Saw Loners (Beijing Diaries) at a private screening. It seems to be a very experimental film in terms of its aesthetics. It depicts struggles of life & relationships. The characters are interesting and realistic. It is a character driven film and the characters you see are relatable. We either know people like them or encounter such people at some point in our lives.
The aesthetics and style of the film stands out mainly because of it's changing aspect ratio, documentary style shots, and heavy use of captions.
The dialogues of this film are also good, especially at the mid point of the film, they sum up the reality of the world we live in.
Although there is a lot going in favour of the film, but there are some flaws too. Firstly, not all characters are fleshed out completely and you may want to know more about them. Especially one character that really stands out in the film tends to have the shortest screen time and you really want to know more about that character. It's a great performance and had a lot of potential to be explored futher. Secondly, the pacing of the film changes close to the end of the film. It would've been better if it maintained the same pace throughout the film.
Special mention for the music composer of the film, he's done a great job and the film relies on music as much as it does on the performances. But it seems a bit over used at times. There are moments where more ambience could have been used.
If you like experimental or arthouse films with realistic characters and plots then you should give this one a shot.