Our Times

| Release:2015.08.14
| Cast: Vivian Sung | Darren Wang | Joe Chen | Jerry Yan | Andy Lau

This is not a Japanese movie, but I really think this worth watching. For those who love romantic comedy, this is the one for you.

The story revolves around a woman Lin Chen-hsin who's stuck in her bad job and intimidating relationship. One day,  she listens to an old cassette she’s been keeping since 18 years ago and this brings the high school days into her memory.

She was an ordinary girl who adores the most handsome guy in school. His name is Ouyang Fei-fan. Aside from that, Chen-hsin is a big fan of Andy Lau. 

One day, she received cursed chain letter and decides to spread it to 3 people: (1) the fussy teacher, because he's such a jerk. (2) the bad boy, Hsu Tai-yu, who loves bullying other kids, and even bothers Ouyang Fei-fan. (3) Tao Min-min, the most beautiful girl who's befriended with Ouyang, but also living next to Chen-hsin.

How can a 130 minutes drama turn into box office? How could this linger in my mind for so long? My first thought of this movie is that it's so long. It could be turned into a series. You see, I'm not a Taiwan entertainment audience because most of their productions are over reacted and super long. For me who're used to have 13 episodes of dorama, it's hard to consume more than 20 episodes.

In the end, I'm happy it's not a series. In the series, you're fed by other characters insignificant stories to lengthen the run time. Our Times manages to cut those parts and focus solely to the main characters. 

The part where they frantically coming back to 90's is the main attraction. I'm a 90's kid. So, this movie has so much resemblance to my school days: playing the cassettes, fangirling over Andy Lau, middle combed hair. I can't help but crying and laughing as it is so relatable. 

However, I think the other recipe of its success is Hsu Tai Yu's character. Some girls love bad boys, especially those who traumatized before. There's reason for their delinquency. For Hsu Tai Yu, it's to cover his real feeling. He puts brave act trying to hide his inability to forgive himself.

Sometimes, you feel like you're no longer part of the journey when your friend changes the path. I think that's how Ouyang feels when Tai Yu turns yankee. They used to be so close. Ouyang chooses to accept it and sticks with his destination. I don't think it's because he stops caring. But, he finds it easier to mend both of their broken hearts by stopping thinking about the incident. It's his way to cope with the loss. On the other hand, Tai yu picks the hardest road: blaming himself.

Our Times reminds us that there's someone who cares. It's someone who would breaks the wall just to knock our consciousness. Lin Chen-hsin challenges the way Tai Yu sees the world. There are a lot of ways to help people: soft or rough. If any of them works you'll eventually thankful that that person willing to risks her way of life for you.

I cry over and over. Laugh for the stupidity I similarly encountered on my younger days. But, what really makes me crazy is the tsundereness of Hsu Tai Yu. His kindness is so hard to understand that it turns super adorable.

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PS: it's really an amazing movie when you can't stop crying even though nobody is dying in the story.