Nirvana (2016)

Heping, a rock singer 20 years ago, now works as a driver. He meets his old bandmate Dayong, a juror for music competitions. Drinking with him, He-ping feels a twinge of passion for music, but declines Dayong's offer to be a juror. Later, after a tragedy, Heping goes on stage again, in despair... Depicting through music the zeal for youthful dreams, Nirvana won the 2016 Shanghai IFF Best Actor Award. Director Xie Xiaodong said the first half is "like a documentary to record the daily life of middle-aged people" and the latter half "touches on the deep fantasies of many middle-aged people". Fang He-ping was a rock singer when he was young, twenty years ago. He is now working at night as a driver for hire. He is busy in his daily life just like any other middle age man, salt of the earth. In order to open a restaurant, Fang mortgages his house to take out a loan and it seems that everything is going well. He happens to notice a singing competition for which his old band mate Da-yong is the judge. Da-yong and He-ping meet up again, drinking together and recalling past days. During theireir conversation, Da-yong invites He-ping to attend the competition as a judge, and even though he refuses, the invitation makes an impression on He-ping. However, something terrible occurs and He-ping falls into despair. He has no choice but to try to go back on stage again. But things are getting worse...