So Young

A scene from So Young. Photo provided to China Daily

Zhao Wei's directorial debut is a commercial smash, bringing in 700 million yuan at the box office, but it is only three quarters of a good movie. The first 100 minutes, set in a 1990s college campus, are characterized by fluency and even poignancy. The love story is redolent of the era and its quirks. The female lead, an unknown, reminds one of Zhao's breakout TV role Little Swallow, insistent and tomboyish and full of irresistible charm.

A scene from So Young. Photo provided to China Daily

Fast forward a decade when the group of college buddies reunite and, strangely, continue their unfinished love threads. This part turns melodramatic and wildly uneven in tone. It's as if it were made by a different person or lifted from a different movie, a most disappointing coda to an otherwise perfect paean to the good old days.

A scene from So Young. Photo provided to China Daily

A scene from So Young. Photo provided to China Daily