When I sat down here in 2023 to watch the 2019 Chinese movie "Xiao Xiao De Yuan Wang" (aka "The Last Wish"), I thought I was in for a drama, as the movie was only listed as a drama here on IMDb. And since I had never heard about the movie, then I didn't have any clue as to what to expect.
Much to my surprise, then "Xiao Xiao De Yuan Wang" was also crammed with funny scenes that included the three main characters Gao Yuan (played by Yuchang Peng), Xu Hao (played by Talu Wang) and Zhang Zhengyang (played by Daxun Wei). And that definitely elevated the mood for sure.
The storyline in "Xiao Xiao De Yuan Wang", as written by Da-Jung Nam, Da-Guang, Da-Kuan and Yusheng Tian, was a really beautiful storyline. It is a storyline that deals with a bunch of different topics, and does so in a very beautiful and entertaining manner. "Xiao Xiao De Yuan Wang" is not only a story about someone suffering from muscular dystrophy, but it was equally so a story about friendship and camaraderie between the three young men. Just as it was a story about the parents coming to terms with the illness of their son. And of course it was a story about fulfilling someone's wish and not being afraid of living life.
The acting performances in "Xiao Xiao De Yuan Wang" was great. The three young actors in the leading roles were really nicely cast and put on great performances and carried the movie quite nicely. I have to say that Yang Yue (playing Gao Yuan's father) and Ge Li (playing Gao Yuan's mother) seemed rather familiar, but I just can't place them in as to where I have seen them before.
I am very glad that I opted to sit down and watch "Xiao Xiao De Yuan Wang", because it was a really, really beautiful and entertaining movie. And even if you dislike watching non-English language movies, then director Yusheng Tian's 2019 movie "Xiao Xiao De Yuan Wang" is well-worth sitting down to spend 107 minutes on watching. I was more than genuinely entertained throughout the course of the entire movie.
My rating of "Xiao Xiao De Yuan Wang" lands on a well-deserved seven out of ten stars.
Plot summary
Gao Yuan (Peng Yuchang), a high school student, diagnoses with muscular dystrophy and learns that his life is running out of days. He decides to achieve his only wish of being a true man before he dies. Knowing that, his best friends, Xu Hao (Wang Talu) and Zhang Zhengyang (Wei Daxun), struggle to make Gao Yuan’s last wish come true.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
May 20, 2023 at 01:13 AM
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A rather beautiful movie...
Challenging...
I haven't seen too many comedies dealing with a high school student suffering from fatal disease, so this was quite a challenge to make. Having a high school student with debilitating muscular dystrophy and fast approaching his last days is usually not something you laugh about! Well, in this film, when Gao Yuan is asked for his wish, he is determined to become a real man. When his two good friends, Xu Hao and Zhang Zheng Yang hear of this news, they spare no effort for their good friend's last dying wish... and those two guys were funny!
Light hearten, colourful,, melodramatic... all this is well accepted on a Chinese market where talking about death is usually a taboo. There was a lot missing here, but I won't be too picky. It was difficult to make something like this at the first place, and they did it!