Directing: B-
Acting: B+
Writing: B-
Cinematography: B+
Editing: B-

Better Days tackles worthy subjects, namely suicide and particularly bullying, but I’m not convinced it needs 135 minutes to do it. This film could have strengthened its impact significantly just by shaving off about half an hour—and, indeed, at about that far from its actual end, the film feels like it’s reaching its natural conclusion. Then, it keeps going, until reaching another presumably natural conclusion. And then it happens again.

This film, while not widely reviewed, is getting very positive reactions from its comparatively limited critical exposure. If people really cared what I thought (most don’t), then this review would take the averages down a bit. I didn’t hate this movie. I just felt done with it before it was done with me.

Besides, its intended messaging regarding bullying loses its focus, and turns into a bit of a fairy tale love story, with seemingly hopeless circumstances as its backdrop. Before we even see the opening title, text appears declaring hope that this movie will encourage dialogue about bullying. One wonders how prevalent bullying is in this film’s native China, and how it compares to the experiences of teenagers in the U.S.

And, to be sure, in the first two-thirds or so of Better Days, its main character, Chen Nian (Dongyu Zhou, who is excellent), endures a great deal of relentless, humiliating, sometimes violent bullying. If you endured a great deal of bullying as a child in school, this movie might be triggering. It really captures the sociopathic remorselessness of kids who bully for no discernible reason other than sport. Some of the adult characters, some of them police officers ineffectively investigating reported harassment, discuss how kids tend to fall into one group or the other: you’re either the bullied, or you’re a bully. I’m not sure there’s a strict duality there, although there are plenty of kids out there with no means of seeing it any other way.

Better Days plays out Chen Nian’s story within the context of not just everyday school life, but the pressures of high-stakes exams which will determine her educational opportunities, and by extension, the direction of the rest of her life. Her mother is barely scraping by, getting into dubious work and actively avoiding debtors. Near the beginning of the film, a fellow classmate commits suicide after being the target of the meanest girls in the school. Chen Nian makes the mistake of covering the body with her jacket, calling attention to herself, and thus becoming the next bullying target.

And then, director Derek Tsang kind of shoehorns in the relationship part of the movie: Chen Nian passes by a somewhat older boy getting beaten the street, and when she tries to call the police to report the violence, the attackers drag her into it. This is how she meets Xiao Bei (Jackson Yee), who eventually volunteers to protect her from the school bullies.

As this relationship blossoms, at first and for quite some time as just a platonic yet intimate friendship, the bullying aspect remains a pretty integral part of the story. But then, once one of the bullies winds up dead, Better Days takes a curious turn toward burgeoning romance, in the midst of Chen Nian being the prime suspect. Some time is still taken on the issue of bullying, but comparatively very little, as Chen Nian and Xiao Bei dedicate themselves to protecting each other.

I could never quite figure out what we were supposed to get out of their love story, after so much time was spent on Chen Nian being the victim of bullying. Maybe Tsang just wants us to root for a happy ending for them? Better Days can’t quite figure out whether it’s a movie about one of the important issues of our time, or a dark, fairy tale romance; it seems to want to combine the two but it only ever particularly feels like one or the other. One of the police officers becomes obsessed with preventing Chen Nian from allowing Xiao Bei from taking the fall for her, convinced she would never be able to live with herself.

It’s not even quite clear, in the end, whether that’s even what happens. The movie tells us what really happened, who did what to whom and why, when it comes to the dead girl. But then we see these two naive young lovers sitting on opposite sides of glass, crying at each other. I was engaged enough with all of this, but when it was done I was happy it was over. At least once I knew it was time to go write this review, I had a clear idea of direction than I had when still inside the world of this film.

*Some mean girls are straight up sociopaths.*

Overall: B-