Director: Miao Shihan

Synopsis

This short film tells a story of youthful regret. The two male leads once pursued the same dream side by side, but went separate ways because of someone else's interference. By the time Li Kai learns the truth, the relationship can no longer be saved. The film conveys emotion through visuals that build in layers. It opens with a hazy glow that creates a dreamlike picture of youth. The flashback sections use a film-stock texture to present the passionate past when the three of them strove together. At the end, as the dream ends, the image turns clear; together with the change in color grading, this suggests that the beautiful past has become a dream that cannot be recovered. Changes in aspect ratio also strengthen the distinct atmosphere of the flashbacks. These three shifts in visual style reflect one another and point to the central theme: some regrets of youth, like a vanished dream, can never be made up. Everyone carries regrets that cannot be erased: perhaps a talent given up out of timidity in youth, letting a gift that should have shone gather dust early; perhaps one slip at a key moment in school that meant missing the university of one's dreams and left a hidden ache; or perhaps missing the last days with a loved one for the sake of one's own prospects, leaving lasting guilt. These regrets are gullies on life's road that cannot be avoided. But this is exactly where life's resilience shows: we learn to carry these regrets forward. They are no longer boulders that crush us, but a deep strength that drives us to pursue and fulfill our deepest final dream with greater persistence and nothing held back.