My Week in Dramas and Films 22 Aug 2023

Lost You Forever, Talk To Me, Miraculous Brothers, The Ingenious One

In a year where C dramas are a very mixed bag of good, bad and indifferent, I discovered Lost You Forever. As a rule I don’t go seeking out C fantasy shows but I was relieved to find out that this one avoided all the things I find trite in xian xia. It belongs in another category of its own known as xuan huan. It’s more grounded and combines gods, monsters, magic with a touch of sci-fi. My story is that I wasn’t that keen to begin with after seeing the words “deity” and “demons” in the synopses but I started asking questions. The biggest selling point was Tan Jianci. Remember him? The lead of Under the Skin? The police sketch artist who uses his unique perspective as an artist to help solve crimes. Yeah. Him. I was told on good authority that he is “amazing” in this. And so… he is indeed. Unequivocally. He brings an ethereal quality to the role — a vampire-type in the skin of a Tolkien elf. He plays a nine-headed serpent demon, Xiang Liu who falls for the female lead Xiao Yao played by Yang Zi. And I’ve never been more eager to see an antagonist-sometimes-ally turn into a romantic lead. Sadly it’s a lost cause because I know who and who are the endgame in this reverse harem thanks to the myriad of spoilers around the web. Tan Jianci is what I came for and Xiang Liu is largely the reason I click on “Next Episode” with no hesitation.

The show, as I’ve said elsewhere, is a completely different beast when he’s not in it much. I find myself apathetic to the doings of other characters even though I was eager for Xiao Yao to reveal herself to long lost cousin Cang Xuan. She’s being wooed by a nine-tailed fox deity Shiqi aka Tushan Jing who is a cute puppy undoubtedly but very one-note. Of all the male characters I find him the least realistic. I’m indifferent to his dynamic with Xiao Yao not because he’s one-note but because he comes across as an odd fanfiction insert by a 21st century mind writing supposedly serious historical fiction. Despite the fantasy romance tag, this is a grounded show with genuine tribal politics and possibly even geopolitical stakes.

Perhaps as some have said that cross-dressing Xiao Yao would be better off without those three men complicating her life. Superficially maybe. But Xiao Yao herself is drawn to danger like a moth to a flame. It was she who trespassed into Xiang Liu’s domain. It was she who voluntarily went looking for the wounded Shiqi and rescued him from the brink of death. Sensing his potential she takes him on as an assistant. It was she who started picking fights with Cang Xuan’s godsister A’Nian in retaliation for her nasty treatment of her adopted family. From where I’m looking, Xiao Yao, despite all her protestations and all her claims to the contrary is compelled by strongly held principles to be in the thick of things. It isn’t hard to make the argument that she makes things far more complicated for herself when she doesn’t need to. It certainly all comes from a good place. It definitely explains why she chose to be a physician.

It’s also why she’s drawn to the dangerous Xiang Liu on some level. Curiosity, unpredictability and even pity. And of course he’s mistrustful of her at the start because he’s not wrong in thinking she’s concealing vital pieces of information and acting suspiciously. Surprisingly he’s a demon with responsibilities and principles even though those who serve under him are contemptuous of who he is and what he represents. To me those two convey the classic bickering couple trope. It’s Bad First Impressions 101. They banter wittily. They challenge each other. They go deep. It’s Pride and Prejudice with a bit of blood sucking. All this feels like it should lead to something but the few episodes after 12 don’t give me any reason to hope. Yang Zi’s excellent here. The best I’ve seen her in anything. Yet her interactions with Tan Jianci are just magical. Perhaps it’s the silver hair and the manga-like angles. Or the sexy vampire air. In another story, Xiang Liu could be a villain but here he is a creature of flesh, vulnerability and alienation. His role in the narrative spices things up. He complicates things for the opposing sides. For Xiao Yao too. But love complicates things for him. It makes him want things that are very inconvenient for a demon in his position.

Speaking of things supernatural, my oldest and I went to see sleeper hit Talk to Me, an Aussie independent film made by a couple of YouTube brothers. It definitely positions itself as a horror entry and overall it’s a solid production. I was struck by the fact that a decent movie can be made these days with so little money. It wasn’t all that scary (one feels more revulsion than fear) but the show’s strength lies in its messaging rather than in its originality. It is definitely a cautionary tale for a younger audience sounding the alarm that some lines should never be crossed. In its 90 minute run time there are many themes at play here — addiction, mental health and dealing with grief. It all begins when a group of teenagers gather at something akin to a seance with an embalmed hand. Their curiosity gets the better of them and they go too far… eventually resulting in tragedy. The luminescent Miranda Otto has a minor role playing a single mother of two teenagers who become embroiled in dark spiritual forces with their depressed friend. As they look for answers it’s hard to know what’s real and what isn’t. The primary character is Mia who lost her mother two years earlier and is struggling to move on. Her experiences with entities from the “other side” give her brief moments of respite. Soon it takes her down an unseemly rabbit hole which parallels the deterioration of her mental state.

Overall it’s a decent debut directorial effort.

Miraculous Brothers finished up rather neatly last week. Overall it was a worthwhile investment of time. Although it probably could have been trimmed slightly, the plotting was definitely king. There’s a fair bit of head hopping which is something of a double-edged sword in this case. There are a lot of characters to contend with and we’re meant to invest in all of them. The writer is adamant that just about every perspective has to be explored. That ends up slowing the story down and it covers key revelations from various angles but it’s a crucial element of the show’s themes. A 27-year-old mystery isn’t just about putting together pieces of the puzzle. With a K drama it’s almost always about a miscarriage of justice and other important social issues like religious cults, the exploitation of orphans by civic leaders, corrupt politicians. By virtue of its approach alone, it does better than the much more popular Blind from last year. It relies far less on red-herrings than on different parties clinging on to different pieces of the puzzle. Furthermore the main male leads with all their flaws and baggage are more likeable and more intelligent than the ones in Blind. The celebration of brotherhood which is the main driving force here is also much better written than its predecessor.

Great performances all round as one might expect with a cast of veterans. Bae Hyung-sung really impressed me in the second half of the drama when he’s called upon to do a lot more emoting.

A couple of weeks ago I finished The Ingenious One. It’s a curious thing because I’m no fan of Chen Xiao but for some reason I like him in this wuxia story with a big brain protagonist that has barely any martial arts ability. He’s not really the most nuanced of actors but he does exude a certain amount of roguish charm that fits the bill here. Although I enjoyed this slow burn exercise in revenge, I can see how the drama wasn’t a huge hit with international audiences despite having a strong romance component. The romances though likeable probably have a hand in putting the brakes on this show. And often in the wrong places. Still it boasts a cast of diverse and engaging characters who don’t necessarily fit the traditional wuxia tropes. There’s still a hero’s journey in progress but Yun Xiang is more of an antihero trickster than a wet-behind-the-ears accidental hero. A definite highlight in this story is the world building which is probably the best I’ve seen this year. The various sects and how they interweave into the Bad Guy plot is to my mind quite well done.

Unfortunately the plot meanders quite a bit (sometimes needlessly) so it’s really the character motivations that keep this interesting. There are no black and white characters here. Everyone seems to have an agenda while they baldly accuse others of having agendas. Indeed Yun Xiang is capable of much deception, manipulation and cunning but he’s not the only one. Rachel Mao’s character Yanan, a skilled fighter also has a secret or two of her own. Secrets that could potentially tear them apart because they do like each other a lot.

Unfortunately C dramas have yet to consistently come to grips with the art of writing for television. Like much of what the industry churns out, it could do with more than a bit of trimming. Exposition dumps in particular is just one area that I could do with less of.

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