
Us and Them
Rene Liu crafts an aching, chronologically fractured portrait of romance navigating the harsh economic realities of modern Beijing. Alternating between desaturated present-day encounters and vibrant, hopeful flashbacks, the film examines the slow erosion of young love under financial strain and deferred dreams, trading superficial melodrama for quiet, resonant heartbreak. Anchoring that emotional weight, Jing delivers a career-defining turn as Jianqing, shedding any lingering pop-star gloss to reveal an insecure, struggling dreamer hardened by failure. His electric chemistry with Zhou Dongyu provides immense gravity, establishing this bittersweet look at missed connections as the undisputed zenith of his dramatic canon.













