Online film "Old Boys" moves Chinese post-80's generation

The "Chopsticks Brothers." (photo: Beijing News)

An online short film called "Old Boys" has moved millions of Chinese youth born in the 1980s.

With Michael Jackson's whole life story from his rise to glory to his death as its background, "Old Boys" described the stories of two grown men, named Xiao Dabao and Wang Xiaoshuai.

Since it was uploaded to the Internet on Oct. 28, "Old Boys" has been viewed over 7.1 million times in 11 days, not including downloads and offline watching.

The story of "Old Boys" is not one that is shocking to the world and features all amateur actors. However, the reminiscence of youth in the story and the gap between reality and the ideal at the end touched many people born in the 1970s and 1980s who have entered their middle ages or are facing an important stage in their lives. The video was given a score of up to 9.1 on Douban.com.

The "Chopsticks Brothers" featured in the film are partners in reality. Xiao Yang, who makes a living by shooting advertisements and Wang Taili, who is a musician, mainly shoot short videos in their spare time. Their previous works, such as "Where are you?," were received well on the Internet.

Xiao Yang, who directed the film and also stars as Xiao Dabao, was born in 1980 and is from Chengde, Hebei Province. Xiao said that he is between the 1970s and 1980s generations.

After graduating as an advertisement major from the Beijing Film Academy, Xiao Yang has been making a living by shooting advertisements and always skipped meals. In 2005, Wang introduced an advertisement shoot to Xiao Yang, who had not graduated from school at the time, and they have been friends ever since.

Wang is from Shandong Province and was born in 1969. In 1997, Wang came to Beijing with 1,800 yuan given to him by his father. He bought a pager with 600 yuan and used 300 yuan as rent. Then, he began his life in Beijing with the remaining 900 yuan. "I ate sliced noodles almost every day at that time," Wang said.

Beijing News contributes to this story.