The Joys and Sorrows of Young Yuguo (2022) User Reviews

Deserves a watch

[orangemartini · 10/10 · 10 October 2022]

The Joys and Sorrows of Young Yugou is a beautiful but tragic story of a young man trying to find his way through life.

Through this journey Yugou discovers the beauty in Romanian culture but also finds his identity.

This mini-documentary will make you go through all types of emotions: disbelief, joy, excitement and incredible sadness. It's definitely worth watching and sharing it with other people.

An incredible young man who caught everyone's heart. His passion and determination are incredibly inspiring. Thank you Yugou for sharing your story and for teaching me to appreciate my culture more.

I knew him better after watching this

[vqkkscyk · 10/10 · 12 October 2022]

I am his classmate in the junior high school. Every time we saw him in the corridor wearing a fedora hat and grabbing a walking stick. Most of the time, he was considered as a weirdo in our school. He is too young to become a real "gentleman from the last century". I didn't realize that he had such a great dream and how hard he put effort in to make it come true, until I saw this film on Netflix. I am a little bit that they will made this short film for him, but I am glad that they did this for him.

His life was just at the beginning, and he was ready for his future. When I heard the grievous news of his death, I couldn't believe but doubted it was not real. He left on the land that loved deeply by him. I think if he can see this film, he will be very satisfied. Thank to this film, I was able to saw him again.

He just turned away gently, and then he kept going. As always, even the goodbyes.

Wo men wei ni jiao ao.

The purest soul I've ever known

[dumplingsfordays · 25 October 2022]

Growing up in China as a daydreamer just like Yuguo, I deeply deeply deeply resonate with the story. Though I don't have the courage to leave my role as daughter and future wife, don't have the courage to pursuit the beauty of this world. This doc provide me a parallel world where dreams were fulfilled and life ended with no regret.

17 years of constant pursuit of art, yet ended in a sea of snow, I can't imagine a more poetic way of death for a poet like him. It's so so beautiful that he came with a heart of gold and left without being contaminated by any ugliness of reality.

Thanks Yuguo, and also the wonderful writer/director Ilinca Calugareanu, for showing me the purest soul in this world.

Literally made me cry

[seagull_2006 · 10/10 · 3 April 2023]

I started watching this documentary with optimism and wonder. What an original , unique boy, with his unusual dreams and identification with Rumania.

He reminded me so much of myself as a lonely teenage girl many, many years ago with a head stuffed full of dreams of past times, poetry and loving the mystery of Eastern Europe ( in my case Russia was my fascination).

I was totally unprepared for the sudden ending .

I wept not just for the loss of this young life but also for his parents who lost a part of themselves. And who were brave enough to let their precious only son to follow his dreams.

A beautifully made documentary but one I found extremely painful.

Parenting went wrong

[jerrygameplay · 2/10 · 29 March 2023]

This kid was a delusional boy without proper parenting, the mom let him do whatever he likes and he never listens to advices, he developed the I will do whatever I want and I don't care mentality, hence the accident and death of his own. It should be a lesson for many parents when teaching young kids there are consequences for actions. And this documentary painted him as a free soul is wrong in many ways. His actions led to the tragic ending of his young life. At the end of the documentary the father felt sorrow for the lost of his son, and the mom still trying to justify letting a 16 years old going abroad alone is to fulfilling the dream. It's irresponsible parenting to the fullest. The boy isn't even mature enough to deal with situations.