Loved the characterization of the three main leads. Yu Miao's life spiralled out of control when her loser of a husband let jealousy drive him to kill an innocent passerby, Jia Xiaoduo. The clueless Xu Tian got dragged into this mess because he wanted to avenge the death of his girlfriend. The one cliche belongs to the police officer, Lian. Like so many other movie cops, he dies while trying to save Yu Miao.
For viewers who aren't familiar with Chinese customs, they might think that Xu Tian's behaviour is non-sensical. Why would he chase after Yu Miao for money rather than get justice through the courts? Why does Yu Miao seem to be accepting of his behaviour? It all has to do with social norms in contemporary Chinese society, especially for those who are living in poverty.
Upon double-checking the release dates, this movie was produced before the tv drama series, "The New World," starring Yin Fang as Xu Tian. That makes this movie the precursor to the drama series. A lot of common elements become evident, in addition to the characters' names. Yu Miao is the original Tian Dan, who was betrayed by the man she loved and was caught in a horrible situation. Only by her sheer will-power, intelligence, and a bit of help from a police officer was she able to survive all this tragedy.
I wish Xu Bing would redo this as a drama series so that we can see these characters being fleshed out, and to let the story unravel in more detail.
