Better Days

Better Days follows Chen Nian, a quiet high school student in China who has pinned everything on the national college entrance exam, the gaokao. Bullying by classmates and the death of a fellow student upend her final year and leave her a suspect in the eyes of those around her. Into this comes Xiao Bei, a young man living on the margins of the city, and the two form a bond in which he shields her from those who mean her harm. Their arrangement is tested as the adult world closes in and the promises they made to each other become harder to keep.

The film was directed by Derek Tsang Kwok-Cheung, his second feature after SoulMate in 2016, from a screenplay by Lam Wing-Sum, Li Yuan and Xu Yimeng, and produced by Yuet-Jan Hui and Jojo Hui Yuet-Chun. Zhou Dongyu plays Chen Nian and Jackson Yee plays Xiao Bei, with Yin Fang, Huang Jue, Wu Yue and Zhou Ye among the supporting cast. It was released in October 2019.

Made across China, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, the film took about 226 million US dollars worldwide, a strong return for a drama of this kind. On IMDb it holds 7.6 out of 10 from over twelve thousand votes, while on TMDB it stands at 8.1 from a smaller pool. A critics' rating of 8.3 from 31 reviews places it close to the audience scores on both sites, indicating broad approval.