Go and See These Two Inifinitely Cute and Life-Affirming Films Out Today in Beijing

There are a couple of gems opening today on Chinese cinema screens, both of which are sure to soothe your soul.

First up is Born in China (我们诞生在中国), the highly anticipated nature documentary that has been three years in the making.

Directed by Chinese film maker Lu Chuan, the film tells the stories of three endangered animal families – pandas, golden monkeys, and snow leopards – and their struggle to survive in the remote wilds of China.

The Disney-produced film isn’t just a straight-up documentary though. The footage is expertly weaved together into compelling and touching stories.

You know the “naaaaawwww” feeling that cute gifs of baby pandas and adorable little monkeys give you? Well, watching Born in China is that stretched out for 76 minutes.

Even if your Mandarin is not up to scratch, you’re sure to be soothed by Zhou Xun’s (周迅) velvet voiceover. I mean, it could be in Klingon and still be worth seeing it’s so criminally cute.

The film will eventually be translated into 16 languages but will only hit North American theaters on April 22, 2017, to coincide with Earth Day.

The other gem out just in time for the weekend is the visually stunning Irish animation Song of the Sea (海洋之歌), which was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 87th Academy Awards.

The hand-animated film uses folklore to tell the story of a 10-year-old Irish boy, Ben, and his mute six-year-old sister, Saoirse. 

The 2014 film boasts a 99 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes having received glowing reviews laced with superlatives like ‘aesthetically breathtaking,’ ‘life-affirming,’ and ‘makes you crave the flickering of firelight or wish for the warmth of a blanket pulled up to your chin while mom or dad reads a bedtime tale.’

And finally, also at cinemas this weekend, Hong Kong-China co-production Line Walker (使徒行者), which is based on the hit 2014 crime thriller series, and Love O2O (微微一笑很倾城) which stars Angelababy and Jing Boran as two young gamers who find love through a role-playing video game.

Photos: Born in China