Do you remember what you wanted to do with the rest of your life when you were sixteen? Me, I only knew what I wanted to do the next day. For Chen Nian in Better Days, she knows, definitively – she wants to study, take the exams, go to a good university, become one of the smartest ones and if possible, protect the world.
Based on the novel Young and Beautiful by Jiu Yue Xi, Better Days stars Zhou Dongyu and Jackson Yee as Chen Nian and Xiao Bei, who meet each other at a trying time in their lives. Nian is the victim of relentless bullying in school, while Bei is a small-time hoodlum living on the fringes of society. An unlikely friendship ensues and they seal a pact.
Derek Tsang’s Better Days was pulled from the 69th Berlin International Film Festival a few days before its premiere. The Chinese censors probably drew a hardline at the movie’s depiction of bullying in school and the negative portrayal of gaokao (高考), a nation-wide 2-day examinations that determine the fate of over 9 million students intending to enter the university and polytechnic. At times the entire family’s fate hinges on the results of the examinations. In China, the movie was originally set to open in June, but was again pulled, only to open in October, probably after making some changes. I am not sure what changes were made, but the movie I saw still packs an emotional wallop.
Tsang burst onto the scene with the outstanding Soul Mate (2016), an excellent rumination on a pair of childhood friends as they grow up with differing ideals in China’s rapidly changing urban landscape. The subject matter of his sophomore effort is a challenging choice, but in the third act he is on familiar ground as he tackles the theme of sacrificial love between friends.
Better Days doesn’t shy away from the physical and emotional toll bullying does to an individual. What makes the scenes horrific is that no reasons are provided. It is as if there are only three types of students: the bullies, the bullied and the ones that stand at the side to laugh and capture the bullying on their handphones. The adults only come in with platitudes when the worst is over. Nian knows nobody can help her and the best thing she can do is to do well in the exams and leave the god forsaken place.
Nian’s role can quickly become a cloying one but in the hands of Zhou Dongyu, Nian comes alive with an unshakable resolve brimming inside her frail body. Zhou is in her late twenties, but it is so easy to believe she is a sixteen-year-old student. She again turns in a bravura performance with an uncanny ability to emote a range of emotions behind a mien of tortured passivity. Playing opposite her is Jackson Yee, a member of the band TFboys, in his first main role, who also turns in a credible performance.
The movie over-stretches with the first two acts with one too many bullying scenes, but it is in the extended third act that it lays on the twists and surprises. Perhaps it is one twist too many, but the acting and cinematography are so good that I lapped them up as they came.
“Growing up is like diving. Don’t think, just close your eyes, and jump in,” says the police investigator Zheng Yi (Fang Yin). That’s more easily said than done. In one scene, Nian asks Bei why there aren’t lessons on how to become an adult. Better Days has finally seen the light of day and it is a thought provoking film that dares to ask some hard questions.
PS – Better Days won a slew of awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards 2020, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Cinematography and Best Song.
Written by Daniel Chiam
BookMyShow Singapore 
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