The End of Endless Love (2020)

At first, I watch this film because I love the main female lead. But then, the story touches my heart. it's telling about a man who comes from another planet. He never even went to the other planet, because his dad was bounded to human (his mother). They will be bound to human if they help three times on the same person. And yes, he is bounded to the girl. In other people's eyes, she is only a girl who will do anything to be famous through internet. But no one knows that she had a childhood trauma. Because of her past, she always fake her smile and pretended to be happy... no one knows and no one care about her, except her best friend. But when the male lead is bounded to the girl, he tried every way to make her feel happy, but none of those makes her happy. She is blaming herself for not being strong enough to fight her depression.

I like this movie, not only because the love story. But because the building character and what we can get from this film. as an individual, we should not look down on other people, especially happiness. We can't tell whether she's happy or she's suffering. The only one who can feel our happiness is ourself. many people say "don't care about what other say about you, just be yourself". It is true, but not everyone can do it. Who can really not think about what people say? even if there is, not everyone is like them. Our actions, our words, our judgements will effect people surround us. we are also human, we can be weak. But what makes you strong, is when you don't give up. When you fight little by little. When you prepare yourself to let go of the things you hold.

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A Much Needed Discussion on Depression & Mental Health

I was super excited for the release of this movie ever since I read the synopsis and watched the trailer. I had high expectations for this movie and went into it expecting that I would be crying in various scenes because of the topics it was covering. However, it did not live up to my expectations, but this did not mean that I did not like the movie. It was still an overall pleasant movie to watch. It covers heavy topics such as depression in the eyes of the person suffering from it and from society's eyes, as well as society's stigma on mental health. These are topics that I feel are not discussed enough in everyday conversations and films/television. It is an important topic that people need to be aware of, so I really liked that this movie's message was mostly about this topic through Ji Ze's story. The romance aspects are very cliche (to me) and predictable, but the main message/topic of depression is truly the highlight that viewers should focus on while watching the movie. Though the movie did not live up to my expectations (that I had from watching the trailers), I would recommend it!

SPOILERS AHEAD:
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Things I liked:
1. The message of the story- Depression is a very important thing to discuss because of mental health stigma and through Ji Ze's story, you can see why people with depression find it hard to open up to others about their situation.
2. The OST! - The three original soundtracks were just brilliant and devastatingly beautiful to listen to. They each probably played only once in the entire movie, but they were played at all the right moments to add to the emotional scenes. I can't even pick a favorite because each one is so amazing. There were also many moments when they just played the instrumental of an OST and it really added to the scene. I keep playing them on repeat.
3. Chemistry- The main couple was cute to watch and showed great chemistry together. It is a shame that their cute scenes are so short though. My favorite would be when Ji Ze and Xin Tang sang together :((
4. Acting- Loved loved Jang Ruo Nan's acting as Ji Ze! She was amazing at the crying scenes and made them look genuine since she wasn't afraid to ugly cry. She also did a great job at acting depressed without being too exaggerated. A truly rising star actress! Looking forward to her future works. The other cast also does a great job.
5. Plot- I liked how it showed why it was so troubling for Xin Tang to please Ji Ze and extend his lifeline because she suffers from depression. It was a nice way to connect the big picture (Xin Tang being bound) to Ji Ze's mental health situation and how they end up healing each other in a way (even though it is through love-which seems a bit cliche).
6. The Premise- I also thought it was UNIQUE to have the power of creating illusions to make people happy as a source of life for people like Xin Tang who aren't human. That kind of premise was the first I seen before this movie.
7. Visual Effects- I really liked the visual effects of the illusions that Xin Tang did for Ji Ze. They were really thoughtful and looked cool on screen, such as when he did the butterflies to stop her from her suicide attempt.

Things I did not like so much:
1. Storyline (Romance parts)- The message of the movie was very nicely done, but the plot and storyline were rather weak. It may be because it is a movie and not a drama, but the romance progressed super fast for me although it wasn't awkward to watch. It was just confusing when exactly the two of them started having real feelings for each other even though viewers can somewhat guess/infer how it happened. I would have liked it more if it was told more directly. There were also quite a cliche moments, such as how Ji Ze's treatment towards the end causes side effects of memory loss which led to Xin Tang having to make her remember him or he'll die. BUT some moments, although were cliche, were cute to watch: like how Xin Tang actually accidentally helped create an illusion that helped Ji Ze be happy (which counted as the first time he helped her).
2. Some Overdramatic Moments- Some scenes felt so overdramatic, such as many running scenes of either Ji Ze or Xin Tang. (Ex: Ji Ze running to Xin Tang in the hospital at the end)
3. Storyline (after the breakup)- It was a bit confusing how bad Ji Ze's depression got after breaking up with Xin Tang because it didn't seem like she liked him that much. So, it was hard to understand why her mental state completely collapsed after she left him.
4. The Ending- It was open-ended which was rather disappointing because I was hoping to see more of what happened to them after Ji Ze rushed into the hospital room. I don't like it when I have to guess if the characters lived and what kind of life they had after. I am happy though, that it was a high chance it was a happy ending.

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I'm a fan of Rou Nan and I also loved another movie that Lou Lou directed (cry e a sad river) so I decided to watch this. The story was pretty good. Honestly, I got pretty bored near the middle but Rou Nan's acting always had me concentrated throughout the whole thing as always. I felt that the story was good but it wasn't really interesting enough. I really loved the parts where it was more about mental health because that's when the acting really shined. The ost is great though. I'm definitely going to be listening to it for a long time. I probably wouldn't rewatch it but I didn't dislike it. It's a good movie to watch in the background while you do something like for me I was drawing.

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Interesting fantasy story

Ji Ze (Zhang Rou Nan) is a student who is also an internet celebrity who looks cheerful on the outside but actually feels depressed because of the trauma of her dark past.

One day Xin Tang (Sun Chen Jun), a man who comes from another planet, visits the graves of his parents and plans to return to his home planet in 100 days because the portal to return will only open once, he has the same supernatural abilities as his father, he can creates the illusion of happiness by whispering words, if the person who receives the whispered words feels happy then it will increase Xin Tang's survival by the appearance of a red life line on Xin Tang's palm.

While at the tomb he met Ji Ze who tried to record their meeting live. He didn't like being recorded and used his supernatural ability by whispering words to make Ji Ze forget about it. This supernatural ability cannot be used on the same person 3 times, if it is used 3 times on the same person it will tie their fate. This happened to Xin Tang because he accidentally saved Ji Ze several times by using his supernatural powers. Xin Tang will live as long as Ji Ze feels happy. Knowing this, Xin Tang tries to make Ji Ze happy by becoming a star on her live streaming show. Can Xin Tang succeed in making Ji Ze happy considering that the girl suffers from depression due to her past life trauma?

The premise is very good because I have never watched a fantasy film/drama with a special story like this, I really hope that it can be adapted into a drama with a longer story and it will be more satisfying.

This film is directed by director Lou Lou and also collaborates with Gou Jing Ming who is also the director of the film Cry Me A Sad River (2018) where Zhang Rou Nan also plays a supporting role

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