1998, Color, 90 mins / in Mandarin with English subtitles

This film is the first effort of a talented female director, Li Hong. When she made this film, she was only twenty-three years old, yet she handles her subject with a disarming sense of maturity and sensitivity. Her cinematographer, also twenty-three, reinforces her sensitive touch with a beautifully photographed lyrical Shanghai.
Parents, seeking to improve their son's ability in elementary school, hire a number of tutors. The newest tutor decides to hand over his assignment to his roommate, a shy, introverted, sensitive young man. With some difficulty in the beginning, tutor and student form a bond that, despite their generational differences, helps each to overcome their personal difficulties: the student learns how to study and the tutor learns what it means to teach.

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