''Our Shining Days'' ( zh, c=闪光少女, p=Shǎnguāng Shàonǚ, l=Shining Girl) is a 2017 Chinese

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

film starring

Xu Lu Xu Lu (, born 28 December 1994), also known as Lulu Xu, is a Chinese actress and singer. She first became recognized in China for her role in the drama ''Empresses in the Palace'' (2012) and internationally with the drama ''One and a Half Summ ...

and

Peng Yuchang Peng Yuchang (, born October 25, 1994) is a Chinese actor and singer, who gained recognition after appearing in ''Our Shining Days'' and Hu Bo's award-winning film '' An Elephant Sitting Still.'' He was chosen by CCTV-6's China Movie Report as ...

. The film has received favorable reviews, particularly for the performance of lead actress Xu Lu and the depiction of

minority group The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

's struggles of

Chinese orchestra The term Chinese orchestra is most commonly used to refer to the modern Chinese orchestra that is found in China and various overseas Chinese communities. This modern Chinese orchestra first developed out of Jiangnan sizhu ensemble in the 1920s i ...

and

Otaku is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, particularly in anime, manga, video games, or computers. Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in ''Manga Burikko''. may be used as a pejorativ ...

Synopsis

In a fictitious music school, the students of

and Classical orchestra don't get along with each other. They call each other "''tacky''" and "''pretentious''". Chen Jing, a quirky but talented

yangqin The trapezoidal yangqin () is a Chinese hammered dulcimer, likely derived from the Iranian santur or the European dulcimer. It used to be written with the characters 洋琴 (lit. "foreign zither"), but over time the first character changed t ...

student, initially doesn't care about the rivalry, until she falls for the piano prodigy Wang Wen. Annoyed at his ignorance and prejudice toward Chinese instruments, she is determined to prove herself to him by forming her own ensemble, which consists of her best friend who secretly loves her Li You and four ''

'' girls whom initially only agreed to join because of Chen Jing's promise to buy them expensive

action figure An action figure is a poseable character (arts), character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are ...

s. They named their

concert band A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion famil ...

"''2.5 Dimension''", meaning a blend between 2D and 3D worlds, as the Otaku people refer to themselves as living in the second dimension. They perform at an Animation, Comics, and Games convention, and after initial rejection the crowd cheers for them. They perform for Wang Wen but he publicly rejects Chen Jing and traditional Chinese music. Crushed, Chen Jing chooses to disband 2.5 Dimension. The four Otaku students, who have grown to love the band, are angry and refuse Chen Jing's gift of expensive anime figurines. Chen Jing's mother tells her about how the yangqin is a part of her and that she can't give up playing it without its permission. The head of the school announces plans to cancel the Chinese Orchestra but the original members of 2.5 Dimension are joined by other students to protest. After the head of the school continues to refuse them, they organize a music competition with the Classical Orchestra. An inspector comes to the school and both orchestras play their music, but the classical students are unable to keep up with the Chinese orchestra, and so lose the competition. The Chinese orchestra then enlist the help of the Classical orchestra to sneak in and unofficially play after their performance, which is being broadcast live. They play right at the end, and are met with high praise.

Casting

as Chen Jing, student from the music school's Chinese Music Area who plays the

Yangqin The trapezoidal yangqin () is a Chinese hammered dulcimer, likely derived from the Iranian santur or the European dulcimer. It used to be written with the characters 洋琴 (lit. "foreign zither"), but over time the first character changed t ...

as Li You, percussionist playing Chinese drums *Liu Yongxi as Xiao Mai, plays the

Guzheng The zheng () or gu zheng (), is a Chinese plucked zither. The modern guzheng commonly has 21, 25, or 26 strings, is long, and is tuned in a major pentatonic scale. It has a large, resonant soundboard made from ''Paulownia'' wood. Other co ...

*Li Nuo as Ying Zi, plays the

Erhu The ''erhu'' (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a ''Southern Fiddle'', and is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two-s ...

*Lu Zhaohua as Beibei, plays the

Ruan Ruan may refer to: Buildings * Ruan Center, office building in Des Moines, Iowa * John Ruan House, historic mansion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, t ...

*Han Zhongyu as Tata, plays the

Pipa The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets rang ...

*Luo Mingjie as Wang Wen, plays classical piano *Chen Yusi as Zheng Youen *

Eason Chan Eason Chan Yick Shun (born 27 July 1974) is a Hong Kong singer and actor. Chan was ranked sixth in the 2013 Forbes China Celebrity Top 100 List. In 2006 Chan's Cantonese album ''U87'' was named one of ''Time'' magazine's "Five Asian Albums W ...

as Ministry of Education's official * Yan Ni as Mrs. Chen *Geng Le as Mr. Chen

Reception

''Our Shining Days'' garnered generally-positive response. Edmund Lee of ''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...

'' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, describing it as "slight but entertaining" while highlighting the film's "youthful spirit".

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 7013194
Our Shining Days
at

Douban Douban.com (), launched on 6 March 2005, is a Chinese online database and social networking service that allows registered users to record information and create content related to film, books, music, recent events, and activities in Chinese c ...

2017 films 2017 comedy-drama films 2010s teen films Chinese-language films Chinese coming-of-age films Chinese drama films Chinese musical films Chinese teen films Films set in Asia Films set in China 2010s musical drama films 2010s coming-of-age films Tencent Pictures films