Youth

An army arts troupe in the seventies. Young women and men dance, sing and perform for soldiers. The troupe is a closed world; everyone watches everyone and one wrong step ends everything. He Xiaoping has come from the provinces and is not accepted. Liu Feng helps everyone; he is such a good man that he is announced as a model soldier. Then something happens and Liu Feng is sent to the front. War breaks out between China and Vietnam. Years later the troupe disbands and everyone goes into another life. Feng Xiaogang directs; Yan Geling wrote the screenplay. Huang Xuan, Miao Miao, Zhong Chuxi and Yang Caiyu are in the cast. It is a Chinese production. The source is Yan Geling's novel; the author worked in an army arts troupe herself when she was young. The film did not open on the date first planned and was moved; it reached cinemas in December of the same year. The battle sequence runs in a single take for minutes and is the most discussed passage technically. The matter it treats is a good man going unrewarded; Liu Feng does everything right and loses most. The narrative keeps the political changes of the period in the background and ties them to personal story. The film did large business and set off an argument between generations in China. The dance and rehearsal scenes are held long. Its limit is method; the narrative is nostalgic, the criticism of the period soft, and the ending sentimental. Who it is for: viewers who like Chinese cinema and period narrative. Who it is not for: it is long, nostalgic, and the ending sad.