AleksandraSucur

Filter will engage and entertain you since the very beginning, leaving a mellow aftertaste long time after you're done watching it, independently of your personal genre-preferences and expectations. Its fresh, original plot and well-crafted dialogues smoothly range from modern fantasy to comedy and then to a romance. Because of its uniqueness, this is a rare (if not the only) story I've ever rated with full marks.

PLOT: the protagonists (main couple) greatly differ from each other, FL can be described as a "force of nature", she is (at least, physically) stronger, she is a straightforward, positive and somewhat immature girl liking a guy who percieves her as a bully since they were in the school. She makes him shiver, out of fright, even disgust... and being the ML a rational, "scientific" but also a romantic person who awaits his "one and only" in life, they are apparently "not meant to be", unless... certain "filters" help them in clearing misconceptions, in understanding their reciprocal fragilities (like FL's insecurity about her looks) and flows (ML's tetrachromacy with higher-intensity light receptors) and, finally, in combining their very different (read: opposite) point of views. Because love is "a deep desire to see the life and the world around us throught the eyes of Another". This deep desire is so palpable in Filter and both FL and ML will radically (and positively) influence each other in the way how they see the world around them.

But love is also a magic, and the FL comes early into a possession of a powerful magical tool: a super-tech bracelet which can shape-shift her appearence into... well, almost anything else, but which is also very "experimental" and needs frequent updates which create even more misunderstandings, tensions and twists.

There are also "additional tools" which help to create the right atmosphere and rythm/pace of the drama: eg. well chosen bgm, the 2 opening osts, Du Qing 渡情 from the '90s xianxia drama New Legends of Madame White Snake, the constant reference/homage to "Something Like an Autobiography" which immediately creates a connection with one of the greatest movie directors/visual storytellers ever, Kurosawa, and alludes to his most famous movie, Rashomon, dealing with how various people who have witnessed a murder of a samurai in a forest differently describe the events relating to the murder. They are all telling the truth, but the truth greatly varies according to their own point of view. Last but not least, the references to LYF also contribute to the fun.

CAST: One word - perfect. After The Starry Love, I've never doubted Li Landi could perform such a strong (yet profoundly fragile) character in a romcom, but Tan Janci in the role of Tang Qi will be a revelation, he may not be good in tennis, but his microexpressions are always so much on point, what a talented actor! All side characters are well-casted and well-written, as well.

All in all, although I'm not into a "romance" at all, I'm very glad I've seen this brilliant drama and I warmly recommend its vision: it is good and it will highly boost your serotonine level