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MDL rating of 7.8?!? Horseshinola! Try 9.8!
I had just seen the superb BORN TO BE ALIVE, then completed the flawless LOVE STORY IN THE 1970's, and presumed REMNANTS OF GOLD would just be 'okay'. WRONG!!! REMNANTS will be raking in a ton of nominations when Chinese Award Season strikes.
I'd say it's best to go into this story as blind as possible, but I'll say the entire plot is about various desperate groups seeking out a ginormous amount of gold -- WHILE -- one group is trying to prevent them from finding it. REMNANTS is a fascinating character study featuring all sorts of fascinating people -- that break up their calm thoughtful chats with some creative fight scenes. If you prefer characters over karate, this has the exact mix you're looking for.
I'm a person that follows actors to find C-Dramas. Earlier this year I had finished THE WONDERFUL WORLD, a show that featured two young actresses who were ballerinas in that series. Both were terrific actresses and I wanted to see what else they had done. One, Wang Yu Yan -- appears early in this series and was as lovely as ever. But then I discovered --
-- this series stars Xin Zhi Lei (RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE IN THE PALACE, BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI) and Gao Wei Guang (who was terrific in ABOUT LOVE) which made this series MUCH SEE TV. And they didn't disappoint.
I've seen Xin Zhi Lei in various productions and it turns out if she tries to place nice and ordinary -- it doesn't work. Her strength is not only her obvious physical beauty but being clever and controlling -- and she SHINES here. And what's nice is this isn't exactly how we're used to seeing her, and so it's not the same old thing all over again. Gao Wei Guang didn't have as a big a role as I had hoped, but he plays possum for a while -- with his signature sense of humor -- until he reveals his true self.
New to me were actors Yin Fang and Chen Kun, who had more screen time than Gao Wei Guang but were both quite good. And what a surprise to find Lian Yi Ming playing the brutal desert bandit chieftain, who I last saw playing a lovelorn Dad in THE WONDERFUL WORLD -- two profoundly different roles. I didn't even recognize him for 7 episodes!
It's important to now mention THE WONDERFUL WORLD in more depth. That series could have been a classic were it not for the poor script. Everything else about the production was amazing, thanks to the director Xu Bing. I looked up Xu Bing and learned he wrote THE YOUTH MEMORIES, which was an amazing piece of complex characters pairs over many years. Where most writers would have fumbled so many relationships, Xu Bing masterfully managed a big world of 'youths' and their 'memories'. This research led me to the accident discovery that --
-- Xu Bing wrote and directed REMNANTS OF GOLD, which explains why it's so well done. This is a writer director to watch, and I'm now aware of missed a lot of his earlier work. NEW WORLD looks rather interesting and stars Yin Fang from this show.
I have three very minor story knocks, but otherwise loved it --
1. Episode One -- with it's zombie apparitions and sentient tumbleweeds -- makes the show look stupid. It isn't.
2. It takes two episodes to begin to grasp the many clans and such in this tale. (This is the narrative mistake of introducing almost everything at once instead of easing us into a situation.)
3. In the second half of the show, you're not exactly sure if there's a lead 'couple' in this series. Two men express interest in our female lead and I wasn't quite sure she was interested in either. It didn't ultimately matter but was a bit odd for C-Dramaland.
That said -- this is only 13 episodes and I smell a crowd pleaser with this series!
I'd say it's best to go into this story as blind as possible, but I'll say the entire plot is about various desperate groups seeking out a ginormous amount of gold -- WHILE -- one group is trying to prevent them from finding it. REMNANTS is a fascinating character study featuring all sorts of fascinating people -- that break up their calm thoughtful chats with some creative fight scenes. If you prefer characters over karate, this has the exact mix you're looking for.
I'm a person that follows actors to find C-Dramas. Earlier this year I had finished THE WONDERFUL WORLD, a show that featured two young actresses who were ballerinas in that series. Both were terrific actresses and I wanted to see what else they had done. One, Wang Yu Yan -- appears early in this series and was as lovely as ever. But then I discovered --
-- this series stars Xin Zhi Lei (RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE IN THE PALACE, BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI) and Gao Wei Guang (who was terrific in ABOUT LOVE) which made this series MUCH SEE TV. And they didn't disappoint.
I've seen Xin Zhi Lei in various productions and it turns out if she tries to place nice and ordinary -- it doesn't work. Her strength is not only her obvious physical beauty but being clever and controlling -- and she SHINES here. And what's nice is this isn't exactly how we're used to seeing her, and so it's not the same old thing all over again. Gao Wei Guang didn't have as a big a role as I had hoped, but he plays possum for a while -- with his signature sense of humor -- until he reveals his true self.
New to me were actors Yin Fang and Chen Kun, who had more screen time than Gao Wei Guang but were both quite good. And what a surprise to find Lian Yi Ming playing the brutal desert bandit chieftain, who I last saw playing a lovelorn Dad in THE WONDERFUL WORLD -- two profoundly different roles. I didn't even recognize him for 7 episodes!
It's important to now mention THE WONDERFUL WORLD in more depth. That series could have been a classic were it not for the poor script. Everything else about the production was amazing, thanks to the director Xu Bing. I looked up Xu Bing and learned he wrote THE YOUTH MEMORIES, which was an amazing piece of complex characters pairs over many years. Where most writers would have fumbled so many relationships, Xu Bing masterfully managed a big world of 'youths' and their 'memories'. This research led me to the accident discovery that --
-- Xu Bing wrote and directed REMNANTS OF GOLD, which explains why it's so well done. This is a writer director to watch, and I'm now aware of missed a lot of his earlier work. NEW WORLD looks rather interesting and stars Yin Fang from this show.
I have three very minor story knocks, but otherwise loved it --
1. Episode One -- with it's zombie apparitions and sentient tumbleweeds -- makes the show look stupid. It isn't.
2. It takes two episodes to begin to grasp the many clans and such in this tale. (This is the narrative mistake of introducing almost everything at once instead of easing us into a situation.)
3. In the second half of the show, you're not exactly sure if there's a lead 'couple' in this series. Two men express interest in our female lead and I wasn't quite sure she was interested in either. It didn't ultimately matter but was a bit odd for C-Dramaland.
That said -- this is only 13 episodes and I smell a crowd pleaser with this series!
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