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Kinda like a Werner Herzog film.
No spoliers, so no worries.
Came to this on account of Liao Fan, and because I always seek out untypical drama's. This one about panning for gold in 1986 fit the bill. Immediately one is immersed in the mileu, the setting, and with all the mud and earth and the jungle and desperate sweaty men...it's got the feel of a Werner Herzog movie. In a good way.
I AM enjoying it, however...it's painfully clear this series was heavily censored. There are so many scenes that have terrible editing within them, which indicates dialogue, actions, and even whole people were cut out. As a result, they make no sense. And if you add to that confusion the horrible englsih translation provided by iQIYI .then it's a wonder I can understand anything that's happening. Really. It's a massive chore to figure out specific plot and story points, and I'm barely staying with it. But I will because I love the whole idea of this series and the recreation of the world of gold panning is fantastic.
I'm hoping eventually it'll all make sense. But this series reminds me of the movies Heaven's Gate, All the Pretty Horses, and One-eyed Jacks...in that all 3 are films that might have been considered masterpieces if others just didn't mess with them. But in all 3 films, producers and studio heads shoved their ignorant opinions into the mix, made demands, and as a result the films came out mediocre, because ya know....the confusion. You can see there's genius in all of them, but like this series, they were cut up and it's a tragedy.
I know I'll never get to see an unedited and brilliant translation of Gold Panning, and that sucks. But I'll enjoy this nonetheless.
Came to this on account of Liao Fan, and because I always seek out untypical drama's. This one about panning for gold in 1986 fit the bill. Immediately one is immersed in the mileu, the setting, and with all the mud and earth and the jungle and desperate sweaty men...it's got the feel of a Werner Herzog movie. In a good way.
I AM enjoying it, however...it's painfully clear this series was heavily censored. There are so many scenes that have terrible editing within them, which indicates dialogue, actions, and even whole people were cut out. As a result, they make no sense. And if you add to that confusion the horrible englsih translation provided by iQIYI .then it's a wonder I can understand anything that's happening. Really. It's a massive chore to figure out specific plot and story points, and I'm barely staying with it. But I will because I love the whole idea of this series and the recreation of the world of gold panning is fantastic.
I'm hoping eventually it'll all make sense. But this series reminds me of the movies Heaven's Gate, All the Pretty Horses, and One-eyed Jacks...in that all 3 are films that might have been considered masterpieces if others just didn't mess with them. But in all 3 films, producers and studio heads shoved their ignorant opinions into the mix, made demands, and as a result the films came out mediocre, because ya know....the confusion. You can see there's genius in all of them, but like this series, they were cut up and it's a tragedy.
I know I'll never get to see an unedited and brilliant translation of Gold Panning, and that sucks. But I'll enjoy this nonetheless.
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