This mini-film of a little over fifteen minutes was completely shot and produced on the Mainland, in conjunction with Oley (I'm still not entirely sure what this is; some Internet sources say it's a car company, while others say they make soft drinks). It's first appearance on the Internet was yesterday night, debuting on Sohu as promised, but it appeared on sodagreen's official Youtube channel only today. The members act as characters with the same names as themselves, and with largely similar personalities. I suppose one could say that the film is set in an 'alternate story universe'.
In the film narrated by Xiaowei's character, 'Xiaowei', 'Tsing-Fong', 'Jiakai', 'A-gong', 'Claire' and 'A-fu' are best friends. They knew each other from their primary school days after Claire caught them peeping into the girls' toilet. Tsing-Fong is a cool-tempered guy who never lets his heart control his head. Jiakai, an introvert, rarely speaks and is a vehicle enthusiast who loves his car. A-gong, a 'neat' person, is also a man of few words who appears to be a professional musician (he is seen in the film in a recording studio playing his viola). Claire is a gentle and cute woman who runs a clothing shop. A-fu, an optimist, is the strongest one in the group. He works as a tour guide. Xiaowei simply describes himself as coming from Taiwan (this is ironic as he speaks in what seems to be a poor Beijing accent for most of the film).
Xiaowei quits his job and declares to his friends that he is 'free'. He talks about his plan to start up an Internet shop and they all agree to chip in. The business seems to be doing fine for a while, but disaster strikes when floods hit Thailand and the prices of hard disks manufactured there shoot up. Other complications result in the group of friends having to cough up 1,000,000 RMB. Xiaowei wants to fulfil the six thousand orders on the Internet shop, but the others don't. When Xiaowei presses them to pay, they refuse and he accuses them of being hypocritical. This angers them and a fight ensues which leaves them all furious.
A regretful Xiaowei is left alone. The others, deciding privately to help him, sell their most treasured possessions. Tsing-Fong mortgages his apartment, Jiakai sells his car, A-gong sells his viola, Claire sells her shop and A-fu apparently steals a wallet. Here, we see snippets of the group's childhood life, with a young Tsing-Fong smashing his piggy bank, a young Jiakai having his toy car taken away by bullies, and a young A-gong getting smacked by his teacher. They manage to raise the money needed and they generally make up, with Xiaowei offering to treat them to a soft drink with the 20 RMB he has left. They get their soft drinks, and they reflect on the future on a rooftop. Tsing-Fong notices a group of graduating schoolchildren and they remember their own childhood fondly. The film closes with a message reading: In youth, we have our dreams and our friends.
The acting is raw and Xiaowei, for some reason, seems to be trying to imitate a Mainland accent. Claire and Tsing-Fong's accents also seem more clipped than usual. The members' acting skills are alright for their first time, and Jiakai does surprisingly well. The 'climax scene' seems a little overacted, with A-gong looking too hysterical. I loled at the shot of him wielding the broomstick and the scene where Tsing-Fong destroys the computer. The storyline seems a little clichéd, but the film wasn't boring and the shooting as well as the editing was pristine, although there were a few weird cuts. All in all a decent and polished effort, considering the lighting-speed production period. The film is fast moving and has its moments. I would say the highlights of the mini-film would be getting to see sodagreen act for the first time and the debut of a new song, Silence is Boiling (安静在沸腾), which actually had a 30-second snippet leaked onto the web two years back. The song is up, and it is sounds to me like a Little Universe era sodagreen rock song, complete with an English hook ('I'm getting/heading on my way'). I like the song, although it sounds a little too anthemic.
Here is the film, with Simplified Character subtitles (Watch it in HD!):
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