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Screengrab via Netflix Asia/YouTube

‘Us and Them’ is a bittersweet romantic drama, done right

The film was a box-office smash in china, and it's now on netflix..

Eddie Strait

Posted on Jun 24, 2018   Updated on May 21, 2021, 12:46 pm CDT

Us and Them  is a movie about finding the words you should have said to someone years ago. Like assuring a worried parent that you may be lost now, but you’ll be fine. Or letting a star-crossed love know what they really meant to you. It’s also about allowing yourself to be vulnerable enough to understand your regrets. The film is so in tune with its characters’ emotions that it runs the risk of being maudlin. But director and co-writer Rene Liu strikes the right balance of melancholy and sincerity.

Us and Them  tells the story of the relationship between Jianping (Jing Boran) and Xiaoxiao (Zhou Dongyu). It was a box-office smash in China before Netflix acquired the rights .

The narrative is split into two timelines. In one it’s 2018 and the two reconnect during a delayed flight and they spend the night doing a post-mortem on their relationship. The other timeline tells their story from the beginning. We watch their chance meeting on a train in 2007 turn into a friendship, then a start-and-stop relationship that eventually fizzles out. But  Us and Them  is much more than a recounting of a will-they/won’t-they relationship that landed on “won’t.” It’s clear how Jianping and Xiaoxiao feel about each other, and their inability to translate that into a successful relationship is a brutal throughline. But the larger theme is that you can’t force someone into somebody they aren’t ready to be—the great irony of maturity is that it’s built on your missteps.

While the movie is primarily focused on Jianping and Xiaoxiao, it makes enough room to include other perspectives. Jianping’s father (Tian Zhuanghuang) is the most prominent supporting character in the story. His presence is marked by his worries about Jianping’s future, but he also has room for Xiaoxiao. Not in the sense of a parent showing interest in a potential in-law, but rather as a person looking out for someone. The best scene in the film is between him and Xiaoxiao. It’s a testament to Liu’s skill as a filmmaker. She’s a generous storyteller, unafraid to let her characters make mistakes but never vilifying them. That touch of humanity is such an easy thing to botch and she nails it in a way uncommon for most first-time filmmakers.

Us and Them  wants you to empathize with its characters but, more importantly, it wants you to empathize with everyone. Despite covering familiar thematic material, it brushes up against profundity. Those moments help  Us and Them work its way into your heart.

You’ll want to watch through the credits. Liu adds a crucial scene for Jianping. She also adds a series of shots of real people saying the things they’ve needed to say for a long time. By the time it’s over, you’ll want to hug someone.

Still not sure what to watch on Netflix? Here are our guides for the absolute best movies on Netflix , must-see Netflix original series and movies , and the comedy specials guaranteed to make you laugh.

Eddie Strait is a member of the Austin Film Critic Association. His reviews focus primarily on streaming entertainment, with an emphasis on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and other on-demand services.

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Zoe Crombie is a Film Studies student from Lancaster University,…

There are solid reasons why romance is used in a huge proportion of film narratives. It is almost universally relatable, it’s cost-effective in only requiring the actors and not necessarily any large setpieces, and it can be deeply emotionally impactful and memorable. However, this is only the case if it is written, directed, and acted successfully, which seems  depressingly uncommon .

Us And Them is not a particularly original film. It is about young love, reality crashing into ideals, and the importance of family. But after watching it, I felt a renewed interest in romance movies – not romcoms or films of other genres with romantic subplots, but ones that centre entirely around the subject. Because director Rene Liu’s creation is so beautifully simple and well constructed that it feels like a rare jewel.

Crafting A Love Story

Xiaoxiao and Jianqing are heading to their hometown from Beijing for New Years when they meet by chance on a train. Fast forward by ten years and they have run into each other once again when a plane they both boarded is delayed, only this time the tone is a little more sombre. We are shown how their relationship developed a decade earlier juxtaposed with conversations from the present, unlocking details of the characters’ ambitions, circumstances and passions along the way, as well as the depth of their love for each other.

The Chinese title for the film is Hòulái de Wǒmén , which literally translates to ‘Who We Will Be’, tackling the themes of time and progression, and acknowledging how the main characters evolve over the ten year period. Although this is a good representation of what the film has to offer, I kept finding myself meditating on the English title at various points in the runtime.

As Us And Them as a title would suggest,  Liu’s film establishes the recurring barrier of class to Xiaoxiao and Jianqing’s relationship. There is also the restriction of gender placed on the former, who must overcome her class via marriage rather than through a career of her own merit. However, it is the more intimate meaning that I found most impactful.

In a beautiful scene where the two characters finally consummate their love, the camera pans out above them to show the other tiny compartments of the huge urban apartment block. The couple is oblivious to everyone else, choosing to exist in their own private world.

Undoubtedly the standout performance of  Us And Them comes from Dongyu Zhou as Xiaoxiao, who infuses the character with a down to earth warmth, her quirks depicted effortlessly and endearingly through a playful and physical interpretation. The idealistic Jianqing is played with a charming grouchiness by Jing Boran , unrestrained in expressing the characters tempestuous emotions.

Whilst the individual performances are good, what keeps the film together is the incredible chemistry between the two actors. They fall into each other with an incredible ease, subtle physical gestures by both of them implying a deeply held affection for the other. Even in the more awkward moments of the script (likely an issue of translation), the raw, unhesitant performances from Zhou and Boran ensure the emotional core is intact.

Aesthetics and Resemblance

Subverting convention, Liu chose to shoot the flashbacks in colour and the current day scenes in black and white, changing the association colour palettes have with the passage of time to instead be a thematic link; in spite of all other circumstances, without one another, the world loses a certain dimension. The messy, cosy interiors of the abodes in the film also contrast nicely with the cold, geometric Beijing, serving to highlight the turbulent inner lives of the characters and provide a welcome sense of warmth.

In structure, though not in quality, the film this most reminds me of is Lone Scherfig’s   One Day , in which we as the audience get to check in on the characters once a year on the same day to see how their relationship has progressed. The difference is that  Us And Them does not rely rigidly on this gimmick to seem more interesting; Liu is happy to skip back between past and future, not giving a sense of consistency in the passing of time, and instead allowing the events to unfold organically.

There are also numerous similarities between this film and Michel Gondry’s classic  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind . They each utilise a cold, wintry aesthetic that highlights the loneliness of the protagonists when not together, and yet adds a delicate beauty to the more romantic and intimate scenes. The narratives both play with time, developing the relationships more thoroughly via the use of a somewhat nonlinear plot. Most importantly though, they both create characters so three dimensional and likeable that you perfectly understand why they loved each other to begin with.

Conclusion:  Us And Them

Us And Them is an extraordinarily impressive directorial debut for Liu that has made me excited for more to come. Whilst not a thrilling ride, the pace perhaps a little sluggish for some, this delicate work will transport you into the lives of the young lovers as if they are living, breathing individuals, and leave you contemplating the best and worst of romance. If you have a Netflix account, clear an evening and watch this breathtaking movie.

Have you checked out Us And Them on Netflix? How do you think it stacks up next to other romances? Let me know in the comments!

Us And Them was released on Netflix worldwide on June 22, 2018.

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Zoe Crombie is a Film Studies student from Lancaster University, who has been writing for Film Inquiry since May 2018 as well as at her own site Obsess Reviews. She is a big fan of Studio Ghibli and The Marx Brothers, but is willing to watch anything and everything.

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‘us and them’: film review | sxsw 2017.

Jack Roth ('Rogue One') stars in this cheekily violent home invasion movie from writer-director Joe Martin ('Keep Quiet').

By Jordan Mintzer

Jordan Mintzer

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In Us and Them , three blue-collar Brits torment a family of one-percenters in order to exact some willful class revenge and possibly, a bit of pocket change. It’s a decent concept for any sort of movie – a thriller, a horror flick, a comedy – but the problem here is that writer-director Joe Martin never quite decides which one he wants to make.

The result is part Tarantino and Guy Richie, part Michael Haneke and A Clockwork Orange , with a bit of Alan Clarke tossed into the mix. That makes for a lot to reckon with in such a short running time (the film clocks in at 83 minutes), and the final product ultimately feels innocuous. With a premiere in SXSW ’s Narrative Spotlight section, the film could use its genre elements — not to mention star Jack Roth (son of Tim) — to find traction on VOD outlets.

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Jumping around in time à la Reservoir Dogs , with a funk-heavy soundtrack and lots of cheeky intertitles to denote each sequence, Us and Them can often feel like it was manufactured by a movie algorithm sometime in the late 1990s , even if its poor vs. ultra-rich scenario is meant to evoke the social woes of present-day England. 

Roth plays Danny, a fiery 20-something who hatches a plan with pub buddies Tommy (Andrew Tiernan ) and Sean (Daniel Kendrick) to invade the home of the posh Phillipa (Sophie Colquhoun ), whom he sees as an embodiment of the class-based gentrification that’s ruining both his neighborhood and his country. His idea is to break inside the mansion, scare the bejesus out of her family, record it all on video and then release his manifesto to the public, in the hopes of starting some sort of revolution.

Things of course don’t go according to plan, with the film flashing back and forth to reveal the different ways in which Danny’s scheme will backfire — whether it’s his friends’ greedy intentions, a gun that’s not a real gun or the many verbal tiffs he has with Philippa’s banker dad, Conrad (Tim Bentinck ). Clearly in over his head from the start and unsure of the proper course of action, Danny is backed into a corner and then some, with the resulting mayhem turning increasingly violent and humorless.

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As much as the economic divide remains a serious issue in the U.K. ( Brexit , anyone?), the subject is tackled in some rather odd ways in Us and Them , which renders its band of average Joes so idiotic and unlikable at times, you actually wind up rooting for the rich guys. Even if the film can be seen as pure satire, the idea of turning class resentment into a sick prank that ends badly for everyone involved seems like a facile take on a highly complex problem, especially when none of the characters come across as even mildly redeemable.

To his credit, Martin showcases a punchy style that’s abetted by excellent camerawork from Stefan Mitchell, not to mention a steady mix of funk, punk and other tracks that keep the rhythm alive. In one of his first leading roles, Roth exudes some of the raw energy and twisted humor of his father’s earlier movies (Clarke’s Made in Britain comes to mind), while the rest of the cast is solid — all the way down to the actor who plays several scenes with the word “wanker” written across his forehead.

Production company: Into the Woods Cast: Jack Roth, Tim Bentinck , Andrew Tiernan , Daniel Kendrick, Sophie Colquhoun Director, screenwriters: Joe Martin Producer: Danielle Clark Executive producers: Jeremy Sokel , Bob Palmer, David Osborn Cook, Kirsty Bell Director of photography: Stefan Mitchell Production designer: Niina Topp Costume designer: Alison McLaughlin Editor: Joe Martin Composer: Vanesa Lorena Tate Casting director: Shakyra Dowling Venue: South by Southwest (Narrative Spotlight) Sales: Parkland Pictures

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‘Us and Them’ Review: It’s Rich Against Poor As a Home Invasion Goes Sour

The class divide grows wider every day, but while most people are content to watch it and grumble in disgust one young man has had enough. Danny ( Jack Roth ) has a plan to strike fear into the heart of the elites and hopefully ignite a national movement against the 1%. Unfortunately for Danny, his poorly thought out plan makes the folks behind Occupy Wall Street look like organizational masterminds.

Along with two of his mates, Tommy ( Andrew Tiernan ) and Sean ( Daniel Kendrick ), he targets a young woman of rarefied upbringing whose parents represent all that Danny sees wrong with the world. The trio force their way into Phillipa’s ( Sophie Colquhoun ) home, tie up her and her parents, and set about terrifying them on camera. The plan is to make them squirm and then broadcast it to the world as a both message and a motivation. Things quickly spiral out of control though as participants on both sides refuse to play by the rules.

Writer/director Joe Martin ’s feature debut, Us and Them , comes a year after his documentary, Keep Quiet , but they share a thematic thread in their look at the competing categories people put themselves and other into. The doc follows a far-right politician who only stops demonizing his Jewish countrymen when he discovers that he himself is Jewish. The characters in Us and Them are every bit as angry and insulting towards those on the other “side” – the rich look down on the poor, the poor look up with hate in their eyes towards the rich – but there’s no chance here that any of them will wake up to discover they’re actually what they so visibly despise.

Even so, that’s almost the crux of Martin’s film as the characters make it clear that none of them are all that innocent and endearing of our sympathy. Leave it to human nature to get in the way of morality. Like 2015’s Traders , another UK thriller but one that hit pre-Brexit, it focuses on the plight of the lower/middle class as a starting point to the realization that money is neither the key to happiness nor the root of all evil and that pricks come with all different sized bank accounts. If anything the film leans a bit more heavily on Danny and his friends marking them as the true villains of the piece, and while that may be intentional it seems at odds with how we’re meant to look at Danny’s plight and the film’s themes.

There’s a desperation to Danny’s plan to expose the wealthy to the same threats and stresses that the poor experience, and while much of the film is played for dark laughs Roth sells the man’s feeling that he’s at the end of his rope. We believe his intentions but quickly doubt his ability to keep himself and the others under control.

Martin keeps the film moving both through the natural energy of its narrative as well as through imagined bits and flashbacks that explain what we’ve just seen or set up what’s to come. The film’s at its best in the present as the urgency builds before our eyes, but those jumps backward in time are something of a mixed bag. Some reveal details that ultimately transform into punchlines, but others feel somewhat redundant as they relay information that seems fairly obvious to anyone paying attention.

Us and Them offers thrills both cathartic and blackly comic before things grow even more serious, and while it flails somewhat with a momentum-killing structure the 83 minute running time and a punchy, funky music soundtrack selection ensure the film remains engaging.

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Us and Them movie review: Beautifully crafted romantic film with a sensitive take on fragile relationships

Us and Them shows us the futile nature of a life that has everything for comfort — except love

Chinese singer and actress Rene Liu’s directorial debut  Us and Them is a film that’s all about missed opportunities. The film takes a deep and sensitive look at the fragile nature of human relationships under the pressures of the modern world, and reminds us that nurturing those relationships is far more important than reaching tangible goals.

The film tells the story of two individuals from a small town in China who are trying to making it big in Beijing — the ambitious and soft-spoken Jianqing and the dreamy and vivacious Xiaoxiao. The two meet on a train during the busy Spring Festival travel season, and instantly develop a friendship. Over the years, Jianqing and Xiaoxiao form a deep bond, as the former helps his friend navigate through several relationships that always seem to leave her with a broken heart. The two finally find love and solace in each other’s arms, only to realise what they had been missing all these years. The two seem to be happy, but not for long, as the struggle of the ruthless life in a big city like Beijing gets to them and threatens to pull them apart. Jianqing had seemed to be the more level-headed of the two, but as it turns out, it is Xiaoxiao who is the more mature and patient one. The two soon begin to fall apart and a time comes when Xiaoxiao leaves. After many years, on the eve of the Chinese new year, they meet again, when the flight they are on gets cancelled due to bad weather, and circumstances force them to share a hotel room. Confined to the room, they fondly reminisce about the good old days, and wonder how things turned out the way they did.

While it is undeniably true that Us and Them is a beautifully crafted romantic film, it is also true that it offers little that is new. The film’s storyline follows a predictable path — nothing we haven’t seen before — making us wonder along with Xiaoxiao herself – ‘why can’t a story be happy from the beginning to the end?’ But having said that, I must also haste to add that the execution of the story does not leave you with a sense of boredom. And much of the credit for this goes to the performances.

Boran Jing plays the calculating and reticent young boy from a small town with perfection. Watch his frustration as one by one, all his friends who had come to the city with him abandon him and head back to their hometown to settle down there, leaving their dream of someday developing a video game unfulfilled. Jianqing struggles on alone, and just when he seems to be giving up, Xiaoxiao comes into his life. As he struggles to deal with his feelings for her, the girl is happily hopping in and out of relationships, relying on Jianqing to clean up the mess after. But like a good friend, Jianqing takes it in his stride, and is always there for the immature and pesky little brat.

Dongyu Zhou slips into the shoes (very ugly ones, as her friend points out in the film!) of the bubbly and cheerful young Xiaoxiao with supreme ease and grace. Towards the beginning of the film, she comes across as someone who has absolutely no idea where she is headed. She is impetuous, she is a hopeless romantic and she is starry-eyed. But as the years go by, we see her mature faster than Jianqing does. She seems to come to terms with reality much sooner than her lover, and is clearly the saner, bolder, more intelligent and significantly more caring of the two. There are moments when you can’t help feeling sorry for her, and for everything that she has to go through. The systematic destruction of her innocence is tragic, to say the least.

But in my favourite performance from the film, it is Tian Zhuangzhuang who shines forth, as Jianqing’s father. The aged gentleman walks around the kitchen of his tiny small-town restaurant with unhurried pace, making food for the community — entertaining them, feeding them. But you can see that he is worried about the only child he has — a boy who has left the nest the moment he has learned to fly. In what is perhaps the most beautiful scene from the film, he narrates an incident around a video game to his son’s girlfriend and explains how — he felt — it must have fuelled his unhealthy obsession with a career that had no future. It is a tender scene, performed to perfection, and it beautifully succeeds in capturing the old man’s fears and worries for the son he gets to meet only once a year.

But more than the relationship between the son and the father, it is the fond relationship that the father has developed with his son’s lover that is bound to move you the most. The wisdom of the elder, and his advice to his son’s estranged lover is the highlight of the film for me. It is the sort of writing, the kind of performance that one hopes to see in a film, and it literally saves the film from being just another love story, elevating it to a whole new level altogether.

The film is also beautifully scored, and the songs come in at the right places. The background music sets the right mood, aptly highlighting the emotions played out on screen. The writing is quite good, but could have been better, had the script been more ‘compact’ at places. Veteran cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-bing gives the film a breathtakingly beautiful look. It would be difficult to call out any one scene that looks stunning — simply because there are so many. The snow-swept highways, the autumn sunlight sliding off the golden leaves of the trees, the dark and grungy rooms of the urban ghetto — everything has been shot with superlative technical prowess.

Telling the story of the two lovers in two different timelines,  Us and Them shows us how small mistakes can ruin perfectly healthy relationships that could have bloomed into something beautiful. It also shows us the futile nature of a life that has everything for comfort — except love.

Us and Them is currently streaming on Netflix. Watch the trailer here:

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Review: Chinese Blockbuster “Us and Them” Will Make You Miss Your Ex

Zhou Dongyu’s latest movie challenges whether traditional notions of success will make us truly happy (spoiler: they won’t)

By Richard Yu , 4 May 18 03:59 GMT

Us and Them (后来的我们) is a Chinese tragi-romance told through two narratives. In the present, ex-lovers Jianqing (Jing Boran) and Xiaoxiao (Zhou Dongyu) meet by chance while stranded on their way to Beijing over New Year’s. Stuck together for a night, their reminisces turn into flashbacks, bringing us to a second tale of romance in their younger days, as they tried to start lives in the city.

It’s Tough Being Young

Jianqing and Xiaoxiao first meet as they try to eke out a meager existence in Beijing. Fresh in the city from their homes in the countryside, the pair initially meet on the train ride home while Jianqing is still a college student. Later, the two become shop owners peddling pirated software and Japanese adult videos. They both see Beijing as a city of limitless opportunity. Jianqing has dreams of making video games, while Xiaoxiao wants to obtain a Beijing residency permit (a 户口 , or hukou , granting access to local public services such as schools and hospitals, or even the right to purchase a house) — an aspiration shared by many migrant workers in urban China who originally hail from the countryside.

This era of their lives occurs in the early 2000s, the same decade when many Western millennials  came of age. In many ways, Jianqing and Xiaoxiao’s struggles to “make it” in the big city echo the struggles of young people across the world. Saddled with the expectations of their parents and society, young people today are put under tremendous pressure to attain success not only materially (via home ownership and a high-paying stable job) but also familially (a la parental questioning of “when will you get married?”).

In many ways, the tight-knit family environment of China worsens this problem. Traditionally, once a year over Chinese New Year, Chinese millennials’  parents and relatives gather for 团年饭 ( tuan nian fan , or a “New Year get-together dinner”). During these family reunions, it is common for relatives — however distant from your daily life — to question your relationship status, roadmap to marriage, and your plans to “settle down”. These questions annoy the latest generation in China so much that they have resorted to obtaining fake girlfriends and boyfriends to avoid scrutiny from their elders.

The difficulty of reconciling familial pressures with reality have led many youths in China to give up entirely on fulfilling the expectations of their parents and relatives. This has given rise to sang culture in China: a self-ironic rejection of the definitions of success imposed by the elder generation, and an embrace of a more personal and modern definition of success.

Jianqing though, is not stereotypically unsuccessful. In fact, over time he achieves the classic hallmarks of a successful young man in China: owning a home in the city, having a nice car, and garnering a stable, high-earning job — the oft-repeated mantra in Chinese: 有房有车有钱 ( “ youfang youche youqian ”). These three qualities are often required for a man to find a girlfriend in China, and have often been satirized for representing the materialism that has come to dominate relationships in China (for example, in this spot for Didi — Chinese Uber).

Breakups and Tech Startups

No tragi-romance would be complete without a breakup story. Therefore, it’s no spoiler that Jianqing and Xiaoxiao eventually split on sudden terms in their younger days. What then makes Us and Them different from other tragi-romances (such as My Old Classmate ) is how the male protagonist decides to deal with the breakup Instead of wallowing in sorrow, Jianqing decides to build his own video game inspired in part by Xiaoxiao, which ultimately leads to his material success in the present day.

Of course, building a tech startup isn’t as easy as a mere 15 minutes in a movie could capture, but it was admirable to see Us and Them depict Jianqing pulling himself up by his bootstraps and channelling his newfound loneliness and general misery into a more positive channel.

It would then be difficult to classify Us and Them as a classical tragi-romance because, unlike the male protagonists in many Chinese tragi-romances, our protagonist actually succeeds in building his own business and eventually joins a larger game studio as a senior business leader — senior enough to fly business class. Jiangqing  attains such material success that he is able to purchase a home in Beijing for his family — attaining the dream of his ex-lover.

Why Bother?

That said, Us and Them spares no time before it jumps back to a stark reminder that, despite all the material success Jianqing might have in the world, he may still not be happy.

This explains then, the sang culture that has taken root in China: what’s the point of participating in the rat race if you’re just going to be miserable when you cross the finish line? Even if you become the millionaire CEO of a tech startup, are you going to ever truly be happy? We can easily evoke the Americanism of “it’s lonely at the top” here.

As Jianqing and Xiaoxiao talk in the present day, Xiaoxiao mentions that she started to learn English — and says “I miss you.” However, she quickly corrects herself and says she meant “I missed you” — just as Jianqing replies “I miss you too.” This awkward exchange shows that ultimately Jianqing isn’t sure whether he truly wants this materially successful life, or just wanted to be with the sweetheart of his younger days. However, Xiaoxiao recognizes that the past is in the past, and no amount of regret can change the decisions that she and Jianqing made to get to where they are today.

Us and Them will bring you on a roller-coaster of emotions; and ultimately it might encourage you to drunkenly look up your ex on Facebook and send them a message (which ironically the protagonists of this film would never be able to do, given Facebook is blocked in China). After all, you never know — maybe you’ll find yourselves reminiscing together about the cheerful days of your youth.

Us and Them (Chinese: 后来的我们) — China. Directed by Rene Liu. First released April 2018. Running time 1hr 50min. Starring Zhou Dongyu and Jing Boran.

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Renee Cuisia

What it's about.

Us and Them follows two former lovers who reminisce and reassess their decade-long relationship over one night. They both seem to be in better places, certainly financially if anything else, but their shared wistfulness for the past threatens to prove otherwise. 

The film was an immediate hit when it was first released in China, and it’s easy to see why. With just the right balance of realism, romance, and comedy, the movie makes for a simple but deeply moving and involving watch. You can’t help but root for the exes to get back together, even though you know as well as they do how minimal the chances of that happening are.

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Us and them, common sense media reviewers.

Chinese romantic drama has sex, drinking, smoking.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Not much in the way of positive messages.

No real role models.

While drunk, one of the lead characters gets into

The two lead characters talk about how they had or

Regular profanity. "F--k" used a few times. Also "

The film explores the materialistic tendencies of

Characters are often drinking, often drunk. This l

Parents need to know that Us and Them is a 2018 Chinese romantic drama spanning a 10-year relationship between a young man and woman that exists in the gray area between friends and lovers. The movie is in Chinese with English subtitles. Characters are often drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes. In one…

Positive Messages

Positive role models, violence & scariness.

While drunk, one of the lead characters gets into a fight with two men. In the aftermath, lead character is shown with cuts, bruises, and blood on his face. While working as a real estate agent, the lead female character fends off an unwanted sexual advance: He leans in to kiss her, but she stops it and it goes no further.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

The two lead characters talk about how they had orgasms the first time they had sex. They pretend to have sex while in a dorm room, making loud noises so that their flatmates can hear them. The male lead character and his male flatmate get into an animated discussion of their favorite porn stars, leading to the flatmate giving the lead character a disc of pornographic movies. Later, these two sell pirated pornographic movies at a makeshift black market inside a subway stop. Some sex talk among a family at the dinner table: A meddling adult asks the two lead characters if they're practicing safe sex.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Regular profanity. "F--k" used a few times. Also "s--t," "bastard," "crap," "d--k," "damn," "hell."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

The film explores the materialistic tendencies of the lead characters.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Characters are often drinking, often drunk. This leads to the lead character getting into a fistfight. Beer, wine, alcohol consumption. Characters frequently smoke cigarettes.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Us and Them is a 2018 Chinese romantic drama spanning a 10-year relationship between a young man and woman that exists in the gray area between friends and lovers. The movie is in Chinese with English subtitles. Characters are often drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes. In one scene, the lead male character gets severely drunk and then gets into a fistfight with two men. There's some sex: The two lead characters pretend to have sex in one scene, loudly moaning so their flatmates can hear them. After a lengthy discussion of favorite porn stars with a flatmate who copies and sells pirated pornographic films on the black market, the lead characters sell these pirated copies in a makeshift black market in a subway stop. Some profanity is heard, including "f--k" used a few times. Overall, the romantic melodrama might be too much for some viewers. However, the themes of young people coming of age in China during a time of rapid economic transformation, and how those societal values play a role in the characters' actions, could be a worthwhile family discussion. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (1)

Based on 1 parent review

What's the Story?

In US AND THEM, during the 2007 Chinese New Year, Jian Qing (Jing Boran) and Xiao Xiao (Zhou Dongyu), two young adults, meet on a packed train leaving Beijing for their hometown for the holiday. Over the course of a train ride filled with drinking, card games, and pranks on other passengers, Jian Qing and Xiao Xiao begin to develop a bond that will last for years. But while Jian Qing has feelings for Xiao Xiao that go beyond friendship, Xiao Xiao seems to prefer being in relationships with older men whose financial and material success far outweighs their physical appearance, personality, and the fact that they are often already married. In Beijing, the two work numerous odd jobs to make ends meet as Jian Qing works to become a successful video game developer. Over time, as Xiao Xiao becomes less materialistic, Jian Qing struggles with trying to pursue his life's dream as his friends become more financially successful. Their relationship is shown through a series of flashbacks as Jian Qing and Xiao Xiao in the present day run into each other and get reacquainted after their flight out of Beijing is canceled. As they talk, they reflect on what might have been, and must contend with what could still be, despite all the changes in themselves and in the world around them.

Is It Any Good?

This romantic drama feels like two movies in one. On one hand, there's a beautifully filmed romance centered on the dreams, passions, and ambitions of the two lead characters against a backdrop of China's continuing rapid economic transformations between 2007 and the present, and how the values of this society influence who they are and what they want. On the other hand, there is a mawkish melodrama that gradually takes over as the movie progresses to an overly emotional descent into the realm of cliché. The latter doesn't ruin the movie, but it comes close to doing so. Fortunately, the former transcends the genre and finds the universal experience in two people existing in the gray area between friendship and love while coming of age.

That said, the viewer doesn't necessarily have to be familiar with the recent history of China and the Chinese economy to follow the action, but such understanding might make the movie more enjoyable overall. There's a strong possibility that the nuance and intricacies of the Chinese culture and its impact on the story and these characters will be lost on Western audiences. The slower pace and the aforementioned melodrama might also turn off audiences looking for a romantic movie with a more straightforward story. But when it's good, Us and Them masterfully captures a moment in time and place, and how that time and place informed the values, dreams, and practical considerations of two young people in and out of love over 10 years.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about romantic dramas. How does Us and Them compare to other movies in which two people fall in and out of love?

Why do you think scenes set in the present were in black and white, and the flashback scenes were in color?

What are some of the ways in which the movie evokes the recent past in pop culture and Chinese society?

Movie Details

• In theaters : April 28, 2018
• On DVD or streaming : June 22, 2018
• Cast : Jing Boran , Zhou Dongyu , Zhuangzhuang Tian
• Director : Rene Liu
• Studio : Netflix
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : Book Characters
• Run time : 119 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : June 1, 2023

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Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Two childhood friends get more than they bargained for when they unwittingly agree to play each other in a deadly game of life and death called "Us or Them." Two childhood friends get more than they bargained for when they unwittingly agree to play each other in a deadly game of life and death called "Us or Them." Two childhood friends get more than they bargained for when they unwittingly agree to play each other in a deadly game of life and death called "Us or Them."

• Nicole Bartlett
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• Celine Arden
• 4 User reviews
• 4 Critic reviews

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• Dec 8, 2023
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• September 8, 2023 (United States)
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• Runtime 1 hour 26 minutes

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‘Nowhere Special' Review: James Norton Is Superb In Touching Father And Son Drama That Won't Leave A Dry Eye In The House

Every week it seems there are large numbers of indie and specialty releases vying for attention, impossible to do them all, so when the option of reviewing Nowhere Special was placed in front of me I resisted at first after discovering it actually premiered at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. That’s right, four years ago. I had to wonder what could possibly be good about a film delayed for that long in terms of getting a U.S. release date? Finally caving in to the persistent requests by the distributor and its passionate PR team, I decided to check it out. What I discovered was not that this was some sort of troubled film, not even close. Instead I found a spare but moving drama, powered by a remarkable lead performance, that is all about life and death and all things inbetween. At its heart it is also an inspiring story of dedicated parent and child, how we face the uncertain future, and what we leave behind. Nowhere Special is something special indeed. If you aren’t shedding well-earned tears by the end of this film you simply are not human.

This is not to say director/writer/producer Uberto Pasolini has made some sort of cloying and maudlin attempt to win our sympathy. This is actually a movie refreshingly void of piled-on pathos and sentimentality, instead using a deliberate pace to tell what is said to be inspired by a true story about a 35 year old window washer, John (James Norton ) , in Northern Ireland who is a single dad to a 4 year old toddler named Michael (Daniel Lamont), both abandoned by the Russian mother who left her boyfriend and new son at child birth to return to her home country and completely out of their lives. If that wasn’t a cruel enough blow to have life throw at you, John has also learned he has just months to live (although we never do find out the cause of his impending death) and so, as the film begins, has set out on a mission with an adoption agency to try to find a forever home for Michael, rather than put him through the series of foster homes he had to endure growing up.

Pasolini takes us through a number of situations in the adoptive process as John with an unsuspecting Michael by his side meets with several prospective “parents”, each with distinctive personalities that make none of them slam dunks for Michael. In between we see John and Michael living the mundanity of their everyday lives as John also tries to continue doing his window washing job, though it progressively gets more difficult, and create some sort of normalcy as he brings up his son, still knowing the end is nearing and time is running out in his quest. The filmmaker never brings attention to any of this, just lets it breathe in and out. By the time, in a beautifully written and played scene, where John sits down to read a book called “When Dinosaurs Die” to his boy you will be a goner. Guaranteed.

Fortunately Pasolini has a splendid cast to help tell this sad, but oddly hopeful, story starting with Norton ( Bob Marley: One Love, Little Women) who was nominated for a British Independent Film Award as Best Actor and delivers a poignant and heartbreaking performance as a very good father whose last act is to find a happy place for his son, and then to simply let go. No easy task. Norton is brilliant in letting us see it all unfold without saying much at all. Lamont is a real find, enormously photogenic and never less than believable as a 4 year old child who is wise beyond his years. The last time I saw this kind of relationship work this well on screen was Dustin Hoffman and Justin Henry in 1979’s Kramer Vs. Kramer. The supporting cast is very fine, particularly veteran Stella McCusker, even if most just get one scene to rise about stereotyping in what is essentially a two-hander between father and son.

Andrew Simon McAllister’s lovely score fits the mood perfectly here. Now that Nowhere Special has found its way to America, the pandemic and industry strikes behind its delays, let’s hope it finds the audience it deserves. It will stay with you long afterwards.

Title: Nowhere Special

Distributor: Cohen Media Group

Release Date: April 26, 2024 Limited

Director/Screenplay: Uberto Pasolini

Cast: James Norton, Daniel Lamont, Carol Moore, Valerie Kane, Eileen O’Higgins, Laura Hughes, Stella McCusker, Roisin Gallagher, Keith McErlean, Chris Corrigan, Niamh McGrady, Siobhan McSweeney, Caolan Byrne, Rhoda Ofori-Attah.

Running Time: 1 hour and 36 minutes

More from Deadline

• James Norton On Being The "Small Hero" In Psychological Thriller 'Playing Nice', Growing His Indie Label Rabbit Track, And Moving Behind The Camera: "That's Definitely In The Plan"
• James Norton-Starring 'Nowhere Special' Set For Theatrical Release By Cohen Media Group