u m a m i

Chinese drama Bloody Romance- A First Impression

 

 

With a title like this and an unfamiliar cast, this is a drama that I would not have paid attention to, were it not for Petra Naefcke, a period- drama blogger I follow on Facebook. Her Facebook Page Love and Sword is a treasure trove of information about drama releases, actor resumes and photo images.

Yesterday Petra posted on Facebook that this drama is bloody good, so I went to look for it. 7 episodes out yet, I sat down and caught 5 episodes,  oh my, what an amazing production. I am constantly surprised by how fast the C-drama scene is evolving, you can see from year to year how much is invested in the production- the camerawork  gets slicker, the cast more and more polished, but even taking all this into account, this drama shows that it is already way ahead in many aspects. The story world is beautifully rendered, the details gorgeous.  The opening episode dives straight into the action, you get pulsating sword fights, very cool soundtracks and many dramatic moments. The plot is simple enough. The setting is a turbulent, war-torn period in ancient China, a young girl loses her innocence very quickly, and lands herself in very dangerous territory.

How many episodes? I don't know, and I can't even find any spoilers, or translations of the book, but it is so good I feel moved to share this first impression. 

The female lead is young, tough yet vulnerable and she doesn't have to do cute or helpless, just an unpolished gem that you can watch growing into her character, that of a highly accomplished assassin. In episode 2 we are introduced to the male lead, and he is mesmerizing. He eats up the scenery, his gaze intense and nuanced, their scenes together needs to be rewatched again and again for all the things left unsaid.  This actor Qu Chuxiao is only 23, and graduated from acting school last year, but his talent shines brightly, reminding me somewhat of a younger version of  Zhou Yu Wei who turned in a brilliant performance as Shoufeng Heye in Tribes and Empires (another series I really really loved). 

The series is available on Youku if you can access, if not, I think it will appear in Youtube soon. Hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

 

 

K-drama Let's Eat 3

(Image taken from Dramafever)

 

Husband was channel-surfing, not even 10 minutes in, we have swallowed the bait and were reeled into this drama. We don't even care what the plot is, who the actors are, the scenes played out were drool-inducing and absolutely riveting.

The story opens with the main character being evicted from his flat, we see that he is doing poorly as an insurance agent, and his college-going brother drops by to ask him to show him a good place to eat. He takes him to a seemingly humble and regular-looking fish restaurant, what's good about that, his brother asks? 

Brother, don't under-estimate the fish. Right now, it's July, the season for croacker. The brain makes a good appetiser, the skin, the liver, every part can be eaten in myriad delicious ways. Why is the flesh being refrigerated? Shouldn't sashimi be eaten as fresh as possible? He expounds on the advantages of aging fish. They eat. The young man metamorphoses from a listless salaryman to the food lover he really is. It's a joy to watch him eat, and we listen as if hyponotized, as he schools his brother in the way of the good eat. 

Only 2 episodes available on Dramafever so far, oh well, hope I can find the first 2 series. 

 

 

C-drama: My Story for You (2018)

   (source image taken from Croton website) 

To date, have watched up to 6 episodes. The English-subtitled version is available on DramaFever. 

Every week, the China drama-sphere releases at least 3 new dramas, on top of new releases from Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and the western world, it's simply not possible to watch everything. If a drama does not hold my attention within the first 2 episodes, it will never get on my playlist. This sweet little series have charmed its way to my heart since the first episode.

This is not my usual cup of tea. I am more into period dramas and fantasy stories. What caught my eye was finding out that the drama is adapted from a semi-autobiographical work by one of the powerhouse webnovel author Tang Jia San Shao, telling the story of his young adult life at the turn of the 21st century, with a focus on his romantic life. 

The cast list was not familiar to me. I only knew the lead actress' from  Love O2O, and was not impressed by her work there- all bashful saccharine innocence with narrow range of expressions. Luo Jin, the lead actor, I remember vaguely from The Princess Weiyoung, a series that failed to grab my attention, nonetheless he has the steady good looks that suits the roles of a good character e.g. nobleman or scholar. The mostly young cast are all good looking and engaging, one is quickly drawn into their screen lives and the dramatisation is so effective it feels like we are living alongside them as they adjust to the changes of their times - Y2k bug, transition from pager system to mobile phone, and transformation of the economy from state enterprise-driven to private entrepreneurship. Luo Jin is handsome and lights up every scene, but Pang han Cheng, the actor who plays Han Dong is taller and no less endearing. Zhang Yishang, who plays Yao Yao reminds me of a young Gigi Leung. 

Chinese dramas can get quite long and drawn-out, especially if the cast contains well-known actors, as having more episodes mean they can attract more eyeballs and advertisement. This drama does not have any unnecessary fillers or flashbacks which typically weighs down the bloated productions. Every scene moves the story forward, sustained with solid dialogue that sounds true, many quirky and cute moments to ooh and aah over. With some dramas, I can get impatient and over-use the fast-forward button, but this drama allows no speed-watching, quite unlike my expectation of a modern, frothy romance.

Don't miss this. Lots of smiles and laughters here, maybe the odd tears too. Happy drama watching!

Bonus information 1: The OST is a Chinese version on Dream It Possible which is a lovely freebie song loaded on my new Huawei P20 Pro phone. 

Bonus information 2: the raw videos can be found on Youtube. Love that Croton makes their media content quite easily available.