Better Days (Shaonian de ni)

THE GIST: Nian is under tremendous pressure to do well at the upcoming college entrance exam, for which she's relentlessly studying along with thousands of other teenagers. She's also the target of constant bullying, which leads her to ask a tough guy she meets one night for protection.

Nominated for a Best International Feature Film Oscar, Better Days presents a damning portrait of the incredibly high expectations that Chinese society puts on adolescents to perform at the highest levels.

It also deals with the topic of bullying, which is more of a universal problem, shining a spotlight on the difficulties of stopping or preventing the behavior from taking root.

Dongyu Zhou and Jackson Yee are absolutely phenomenal as the leads. I was utterly blown away by how deeply and fully they inhabited their characters.

THE BOTTOM LINE: This is definitely slower than the fare Hollywood has trained us to watch, but between the topics and the performances, I definitely recommend it.

Grade: 8