u m a m i

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.