical prison warden, but does have some sympathy for the downtrodden women who become sisters in need, and is impressed by the more moral Hei Mei who instead of ripping off old relatives of their former prison cell enemy, goes to lengths to help them. Deng Hong has a back story that explains her sympathy : she was a baby saved from drowning by an escaped inmate and was raised by a police officer, as she tells her story in passing, not insisting. She genuinely wants her former inmates and charges to insert back and start afresh, away from law breaking.
There are a lot of ups and downs in the movie that depicts another side of city under world. But finally there is a happy end, where blood stains are aptly washed clean, while the former law breakers slate is wiped clean.
So, this is perhaps a tad over optimistic, not as realistic as a "Xiao Wu" pickpocket story told by Jia Zhangke in his famous independent movie, but this one also reminds of that underworld of ordinary people whose lives also contribute to building a country, shown over the years in movies such as "Platform", "Suzhou River" etc. and referring directly to the spirit of the famous Feng Xiaogang crime comedy "A World Without Thieves".
It is an interesting watch, indeed not depressing or boring, even thrilling, although there is not much humor in this one. I balanced between an 8 and 9.5 for rating, since the story is perhaps too simple and unremarkable, but the main actresses made it come to life.
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Reality of women
This movie is abt women who had made mistakes for smth they had to exchange with. I love the storyline. I love how they capture women's prison life and how their child is important no matter what the circumstances or outcome they will always choose their child. As we all know Zhao li ying, queen herself did a rly good job at her acting i love how she portrayed a mother being herself and the hardships she endured in order to survive. I love every single one of the portray of the character. But it would've been better if they give more details on supporting women backstory. I didn't rly get to see Guo aimi backstory, neither how other ended up in jail. But overall i love this movie and I felt empathy and sympathy to all the single moms out there.Was this review helpful to you?
Quality Femme Melodrama -- Give it a try!
As a Westerner, the only way I can feed my C-Drama and C-Feature addiction is to follow actors around. SHE AND HER GIRLS and WAR OF FAITH sold me on Lan Xi Ya, and her playing a deaf girl here sold me the ticket to WE GIRLS.I was pleased to discover a supporting actress from BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI in attendance too! And ten minutes in I realized I knew the other female lead (Zhao Li Ying) from THE UNSEEN SISTER. So I was very excited to watch the movie, no matter what it was actually about.
I won't ruin the story, but I was surprised to learn right off the bat the movie starts in prison. This is the kind of story where our girls get out and find life outside of prison harder than inside. AI informed me that the film made prison life a little nicer than it really was, but the outside word of criminals and poverty and desperation rang insanely true, so no worries there.
In America this would be called a TV-movie or Netflix film, because it's low budget and most about humans instead of car chases. I learned that in China this did have a theatrical release and was a big success. This is why I watch Chinese media because I'm all about the human condition and couldn't care less about car chases and guns.
This film has it's violent moments, but you're here to watch these women struggle on the outside. And struggle they do. The story can run kinda bi-polar where a rotten thing happens, a great thing, a rotten thing -- etc. You watch because of the great acting across the board.
But I must confess that Lan Xi Ya is simply great. If you're new to her, she can emote like nobody can. She pulls you inside her soul and everything that happens to her -- happens to you. It's a very hard gift to describe, but she's got it.
I don't want to say anything more except see this when you can. As heartwarming as it is heartbreaking. And the strangest bit of trivia ever: Lan Xi Ya plays a deaf girl in another movie from this same year I can't wait to see.
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