What kind of vision does a female director bring to a movie? I don't know if Vivian Qu would oppose to being specifically called a "female" director, but I definitely thought that her movie centers the perspective of its female characters in ways few other movies - in the West included - do. The movie shows the various ways in which women are silenced, objectified, and abused at a personal and systemic level. It always does so in a subdued manner, which is respectful to its cast but still conveys a strong message. Some quieter scenes put forward powerful symbols (a marginalized character is asked twice to move out of a photographer's angle, happy couples taking wedding pictures on the beach, the Marilyn Monroe statue). An intelligent, truly feminist work.

This film is about the sexual assault of two preteen girls and the young girl who is the only witness.

This is a look at how one of the preteen girls is treated by family, law enforcement and her legal representation. It is emotionally impactful and I found myself really feeling for this child. Her situation is just sad and her mental state is one of fear, shame and isolation. The situation for the witness is self-serving and I was initially appalled by the unsympathetic emotion of her actions.

This film is well acted and filmed. This was a really slow paced film. I had a few problems with the story and the way it ended. I didn't feel there was enough detail to really make the story strong and I was really missing that. The ending just left me with so many unanswered questions that after building a connection with these girls, I felt let down by not knowing the rest of the story.

My final opinion is that while I liked it, this was a film that could've been so much more than it was.

China needs such films to break away from the noise of capital and tell a good story quietly. The portrayal of the three generations of old, middle-aged and young women is realistic and makes the plot very natural. Only two points must be deducted at the end. The turning point is too stiff. Another point was deducted because of the senseless lenses of literary and artistic films.