JaSi

Did you watch this whole series yet? I left it after this, but maybe it’s worth watching the whole thing.

Perhaps you’re right about the make up. It make her face uniform and very flat, which in turn, highlights the fake tears. But what I’m talking about is when you don’t see the small micro shifts in expression in her eyes this very very tiny subtle gestures. When a person is upset often that is what shown first. And I just don’t see that in her acting. It is possible that she was directed this way, to be very stylized. To be very repressed.
Thanks for commenting. It’s enjoyable to have these discussions.

The good things about this series are the production values, the set designs, the costumes that are gorgeous. The story could’ve been a lot better. I don’t think it had enough depth to it and it’s predictable in many ways, without seeing anything new or any significant twists so far. I’m on episode 14 so maybe there are things to come I’ll keep watching. However, there is one thing that really is annoying and that is, Peng Xiao Ran. She is a terrible actress and the reason that she’s terrible is that her face is wooden. It does not express she is supposed to express sad sadness. Many emotions are written into the character, but she’s unable to express them. I don’t like seeing shots of people who got glycerin put in their eyes so they can cry. If I had been a producer on this, I would not have cast her. That’s really annoying. I was a film producer. I worked at ILM. I’ve seen great work. And I’ve seen really great work come out of China. So I watched this series because of Ren Jia Lun, who is a very fine actor, and indeed, there are other great actors in this series, but unfortunately, Peng, is featured so prominently that she ruins almost every single scene that she’s in.
The soundtrack is good without the soundtrack, this series would die of death. Ha ha.