Now I Met Her

An 18-year-old discovers his late mother’s diary and begins piecing together the exuberant, complicated life she once led. Told with warmth and a streak of mischief, Now I Met Her becomes a portrait of resilience and of the courage it takes to love boldly.

Parents in general, and mothers in particular, often remain more mysterious than we admit. Shiyi never had the chance to know his mother, and whatever image he carried of her bears little resemblance to the glamorous, irreverent and fiercely self-determined woman who emerges from the pages of her hidden diary.

Now I Met Her embraces comedy with an offbeat sense of freedom: men in gaudy suits, women who coolly outmanoeuvre groups of clueless admirers, even dogs wandering through scenes on their hind legs for no narrative reason at all. Yet Xiao Luxi’s debut fiction feature offers much more than anarchic humour. It becomes a chronicle of the transformations the People’s Republic of China underwent over several decades, and of how women with resilience, wit and determination navigated those tides.

In the end, Now I Met Her is a film about encountering a life – and a person – from an unexpected angle, and seeing both with new clarity.

– Vanja Kaludjercic

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