Review of Under the Hawthorn Tree

I love Chinese cinema and without doubt this was a finely crafted movie BUT I just didn't find it particuarly engaging. It's a love story and very little else. Some parts made me reflect on Communist China and the difficulty of navigating a relationship under a regime where so much needs to be kept secret, which can interfere with the trust-forming process, but otherwise I couldn't find much else to explore. So if you want to go on the ride with them (which really just consisted of lots and lots and lots of superficially romantic moments) then fine, but I was looking for something more. And to have the utterly heartbreaking end for no apparent reason than to tear our hearts out was too heavy of a punchline for such a light setup.