Let Life Be Beautiful โอบกอดฝันสู่วันพรุ่งนี้ (2020) [บรรยายไทย]

Tainan-born Lin studied film at Syracuse University in the US during 1997-2000 and has directed or co-directed around a dozen drama series and documentaries. Between times he was also executive director on hit Taiwan high-school comedy Our Times 我的少女时代 (2015, dir. Chen Yushan 陈玉珊). In 2017 he was reported as co-directing, with Mainland author Sun Rui 孙睿, the film version of the latter’s novel Thrive As Grass 草样年华, starring two young Mainlanders, actress Wang Keru 王可如 and actor Liu Dongqin 刘冬沁 – though no more has been heard about the film since. Beautiful is, therefore, Lin’s first theatrical feature to be released.




 

Though it’s hardly sentiment-free, the film keeps its emotions in a tight harness until the end, when the feelings generated can be said to be honestly won. For a start, the 13-year-old “hero” is hardly a knight in shining armour: he’s hopeless at school, avoids study like the plague, and is so obsessed with becoming a future singing star that he doesn’t even notice the devotion of his class’ top female student. His father indulges him, his mother tries to mould him, and an anonymous web-pal in another hospital massages his ego despite the fact that she claims to have even less chance of surviving than him.