Big World

Liu Chunhe is a young man living with cerebral palsy. He is preparing for the university entrance exam and helping with his grandmother's theatre group at the same time. The grandmother wants him out in the world, in contact with people and working. His mother is permanently frightened and tries to keep him at home. Chunhe wants to decide for himself. Yang Lina directs. Yi Yangqianxi plays Chunhe, Diana Lin plays the grandmother, Jiang Qinqin plays the mother. It runs 131 minutes. The question at the centre is the tension between care and autonomy. The mother is not malicious; her fear is real. But protection becomes the obstacle itself at a certain point, and the film shows that without accusing her. Yi Yangqianxi trained for a long time and built the character's speech and movement physically. The performance produced a wide argument in China, both praise and the criticism that disabled roles go to non disabled actors. It competed at the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival and won the Audience Award. It opened in China on 27 December 2024 and passed 700 million yuan at the box office. The best passages are between the grandmother and the grandson; that relationship never falls into a pitying register. Who it is for: viewers who follow contemporary Chinese family drama and films about disability. Who it is not for: it runs long, the narrative repeats, and the final section loads the emotion too heavily.