Better Days (2019)

Better Days grabs you by the collar with a rare mix of urgency and tenderness, turning a familiar coming-of-age setup into something electric, bruising, and deeply human. Derek Tsang directs with stylish precision, but it’s the performances—especially Zhou Dongyu’s raw, inward resilience and Jackson Yee’s guarded warmth—that make every glance feel like a lifeline, building a romance that’s less about grand gestures than about survival. The film lives in that high-pressure haze of exams, reputation, and fear, and it never lets you forget what’s at stake without resorting to cheap melodrama. Fair warning: it’s an intense watch with scenes of severe bullying and humiliation, but if you can handle the darkness, it rewards you with a story that’s compassionate, gripping, and hard to shake.

Better Days is clearly trying to be a raw, socially conscious gut-punch about bullying, academic pressure, and the desperate bargains kids make just to survive—and it often succeeds thanks to committed performances and an emotionally charged central bond. But it’s also a heavy watch: the violence is intense and humiliating, and the film sometimes pushes its points so hard it tips into melodrama rather than letting you breathe and draw your own conclusions. The story can drift into a drawn-out police/legal angle that slows the momentum and may feel a bit manipulative if you prefer subtle, character-first drama. If you’re sensitive to bullying trauma, or you want a restrained, realistic tone instead of big emotional swings, this may not be for you—even if you can appreciate what it’s aiming for.