YOLO Review: The path of seeking the best version of oneself
On this past Chinese New year, “Yolo” came out triumphant as a Box-Office knockout becoming the second highest grossing film on the international box office, and the first on the chinese market turning into a sensation for chinese moviegoers.
Actress comedian Jia Ling puts herself in front and behind the cameras for an impressive deed in which she exposed herself undergoing into a surprising physical transformation that is worthy of admiration, going from an obese unhealthy body to a slim phisyque on perfect boxing shape, losing 50 kilos in the process, throughout a filming that lasted for a year and that is summarized during the final credits, showing that there were no artifices in the process to which the actress underwent, beyond a lot of discipline, a lot of training, an appropiate diet, and even getting into the ring competing in amateur boxing matches in order to prepare for the role.
The plot is centered on Le Ying (Jia Ling) a 32-year old woman who´s become a good-for-nothing living on her parents home, being withdrawn from society after some bad experiences in her social cirlcles where she´s been abused and taken advange of. However, a family disagreement force her to venture into the world, encountering a boxing coach (Lei Jia-Yin) with whom she begins a shy love affair that triggers her to make a drastic change on her life by starting a rigorous boxing training that will lead her to get into the ring and fight her way through her frustrations.
Based on the the japanese film “One Hundred yen Love“, the story don´t fall on pursuing the new trend recently imposed in Western media of embracing one´s flaws turning them into virtues, but instead, spreads the message of seeking for the best version of oneself through an iron discipline and the will of improvement.
The film goes through an inspiring journey of self-improvement that includes its small tribute to the Rocky saga, presenting two first acts full of grief, wrapped with comedy bits and small drops of romance, where even though in its second act the rhythm seems to drop slightly, everything ends up picking up in its final stretch where we accompany the protagonist in her physical transformation, culminating in a very realistic and very good boxing match filmed in which the main character can unleash all the fury and rage that had been stored inside, as an exercise of liberation in which, as Joe Yabuki expressed in the legendary manga “Ashita no Joe”, she can burn until only white ashes remains.
Sony pictures acquired the rights for North-America and had a limited theatre release on March 8th.