Released in China during the Chinese New Year, this family drama and director Wen's second feature film about a young entrepreneur was a local film industry favorite and went on to become China's sixth box office hit grossing around 1.38 billion yuan, over $206 million. Consequently it was also China's submission as the Best International Feature Film to the Academy Awards.
In Shenzhen, the third most populated and one of the richest cities in southern China, a young man Jing Hao (Jackson Yee Yang Qianxi) lives with and takes care of his six-year-old sister Jing Tong (Chen Halin) after their mother passed away due to her heart condition, while earlier on, their father also left them. Jing runs a small mobile phone repair shop named “Nice View” and earns just enough to maintain a decent living for both of them. Unfortunately, Jing Tong has inherited her mother's illness and needs to have a heart surgery before she turns eight.
Now the pressure is on for Jing to earn more money. Meanwhile, a friend alerted him to a warehouse full of a huge pile of faulty SNE smartphones which he quickly scooped up knowing that he could repair them and resell them as used phones. Just as his new enterprise starts to take off, the government accordingly outlaws the sale of refurbished mobile phones and fakes, and poor Jing finds himself bankrupt and in debt.
Not willing to give up, the desperate but head-strong Jing pursues help from SNE, the phone manufacturer and manages a brief talk with their boss. Impressed by his enthusiasm and ambition, boss Zhao (Zhan Zhijian) agrees to his idea of stripping their faulty phones for reusable parts. Conversely Jing has only a few months to finish the job and must pass the quality check before they buy back the parts. Now faced with yet another near impossible task, would Jing be able to come up with the goods and at the same time make tons of money?
Young Mainland actor, singer Jackson Yee was already a well-known figure as a member of the massive Chinese boy band TFBoys since 2013 and later gained more acclaim after starring in “Better Days” in 2019 thereby winning the Best New Performer at the 39th Hong Kong Film Awards. Moreover, Yee continued on to achieve even more success in “A Little Red Flower” (2020) which led him to star in the war epic “The Battle at Lake Changjin” (2021) and “Full River Red” (2023) directed by Zhang Yimou.
With “Nice View”, Yee has to carry the whole film by himself and he does it effortlessly with a realistic and heartfelt performance which is both believable and praiseworthy. Furthermore, he shares convincing chemistry with Chen Halina who plays his little sister Jing Tong, making the audience laugh and cry with them at times. Both are natural in their roles and Yee is amazing playing a calm caring brother and someone who is ready to take risks to achieve what he believes in and works extremely hard to fulfill his goal.
Although it lacks the dramatic urgency and power of his first feature film “Dying to Survive” (2018) which was a huge box office success, this production with a strong message from Wen Muye is still highly entertaining and engaging. As far as the plot goes the audiences are most likely to predict what the outcome would be but it is the characters and their accomplishments that make this film worthwhile. Still it is a good call that Wen did not focus heavily on the brother and sister otherwise it could have turned into a tear jerking drama instead of a film about those young never-say-die entrepreneurs and the hardship they face. Nevertheless, there is enough memorable camera work like car chases and especially the phone repair and deconstructing sequences to keep the viewers immensely engaged.
The supporting cast portraying the rich and colorful collection of eccentric workers who help Jing to realize his dream is the heart and soul of the film and they all do a fantastic job with their spirited and heartfelt performances. The interchange between Jing and his uncle Liang (Tian Yu) and the CNE boss Zhao played by Zhang Zhijian both stood out. In addition the port mega city of Shenzhen, a global center in technology and research is a character in itself, is presented as a huge concrete jungle full of ordinary people with dreams and a perfect setting for this production.
Basically a tribute to local citizens who contributed to China's progress, “Nice View”, with its Chinese title, “Miracle: Silly boy” taken from a song by Andy Lau about achieving success through determination, is an imaginative and slick production full of interesting and intriguing characters. Even though it is predictable, the heartwarming performances, the motivating story and some light comedy all make it an entertaining watch.
