Love in the Kitchen (2020)

Romance on the Rocks

An attempt at a natural progression in romance that didn’t work. The story didn’t make any sense and it had no depth. You do get the impression that the “Master” has feelings for his servant. He courts her by bullying and harassing her for the first 30 minutes of the show. I’m sure this will convince her of his sincerity. Finally, he drives her out of the house. You would think that would be enough for him. Not this guy, he goes out and finds her and bullies her some more. Grabbing her and taking her into her bedroom. He won't leave and ends up sleeping in her bed while she sleeps on the floor. All against her wishes. Then he insults her by saying she jumped into bed with him. We are now one hour into the show and this guy hasn’t changed. He even takes her money. Unbelievably I think she's still drawn to him.

After a little drama in the house is settled they get drunk together and fall asleep during a snowfall, all snuggled together. Where did this come from? There was no workup or prelude to the romance of any kind. They’ve never verbally expressed any feelings. He’s hasn't said a nice word to her. She wakes up back at his house and all is roses. They are now in a committed relationship. He’s talking marriage and hasn’t even said he likes her. Maybe that's how they did things back in those days, but I doubt it.

I’m not blaming the actors I thought they were decent. The story was terrible. It felt like a Covid movie. Since it was done in 2020, it probably was. Most of the scenes had very few actors. In some scenes, they were even socially distanced from each other.

The subtitles were good and the music was great.

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Poorly written story full of work-place harassment

If your idea of a good relationship is one in which there is constant bullying going on, this is the show for you. She works in the kitchen for a prominent family. The young "master" supposedly has feeling for her, but there is no way that you could tell by the way he acts. He was constantly grabbing her, shoving her around and basically his behavior was one long tantrum. In addition, he had no regard for her personal space (which if you felt like he liked her, you might be able to put up with, but since I didn't get that he liked her, I was bothered by this.) In a fit of anger he kicks her out of the house, but then tracks her down to bully her some more. I realize that during the time frame depicted and because of her station in life, she didn't have many options, but the idea of her spending her life with a bully just put me off. I hate the "getting drunk so we don't have to explain our actions" trope and that was used here as well. All of a sudden, in the sober light of day, all is forgiven and she's back in the family manner, Marriage is mentioned but never does he express feelings of love for her.
ACTING/DUBBING: I didn't feel that the actors were very good, but they certainly didn't have much to work with either! They seemed to feel that emotions were supposed to be shown through long stares and big eyes. Add to that the terrible job of dubbing - in addition to the shrill, whiny voices you get treated to the sounds of them eating, chewing and swallowing, like that was an important part of the story.
CHEMISTRY - there were a couple of places where the male lead's eyes warmed up a little, but I was unable to forgive his treatment of her the rest of the time.

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Terrible, disjointed script and direction makes for a cringy watch

I am always amazed at what gets greenlit into a film or TV show and "Love in the Kitchen" makes for an excellent (or rather, terrible) example of why.

A behind-the-scenes reel in the closing credits shows the sizable production team that made this Republican-era romance possible. The visuals are actually quite nice overall, and is only marred by an awkward, fake montage of changing seasons that ends with our main couple lying jarringly on astro-turf (you can even see where one turf section ends and another begins) surrounded by unnaturally arranged fake flowers, as fake snow drifts over them.

I can forgive low-budget (how many of us love The Untamed, despite that opening scene?), because a strong script can help make up for all sorts of deficiencies. Sadly, the script is a poorly-written, disjointed mess -- the romance development is weak and unconvincing, with no character development or arc. We constantly see the ML manhandle and bully the FL, like a grade-school boy trying to get the attention of his crush by being mean and rude. We rarely see him showing kindness in real-time -- this is only shown through a series of flashback vignettes -- making the FL's feelings toward him rather confounding. Xie Binbin's natural likability is what saves his churlish character from being complete unappealing.

The direction, packed with all the cheesiest drama cliches you can think of (the slow-mo sequences, stumbling into each other's arms, tripping into bed, repeated shots from different angles culminating into the "big kiss" (it was not)) made for such an uncomfortable watch, I almost dropped it after 5 minutes. I kept it on "in the background" and things did improve marginally from there, but again, the mind boggles at how this was ever produced and released.

In the end, most of my vicarious embarrassment was for the actors who starred in this film, especially Xie Binbin, whom I quite like. I hope they all had fun at least!

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Has potential...

It's good but kind of bland. It's for sure missing some plot and is rushed, but the romance is there. It for sure has potential. If they were to make this into a series I'm sure there would be more plot and could go more into depth with the characters. Some people hate it, but I don't understand where the hate comes from. It's just missing some plot. Don't expect this to be the most amazing movie you've ever seen, but it's not horrible either. I'd recommend this if you don't have anything to watch. It's a good filler movie.
Some people are put off by the ML being mean to the FL in the beginning, but I think they're a little dramatic. It's not thattt bad. I swear there was only like one scene where the ML was mean to her. And that scene is one of the only dramatic things that happen in this movie. The rest of his interactions with her is defintiely not what I call "bullying." If a guy likes a girl, what does he do? Oh ya.. tease her... I don't know, watch and find out for yourself. The ML is not as bad as some people make him out to be.

Overall, if you don't mind a movie with little plot and you want a cute short little romance to pass the time by with little drama, plus a happy ending, this is for you.

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BOF BOF BOF, pas un chef d'oeuvre...

Dans ce film, romantico-culinaire, situé à Shanghai dans les années 1920-1930, ils ont utilisé tous les clichés des dramas :
- ML riche et arrogant,
- FL "don du ciel" mais cuisinière talentueuse,
- famille avide qui fait des tricks pour avoir la fortune,
- bataille d'alcool
etc.

Les acteurs font de leur mieux, mais c'est difficile de rendre crédible une histoire où tout est artificiel et plaqué.
La représentation de l'ivresse, de l'imaginaire, est étrange plutôt mal ficelée. Les décors font très artificiels.

Vous pouvez éviter de regarder de ce film, vous ne raterez pas un masterpiece.

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