Yu Li	...	(Director)
	...	(Writer)
Zhenjiang Bao	...
Sylvia Chang	...
Bo-lin Chen	...
Yu Chen	...
Lisi Danni	...
Juan Ding	...
Bowen Duan	...
Bingbing Fan	...
Li Fang	...
Yue Guan	...
Wenxuan Hong	...
Panke Hu	...
Gongwang Huang	...
Ting Huang	...
Jing Jin	...
Jian Zeng	...	Cinematographer
Peyman Yazdanian	...	Composer

Comments: By-the-numbers indie. I didn't believe any of the actors made contact with the feelings the characters were supposed to be feeling because everything comes off as an impression, rather than being anything of substance. Li Yu, who directed 2007's wonderful Lost in Beijing, doesn't seem to have a story to tell here, as much as simply having a desire to make a film in this style, and feature disillusionment as a theme. The hand-held camera-work didn't bother me, but the framing and composition of shots did. They seemed forced and almost precious, and the actors merely vogued their way through scenes.

Fan Bingbing, who was so good in Lost in Beijing, her first film with director Li, seems to treat this one like it's automatic art-house street cred. The story is uninspired. Three young drifters meet a single mom who is still mourning the death of her only son, and they all have an angst competition. That should be indie grill; it's not in this case. It's just shots of people pensively staring off into space, and scenes of people pensively walking around aimlessly while the fog rolls by and the music meanders. Indie film school 101. It was very hard to finish this film because I didn't care about any of the characters. Caring about characters may not be necessary, although the director clearly hoped for it, so I'm going to make up a word to describe my experience and to differentiate it from simply not caring. I discared the characters.

Summary: Three young residents of Chengdu in Sichuan struggle to earn a living, including as a lounge singer, as well as illegal street food vendoring. Because their old apartment is scheduled to be demolished, they rent rooms from a Peking Opera master singer, who is grieving over the loss of her son (implied to have been killed in an automobile accident, related to the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake). The film explores their relationship with each other as well as with the landlady, who is coming to terms with her loss.