User Reviews

I don't know much about cinematography in Far East, because I've only seen a handful of movies from there. Being from Europe, I can't really distinct between movies from China, South Korea, or Japan. I think it's in Japanese movies, where men always shout even in normal conversation -at least it sounds so in my ears.. but then, I don't speak Japanese :-)

Lightning up the stars is quite emotional and entertaining movie. Story is simple and realistic, without pretending to be melodramatic. And so is the cast. They are not just "acting".. they are "real" and very good at that -I hope, you understand what I mean.

To keep it short: If you're in the mood for "light drama", watch this movie before Hollywood decides to do a remake (and makes a cr*p out of it).

The funeral's ruffian and the orphaned girl, they are lack love. They know how to love after meeting each other. It's like find the missing puzzle in life.

Lighting up the Stars is one of a kind. It is not just another comedy about two hearts embracing each other, nor just another movie about life and love. It is a journey - you will be laughing most of the time, probably watery-eyed at some points, while in the end feeling contentment, for the sake of people who love and loved you.

Set and filmed in Wuhan, the city of unlimited energy and southern heat, Lighting up the Stars brought the audience to noisy and crowded streets, zooming in on ordinary people - people who are not as privileged, sophisticated, or even well educated; people who work with their own hands to make ends meet, people who have to fix their problems one after another - in other words, people like us.

Here came Mo Sanmei. He was even less privileged, a loser one might call - He was just out of jail now working at a funeral home, his girlfriend cheated on him, his family thought he was useless, and he was stuck with a child who chased him down. So the child, Xiaowen, was not any luckier. More or less abandoned, all Xiaowen had was her grandma, who just sadly passed away and was removed to the funeral home by Mo Sanmei. Xiaowen at Kindergarten age, having no concept of death, assumed Mo Sanmei kidnapped her grandma, so she went after and found him. At this point Xiaowen was practically homeless. Mo Sanmei reluctantly took her in and eventually graduated into her father figure. To comfort Xiaowen, he told her - "Grandma became a star in the sky. She will come to your dreams and talk to you." The story twisted and turned, centering on Mo Sanmei's role as a father and as a funeral worker, intertwined with a tensioned relationship between Mo Sanmei and his own father. In the end, reconciliations came with a surprise, echoing the clues seeded throughout.

Zhu Yilong and Yang Enyou played the father and daughter combo with eye-popping performances. The leading man, Zhu Yilong, transformed himself into Mo Sanmei, unrecognizable, with jaw-dropping changes in his looks and demeanors. In sharp contrast to his usual classy gentleman self, Zhu Yilong disappeared into this buzz-cut, gum-chewing dude with a cigarette hanging from his lips and a thick gold chain on his neck, wearing tank top/shorts/flip flops. Zhu Yilong WAS Mo Sanmei, everything but a gentleman, rough, ill tempered, yelling and fighting whenever he felt like to. It is this character who fully developed in front of the audience into a better version of himself, through stories with Xiaowen, his father, his ex, and his job. Zhu Yilong delivered Mo Sanmei's character and growth naturally and convincingly. His performance reminded me of Charliz Theron's transformation in the movie Monster, - Yes, that impressive.

Entertaining and artistic at the same time, the movie was an immediate box office success, grossing 236 million USD (1,600,000,000 RMB) in the first month regardless of its somewhat limited release due to CoVid regulations. With a low budget fraction of its earning, Lighting Up the Stars is a commercial winner despite a semi-indie make. The movie is fast paced with clever humors and touching highlights. Chinese culture is reflected throughout the movie, with Mo Sanmei and Xiaowen symbolizing legendary tale characters, the Monkey King and Nezha. Worth mentioning is first time director and screenwriter Liu Jiangjiang. The significance of this debut work might be his Reservoir Dogs, - let's see.

Meanwhile the movie has practical values. For medical workers, it gives a glance at the closure after their patients lose the battle, helping caregivers to cope with frustration. It is also a good family movie. It can be a first attempt to expose young children to the concept of death. They will learn in a rather lighter-hearted way from the experience of another child. "Loved ones who passed away would become stars and come to your dreams" - It is healing and poetic, and can be a practical transition for children's understanding of a very difficult concept.

Lightening up the stars started with stories about departing from life, but its real focus was living the life and celebrating it. After watching the movie, the starry sky will not be the same. Looking at the stars, you see life, you see love, and you see dreams you want to dream, just as Mo Sanmei did at the end of the movie.

This is a movie that brings a lot of warmth to our hearts and suitable for all ages to watch. Both Zhu Yilong and Yang Enyou gave wonderful acting in this movie. Totally worth watching. There are lots of funny dialogues but at the same time very touching. It's about how two people (an adult and a child) got to know each other by accident but finally became a family by helping each other and being devoted. They have similar personalities in spite of their age differences, and brought a lot of laughters and tears to us. It's the best movie I've watched so far this year, totally recommend it.

My first Chinese movie which I enjoyed to watch and whose genere is not an Action.

Usually I prefer to watch Chinese/ Hongkong movies which have "Action" genere and even in that Sir Jackie Chan or Sammo hung or Doonie yen must be in that movie.

I watched this movie with intention of doing timepass because of good ratings. BUT later while and after watching, it was "worth to watch atleast once in a life".

All the actors have good acting skills, Director must be very Lucky while making this movie.

Story was not boring at all, so just a little bit of regret that it should have been more than 2 hours of movie instead of around 1:36 hours.

Great movie, heart felt and touching. Fast paced with hilarious moments that came naturally. Light hearted story telling but focusing on loss, coping, love and family. Amazing actors. Yilong Zhu pulled off Mo with an awards worthy performance. He changed so much, basically a different person. Very convincing as a rough working class guy at the lowest point of his life. Enyou Yang at her young age played amazingly well. Definitely recommend!

I have watched many movies in my life, but I have rarely felt so connected to the cast before in this film called LIGHTING UP THE STARS. I identified with the lead male actor Yilong Zhu who played the main character Mo Sanmei. I like the chemistry between Sanmei's father played by Jingmin Luo affectionately called old man by the young actress Enyou Yang who plays Wu Xiaowen the heartbreaker. I am very surprised that not enough people have written reviews for this great filmmaking experience that tells the story about the beautiful experiences about life and death. The filmmaker Jiangjiang Liu who made his first directorial debut and writer with co-writer Min Yu who wrote the screenplay for this story about, a funeral director accidentally crosses paths with a little girl which brings about an unexpected change in his attitude towards life. I really loved watching this film and I love the music, especially the duet with Yilong Zhu and Enyou Yang. I am not surprised that these extremely talented, performers can sing professionally as singers. I don't speak mandarin, but I really enjoyed the duet at the end of the movie. I never cried so many times while watching a film before, it was a real tear jerker of a film to watch. I don't like watching international produced films in English dubbing. I like hearing the original voices of the performers. I would really recommend this film for anyone to watch and listen to the musical composition and film scores in the soundtrack. I like the lessons that were told throughout the storyline in this excellent film production.

This is a story about life and death. It is a story that gently teach people don't be afraid of death. Lighting up the stars allowed people to understand the fundamental of death was about those people who were gone would always be there with you in your life when you look up the sky. Live bravely, and enjoy your life. Everyone dies someday, live your life the best you can. The actor Yilong Zhu played Mo, Sanmei really well, he was like the neighbor we have, who had his own problems to deal with and he remained the sage heart to move on in life.

I had not heard about this 2022 Chinese drama titled "Ren Sheng Da Shi" (aka "Lighting Up the Stars"), prior to sitting down and watching it here in 2023. But with it being an Asian movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I found the time to watch it.

And I must say that writers Jiangjiang Liu and Min Yu put together a very enjoyable script for the movie. The story told in "Ren Sheng Da Shi" is one that encompasses a lot of topics and emotions, and it is done in a very beautiful and heartfelt way. The storyline in "Ren Sheng Da Shi" is one that hits home and sticks with you, so the writers really nailed it here, making the movie a very enjoyable and entertaining movie to watch.

But the storyline alone is not what made "Ren Sheng Da Shi" such a beautiful movie, because the cast really played a big part as well. They had gotten together a great cast ensemble for the movie, and I wasn't familiar with the actors and actresses here, but they certainly had talent. Leading actor Yilong Zhu (playing Mo Sanmei) and child actress Enyou Yang (playing Wu Xiaowen) really carried the movie phenomenally with their performances and brought so much life to their characters.

If you enjoy dramas, then "Ren Sheng Da Shi" is a movie that is well-worth spending 112 minutes on watching. I was genuinely entertained throughout the course of the movie, and it is a movie that takes you on an emotional ride with ups and down, as well as some genuinely beautiful and uplifting moments as well. So thumbs up to director Jiangjiang Liu for that accomplishment.

My rating of "Ren Sheng Da Shi" lands on a well-deserved seven out of ten stars.

"Lighting up the stars" is a fairy tale for grown-ups. I have a sleep disorder and most nights I struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep. The healing effect of the movie is so powerful that I slept over 10 hours on the day I watched it. The message I got from the movie is that even if you have completely ruined your life, there are still ways you can fix it.

The story is basically the mixture of Chaplin's "The Kid" (1921), Takita's "Departures" (2008) and Korean TV Drama "Our Blues" (2022), especially the similarity of moons vs. Stars. It did reflect some harsh reality of Chinese society. The good intention of writer/director on helping kids' development is recognized. The overall quality can be improved by choosing some middle- or long-distanced shots (instead of close-up ones) and less talkings.

Considering this is the first movie, Jiangjiang Liu does have an above-average performance. Looking forward to watching Jiangjiang Liu's next movie soon.

I wish I was gifted with the ability of writing so I could give full justice to this movie in my review.

Funeral themes are not something I like to think of so I was curious about the Director's approach, specially in China, a country with so much history and traditions. I was happy to find that it was a very human and down to earth tale Director is telling and full of heart.

The relationship between Sange, an ex convict and a homeless little girl feels very organic, the chemistry between them is palpable. The way he becomes a better person after knowing Xiao Wen is a treat to watch.

The relationship between Sange and his father also feels real, showing the lack of communication as the usual problem between fathers and sons.

The setting in Wuhan a city full of life, the dialect, the way the movie is filmed, the acting in general, everything adds to the movie.

An special shout to Zhu Yi Long, the way he transformed into Sange leaves me in awe! No wonder even Chinese audience didn't recognize the actor.

So if you have the time to watch this movie please do it! I'm sure you won't regret it!

It is exciting to see that with Chinese cinema, besides the studio-assembled big-ticket movies, there's also the flourishing indie film movement which keeps throwing up some delightfully refreshing movies.

There is a reason why this small indie movie became a huge commercial success - it doesn't exploit its characters for comedy or life lessons; it simply embraces the main characters and lets them be themselves.

This is also a small movie with a gigantic performance by Mr. Zhu Yi Long. Zhu has ventured far beyond mere surface impersonation, although that is amazing enough, and fully transforms to his character - a funeral worker who just got released from prison. He layers his performance with snippets of individuality. Zhu's work here stands as one of the best performances of 2022.

I have been exactly craving for movie like this for a long time. Koreans are the experts in ellicit these kinds of emotions in me like what this films did. Surpisingly this time it comes from china.

The child actress and the lead actor chemistry was fantastic. Wu Xiao wen is so adorable she practically lived the role.

I Could watch this film again and again just for her acting alone.

The first scene itself who hasnt been 30 seconds since the film started has hit me hard and made me tear up. Since then so many scenes had drenched me in tears.

Slice of life drama on dealing with departed loved ones.

I love how the film ended and the post credits sond and scene was super adorable. I could keep on Praising this movie.

This is is defintely a must watch for all ages.

If somone knew where i could find the song that played at the end would be much appreciated.

Maybe this is not a perfect movie, there maybe some flaws. But i dont care. This movie made me cry and it's not easy to make me cry watching a movie. And that's the main positive of this movie. The emotional moments work amazingly. I really don't understand how do they make kids act like this. The girl who played the small kid in this movie is just breathtaking. It's only because she delivers such an exceptional performance, the movie works so nicely. All the other actors including the main lead delivers a good performance. The camera work was good. All the other departments did a good job. The writing was nice.

A simple story and a simple writing backed up by an extraordinary performance. I seriously didn't care about the flaws in the movie because the little girl in this movie did not allow me to turn my attention away from her.

Definitely a must watch if you like emotional dramas, because this one really makes you emotional.

I have literally cried 3 times which is rare for me...I was suprised by myself. Masterpiece is the perfect word for this movie... Question No.1- Is it worth watching Answer-Definetily Hell Yeah. When you watch this movie..You will not be able to think whats next because you will be so immersed in the movie that you will be unaware of your surroundings. This Movie Has an Enlightment Effects.

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If you wanna feel Happy or Positive ..... WATCH THIS.

If I am to be honest, I should have given 9 instead. The bonus 1 star is for the nice surprise when mainland China movies almost always disappoint me. In mainland China, very few actors know how to act, even fewer directors know how to tell a story (IMO anyway). Not this one. Some part of the plot are less convincing, some scenes are a little over the top, but nothing too bad to ruin overall quality of the movie.

Both main actors are impressive, I am especially impressed by Enyou Yang's performance, incredible for her age. Director Jiangjiang Liu has done a great job, however I feel he could have added some calmer/quieter frames here and there. The movie tries to be emotional/tense from beginning to end, which doesn't give best view experience.

It shows the trivial life of the local people in Wuhan, full of fireworks. The screen music props and actors are excellent, and the story is slightly poor. This little actor from Chengdu is really excellent.

There are many tears that make people happy and cry.

Many of the life scenes are from Wuhan. I have been to Wuhan several times and I have a deep feeling. Hot and dry noodles are too dry for outsiders to eat. Ha ha.

There are many local funeral customs that we do not understand. It was very good.

All kinds of marriage relationships and progress are very real.

Sometimes I suddenly fear that one day I will be old, sick and dying. How will I spend the last days of my life?

That may be the darkest moment of life. There is no longer any hope for the future, no longer want to do anything, and there is no other possibility in life. Perhaps he is still suffering from illness, or he may die alone.

This movie moved me so my review is probably biased.

There are several questions to answer to watch the movie: 1. What's the biggest thing of life?

2. Who is the closest one for a kid?

3. Who is the dearest one for a man?

4. Who is the most loved one for a father?

5. Who is the most loved one for a mother?

6. Who is the most loved one for a lady?

7. What case is the best?

The movie just made everything together and still suitable for kids to watch, but it may need a lot of guidance from parents. It's deep rooted into traditional Chinese culture, but also grows modern flowers. It'll be a great chance for people to watch and find something touching something deep in the heart.

The last question, do you think it's better to call it lighting up the stars or growing the stars? Why?

Lighting Up The Stars is the best Chinese-language movie I have seen this year. Overall, I prefer to call it a comedy movie. The whole movie watching process is very comfortable. There are many hilarious points and it is not embarrassing or redundant. I laugh quickly every time. When it fails, the plot will go into some touching points, and it will tell the core of facing death in the guise of comedy, which is very interesting. Zhu Yilong is from Wuhan, and the film is also shot in Wuhan dialect, which I believe will make the film more pyrotechnics. In Mo Sanmei, you can always find the shadow of a certain state when she was in trouble. I believe many parents will also resonate with the running-in process of Mo Sanmei and Xiaowen. Zhu Yilong won the best actor award for this film, giving the audience a very successful performance and a very malleable actor.

A monstrous performance from an unlikely actor, Zhu Yilong who in my knowledge was always seen as a fair faced boy band sort of actor. A tear jerker with just the right amount of punch is often a staple of movies of this sort, but the movie is definitely more than that. Like the title in Chinese suggest, significant events in a lifetime, the movie is able to humanize a lot of these moments into a single storyline, and somehow combining everything to make it feel organic. Marriage, death, parenthood are all themes of this little story about a funeral director whose character development and growth seems both organic and significant.

The stories is about the children and a man.

This movie has a meaning about family and in this movie had funny, sad, mad. I am very loving like this movie.

In family hasn't had a fighting and madness. If has a madness, please keep it in your heart and don't tell too other people. Just pray to god what is happening.

Calmly go to the family and apologize to other family. Talk about the truth, what happened to you to the family. After that, the family decided want to help.

If this happen to all families, the problem must not had in the world about family.

Please be carefully about your, family, and the other's.

For the second time (Coco as the first one), I was crying in the cinema after the show. Each star in the sky is someone that loved us. It heals and brings peace while thinking this way. Everyone has suffered from lost this way or that. But eventually we need to live with it and make our live worth. Then I watched the movie again, I start to enjoy it with laugh. It has lifted some weight from my heart. I truly like San Mei and Xiao Wen. They are so vivid. For a little kid like En You, actually it was not easy for her to understand and perform that well. But she made it. The leading actor Zhu Yilong's performance was stunning and awards worthy. Highly recommended!