I waited a month to see the movie because I didn't trust the hype created by the Chinese moviegoers... everyone wanted to see it immediately after the release on 2nd April! Of course, my wife wasn't exception... so I had to endure tirades of how good this film is, how sad and touching it was...
Today, I finally endured 2 hours and seven minutes and I am happy to write my opinion! Cinematography, acting of the youngest actor, authenticity of using the Sichuan dialect and directing were superbly executed by the very experience team! Everything rest was so melodramatic that it felt like scenes were planned so carefully to get the desired effect that sometimes seemed like they were forced!
Written and filmed for the Chinese audience which is almost always sympathetic to the suffering that was endured during the one child policy by many families, this film's full story will be lost with the audience from other countries.
To me this film was simply boring, wrongly paced, with illogical actions of the members of the family - it could be the cultural difference gap... but I am not sure about it, after living 10 years in China.
So, if you are Chinese, you probably watched it already... if you are coming from any other country - try to skip it. It will confuse you, annoy you, bore you and you will be asking yourself why are you always repeating the same mistakes trusting your cable service provider's ratings!
