This series is doing something fascinating but also odd. It's creating mini Movies, but the movies typically seem to be about 40 minutes. So think an episode of a TV show. But --
-- if they had simply doubled the length again, you'd have a 'movie' almost 90 minutes long. And... so why not complete the idea and have movies?!?
I'm almost 2/3rds of the way thru and this 7.8 rating is ridiculous. Unless the series utterly collapses in the…
My biggest issue with the ending occurred in two places --
1. His standing the fields among the transmission power lines didn't work for me at all. I felt his departure from the series needed to be on that road, the way Wang left the series.
2. I just rewatched my favorite sequence of the series for the third time, the last sequence between Mr. Bao and Li Li that starts with the hot pot and ends at the staircase. This is the epicenter of my disappointment, despite loving the sequence intensely.
For in this sequence the Mr. Bao and Li Li say their goodbyes, revealing that each name is a 'costume' over their true selves. At the end, on the stairs, WKW did something 'artsy' that I felt didn't quite work.
I believe the subtext of this entire sequence is dealing with the fact these two 'friends' are actually very much in love with each other. To make their parting tolerable, Li Li advises Bao to not trust the likes of her. A lie she tells herself out loud to make her exit easier. He says, "You and I are not strangers." To me that translates as, "We're two of a kind and were it not for these circumstances we'd definitely be lovers."
What gets weird here is that he extends a hand of 'introduction' and says, "Ah Bao." This contradicts what he just said. Why introduce your 'true' self after having claimed you've already met. She hesitates but then introduces her 'fake' self as "Li Li" and then departs.
That's kind of a 'Huh?' for me. It's like she was saying, "I can't be Chen Zhen, but only Li Li, but Li Li no longer exists."
There's something there, but the ambiguity -- to me -- leaves me unsatisfied. I feel cheated from a goodbye kiss that the entire sequence sets up.
I'm almost 2/3rds of the way thru and this 7.8 rating is ridiculous. Unless the series utterly collapses in the…
Forgive me, I guess 'nothing' and 'fluffy' seem harsh, but I don't mean it that way. Because a 9.5 about these characters and such is high rating. What would make it a 10 is if we found out it's a true story rather accurately told, right? Since it's not that but instead a brilliantly conceived 'people opera', it just lacks that one final 'thing' to make it a rave recommendation.
('People Opera' is my just made up term for a soap opera that is better than a soap opera.)
I will re-consider a 10.0 rating if this show sticks the landing, something nearly all other C-Dramas fumble.
Episode 14! Loved it. Very Wong Kar-Wai, very movie-ish. And the OTS from Jackie Cheung! 🤌🤌🤌
I'm almost 2/3rds of the way thru and this 7.8 rating is ridiculous. Unless the series utterly collapses in the last third, this is currently a 9.5 from me. What makes it imperfect is that it's much ado about nothing. Where IMPERFECT VICTIM is about a complicated tricky subject, this series is kinda fluffy. But it's extraordinary high quality.
I spent decades knowing about Marilyn Monroe but not really knowing her movies. Then I did and I understood why…
To be fair a lot of her movies are dismiss-able pin-up fluff. I do recommend SOME LIKE IT HOT, GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES, but especially the wildly ahead of it's time THE MISFITS.
MISFITS was an obvious source of inspiration for David Lynch. The story is sad and bleak, the tale of women navigating a man's world. Her husband playwright Arthur Miller wrote the story, and you get the impression he was a feminist telling her real story. It was her last completed film, haunting and yet ultimately epic in it's little way.
You and I agree on something: Zhou Xun. She's my favorite too. I'm a huge fun of Bette Davis from classic cinema, and I consider Zhou Xun the Chinese Bette Davis. That is my highest compliment. No one in America has followed in Bette's steps.
Do be a Bette Davis you career must be interesting at any age. Young Zhou Xun is charming, older Zhou Xun is compelling -- can't get enough of her.
RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE is how I became enamored with Zhou Xun and Xin Zhe Lei.
So much chemistry between Ah Bao and the ladies. So sensual with Li Li and she didn't gave in. Xin Zhe Lei such…
I spent decades knowing about Marilyn Monroe but not really knowing her movies. Then I did and I understood why she was a legend. But one of her most memorable moments is where she's only a supporting actress in ALL ABOUT EVE. In that film --
-- she essentially plays herself, a young unknown Hollywood actress. A wise critic type encourages her to go flirt with a Hollywood producer. She's a normal woman until she commits to introducing herself -- and THEN -- she launches like a torpedo from a submarine. Like a weapon.
Xin Zhe Lei is a gifted actress and stunning woman, but in this series she's also a weapon. I've seen other Chinese actresses attempt weapon status but really they're few and far between. Women that can slice thru barriers like a knife thru butter.
A solid 8 for a soapy speculative fiction piece. It would have been a 9 but for a convoluted subplot and that sad final episode which decided to not tie up a theme in an artistic way.
1 
-- if they had simply doubled the length again, you'd have a 'movie' almost 90 minutes long. And... so why not complete the idea and have movies?!?
1. His standing the fields among the transmission power lines didn't work for me at all. I felt his departure from the series needed to be on that road, the way Wang left the series.
2. I just rewatched my favorite sequence of the series for the third time, the last sequence between Mr. Bao and Li Li that starts with the hot pot and ends at the staircase. This is the epicenter of my disappointment, despite loving the sequence intensely.
For in this sequence the Mr. Bao and Li Li say their goodbyes, revealing that each name is a 'costume' over their true selves. At the end, on the stairs, WKW did something 'artsy' that I felt didn't quite work.
I believe the subtext of this entire sequence is dealing with the fact these two 'friends' are actually very much in love with each other. To make their parting tolerable, Li Li advises Bao to not trust the likes of her. A lie she tells herself out loud to make her exit easier. He says, "You and I are not strangers." To me that translates as, "We're two of a kind and were it not for these circumstances we'd definitely be lovers."
What gets weird here is that he extends a hand of 'introduction' and says, "Ah Bao." This contradicts what he just said. Why introduce your 'true' self after having claimed you've already met. She hesitates but then introduces her 'fake' self as "Li Li" and then departs.
That's kind of a 'Huh?' for me. It's like she was saying, "I can't be Chen Zhen, but only Li Li, but Li Li no longer exists."
There's something there, but the ambiguity -- to me -- leaves me unsatisfied. I feel cheated from a goodbye kiss that the entire sequence sets up.
Thanks for the tip! And what is WKW?
('People Opera' is my just made up term for a soap opera that is better than a soap opera.)
I will re-consider a 10.0 rating if this show sticks the landing, something nearly all other C-Dramas fumble.
MISFITS was an obvious source of inspiration for David Lynch. The story is sad and bleak, the tale of women navigating a man's world. Her husband playwright Arthur Miller wrote the story, and you get the impression he was a feminist telling her real story. It was her last completed film, haunting and yet ultimately epic in it's little way.
You and I agree on something: Zhou Xun. She's my favorite too. I'm a huge fun of Bette Davis from classic cinema, and I consider Zhou Xun the Chinese Bette Davis. That is my highest compliment. No one in America has followed in Bette's steps.
Do be a Bette Davis you career must be interesting at any age. Young Zhou Xun is charming, older Zhou Xun is compelling -- can't get enough of her.
RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE is how I became enamored with Zhou Xun and Xin Zhe Lei.
-- she essentially plays herself, a young unknown Hollywood actress. A wise critic type encourages her to go flirt with a Hollywood producer. She's a normal woman until she commits to introducing herself -- and THEN -- she launches like a torpedo from a submarine. Like a weapon.
https://youtu.be/SKhyLCjIpvw?t=35
Xin Zhe Lei is a gifted actress and stunning woman, but in this series she's also a weapon. I've seen other Chinese actresses attempt weapon status but really they're few and far between. Women that can slice thru barriers like a knife thru butter.
It's so much fun to watch a 'weapon' in action.
More here --
https://kisskh.at/profile/JohnHart/review/562664