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Review | Better Days film review: Zhou Dongyu is riveting in Derek Tsang’s deeply poignant bullying drama
- Jackson Yee stars opposite Zhou Dongyu in a heart-wrenching drama that examines the effects of bullying
- Directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Derek Tsang Kwok-cheung, it has been a big box office hit in mainland China
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4.5/5 stars
Had Better Days been released in any other year, the film would have served as a far bigger endorsement of the talent of its director, the emerging Hong Kong filmmaker Derek Tsang Kwok-cheung.
Still, good movies will always find their mark.
With China’s censors more cautious than usual in the run-up to the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic, the film’s producers were forced to withdraw it from the Berlin film festival in February, and fell foul of a Chinese boycott of the Golden Horse awards in Taiwan last month. (Tsang’s previous film, Soul Mate , was nominated in seven categories at the Golden Horse awards in 2016.)
The film was thus starved of international attention. When it was belatedly released in mainland China, it proved a big hit at the box office.
Zhou Dongyu, who stars in Better Days, won the Golden Horse best actress prize for Soul Mate. Had she been in the running this year, it’s easy to see why she might have been tipped for the award again thanks to her heart-wrenching performance here.
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