A Brighter Summer Day

“So when will we see each other again?”

I Respect this movie more than I enjoyed it, on one hand, it’s masterfully shot and directed, along with the cinematography being on point, however, the fact it’s 4 hours and very slowly paced makes this an incredibly hard watch to just sit down and watch in one sitting.

A Brighter Summer Day is a one of kind film, as it immerses you in its setting through organic frames, like for me it felt like I was the security cameras watching over these kids, as every frame was a fixed point.

1st Act (00:00 - 1:30) 8.8/10 (Does a fantastic job of getting you interested, though it struggles to keep it and especially struggles to give good storytelling when you haven’t told me any of the characters names yet, but tbf, organic storytelling comes with a price.)

2nd Act (1:30 - 3:00) 9.7/10 (Every scene in this is beautiful, I especially loved all the rainy scenes, not only were they tense and organic, but they were also beautiful and amazing to look at.)

3rd Act (3:00 - 3:57) 9.3/10 (While I do think the first like 25 minutes of the third act were really boring, I do gotta admit, the whole last 25 was peak.)

Plot 10/10 (The way I see a plot is it has to be either really simple or really complex to get a 10, because if it’s pulled off well for such an overdone or never done concept, this movie pulls off the first one.)

Soundtrack/Score 8/10 (Across 4 hours I didn’t hear fucking shit of any music, 4 HOURS, NO MUSIC??😭, OTHER THAN SOME ELVIS??, ARE WE DEADASS?.)

Acting 8.9/10 (Well acted, great performances all round, but no standouts.)

Pacing 8.3/10 (All over the place, has very high highs, and very low lows.)

Cinematography 10/10 (Genuinely a masterclass in cinematography, I just fell in love with the lighting used, feels so beautiful yet so real.)

Character Development 8.2/10 (They developed really well, it’s just a sad fact that despite the fact I was locked in for 4 hours, I only understood the characters names about 2 hours in, and in those 2 hours I managed to get Xiao Sir, Ming and Honey, and that’s about it really.)

Writing 9.6/10 (Literally poetry on film.)

Ending 9/10 (I am wondering how in 4 hours you couldn’t have fit in what the title card said into an actual scene, like at that point time isn’t an issue?.)

Direction 10/10 (Edward Yang literally stole my stile 10 years before I did it, 35 years ago.)

Overall
109.8/120
9.0/10

04 hours of real life happening before your eyes.

8/10

“So when will we see each other again?”

I Respect this movie more than I enjoyed it, on one hand, it’s masterfully shot and directed, along with the cinematography being on point, however, the fact it’s 4 hours and very slowly paced makes this an incredibly hard watch to just sit down and watch in one sitting.

A Brighter Summer Day is a one of kind film, as it immerses you in its setting through organic frames, like for me it felt like I was the security cameras watching over these kids, as every frame was a fixed point.

1st Act (00:00 - 1:30) 8.8/10 (Does a fantastic job of getting you interested, though it struggles to keep it and especially struggles to give good storytelling when you haven’t told me any of the characters names yet, but tbf, organic storytelling comes with a price.)

2nd Act (1:30 - 3:00) 9.7/10 (Every scene in this is beautiful, I especially loved all the rainy scenes, not only were they tense and organic, but they were also beautiful and amazing to look at.)

3rd Act (3:00 - 3:57) 9.3/10 (While I do think the first like 25 minutes of the third act were really boring, I do gotta admit, the whole last 25 was peak.)

Plot 10/10 (The way I see a plot is it has to be either really simple or really complex to get a 10, because if it’s pulled off well for such an overdone or never done concept, this movie pulls off the first one.)

Soundtrack/Score 8/10 (Across 4 hours I didn’t hear fucking shit of any music, 4 HOURS, NO MUSIC??😭, OTHER THAN SOME ELVIS??, ARE WE DEADASS?.)

Acting 8.9/10 (Well acted, great performances all round, but no standouts.)

Pacing 8.3/10 (All over the place, has very high highs, and very low lows.)

Cinematography 10/10 (Genuinely a masterclass in cinematography, I just fell in love with the lighting used, feels so beautiful yet so real.)

Character Development 8.2/10 (They developed really well, it’s just a sad fact that despite the fact I was locked in for 4 hours, I only understood the characters names about 2 hours in, and in those 2 hours I managed to get Xiao Sir, Ming and Honey, and that’s about it really.)

Writing 9.6/10 (Literally poetry on film.)

Ending 9/10 (I am wondering how in 4 hours you couldn’t have fit in what the title card said into an actual scene, like at that point time isn’t an issue?.)

Direction 10/10 (Edward Yang literally stole my stile 10 years before I did it, 35 years ago.)

Overall
109.8/120
9.0/10

04 hours of real life happening before your eyes.

8/10