“An Ancient Love Song” shows you that you don’t need a lot of money to produce a drama that moves the audience. Inspired by a fan-made video, this low-budget passion project is able to deliver a well and creatively told story of two star-crossed lovers.

The reverse timelines really took me a while to think, pause and then realize what just happened. I have to be honest, I was a little confused in the beginning when ML first met FL. I even felt that the romance was off, because of how it all started. But after I got my bearings, I really appreciated this unique way of storytelling. It reminded me of the Japanese movie “Tomorrow I will Date with Yesterday’s You”, but way better. As the story progresses, each flashback sequence helps fill in the blanks of what actually happened, and the story touches me a little bit more each time.

Zhang Ya Qin (FL) has come a long way. I wasn’t super impressed with her acting in “Love in Between” but here, she did a good job in playing an 18-year old innocent girl all the way to the 36-year Empress. Guo Jia Nan (ML) took a few episodes to get in the groove, but he found his groove and his character grew on me. Zhuang Han might have stolen Guo Jia Nan’s thunder a little and has a stronger screen presence. The rest of the supporting cast did fine but not outstanding.

Since this is a short 14-episode drama, the pacing is good and there are no fillers. I actually would have loved to see a few more episodes, or longer episodes, as I think there’s enough material to dive deeper into each timeline and background stories.

This is a quick and easy-to-binge watch. If you are usually scared of long Chinese period dramas, this is a perfect length to start. You will be greeted by a touching romance told creatively with reverse timelines. Watch, pause, think and savor it.


Completed: 7/18/2023 - Review #332