I know this drama achieved good results but I kind of wish it had a higher budget and a director with a better eye for visuals. Most of the time, I find political subplots in romance dramas a chore to get through, but this wasn't the case here. The plot is very fast paced and characters all have depth.
however, when I'm watching some of the bigger set pieces, I can't help but wish this had more budget lol like when they held the wedding banquet, there were only 3 tables of guests lol or when there's parades, there's barely any guards lol the lack of budget is really apparent in these scenarios.
also the director.. jeez. he is what I'd call having a "straight man's aesthetics". His use of lens flair is annoying, but the copious amounts of ugly angles he puts the actors under is ridiculous. this is a romance drama! lol at the end of the day, we wanna see pretty people filmed with pretty cinematography. I can't help but think of dramas like A Dream of Splendor which was filmed by a female director and how gorgeous it was, and think of all the missed opportunities with this drama. sigh
you're not alone lol this drama has much better ratings in china too.
there's probably more discussion around TTEOTM because the leads are established stars whereas when LBFAD came out, the leads were nobodies. But in mainland china, LBFAD had much better critical reviews. TTEOTM had high streams but negative reactions was more than positive ones.
I just watched a compilation of Xiewei walking (lol yes) and I just realized how much I like his clothes and that ribbon on his head. I guess it helps that ZLH is over 190cm so he makes everything look like runway fashion lol
which drama is mei changsu ftom? wanna see more characters like this 😆
if you want something more romance based, Love Like the Galaxy with Leo Wu has a similar type of morally grey character seeking revenge. Goodbye My Princess ML is also kind of deranged
ZLH shares a dubbing tidbit: https://weibo.com/7051114584/4971887771782026
his dubbing has really been a pleasant surprise for me because I thought his line reading was a bit weak in MJTY but here.. boy, his voice has so much more power? and his pronunciation is very clear which is something a lot of younger actors struggle with. I think one thing he can still improve is the rhythm of his line reading because sometimes it can come off like he's reading a book but those moments are very rare.
I don't know what drama to watch after this one lol this was so intense omg I watched the preview of the new iqiyi drama airing after this and it looks a bit corny so idk
however, when I'm watching some of the bigger set pieces, I can't help but wish this had more budget lol like when they held the wedding banquet, there were only 3 tables of guests lol or when there's parades, there's barely any guards lol the lack of budget is really apparent in these scenarios.
also the director.. jeez. he is what I'd call having a "straight man's aesthetics". His use of lens flair is annoying, but the copious amounts of ugly angles he puts the actors under is ridiculous. this is a romance drama! lol at the end of the day, we wanna see pretty people filmed with pretty cinematography. I can't help but think of dramas like A Dream of Splendor which was filmed by a female director and how gorgeous it was, and think of all the missed opportunities with this drama. sigh