Awesome at every level!

As a television professional, a friend referred me to Addiction here in 2022 after it was made in 2016. The initial budget of 1 million USD for 15 episodes made me wonder if it had been made on an iPhone. It hadn't and is a creation of such artistry, dedication and love to the telling of a thrilling - if disturbed at core- story. The curation and crafting of the script, the performances and the music create a painting to be hung high in a wonderful gallery. That the camera burn off the screen, is rare. I don't speak Chinese but have a good understanding of the culture and the people having lived in this great country. The two stars live! The director achieves the sense of being flies on the wall of this most passionate love story which is thrilling by virtue of its lack of explicit sex, though one would be intrigued to know what censors cut. A lot. And the series has become a cult legend for its cancellation having tripped on new morals legislation of China's film and television authorities. A tragedy really. The last three episodes were not screened in China and in seeing them they would seem oddly rough and as if the scenes were stretched to fill the time. What was in the original, perhaps we will never know. Perhaps that the magic of the series. It is a glimpse into the lives of two uniquely beautiful souls, one very troubled and the other in Yin being a character that could go up again Titanic's Jack as a victim as much as a hero. The abduction and rape scene is one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen and it comes out of nowhere - as if you truly are witnessing this travesty and betrayal of the lover to the loved. It is an awfully awfully sad scene. I don't know- again - what was in the original and perhaps in relation to that sequence censors may have saved us the experience of such an awful event. Gu Hai is disturbed. They both have needs which cross the line into the psychopathology. Viewers will note that perhaps 50% of the scenes are set to music which is as subtle as it is beautiful. An unseen device which tells us more of the story This is most impressive. Terming it BL puts it in the genre of cutesy Asian stories for young girls romanticizing Korean singers hugging each other - and nothing wrong with that - but Addicted doesn't touch that genre in its essence, i ts intend and its explicit horror which runs to the side. The fact both actors were and are banned by the Government from every appearing together in any form of media is remarkable and adds to the legend of the great Addiction of Gu Hai and Yin. Johnny Huang went onto great fame and wealth as a machismo superstar of Chinese films, Timmy Xu as a beautiful performer in music and film. But the chemistry created between them is with few peers in cinema or film anywhere. For those outside China, the videos on youtube of the making of Addicted are intriguing to watch. Almost as much as the series. You find them on youtube at this time of writing. I don't do film or television reviews, this is a one time. Jeffrey James

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