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Qu you feng de di fang (2023)
A warm blanket in a cold relentless world.
Xu Hong Dou is career orientated, she is front desk manager at a 5 star Beijing Hotel who has not had a holiday for 3 years because she wants advancement. She is devoted to her job has no relationship, answers her phone at all hours to deal with problems and shares a flat with her college friend who also works in the tourist industry and spends a lot of time travelling. A tragic event in the first episode jolts her out of her mindset and she realises she has nothing more to give so quits her job and honours a promise to travel to Yunnan province for a holiday.
She ends up in a farmstead with several other quirky characters who are also lost and healing and she forms an immediate support group helping each other through tough periods and forming lifelong friendships.
Hong Dou relaxes onto the slower pace, and begins to realise what is important in life, not advancement and strict routine but friendships, relations and enjoying the moment.
Xie Zhi Yao has returned to the vilage after graduating and quiting a job in Bejing in finance, he hates to see his childhood friends struggling and having to leave the village for a better life in the city so has suported several ventures. Internet store, tourist attractions and craft workshops to make the village a desirable destination and build employment.
However the main character here is the environment, shot in a beautiful rustic setting, the side characters are all engaging. The internet web novelist struggling for inspiration, the rich girl who is hiding a secret, the musician living in fear of his father or the tea guru spending his days practising Yoga. And thats just the farmstead. The grannies with their traditional head dresses and the village kids make this the drama you need to watch if you need to chill out, wind down and relax.
Zhi fou zhi fou ying shi lü fei hong shou (2018)
Give Minglan time to reap a fantastic reward!
Where to start with Minglan. I get why some people find it difficult to watch, it is a complex story with many layers and sub plots which can take 20+ episodes to resolve, there is a massive cast of characters and if you have no understanding of how the marriage/concubine system worked then it can seem overwhelming trying to understand which siblings belong to which mother.
But
It is a compelling story of the daughter of an unloved concubine who dies in childbirth, leaving Minglan alone at a young age in a toxic household of competing wives and siblings overseen by a husband who is indifferent, mediocre and only concerned with social standing.
Luckily Minglan is taken under the wing of her grandmother who has powerful links to the palace, Minglan soon learns to survive by hiding her many talents and keeping her head down, out of sight out of mind could be her motto, but although quiet she is fiercely loyal to her family. Her mother's death is one of the most harrowing scenes I have ever seen (the actress playing the young Minglan needs special praise) but her relationship with her grandmother is one of the most heartwarming. They are inseparable.
I want to keep this review short but it's hard to convey just how fantastic this peice is in a few short words. Minglan is quiet and reserved, a loyal friend, and just wants a quiet life but when provoked to protect herself or her loved ones her response is brilliant, brutal and deserved. She uses her hidden intelligence to manipulate her antagonists greed to destroy themselves. She out plots the most seasoned plotters and gets dragged into deadly political intreague after marrying a man who she knew from childhood, who is even more calculating than herself, much to her shock.
I can't recomend Minglan highly enough, if you are looking for something light then this is not it but if you want to enjoy a complex story with time invested in backstories, with a great cast, amazing cinamatography and which is going to reward the effort in spades then give Minglan 20 episodes and be rewarded by a truly outstanding drama.
Yan Yun Tai (2020)
Sweeping historical Drama set in the Laio dynasty
This drama focuses on 3 daughters of a prime minister under an emperor who is cruel and ruthless, the oldest daughter, Hunyan has been the surrogate mother to the other 2 daughters after their mother died. 2nd daughter is Wungili who is flighty and fantasies about marrying all the time. The 3rd daughter is Yanyan who is the main character, a willfull and self confident young woman played by Tiffany Tang who might just be the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. The 3 sisters become embroiled in the power struggles of the country and get drawn into marriages which destroy their their own relationship. This is a story of arranged marriages and dangerous intrigues which results in the sisters being dragged into rival factions and being used to gain power. Yanyan meets her soul mate in Han Derang but they seem destined to be thwarted by the trials and political infighting. This is a high quality production with fantastic cinematography, costume and set design which gives a great insight into the early period of Chinese history between 950 and 1,000 AD.
Jing xin si yu (2021)
Feel good story we all need.
I believe this is what is know as a Harem drama, and is the first I have watched. It centers on a low born woman being married into a prestigious family as the 'first wife' in a household which includes several concubines but she is fantastically skilled in embroidery which she wants to persue as a career but means she is the only women on the house who does not want to be there. Cast into this toxic atmosphere she finds herself threatened by scheming concubines determined to undermine her position, a position she does not want!
As she overcomes these obstacles her cold and distant husband comes to recognise her talents and just what a nice person she is and so starts the slow burning romance.
I have to mention the cinematography which at times is jaw dropping. A simple story of good against evil and good triumphing eventually told in an entertaining and engaging way which is carried by the two leads who give fantastic performances.
Detective Anna II (2020)
Well that was a shock!
I was expecting the 2nd series to be as long as the first but it is only 25 episodes. 2nd series picks up several years after the cliff hanger of the first series. Anna has been studying medicine in Paris but returned home early to work in the local clinic with the doctor from the first series. There is a suggestion of a failed romance. She is a much more confident and emotionaly developed than in the first series, a very modern woman when Stolman appears back in town as mysteriously as when he left. The on-off relationship begins again but Anna is more mature now and is able to play Stoleman at his own game. There are developments within Anna's family which is a nice diversion and develops her mother's character which I found entertaining. Just when you think situation between them is resolved a character drops a bombshell which surley means a third series is a must.
Edit
There is more! 2nd series is, in fact, 40 episodes, when I wrote my review only 25 had been released. Lots more plot twists and shocks. Looking forward to series 3 if it goes ahead.
Manhattan (2014)
Good first series seriously let down by 2nd series
Good idea of exploring the Manhattan project particularly the scientists racing to build the Atomic bombs. You know that they will have to stretch the truth to build the tension, and in the first series this was not too over board and made for good viewing.
However the 2nd series just threw any pretence at accuracy out and started making history up.
2 examples in a litany of errors, the scientists were told they were racing against Germany to build a bomb, no problem with that but then one of the lead characters starts calling the German bomb 'WAMD'! That's just lazy.
Then later on when the Germans are defeated, the British scientists start packing up, and the leader of the British group announces to his colleague 'Now the German are beaten, we are not needed, we have no beef with the Japanese'
I know the Americans carried much of the fighting in the pacific but come on. The British had been fighting Japan in south east asia throughout the war, mainly jungle warfare trying to stop them invading India, but after the defeat of Germany, we sent a task force to support the Americans who were very impressed at British aircraft carriers armoured flight decks which gave some protection to Kamikaze attacks. A British Battleship, the Duke of York was present at the surrender ceremonies in Tokyo Bay, and caused some amusement to the American Admiral when, by tradition. it flew 3 massive battle ensigns, causing the Admiral to signal the British capitan whether it was his intention to steam into Tokyo bay or sail in.
It's as if the writers in the 2nd series god bored and decided to see what they could get away with...which was a lot!
Istrebiteli (2013)
Enjoyable WW2 Serial
Ok let's get the bad out the way first, Subtitles are way too fast making them difficult to read but that doesn't mean you can't follow what's going on, the female pilots are way to glamourous and the male pilots are far too photogenic. It's not a big budget production, but they do well depicting the air battles using the Sturmovik computer game which 'Air Crash investigation' has already done successfully.
But they make a good fist of it, most of the story is about the Pilots and groundcrew's interaction, blundering political intrigue, love interests and the sudden loss of colleagues.
I have been binge watching during the lockdown and the Attackers have been a pleasant distraction, yes it's a bit far fetched but it give good indication of the trials of the Russian air force in WW2 which had male and female pilots serving together.
It's not going to challenge you but you will care about the characters, their losses and their victories whilst it gives a different view of WW2 from the Russian angle.
Currnetly watching the 2nd series 'Attackers the last battle' which only has a few of the first cast in, but the women are even more glamourous and the political intregue more vicious!
The Shack (2017)
Hamfisted
Watched the Shack on a recommendation, I didn't realise it was a religious Movie. For a start I get really confused these days with the fashion for men to have beards, Took me 15 minutes to work out that the main character was not his father with the beard (who beat him as a child) and that his mate with the beard was a friend and not the main character who both had beards.
Synopsis is that the already damaged Mackenzie goes away camping with his 3 kids for the weekend whilst mother goes to a conference. These are a religious family (Very strange for someone watching from the UK) and he makes friends with another family, who's father has a beard and who may have been his friend from back home, but I never worked that one out.
During a boating accident involving his 2 eldest children, his youngest daughter disappears and is never found. Mackenzie is thrown ever further into despair and the family begin to disintegrate, when he receives a mysterious invitation to the shack which was involved in his daughters disappearance..
Cue a ham fisted depiction of the Mackenzie meeting God in all three of his Guises (Father, Son and holy spirit with some twists) and achieving redemption, all done with the subtleness of a sledgehammer.
Unless you are into religion, there is nothing of worth in this film, it is clunky, formulaic and way way too long.