KMusic Movie Review: Luhan’s “20’s Once Again”

Officially Kmusic

January 8, 2015

I just finished watching the movie and while I have everything clear in my mind I will try to make a good review of this movie. Despite not being familiar with Chinese films or knowing anyone in the movie except for Luhan, I very much enjoyed this movie and would recommend it to everyone.

To be honest I didn’t have a lot of expectations, yes, Luhan’s film debut and all, but man, this movie has a greater impact than being the first movie role by a former boy-band member who’s in a protracted legal battle.  This movie should be judged on its own merits and seen because it is very good.  It also should not be avoided just because of Luhan’s sudden departure from EXO, to not see this movie would be a loss.

The entire film has a retro feeling that I absolutely adore, it begins with a scene that, in just one minute, showed us the main character’s life to the present time.  IFrom there, we see Shen Meng Jun‘s life as she is living it with her son of whom she is very proud because he is a university professor, her daughter in law, and two grandchildren, Luhan’s character Xiang Qiang Jin and his sister.

Meng Jun is very active and sweet granny who cares very deeply about her family, but somehow the family didn’t care enough for her. They intended to put her in nursing home, because she was too involved in the family matters and spoiled her grandson who takes advantage of her love.

Qian Jin is a musician who just started playing in a band and hopes to make it big. But the things don’t go as he planed  when the lead singer left the band and kicked them out of the practicing room.

Further along, Meng Jun overheard her family when they talked how can they say to her to move out of the house, with heavy heart she goes to visit her friend after a dinner she had with her son and granddaughter. While she was walking by the street she encountered with an unusual retro photo studio and she entered in there to taka a happy photograph and give it to her son as a memory gift. While she was taking the photo te photographer said to her to close her eyes and imagine herself when she was the most beautiful. As soon she did that some kind of strong light appeared and the next thing we see is her leaving that studio as a new person. She came back again as 20-year-old self.

When she realized that she was in great shock and rushed back to find that studio, but unfortunately that studio wasn’t there again. The next morning she woke up in the middle of the alley hoping that everything was just a dream, but no.

With that thought in mind she finally realized, she is young again and could do all the things she missed through her life, find a true love and become a famous singer.

This second segment of the movie  portrays her life as new person Meng Li Jun, even though the actress is obviously young but I really believed her to be a granny of 65+, because she portrayed that old soul so great and I really enjoyed watching her.

When her grandson heard her singing in pension of her longtime friend he immediately asked her to be the lead singer in his band and because of the love she had for him she accepted it but when Li Jun heard that his band plays a very different style of music that she was used to, she wanted to give up. Qian Jin didn’t want to lose her and he made a complete transformation with his music and outer appearance. Li Jun made them into retro band.

The next day Qian Jin wanted to introduce the new singer to his family and invited her to his house for dinner. That was a really awkward dinner, she went to her room and took he ID card and some other stuff that she needed.

One scene that stood out to me was after she fulfills one of the things in her life she felt was missing:  joining a band and starting down the path to become a famous singer.  Li Jun sings an amazing song that moved me to tears.  As she was singing this amazing song, the director gives us a walk to a memory lane, showing more of her life. While the black and withe screenshots were rolling my heart crumpling like a piece of paper. Without giving away the details, she had a hard life where she lost her love and lived a life of hardship and sacrifice.  This scene shows a strength in this character that is admirable and would move almost anyone to tears.  Despite knowing this is a made up story, it hit home by making me think of my own grandmother and what she went through.  I was so moved that I called her and thanked her for all that she sacrificed, for the things that I never understood until this movie. I think this is the hidden value of this movie: it goes out of its way to show that the elderly should always be respected and held in high value.

I will not tell you too much of the plot of this fantastic movie, you’ll just have to see it for yourself.  Believe me this move is worth your 2 hours of time, because it makes you think about your own priorities.

I hope you enjoyed reading this review and stay tuned for more and latest news from K-Pop from Officially KMusic.

Edited by: LeighDarling

Comments

comments