A Brighter Summer Day Review

Plot Spoil

In Taipei, a student in junior high, Xiao Si'r, fails a class and is forced to attend night school. This upsets his father, a career government worker, who is aware of the delinquency rampant among night school students and worries that it will affect Si'r. The next morning, Si'r and his father listen to a radio broadcast listing students accepted into various schools in Taipei.

A year later, Si'r, along with his best friend, Cat, is spying on the filming of a period drama in a movie studio. Caught by a guard in the rafters, they steal his flashlight and flee the studio, returning to their school. Si'r, noticing movement in a darkened classroom, turns on the flashlight and startles a pair of lovers, whose identities remain unclear. The film then proceeds to introduce two gangs of students, the Little Park Boys, the children of civil servants, and their rivals the 217s, the children of military officers. Si'r is not a member of either gang, although he is closer to the Little Park Boys. The Little Park Boys are led by Honey, who is currently hiding from police after killing one of the 217s over his girlfriend, Ming. Sly leads the gang in his absence. Sly and Si'r become rivals after Si'r gets Sly in trouble, believing him and his girlfriend, Jade, to be the pair of lovers he saw. Meanwhile, Si'r and Ming meet by chance and become friends.

Sly proposes a truce between them and the 217s, and arranges for a concert of Western pop music to be held with members from both gangs. Preparations for the concert appear to be going well until Honey, wearing the stolen uniform of a sailor as a disguise, unexpectedly resurfaces and berates Sly for setting up the concert; however, he realizes the gang respects Sly more. The night before the concert, Honey meets with Si'r, who he has taken a liking to, and "bequeaths" Ming to him, believing him to be a stable boyfriend. The following night, the concert is performed. An arrogant Honey appears outside of the concert hall, antagonizing the rival gang. Narrowly avoiding a beating, Honey takes an apparently friendly walk with the 217's leader, Shandong, only to be murdered when Shandong pushes him in front of an oncoming car. The Little Park Boys do not believe police reports that it is an accident, and plot revenge; they murder the 217s, including Shandong, during a typhoon, using weapons acquired by Ma, one of Si'r's wealthy classmates. Sly and the surviving Little Park Boys go into hiding. The same night, Si'r's father is arrested by secret police and questioned over his past, but is eventually freed, though he is fired as a result.

Si'r, meanwhile, has begun a relationship with Ming (who has gotten over Honey's death), and seems to be improving academically. However, she reveals to him her flirtations with other boys, including a much older doctor, which bothers Si'r. The next day, Si'r receives a demerit after lashing out at the doctor, and is expelled after a fit of rage as his father argues with the principal. Si'r promises to pass his transfer exams to get into day school, which upsets Ming, who knows that this means she will see him less. Later, Sly emerges from hiding and apologizes to Si'r for their past antagonism, and reveals that Ming and Ma are dating. Upset, Si'r, begins dating Jade, but he upsets her and she bitterly reveals to him that the girl he saw kissing Sly was Ming, not her.

After threatening Ma at the latter's home, an enraged and jealous Si'r steals Cat's knife and waits outside the school for Ma. Instead, he sees Ming, and berates her for her promiscuity, saying that only he and Honey had the ability to change her; she rejects this, saying that she cannot be changed and he is not special. He stabs her in a fit of rage and misery, then breaks down in crazed guilt. Si'r is arrested and held at the police station, where he screams for Ming. Si'r is sentenced to death, but the media controversy around the case provokes the sentence to be changed to 15 years imprisonment. The final scene is set in Si'r's house, now almost devoid of furniture. Si'r's mother is hanging up clothes to dry when she unexpectedly finds Si'r's school uniform. As she sobs into it, the radio starts to broadcast another list of distinguished students, mirroring the opening of the film.

چیرۆکی کوڕێکی هەرزەکاری ئاشق کە لە کاری ئاژاوەگێڕیی تێوەدەگلێت.

فیلمی | ڕۆژێکی ڕووناکتری هاوین - ١٩٩١

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