Rather interesting and good... but not great
Greetings,I'm stunned no one has written a review yet. Maybe it will encourage people to try it, since the show so far is pretty good.
1. I've watched this dynamic director before with LOUYANG. He's less about nuance, more about keeping things moving. My only annoyance with this director is his overuse of flash-zooms. I don't know what they're called but it's like you're watching something in the distance moving and then BOOM you're a lot closer. It's fake exciting and upsets my stomach. I will say in Episode 36 there's some amazing camerawork with drones in a forest during a chase scene.
2. My silly nickname for this piece is BULLETS OVER BURMA.
3. I felt this story suffered from... umm... gender imbalance. I wanted to see more of the women they had, like the Geisha and the ballerina. More romance between the obvious suspects. This plot would have benefited greatly by balancing the political inhumanities with romantic humanity. Speaking of that plot --
4. -- the idea of a man losing his memories and spending 40 episodes slowly recalling them was too complex, too drawn out, and kinda not worth it's central plot status. Personally I stopped caring at the 2/3rds point. That said --
5. -- the story becomes more addictive the deeper you go, but you must get about a third of the way in to stay in. I'd recommend watching two episodes a pop. Two episodes at a time would also help keep the MANY characters in your head, especially if Chinese names are hard for you to remember.
6. There's a weird moment where a character dies. She is laying on the ground grey as anything. What's weird is that it doesn't look like her, and so you're left wondering if said character is secretly still alive. The man that discovers her dead on the ground would know the difference. (Was the actress too busy or spooked to play dead?) I will say if this character is actually dead, it's a crime. She was one of the best and had that 'humanity' thing mentioned above.
7 . The music is a mixed bag. The background music is solid, but the two main songs belong in the credits only, but unfortunatelykeep appearing in the story itself. One is a riff of Bond's YOU KNOW MY NAME and when it appears in the show it's painfully out of place. If I were the producer of this series, I'd have made the ending credits song the opening song and composed a sad ballad for the ending credits, something most Chinese dramas of this seriousness level do with success. (Find an episode of IMPERFECT LOVE and play the ending titles. You'll want to watch the show it's so beautiful.)
8. Our lead actors are good but our story wastes them in countless talky exposition scenes. To me that story is too ornate for it's own good. Still, the actors are otherwise very talented. Xin Zhi Lei is stunning (as usual) but she -- like so many of the cast -- spends a lot of time reacting to what others say instead of doing anything. Luo Qiu Yun stands around corners or with her back to others and does the exact same reaction about 100 times. I'm not kidding. A subtle turn of the head, a subtle roll of the eyes -- over and over and over again. She's very cute/sexy/pretty but it gets old as hell.
The lead male is a little flat, like an athlete they begged to act. He has this great walk I've never seen another Chinese male actor have, which is kind of leading with his pelvis and simply commanding any room he walks into. He had a difficult role to pull off and was okay, but I felt there should have been more to him somehow.
Here is a special shout out to Dong Xuan/Michelle Dong who does wonders with exposition. She's new to me and lends this series a dignity and centered performance. I want to see more of her.
9. The overall production values are quite good... which makes me wonder why more people haven't seen it. Budget wise this show strikes me as a big deal.
10 . I'm completely unaware of the history of this period. From a Westerner's perspective it's all so new. And sad. I started a discussion below in the comments and the History Buffs shared some very interesting perspectives. I'm happy I'm watching the series and seeing things from this perspective. For those who fear it is propaganda, it is in the way any film about Good Guys VS the Nazis are.
11. Most Chinese Drama's I've watched end poorly. Like the story ends but the series drones on a bit, sometimes for episodes. This series ended properly in a satisfactory manner. Not my fave series but I'm happy I watched it.
I know I don't sound very enthused but it's a solid 8.0 for me at the moment. Don't let my critical self dissuade, give it a shot if you're looking for something a little different.
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