Becky
North Pole
This review may contain spoilers
Almost perfection 美中不足
Excuse me having to use Chinese characters in the headline, but that is my first thought when I completed the drama. The correct translation for 美中不足 is "a blemish in an otherwise perfect thing" but that sounds kind of negative 😅 Almost perfection sounds nicer. I have really enjoyed this drama, although I'm rating it 8.5 it would still go on my list of Top 10 dramas for the year. Will come back on what are the 'blemishes' that could have made this a perfect story.
What are great and very well done in Dear Diary:
1) Actual/Real sets and training
Production and cast have travelled to Morocco and Paris for the scenes set in Babylonian times and for the scenes in final ep. Crew had really construct an ancient set for the shooting, the 3 actors that belong to Babylonian times had received training and been educated on how people in those times would behave, walked, fought....
2) The dialogues
There are really good lines in this that are reflective on life and love. It somehow reminded me of Il Mare, Bloody Romance but the dialogues in this are much more superior. I have watched this raw, no idea how the Eng subs would be like? Hopefully it managed to keep the same meanings... A lot of the dialogues could be used in our real life, quite similar to The Alchemist and Little Prince (it even quoted Little Prince in a scene).
3) The story
The premise of a 12 yo's fiction story that came alive, how she had wrote the story with love then hated it due to the public humiliation she suffered when her book was accidentally discovered and read out loud in class, how the experience changed her into an anti-social 24 yo woman with OCD..... her emotions and reactions when she first met the story characters (hilarious yet sad too) and realized her story had came alive..... And the friendships!! Especially between Meiru and Zhen Zhen.
4) The casting and acting
This is one of the best casting choices made in a cdrama! Everyone fits their characters so well ❤ And the actors did their best to understand their assigned characters and portrayed them very convincingly.
5) The cinematography
If you read my comments on this page you'd know how impressed I am with this director. Although the cast are perfection, when we look at these 3 couples, they don't give any CP feels at all, they don't look matching. But this director knows the right kind of scenes, angles, etc to make viewers believe in their love. 3 pairs of people who don't look like couples become believable as lovers with his directing.
The "blemishes":
1) Somewhere around the halfway point, story developments and scenes start to feel disjointed. The scenes are awesome! But when linked together felt like there's missing parts. We see the love, the fears and grief between the 3 couples, but there ain't that many scenes that show how they reached this point, this deep love. It gives me a somewhat empty feeling at times, like there's big gaps in-between-- great scenes and dialogues but it felt over-melodramatic because of the missing interactions and developments in the beginning arc. Cast revealed the whole shooting took about 4 months, yet this is only 24 eps of 30 mins each. Hopefully Youku would release the additional scenes that were not used in drama.
2) What is the story theme? I get the feeling this story has a theme and not just "a drama", that it is trying to make a point about something. But that point that it is trying to tell, did not come across clearly enough, end up with a few points that are conveyed quite weakly. About learning to love and live, letting go of the past, learning to forgive yourself.... etc are not conveyed as strongly as it might have intended.
3) Chen Meiru's uncle.... Who is he exactly? How did he know about their stories? It felt like he had been waiting all his life for it to happen.... If the storytelling was better, didn't have the above 2 issues I wouldn't mind not knowing the truth on Uncle, there have been other fantasy productions that had similar unknown characters who know everything but identity unknown.
If you are just starting on this drama and feel put off by the cringe and slapstick comedy, it is only in the initial eps. Hang on until ep 4 or 5 and you would understand why this drama is worth your time. It isn't the greatest in this genre but the heart and sincerity put into the set design, story and acting, are really quite something. Hopefully its original script can make be published into a novel, would like to see the original story prior to the many edits....
What are great and very well done in Dear Diary:
1) Actual/Real sets and training
Production and cast have travelled to Morocco and Paris for the scenes set in Babylonian times and for the scenes in final ep. Crew had really construct an ancient set for the shooting, the 3 actors that belong to Babylonian times had received training and been educated on how people in those times would behave, walked, fought....
2) The dialogues
There are really good lines in this that are reflective on life and love. It somehow reminded me of Il Mare, Bloody Romance but the dialogues in this are much more superior. I have watched this raw, no idea how the Eng subs would be like? Hopefully it managed to keep the same meanings... A lot of the dialogues could be used in our real life, quite similar to The Alchemist and Little Prince (it even quoted Little Prince in a scene).
3) The story
The premise of a 12 yo's fiction story that came alive, how she had wrote the story with love then hated it due to the public humiliation she suffered when her book was accidentally discovered and read out loud in class, how the experience changed her into an anti-social 24 yo woman with OCD..... her emotions and reactions when she first met the story characters (hilarious yet sad too) and realized her story had came alive..... And the friendships!! Especially between Meiru and Zhen Zhen.
4) The casting and acting
This is one of the best casting choices made in a cdrama! Everyone fits their characters so well ❤ And the actors did their best to understand their assigned characters and portrayed them very convincingly.
5) The cinematography
If you read my comments on this page you'd know how impressed I am with this director. Although the cast are perfection, when we look at these 3 couples, they don't give any CP feels at all, they don't look matching. But this director knows the right kind of scenes, angles, etc to make viewers believe in their love. 3 pairs of people who don't look like couples become believable as lovers with his directing.
The "blemishes":
1) Somewhere around the halfway point, story developments and scenes start to feel disjointed. The scenes are awesome! But when linked together felt like there's missing parts. We see the love, the fears and grief between the 3 couples, but there ain't that many scenes that show how they reached this point, this deep love. It gives me a somewhat empty feeling at times, like there's big gaps in-between-- great scenes and dialogues but it felt over-melodramatic because of the missing interactions and developments in the beginning arc. Cast revealed the whole shooting took about 4 months, yet this is only 24 eps of 30 mins each. Hopefully Youku would release the additional scenes that were not used in drama.
2) What is the story theme? I get the feeling this story has a theme and not just "a drama", that it is trying to make a point about something. But that point that it is trying to tell, did not come across clearly enough, end up with a few points that are conveyed quite weakly. About learning to love and live, letting go of the past, learning to forgive yourself.... etc are not conveyed as strongly as it might have intended.
3) Chen Meiru's uncle.... Who is he exactly? How did he know about their stories? It felt like he had been waiting all his life for it to happen.... If the storytelling was better, didn't have the above 2 issues I wouldn't mind not knowing the truth on Uncle, there have been other fantasy productions that had similar unknown characters who know everything but identity unknown.
If you are just starting on this drama and feel put off by the cringe and slapstick comedy, it is only in the initial eps. Hang on until ep 4 or 5 and you would understand why this drama is worth your time. It isn't the greatest in this genre but the heart and sincerity put into the set design, story and acting, are really quite something. Hopefully its original script can make be published into a novel, would like to see the original story prior to the many edits....
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