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An incredible work of art....
This is one of the shortest series i've ever seen, and yet I feel like I could write a huge essay about it (I won't... but I could).Starting with the most obvious thing, that being the TERRIBLE dubbing/music: This drama is like a Michaelangelo painting covered in mud - that mud being the dubbing. It may at first look like shit. But if you wipe off the grime, what's underneath it is breathtaking. So my strenuous advice in order to fully appreciate this is
>>>Put on the sexiest, darkest, hottest music you know of.... AND MUTE THE SOUND ON THIS SHOW<<<<
I personally reccommend Type O Negative's 'Love You To Death' on repeat. But just whatever suits you, whatever you think would compliment this drama.
Once you've removed the offensive dubbing/music, what you will find is an absolutely gorgeous, sexy, raw romance story... perfectly cast, perfectly acted. The script is fucking genius. It reveals just enough emotion, and leaves just enough for your mind to fill in the blanks.
Theres zero bullshit filler here. Thats why its so short. Its focus is only the ML and FL. But its also powerful, it really grabs you and holds you. If you think its easy to create such powerful emotions with such a short script, you try it. Paring something down, stripping it to only its most basic elements, while retaining its evokative emotional power is an art form, thats why Steinbeck and Coetzee are considered literary geniuses.
The camerawork and the lighting is so perfectly suited to the story and the acting. Stylists did a great job. The actors brought ALL their energy and talent to this piece. I felt everything they were feeling, and when they cried I cried. When they were distraught, I was distraught. What they thought about is what I thought about. The final two episodes were so perfectly written, which is exceedingly difficult to do.
It was hot, realistic, emotional, and so so beautiful. And yes I said realistic.... ask me how I know ;P
This is exactly why I dig through old and lesser rated shows, to find hidden treasures just like this.
Amazing -- and the only reason I don't give it a 10 is because I dont know how many rewatches it can stand up to, and because the sound (all of it) is atrocious.
Trust me... muted, this drama magically transforms from a mess into a masterpiece.
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A solid in-between-shows watch.
This ML is a fucking phenomenal actor, and the actual basic plot is creative. However, they are being hamstrung by a mediocre director, mundane script writers, phoned-in makeup, and budget production.There's nothing that outright sucks about this one, I'll give it that. FL is fine and brings the slightest touch of comedy to her performance, and it works. She lets herself have some chemistry with the ML (Some, mind you, not really a lot though). The creative vision lacks a certain amount of cohesion.... is it fluff, is it comedy, is it action, is it drama.... it's not really sure. There is no distinct "look" to it. It leaves an afterimpression of averageness.
I think this is a good watch if you need just something light and mildly entertaining with a brisk pace. I also think this is an allright watch if you are just curious about Cheng Yu Feng's acting evolution. He has a few brief flashes of genius acting in this drama, but for the mostpart what you see is him dumbing himself down as an actor to fit the role that's beneath him.
There's a part where the FL asks him if his lazy personality is all fake. He looks at her and considers the question and then says "It's fake... and it's not fake." And in that 10 seconds of acting, you can see that brilliance he has, as his emotions silently shift from one to another so fast... it's like his emotions are "shiny", they flicker across his face and it's quite extraordinary. He does it again in the last episode when the FL gives him the big news that I'm not going to tell you so I don't spoil it, but you'll know it when you see it if you decide to watch this one. And there's a few instances in the first half of the show where it is written into the script that his facade has to crack open for just a fraction of a moment and you see a glimmer of who he really is, and wowww it was sexy and cool. But again..... these moments are fleeting, the script and direction really don't give him any room to breathe as an actor.
It was decent.
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Good smut + Lynchian darkness + raw depth + strange cheesiness = cult classic
This was like watching Wild At Heart, My Lethal Man, and The K2 blended together in a Vitamix and then smothered in sexy.I see a fair number of watchers taking this drama only at its face value, which is an in-your-face raciness combined with a wild plot more full of holes than swiss cheese. So it begs obvious comparison to My Lethal man, in that afterward youre like "I dont know what the hell I just watched but it was hot." And that is a fair comparison.
But I was also strongly reminded of David Lynch. (Thats the director that did Twin Peaks, the original Dune movie, Wild at Heart with Nicholas Cage, Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive)
Like Lynch movies, there is a strange, dark, quiet, beautiful, unsettled, disoriented feeling to this drama, that makes you wonder how many mysteries the show holds. Are the plot holes accidental or deliberate? Its riding a fine line.
This odd balance between darkness/lightness... quiet/dramatic... depth/simplicity.... cheesy/sexy..... is what I think has the elements of an instant cult classic.... like Repo Man, Heathers, True Romance, Twilight, etc. Many cult classics have a strange and stylish, mysterious blend of hokey and twisted and profoundly deep that makes the story so rewatchable.
There are weirdly placed intrusions of cheesy frivolity sure. But there are also scenes of real emotional depth that some shows try so hard to bring to the screen and fail at. I teared up at many scenes despite myself, because the emotions were so raw and beautiful, and well placed.
And the wholllle thing is just covered with sexiness everywhere. Even the "villain" is strange-sexy and hot af. Reminds me of a young asian marilyn manson with no makeup and a haircut. His looks are captivating and his acting is excellent. The ML and FL are sexy af and hot like fire and good actors. There is real kissing in the kiss scenes. GOOD real kissing, that make me think the ML is in rl probably an excellent lover. And for any kiss scene affectionados out there ----> there is french kissing in this one.
The casting was so excellent, the costumes and styling will stand up to a test of time... in 10 or 20 years, it will look just as hot as it does now, it will age well.
A very unique style that I appreciated greatly. The dumbness of this drama is deceptive. Beneath the dumbness lies real artistic skill and vision, and the dichotomy between the crappy cheapness and the refined elegance was, imo, highly enjoyable and very genious.
Im a hard grader, I dont give out 9s lightly, but this drama was truly excellent and had a distinct style all its own.
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This FL is a romance killer, and she did it again.
You can be guaranteed that anything this FL is in will be lacking in chemistry and have badly executed kiss scenes, and same goes for this one.Story flows ok, with lots of draggy spots. Styling isnt great but ok. Plot is refreshingly unique. Direction was phoned-in and lacked creativity.
It was ok for just a bored-watch, but there is NO chemistry from leads. She's like a Dilraba, she thinks shes so pretty that excuses her from having to actually act in love with the ML shes cast against.
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Starts off fresh and strong, ends as a meh.
The good:*Underused plot ideas free of many of the common tropes and cliches
*Some good acting
*Very visually pretty
*BGM/ost is not intrusive
The bad:
*FL was the weak link - OK actress, but not a good match for the role ---> becomes annoying as show goes on
*Plot not fleshed out right - tension, balance, sense of realism, dialogue, emotions.... all are lacking in screenplay.
*All acting was good but not extraordinary. The ML is gaining acting experience and improving, but still not quite exemplary.
*Teases spice, but also very much lacks said spice. Meager kiss scenes.
It just is what it is, which is a 7. Take it or leave it depending on how bored you are.
I would recc this only to people interested in watching Ma Hao Dong's acting career progress, because he IS getting better, and I think this is some of his best acting to date. IMO he has something special, and his career holds a lot of promise.
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All this is, is eye candy.
You'll get no spice here between the leads, I'll just start with that.If you're *still* interested, even though there's no spice here... then here is what you will get:
*Average directing.
*Decent styling on everyone except ML and Villain. Whoever did Aaron Deng's hair should be fired.
*A plot that starts off interesting and then completely absolutely faceplants in the last several episodes and turns into one huge string of cliche cop-out c-drama tropes.
*Fairly decent acting on the part of the cast members.
This was an okay watch, I would recc to someone who is an Aaron Deng fan or a Tu Zhi Ying fan.... or someone who wants something light and topical as kind of like a between-shows watch.
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Starts off kind of promising, but then turns into just a montage of CEO cliches.
The basic problem with this story is... well.... the story.ML starts off as a domineering, powerful, cold, calculating badboy. But when he realizes he's in love with the FL halfway through the drama, he suddenly becomes pathetic, grovelly, sweet and spineless. It's like he turns into a completely different character altogether.
For those of us who like badboy ML's, the way he falls apart and turns into a simp as soon as he realizes he loves her, is a huge turnoff. It's not cute, and it's not sexy. It's just extremely cringe.
In the beginning, there was some novelty to the way this couple becomes closer. But at that halfway mark, suddenly the ways the ML and FL are pushed together through the story become really insultingly cliche. He hurts his hand so she has to tie his tie. The power goes out and they have to talk in the dark. Just really stupid basic shit with zero imagination.
Really disappointed in this one, because the way it started off was so promising that I'm surprised at how cheap the writing became as the show went on.
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This is a lot more than just some trashy smut-film.
This is one of only a handful of movies I've ever watched where the sex scenes aren't gratuitous. Each one conveys something different, and when you add them all up, you have a very beautiful message, in which the director is trying to convey how for some people in some situations, sex and love aren't a straight line. Sometimes people, through complex situations, get wired differently in that area of life.I see this movie as controversial because in a very distinct way, it romanticizes prostitution, and romanticizes dysfunctional sexuality. Yet the opposite side of that is that it humanizes sexual dysfunction, so that a person isn't defined by their kink, it's just another aspect of their personhood. Also in defense of the film, it is highly respectful of how it treats the topic of AIDS.
If you skip the dialogue and just watch for the smut factor, you miss the entire artistry of the movie. If you skip the smut and just watch for the dialogue, you also miss the artistry of the movie, because each sex scene has something to convey. In this sense, the movie is sort of genius. A very deliberate movie.
We have all seen shows that depict sex work as seedy, dirty, depressing, hopeless. This is the opposite side of that. I think it's relying on the concept that most of the viewers already have seen the sordid side of the sex industry and know what it entails, and this movie is almost like an apology to that. A serious attempt at an explanation for why people end up in the industry, why they stay, or why they support it.
I don't agree entirely with some of the viewpoints the film takes, but I respect that at least it wasn't at all just another piece of smut. There are very deep emotions running through this movie.
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Better than most run-of-the mill c-dramas, but not re-watch caliber.
ML and FL were both very good in this. Excellent acting, great styling and costumes, both of them are great actors turning in solid performances.However, just that alone can't save a show. Nearly everything else about this drama was "good but not great". Supporting cast, music, dialogue, camerawork, fight scenes, costumes... all were good but not great.
What sucks is that the worst part about it was the story itself. So this script fundamentally could not be saved. The way the plot was designed, was that you get the initial romance between the ML and FL, their courtship, falling in love... planning their wedding... having their before-the-wedding night, and it's all super sweet. That lasts through roughly the first half of the drama. And then.... calamity strikes and they are suddenly separated. This separation is brutal, cruel, and total, and it lasts for the entire second half of the drama. The writer first establishes in you an emotional connection to the ML/FL couple, and then uses that emotional connection to keep you watching through episode after episode of the pain of separation, and gross injustices carried out against the ML and the FL. Well, that gets tired real fast. I am not an emotional masochist, so I did not appreciate the storyline at ALL.
There are also problems with the scriptwriting. Transitions between one scene to the next sometimes leave you disoriented like "did I miss something between these two scenes?" And certain aspects of the story were acted out and filmed when they should have just been implied.... and other aspects of the story were implied, when they should have been acted out and a scene written for what happened. In this sense, the flow was blocky and disjointed.
Finally the chemistry between the main couple left something to be desired. It was "not bad". There was SOME level of chemistry there. But it wasn't electric. The two main actors are both very beautiful and very good actors, but they don't make the best couple. They just make a "pretty good" couple.
So this was a 7.5 for me, because it is definitely definitely worth a watch.... but not really worth a rewatch. Y'know... unless you just want to stare at beautiful sexy Luo Zheng in a hot costume and gorgeous long hair.
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This review may contain spoilers
A short-length masterpiece.
❤OST and BGM are so so well done, styling costumes and settings are more than just achingly gorgeous--->they hold deliberate meaning. Cinematography is shot with a careful eye for beauty in details. Lighting was always on point. And quite frankly Im floored to see such high quality in such a short length drama.❤Acting was EXCELLENT. From everyone. All the actors and actresses gave 100% to their roles, and it really shows.
❤THE DIALOGUE was so so SO good, it is really whats at the heart of this drama, is an excellent script. Every now and then a chinese drama will come out that shows such an astonishingly masterful grasp of human nature and human psychology that it blows everybody else outta the water. This is one of those dramas. It tells its story with elegance and rawness and incredible depth.
I have to establish all that, because of what I'm about to tell you now: IT WAS FEKKIN HORRIBLE. Not the storytelling. Just the story.
Theres LOTS of works of art where the story is basically horrible. Voltaire's 'Candide'. Sophie's Choice. Schindler's List. There Will Be Blood. Romeo and Juliet. A Million Stars Falling From the Sky. And.... yeah this is one of those. Its fekkin messed up, offensive, and tragic. Its like having your feelings tenderized with a meat mallet, deep fried til burnt and then autopsied with a plastic spork.
If you have triggers, this will trigger them. Even eating disorder triggers. All the triggers are here. If you are sensitive... or previously traumatized.... if you are just looking for something fun or easy..... if you expect a drama to do all your moralizing and thinking for you.... you gonna have a BAD time. A REAL bad time.
Because not only is it horrible, it is unrelentingly horrible. Theres no comic relief ANYWHERE. Theres no cheesy acting, or bad makeup. Theres no goofy side characters. Theres no 2ML 2FL side story. No CGI to cringe at. No cute cats or adorable children. No dumb tropey stuff. Everything is beautiful, emotional, poignant, aching, sentimental, cruel, torrid.
The format of short-length drama, in this instance, is like a series of poems the director is giving us. Each one is beautiful, deliberate, painstakingly created. This was, quite simply, fine cinema. It elevates the short-length format into something really awesome that has real artistic merit.
This drama, at its core, is about love as it relates to sin, atonement, and forgiveness... ML has committed a grave sin against the FL he loves dearly. And the FL who loves him dearly also, is faced with a choice of whether to forgive him or not. The questions this drama asks are not for the faint of heart... because when this show is through with you, youre gonna feel kinda like you just stepped out of the spin cycle on a heavy duty washing machine.
You better have a fluffy drama and a pint of ice cream lined up for when you finish this, cuz u gonna need it.
I basically hate tragedies, but this one was stellar. Grips your attention and doesnt let go till you are bleeding from your eyes and begging for mercy.
9.5/10... Absolutely incredible.
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Worth at least a one-time watch, well put-together.
Green flag lovers and fluff lovers will rejoyce on this one.I am only green-flag tolerant at best, and too much cotton candy makes me sick. There has to be something more to a drama than just oxytocin fluff or I don't vibe with it.
Well this drama has more to it. Yes, there is copious amounts of fluff, but beneath that there is some substance. The acting was really above-average, and these two actors are both capable of delivering really great scenes with a wide range of emotions. And that was fun to watch.
The OST/BGM were sort of all over the place, and yet it had it's genius moments and vibed pretty well with the drama most of the time. The styling was not the best but not the worst. The interiors/exteriors used for the scenes are really cozy and style-forward.
The script is the downfall, and sure it's extremely trope-y, but I don't mind that. I don't down-rate for just that alone. What I thought was really the downfall of the script, is that it hits moments where it's so subtle and so elevated, the psychology is on-point, and then it just loses its momentum. There are many almost-breakout moments in this story.... with more care given to this script, these actors could have pulled out A performances, and the bones of the script would have had real meat on them.
Also, the actors had good friends-chemistry, a very comfortable vibe about them... but not a lot of sizzle. The kiss scenes were well done though, so that kind of compensated.
As it is, it's a mixed bag of goods and bads. But just on the meta-level, this is a step up from most short length dramas. Definitely check this out just for the acting alone. Both the ML and the FL just need the barest of polishing and someone to give them a good breakout role, and they'd be able to pull of high-caliber roles in A-list dramas.
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This story deserves a remake. Story and acting are good. Production is not.
This story could have been really awesome. The ML could have been a really dark sexy badboy ML. But that's not how they went with it, and instead decided not to take the dark parts of the plot seriously at all.The makeup and styling are really really bad, in a weird awkward way. The lighting is awful. The BGM is ok but it's often out of step for what's happening.
Dialogue was corny, superficial, uninspired most of the time. Scene transitions are done really oddly in spots where it seems like the producer was just totally out to lunch, without any artistic vision at all for how the story should be unrolled or paced. Things are laid out in sort of a haphazard way that isn't very addictive.
The actors were great, but they're styled so badly, shot scenes under such harsh bright lighting, lines so cheesy and bad, music too loud and corny sentimental.... this is just not it. All I saw that I liked in this one, was the promise of an unfulfilled good storyline, and a moderately sexy ML/FL couple.
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Excellent screenwriting, strong direction, solid casting.... a super satisfying watch.
It's odd because the plot isn't exactly original, the chemistry between ML and FL isn't much more than passable, the romance is really a side-dish to the story, the direction and costumes and backdrops were very good but not top-tier.... and yet it's on my short-short list of best things I've seen all year.It's the screenwriting. It's just excellent. And then all the other parts come together to support that script in a weird undefinable synergy that creates the most amazing final product. It's so addictive.
And then the ending is exactly what the viewer would have wanted. IMO, it needed more romance and fire, so I knocked one full point off for non-stellar ML/FL chemistry. But honestly, I'd rather watch 7/10 chemistry relationships that have a really good HE, than watch a 10/10 chemistry pair that has a horrible SE.
Standing ovation to everyone involved in this, it was absolutely amazing.
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This review may contain spoilers
If Power Rangers made a romance story.
There are no bug masks or spandex leotards, sure. But there is the same brisk pacing, gloating overacting villains, bad cgi and even worse dubbing, a story totally unfettered by pesky things like 'logic', and actors doing a halfassed job of playing characters that make no sense and have no backstory.Much like Power Rangers, i am not emotionally moved in the slightest by this story, and only mildly amused by the copious abundance of cheese.
I give it a 6 because despite its failings, it was fresh... and even though I felt it was a waste of time, I was at least somewhat entertained.
I do have to say, though..... that it attempted to be an action/romance story, and the result was that it ended up being neither action nor romance.
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An overall strong production, with a few weaker points
The superior production and direction made this traditional story of palace intrigue very gripping and watchable. Pacing, styling, settings, direction, aesthetic were compelling and interesting.The weak points:
1. The romance aspect was SORELY lacking. There is no passion at all, no romantic chemistry between leads, and a "made for all audiences" sensibility about it. This is not a romance story. Its a palace drama, with a light romantic element to it.
2. Missed the mark on the "strong finish", went overboard and turned it predictable and cheesy.
3. Villains are hard to understand psychologically, have too much screentime, are too cruel and sick, and do not get the endings they deserve in most cases.
Other than that, it was a fun watch.
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