An internet friend of mine - a student of Mandarin at Bonn University - recommended this film to me:
1.
http://www.chinesetones.com/forum/viewt ... f=19&t=234.
2.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBehwWHV2X0
Both links are the same film. Just depends on which one you prefer to watch it on.
It's only 40 minutes long, and I was very impressed by it. Apparently, it was released straight to internet, and has been a real sensation in China. But perhaps many readers already know of it - it was a hit in 2010 or something like that.
Notes:
1. For the first 20 minutes or so, I couldn't work out what the film was about. Actually, I was only really sure after reading a review about it!
2. For the first link I gave, you actually have to click on the "Play" button, in order for it to play.
3. It's one of the few movies where the characters in the highschool setting and as adults seems quite convincing. Mostly I find that the actors look too old to be convincing highschool students, even when the plot DOESN'T move on to showing them in middle age. So, all the more remarkable for this film. Even in "Dead Poets Society", I thought the boys looked a little too old to be highschool students, even though I did like that film too.
4. I actually had a lot of trouble telling the two main characters apart in their "youthful" versions. As adults, it's quite clear, as one is round faced and a bit plump, and the other is angular faced, and quite slim. But in the youthful versions, they are both very round faced.
5. The amount of smoking portrayed is IMHO far higher than in Western movies. That's probably a reflection of the fact that anti-smoking consciousness hasn't reached the same levels in China as in Europe and the US.
6. I was quite surprised at the amount of "crotch-grabbing" and "pelvic thrusts" portrayed. I think of China as a very prudish society (maybe I'm wrong!). I mean, I understand that Michael Jackson - apparently - did it, and that they were just following his dance-moves, but still, it surprised me. Especially the scene where one of the main characters - as a school boy - does it at an audition.
7. One of my friends disliked the start so much that he couldn't bear watching after 10 minutes. He found the acting too "over the top" and the whole film too surrealistic. I can only say that the first 1/3 of the film is strange and surrealistic, the middle 1/3 is just a normal movie (but one where one doesn't really see the point), and the last 1/3 is where the payoff comes, specifically in the closing song, which lasts a whole 9 minutes.
8. It's about lost and unfulfilled dreams from one's youth, and I found it very moving. Big advantage is that it's only 40 minutes long, so if you don't like you, you haven't wasted too much time.
, though I'm sure no one here doubts my "pro-Hokkien" credentials 
).
) called Sandcastle 沙城. It has a decent amount of Hokkien in the first 30 minutes, but completely disappears later. Nevertheless, I liked the movie! 
