First Time (Movie)

                                     

     This movie was very short but surprisingly beautiful and I was on the verge of tears at the very end. I did not have to doubt whether the love was real or not because I think that was the idea of the story. They wanted to convince you that despite the scenarios, the love was real. This story is kind of complicated in it's own way. It starts off convincing you that this man is the girl's high school crush and his name is Gong Ning. They form this relationship rekindling old feelings. However, this romance was not as innocent and fluffy as it appeared to be. 

       The girl is named Song Shi Qiao.  This girl has some sort of genetic problem that affected her respiratory system. Her father passed away because of this genetic disease (I think). So her mother is very loving and protective of her. You see a very strong bond between mother and daughter. That love the mother had for her daughter played a huge role. Song Shi Qiao likes to record her thoughts on these cassettes like it is a diary. Her mother listened in on the cassettes without her knowledge and finds out that her daughter's still talking about her high school crush Gong Ning who had passed away. Because of the medication Song Shi Qiao was taking, her memory was slowly fading. Using this to her advantage, Song Shi Qiao's mother hires a man named Lu Xia to play the part of Gong Ning and got his family and friends to play along. All the beautiful scenes of love were scripted. Then slowly things started to get unscripted as feeling begin to develop for the kindhearted girl. 

          In the process of all this, it showed family problems that Lu Xia faced. The touching moment in the rain with his father made me tear up. As it went on, Lu Xia's double identity was showing in many aspects even though he managed to hide everything pretty well. He enrolls Song Shi Qiao at a dance studio so that she can perform. It was a way to let her do something that doctors said she couldn't. Almost like a dying wish. However, upon her death, you find out that she was hiding the biggest secret of all and that just maybe their love was not as scripted as it seemed. Their love had been real. 

         I loved the dynamics of the characters, the character depths and background stories were great, and the scenes with family were extremely touching. The romance made me feel fluttery feels the entire way. The cinematography was also beautiful as the director used light tones strategically. Great film and I really enjoyed it.