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A great, gentle and tender love story
An amazing, beautiful show. The script is a gem, open and careful discussion of social issues is so rare and this drama accomplished it naturally. The difficulty of the age difference in this noona drama and the way in which their relationship begins is never ignored. The town in the mountains from which Li Wu is rescued by Cen Jin is neither sentimentalized nor forgotten; its beauty is celebrated along with Li Wu's country-boy strength of character and integrity.
Modern Cdrama's forte is this sort of graceful semi-realism and really great OSTs; Sniper Butterfly possesses in addition two formidable acting talents: Zhou Ke Yu/Daniel Zhou and Michelle Chen, a Taiwanese actress who catapulted to the top of her field early in her career. The main director is also Taiwanese, and he and she have worked together several times.
Zhou Ke Yu, however is an astounding new talent. In his early 20's his mastery of his craft is refined and careful. You will find yourself following the progress of his emotions through his complex handling of glances, breathing, timing and movement rather than through his laconic dialogue. Michelle Chen has the opposite strength, she plays perfectly a talkative, nervy copy writer in the advertising industry who needs to work her way through issues via discussion. She provides the tension and edge which lifts the romance out of banality.
The script follows a doubled time-line: It begins in 2024 as Li Wu returns to China from his graduate studies in the US, to seek out Cen Jin who has created a happy successful career for herself after the tumultous period in which she and Li Wu met. Thereafter the beginning of their relationship in 2016 runs parallel to the present day, until we finally understand a) why Cen Jin broke off their developing love affair then and sent him away and b) why their love and affection for each other was so strong that Li Wu is able to win her back.
Just beautiful.
Modern Cdrama's forte is this sort of graceful semi-realism and really great OSTs; Sniper Butterfly possesses in addition two formidable acting talents: Zhou Ke Yu/Daniel Zhou and Michelle Chen, a Taiwanese actress who catapulted to the top of her field early in her career. The main director is also Taiwanese, and he and she have worked together several times.
Zhou Ke Yu, however is an astounding new talent. In his early 20's his mastery of his craft is refined and careful. You will find yourself following the progress of his emotions through his complex handling of glances, breathing, timing and movement rather than through his laconic dialogue. Michelle Chen has the opposite strength, she plays perfectly a talkative, nervy copy writer in the advertising industry who needs to work her way through issues via discussion. She provides the tension and edge which lifts the romance out of banality.
The script follows a doubled time-line: It begins in 2024 as Li Wu returns to China from his graduate studies in the US, to seek out Cen Jin who has created a happy successful career for herself after the tumultous period in which she and Li Wu met. Thereafter the beginning of their relationship in 2016 runs parallel to the present day, until we finally understand a) why Cen Jin broke off their developing love affair then and sent him away and b) why their love and affection for each other was so strong that Li Wu is able to win her back.
Just beautiful.
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