This review may contain spoilers
A heart wrenching story that’ll stay with you forever
P.S: I wrote this after watching the movie twice, once before and once after reading the web novel.I regret not writing this immediately after watching the movie before reading the web novel
Movie: it’s one of the first few Chinese movie I ever watched though I was contemplating on watching it since more than a year I wasn’t sure about Chinese movies being this good. I don’t know how I missed out on watching it till now. I’m happy that I watched it. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions.
The innocence and vulnerability of female lead, the sincerity and rawness of male lead, their determination toward each other’s dream tugged at my heart. I would be lying if I said I didn’t cry a river. The tearful face of hers when she comes to him after hiding in trash bin, the scene where he trims his head after hers gave me chills down my spine. I wanted to go within the movie and hug them both. Also the scene where he bites her lip before getting pinned down by police officers, conveyed enough emotions to wring out hearts. I like movies wherein the ML on the brink of existential crises, needing a single reason to live, give up everything in their power and possession to fulfil the wishes of FL thinking they were meant for this and then both get saved in the end. Though I never wanted FL to turn into a murderer (even if accidentally), I was relieved to see she received the punishment and was never broken down by all that she went through. It was heartwarming to see both connecting so deep and trying to protect their precious little dream at such a young age. I wanted to relive it again and again until I read the web novel…
Web novel: I would say this was completely different genre from the movie. At first I felt it was the movie with extra narration necessary for a web novel but I was wrong. A few chapters into it, I was totally immersed as though I was a bystander watching both FL and ML grow, I couldn’t stop till I marathon read the whole thing in a day (23 chapters). The bond they developed, the trust in each other, the bully, the assault, the accident, the policeman’s investigation….everything hit different. The scene post assault where he carries her crying in the rain, the revelation scene where ML comes to know the actual truth of that day(s) through his friend, The court scene where she dresses for him, the scene where she points her eyes and heart explaining how they communicate with each other touched my soul and made me tremble with gush of emotions. I cried buckets and had to console myself that all this is not real, it’s just a story. The scene where he patiently helps her overcome stutter; the assault scene; the scene where they run away for a day; the scene where the policeman comes to realise… what had actually happened, what FL went through and what ML was thinking watching FL from behind. Though I felt the bully was wrong, I didn’t want her to be violated so cruelly and was relieved to know that FL did not kill the bully.
This web novel had potential to be a drama. I’m not complaining against the movie cause it itself was a classic (it’s not possible for a 2 hr movie to do justice to a 30 chapter novel).
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