Hong Kong director Derek Tsang’s “Better Days” won the top prizes at the first, and perhaps only, virtual edition of Italy’s Far East Film Festival (FEFF) that ended July 4. The festival, originally scheduled like every year at the end of April, was forced to postpone the event due to the COVID-19 emergency. While cinemas remained closed indefinitely, the festival moved online with a special edition in partnership with the streaming platform www.mymovies.it. Starring: Zhou Dongyu, Jackson Yee, Yin Fang, Huang Jue, Wu Yue, Zhou Ye Director: Derek Kwok-Cheung Tsang THOUGH not very subtle in presenting its thesis, the story of “Better Days” is generally suspenseful and well-told by young Hong Kong actor and director Derek Kwok-cheung Tsang (“Soul Mate”). It also points an accusing finger at the extraordinary pressure that high school students are under to score high on the Chinese equivalent of SAT tests and get into universities that count. And for good measure, there is a fantasy romance between the proper heroine and a scrappy guttersnipe played by Jackson Yee from the popular boy band TFBoys. Serious student Chen Nian (Zhou Dongyu) comes from the poor side of town, where creditors hound her edge-of-the-law single mom. Cramming maniacally for the national Gaokao exams, which will determine the college choices and therefore the future lives of the students, she earns sympathy when she is the only person who goes to cover the face of a classmate who has succumbed to pressure and jumped to her death in the school courtyard. This pious act targets her as the bullies’ next victim. She is waylaid after school on her long trudge home by three girls who wear malice on their faces. As the torment escalates, amplified by social media, Chen panics, fearing she’ll lose her concentration for the big exam. It’s then that she meets Xiao Bei (Yee), a street tough who knows how to take a beating. They form an unlikely alliance and Xiao Bei agrees to walk Chen to and from school as her unpaid bodyguard. Their trust grows and, with her mom on the lam for illegal trading, she moves into his shack under a highway viaduct, though they supposedly sleep separately. Also on Chen’s side is a young police investigator (Yin Fang) who admires her courage in stepping out of regimented school behavior and indifference. However, her stubborn unwillingness to communicate with him is frustrating to watch. One day, when Xiao Bei isn’t around, she’s caught by the bullies who cut off her hair and strip her in a sickening scene of senseless violence. Even though the video gets posted online, Chen admirably refuses to give up her dreams and goes to class with shaven head held high. The drama peaks when a schoolgirl is killed and buried in a shallow grave by the highway. Both Chen and Xiao Bei are implicated in the crime and forced to decide how far they’ll go out on a limb for each other. But coming into the home stretch, the story disappointingly loses its grip, particularly in a protracted scene of police interrogation. Tsang, who is the son of Hong Kong actor and producer Eric Tsang, has a feeling for his young protags that smooths over some narrative awkwardness. Zhou Dongyu (“Love on the Hawthorn Tree”) plays Chen as a girl mature beyond her years, whose introversion lends her an air of mystery and distinction, though it is a barrier to connecting emotionally with the audience. As the gold-hearted punk, Yee shows a touching vulnerability behind his braggadocio. (SD-Agencies) | 