Reviews

Far from being a masterpiece like NIF

I like the idea of them being reincarnations of the NIF characters. If it were canon, I would say that I fell in love with Jingyan in all his lives.

Now, let's move on to the negative points. First off, addressing the elephant in the room, everyone knows that soap operas are products of the industry designed to preserve the status quo. However, the conservatism and classist maintenance in the script of this drama really got on my nerves, especially since it's a republic drama. On the surface, Ming Tai's rejection is because he doesn't like "used" things, which is already quite sexist, but that's not the real issue. The real problem is that Man Li comes from a poor and unknown background. It seems sweet that Ming Tai falls for a communist girl, but the script doesn’t pair them together for that reason. It’s because she is a middle-class girl from a family of doctors, more suitable for someone like him who grew up in the elite.
Secondly, this character shouldn’t have been played by Hu Ge. I like Hu Ge and have been following his transition to art films, but here he's pathetic. He’s tolerable in the action scenes, but whenever he needs to act like a spoiled boy, it’s cringe to watch. He visibly looks like a man in his thirties trying to portray a young adult who just left adolescence.
There’s one more thing, though I won’t consider it a flaw of the drama because it stems from my own perspective. I don’t like Ah Cheng’s relationship with the family. As a brazilian, it’s expected that I would not support paternalistic relationships. In some scenes, I felt uncomfortable for him and wouldn’t blame him if he developed a critical view of how that family truly treated him.
To clarify, as I know some people have difficulty interpreting certain opinions, my criticisms do not disregard the "realism" of the drama's context, but rather focus on the tone with which the drama addresses these points.

Read More

This drama showed me that the 'perfect' partner is the one you need.

The two main characters are from very different family dynamics.

The ML, Pennueng, is a respected heart surgeon who has had to constantly try to be the best to win his controlling father's respect and his mother plays a passive acceptance to keep the peace.

The FL, Matalada, is a free spirited graphic designer, somewhat clumsy and accident prone but with a huge heart. Her parenting came from her divorced gay father, known as Aunty Grace, he is living his life true to himself and has always paid great attention to Matalada's emotional well being.

Both main characters have their support clique and we get to see how their pairing alters their actions as each accepts the others differences. It is a lovely warm romance and despite all the family ugliness (from the doctors side) and the over the top gayness and drama (from the designers side) they remain steadfastly true to each other to overcome family prejudices.

When they are together onscreen their sweet interactions are very natural and believable. Terrific fun yet delivering a lot of truisms about the ill affects of family influencers.

Read More

A wasted opportunity.

I came into this drama thinking it was a romance with a side of comedy but I was pleasantly surprise to find a family drama.

Everyone does a really good job in the roles they were given and have great chemistry but you should know this drama leans more into the realism of how relationships actually work in a chinese family nowadays than what westerns countries are used to consume.

I found myself surprised, really, to find this kind of story of a meddling mother to the point of annoyance and a family that would actually enable her actions, until the breaking point. And then when things didn't go her way, she made everything worse. It got to the point where no matter how much I understood she was coming from a place of good, there was no justification or explanation for her.

I have been watching asian dramas for decades now and it's been a long time since I find myself watching a drama with these family dynamics, which it's a reminiscence of early 2000s kind of story and, worse, outdated.

Another weak point, it's that this drama simply didn't have enough story for 37 episodes. If this would have been a 20 something episode long drama, focused more on leading lady's work life, it would have been far more interesting.

Read More

This amazing fantasy drama was very surprising, constantly!

Not the usual genre that I would choose, however, I am glad I did.

The characters are well written and acted. My favourites were; Zhang Chu Lan who often looks nonchalant whilst tackling his fears, (listen to his words some of his insights are text book psychology and have huge impact on others), Feng Bao Bao her fierce martial art skills and the duality of innocence are wonderfully captured, Wang Ye maintains his aloof monkness but is shaken by visions of a hurtling train full of dead people and Zhan Chu Lan about to approach a catastrophic danger. his role is to try to influence Zhan Chu Lan to give up his quest for past answers.

There is a lot packed into each episode and yet is never felt rushed. The story line is sometimes hard to follow because so much is being revealed but I also like that we as the audience are not underestimated.

Sufficient detail is given to each characters super chi powers and the choreography, cgi and sfx were great.

At the heart I enjoyed this youthful drama because of the friendship and kindness shown amongst the badass action.

Read More

All was good until the end

A series/movie story concept that centers around sex can go very wrong, really quickly. Thankfully this was not the case with this series. This had a great storyline with very good execution. Overall, the script was very good. It does have some weak elements, but not enough to distracted me from enjoying the series. It had a mixture of many different elements that I usually don’t like, but it all somehow worked in this series. I also thought they made a smart move to start with a very hilarious tone and gradually move towards more serious social tones about sex. However, I will admit the ending of the last episode was a big letdown. The entire cast was outstanding and did such a great job with their characters. It also had beautiful cinematography, well done editing, and great music.

Random Notes:

Do not watch this if you are offended by nudity and cheating partners.

The ending of the last episode was a little disappointed because it left a few loose ends. They possible did this to keep the door open for a second season.

As I stated before, I love watching moves/series that are set in a different generation.

Read More

There are "criminals".... And Then.... There are "Criminals".... Which is Which? Who is Who?

This is one of the most twisted, mysterious, curious, imaginative, and dramatic story's I have watched in a long time! I had to take a break between the last 4 episodes because the show was intense and my mind needed a break! Such a curious storyline, with tiny bits of familiarity, paired with a fantastic cast created an extraordinary show!


In this cast were a few familiars, a few unknowns, but no actors or characters that I didn't like. With the main cast being Takahashi Issei (who and why I originally began watching this show) and Shibasaki Ko, there weren't a lot of ways to go wrong in the first place. But when you add in the supporting cast of Kiritani Kenta, Itagaki Rihito, Arioka Daiki, Hotta Akane, Nagayama Kento, and so many more... The cast alone truly created an incredible show!


Watching all of their hard work during each episode, from fighting to solving puzzles and learning to think on their feet while also working as a team, was fascinating. I don't believe I've seen a main cast, supporting cast, and guest cast come together and work so well together quite as quickly and (for lack of a better word) perfectly as these wonderful actors have.


This story had it all, really! Romance, comedy, action, dramatics, mystery, a little gore tossed in, as well. It all moved together slowly, like the building of a tornado; gathering all of the main suspects together, spreading out to different areas to build the story, then crashing to Earth with a vegenance of an epic finale. While I have read other comments on a couple of different sites that say its boring or predictable or not what the viewer imagined, I want to say: PLEASE IGNORE THEM! PLEASE WATCH AND FORM YOUR OWN OPINION!

This show will really get you thinking. What is real? What is the truth? Can I believe them? Can I believe her/him? Is this real? I think a really good show or art or book or play or even a song can become something that will teach or help someone to find something new, begin again, create something themselves, answer questions, stir the imagination, and much more. And I believe that this show is an incredible, captivating story! Be it the cast, the script, the adventure, the talent, the action.... There truly is something in this show for everyone to enjoy!

Read More

"Better to be broken jade than cheap tile intact"

This forty-one minute film fragment managed to fit in lots of Greedy Neighbors. This was one of director Ren Peng Nian’s early films which also starred his wife, Wu Li Zhu. Originally, the film was around 100 hundred minutes, but enough frames survived to get the gist of the story.

Hua Ren inherited his considerable wealth which includes prosperous farmlands. His wife, Guo Fen, is the daughter of a famous fighter, which will come into play later in the movie. She and his sister Si Wen try to keep things running smoothly as Hua tends to spend money frivolously. The local warlord, Wild Dog, decides it’s time to bully his neighbor into giving him his farmlands. Another scoundrel, Smiling Tiger, also has his sights set on fleecing the wealthy fool. Smiling Tiger convinces Hua Ren to take his sister, Zhi Hua, as his second wife. Zhi Hua quickly mesmerizes Hua Ren and drives a wedge between him and his sensible first wife and sister. Having fallen into the clutches of Wild Dog and Smiling Tiger, the clueless Hua Ren is in for some challenging times.

Hua Ren was not a sympathetic character. I was far more invested in Guo Fen and Si Wen, who coincidentally, were excellent martial artists and protected their own. Perhaps in the longer version of this film they had more time allotted, they certainly deserved it. I’m not sure if Zhi Hua and Smiling Tiger were actually related or if she was a plant because they had a very, uh, tactile relationship.

Once Hua Ren was about to lose everything, his sister and male servant helped to turn things around and galvanize him into action. “Today’s world is run by might…Better to be a broken jade than cheap tile intact.” The events that followed in the last part of the film were confusing as Wild Dog had to be confronted twice with no explanation. Given the mood of the film, it did seem to have a proper ending which is always a concern with film fragments.

If you have an interest in silent films from this era, Greedy Neighbors did give a little insight into the political happenings of the time and the vulnerability of the people. Ren Peng Nian and Wu Li Zhu would go on to make numerous martial arts and wuxia films together, with Wu often cast as a heroine. I’d be interested in seeing some of those. This film was a struggle watching the pampered and easily manipulated Hua Ren letting the important people in his life suffer while he partied. He was lucky enough to have two strong women who had his back or at least tried to. More than he probably deserved.

14 June 2024

Read More