Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned.
Let me come clean from the get go - this kind of drama is not my cup of tea. I watch dramas to escape, not to get embroiled in messy social themes around the aftermath of the disintegration of marriage and terminally sick children, But Left Right is written and shot by Hu Jin of The Bad Kids Fame, one of my favorite suspense dramas. I just love his visual composition style and how mercilessly his camera eye lays bare the multitude complexity of human emotions. And in that aspect, Left Right hits the ball out of the park and that is without doubt this drama's best feature.The drama opens well with Fang Yinuo and Xiao Lu compatibly anticipating their first child with a mixture of happiness and small trepidation. They companionably joke about giving up spicy noodles, which Yinuo especially loves, for the duration of "their" pregnancy. Except Xiao Lu already wolfed down a bowl of spicy noodles before going home. Such a simple scene so brilliantly illustrates the manifold cracks in their relationship. She is overly controlling and demands that they suffer together. He is passive aggressive and rather than confront her, he goes around her. This dynamic is prevalent throughout their interactions. The dissolution of their marriage is inevitable and they both move on to become better partners in their next relationships. The drama peaks at that point and once the child gets sick, the narrative succumbs to melodramatic and increasingly unrealistic subplots with improbable twists and digresses into uninteresting and dislikable side characters. This would have been a much better drama with half the episodes. Towards the end all the excessive gouxue狗血(dog's blood) turned into goupi 狗屁(crap) to the point that I even stopped caring about the kid's fate.
This intense character drama with a melodramatic plot takes on too many heavy themes - the pressure of a newborn child, extended family conflicts, postpartum depression, the stigma of divorce, archaic child custody laws, inadequacies of the healthcare system, financial struggles, deadbeat dads and last but not least, women stripped down to their worst, meanest selves.
Ren Suxi's portrayal of Fang Yinuo is so evocative it pulls me into the scenes where I wrestle with the sweet temptation of punching her in the face. This woman is a nutcracker; there is no other way to put it. This cold fish with impossible standards is judgmental, selfish and unforgiving. She wallows in postpartum depression while enslaving her own mother and mother-in-law with her high standards and demands. But I have no sympathy when Yinuo lashes out at them because they are not likeable characters either. In fact, not likeable is the nicest way to describe practically all of the characters in this drama (besides the kid). Even though Yinuo meets her match in her new sister-in-law, I feel no sense of cosmic justice. By then my head hurt from the cacophony of high pitched, shrill and nasty bitching. Unyielding to the bitter end, Yinuo experiences very little growth and never quite owns up to her part in her failed marriage.
As for the men, beginning with Xiao Lu, they are all weak and useless characters. Xiao Lu is a people pleaser that lies to avoid conflict, which often exacerbates conflict. He enables his brother's weaknesses and his mother's vices because it is just too hard to fix them. Xiao Lu is as selfish as Yinuo in his own way and it is manifestly obvious that two such self absorbed people would never work out. They both become almost likeable when they are with other people but all too quickly it becomes obvious that Xie Tianhua and Dong Fan are so unrealistically written they'd be booted out of a Disney fairytale script. Nobody is that nice or understanding or tolerant. Tianhua in particular must be the doormat character of the century. Nie Yuan's acting in particular is clearly not on par with the rest of the main cast but I think the problem is poor character design more than anything else. Although Qin Hao's character is not as intense or as central as Ren Suxi's, I find his portrayal more believable and nuanced enough to make his Xiao Lu empathetic whereas Ren Suxi's portrayal is not empathetic to the bitter end. A small bit of humor could have humanised these characters and made them much more relatable. As for Su Jinwei and Lei Wen, their boring characterizations, uninspired portrayals and long winded filler sub-plots are the drama's weakest link.
This drama's message of atonement and redemption is drowned out by the deafening impression that heaven has no rage like love turned to hatred. In fact, just never piss off a woman. Whether she is your wife, your mother, your sister or your child, she will for sure make you suffer. Up to the point of Xiao Lu's mae culpa, the poor guy gets figuratively castrated by a vindictive, unforgiving woman that hates him to the bone even more than she loves her child. It made me so angry at Yinuo and angry at the drama for making me feel that way. Because in these matters, I am always, always biased towards the women. So how did I end up sympathizing with the men and not even caring about the child? I feel like I was tricked into watching a scorching indictment of women's worst traits. Despite this being such a technically and visually stunning and immersive production, this drama made me more angry than sad. I can only rate this 7.5/8.0
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"After the storm, it's still a storm"
They basically made a show about the unluckiest people that could ever exist in China. However, Left Right is very much beyond a 'tragedy in motion picture'.Importantly, Left Right does the family melodrama genre justice. I believe the core theme of this show is about the good and bad decisions people make when in a tough spot. The show brilliantly portrays the egotism and the altruism of the characters. Yes, each and every character is flawed- but which human being isn't? And despite their own hardships and troubles, all the characters of this show are connected by the desire to give Hehe a better life.
Left Right has a plethora of characters we could spend hours picking apart. But one character that is going to stay with me for a while is that of Fang Yinuo. The lady is bulletproof. Life threw nothing but shit at her, but she took it all in. She does have her meltdowns every now and then but absolutely refuses to give up. I empathised with her the most; some of her experiences as a new mother reminded me instances of my own mother and the kind of life she had.
Some things I didn't like about this was the lack of Hehe. The show doesn't try to establish a connection between Hehe and the audience. She is just the main characters' kid who now has a disease, that we gotta try to cure. I also didn't like the forced narrative between Lei and Xiao Lu's boss. And boy oh boy, did Xiao Xu frustrate the wits outta me. Xiao Lu's mom although was a pain in the beginning, I warmed up to her eventually. And as for, Tianhua's sister- I understood her. Yes she could have conveyed what she wanted to convey much more politely but I understood her viewpoint as a sister.
The overall execution of the show is decently done. Loved the distinctive long shots with the camera following the characters. Its amazing how the show takes place at a few locations but still never bores me at any point. And there are moments of ridiculousness and warmth that will sure put a smile on your face every now and then.
The ending was pretty meh and felt compromised. More number of episodes could have been spent to execute a better ending...
In the end, nothing lasts forever. That's the tragedy and miracle of existence. Everything is impermanent and everything changes. The characters learn from their mistakes and grow. By the end of the show, every character has changed from what they were at the beginning- and that's the beauty of it all!
This show definitely isn't for everyone. If you're interested in watching people being faced with the subtle and not-so-subtle injustices of life; something very close to reality, then this might be right up your alley.
**Woohoo! This is officially my 1st review here! If you've reached this far, thanks for reading <3**
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This review may contain spoilers
Heartbreaking melodrama where some will love every single second and others will hate it to the core
Anti C-drama! Definitely not for everybody, but I believe target audience will enjoy every second!If you like Asian dramas, chances are, you mostly search for romance, comfortable archetype characters and fluffy tropes that warm your heart despite their silliness. This drama gives you NONE of that! Instead it delivers heartbreaking melodrama that aims to destroy your emotions with every scene.
I am also putting big emphasis on the word melodrama - in true Chinese fashion, the plot goes over and beyond. If we want tragedy, why not give it to every single character in multiple ways? Shakespeare's Hamlet would be proud.
But if you are like me, and if this is what you sometimes crave, then this show will be perfect for you.
If you are still unsure, here are a few more details:
Cinematography/Setting 10/10
You will get to see China like you almost never see it in mainstream C-dramas. Down to earth, gritty and yet, incredibly directed and shot, so that even the darkest, dirtiest corners feel poetic.
Same goes for the heavy topics - no matter how tragic the story gets, the visual treatment is always incredibly lyrical, cinematic and poignant.
Story 9,5/10
I really enjoy the story. Chances are you will hate almost every character at one point in the show and chances are you will cry for every character at one point in the show as well. All these characters feel very real. They are not good, nor bad. They make mistakes but they also try to change and get better.
My half point is missing solely because I felt the story didn't need as many side plotlines.
Acting 10/10
Beautifully acted. Chinese dramas tend to go overboard, but here some of the strongest moments are expressed with the most subtle acting skills. And of course, Qin Hao is an acting powerhouse as always.
Music 10/10
The quiet, simple soundtrack masterfully intensifies all the tense and desperate moments of the show.
Rewatch value 6/10
This is a hard one for me. It wasn't easy watching the show. I had to stop a few times, because the show is simply too heavy. It never loosens its grip until the very last second. And I loved every second but I'm not sure I would be able to sit through it again, nor do I think it was the intention. This is something that punches you right in the heart and you will remember it even though you might never watch it again.
Overall 9,5/10
This score is extremely subjective and based on my personal subjective point of view. If you enjoy fluffy, fun dramas you will HATE this. Even if you enjoy serious dramas, this might not be your cup of tea, because it really goes way way overboard with the tragedy.
But for me? One of the best Chinese dramas I have EVER seen. The aftertaste still lingers in my mind...
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