Never Walk Alone (2022)

90 minutes; Drama; Released on April 3, 2022 in China

Director: Zhang Yikuan

Country / Region: China

Plot: Deng Chu, a famous player of a football club, is dismissed after repeated losses in competitions in his middle age. Then he decides to take his family on a self-driving tour to adjust his mood. However, they encounter a car accident on the way. After being rescued, he claims himself contribute to the death of his wife and children and could not extricate himself. He goes to his wife’s hometown, a mountain town, to take care of his old father-in-law and redeem his guiltiness. However, his father-in-law does not accept him because the death of his daughter. The two men live together disharmoniously in the remote mountain town. Deng Chu swallows his anger and drowns his worries with alcohol to escape from real life. One day, his window glass is broken by a group of left-behind children who are playing ball. This incident changes Deng Chu. He finds that a child named Xie Lijie is gifted at playing football like what he was in youth. These children also find that Deng Chu is an expert in playing football. From then on, the lost man and the emotionally deficient children go through a moving and inspirational story by football.