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I watched it so you don't have to
My review is basically an essay so the TLDR is: low-quality production with nothing to make up for it
I've numbered the paragraphs for my review if you want to just skip to the topic you're interested in.
1. general remarks; 2. plot; 3. cinematography; 4. music; 5. miscellaneous; 6. main actors; 7. bromance.
1. This series (or short film? only 2 episodes) is thoroughly unremarkable and forgettable. The quality is reminiscent of old-school kdramas, with the cliché plots, cheap cinematography, sub-par music etc. - and yet this a 2021 production, and doesn’t have the ‘makjang’ element which at least makes old-school kdramas fun to watch.
2. The plot was completely predictable, as the student at the bottom of the class becomes close to the number one student who is also (of course) a social recluse. And disappointingly, nothing new or innovative was done with this shitty cliché that abounds in hetero high school cdramas, beyond the obvious of transposing it to a bromance story.
3. The cinematography was bad to the point of being jarring, with inappropriate use of slow motion, the hand-held camera often jolting too much etc. The camerawork consequently detracted from the story-telling, rather than enriching it. A real sign of the amateur filming was also revealed by the way the camera framed Chen Zihao and Yang Yuhang with sunlight streaming over them on multiple occasions (sorry, hard to describe). You see this done a lot in Asian dramas to create a romantic/tranquil atmosphere, but the fact that it was done multiple times shows the real dearth of creativity in this production. I suppose at least some pretty scenery was utilised throughout (the forest was beautiful).
4. The music was often jarring and inappropriate, usually drawing attention to itself rather than heightening the atmosphere in any given scene. The tacky piano smashing sound effect is the best example of this. Sidenote - if you don't get what I mean, check out Bad Buddy (Ep. 5, part 4) to see a great example of music heightening the atmosphere.
5. There are various other small signs of the low-effort/low-quality production. For example, when the word ‘OUT’ pops up on the screen and looks like it’s straight out of some 2010 WordArt. Or the shitty acting from supporting actors, which is more often than not a sign of weak directing eg. when all of the students are completely silent while packing up after their class has ended. That's completely unnatural; the director should've told the actors to chat a bit.
6. The main actors aren’t even that good, but are the best part of this series (tells you how good it is…). The guy playing Chen Zihao is charismatic, charming and likeable. The guy playing Yang Yuhang is somewhat cute, charming, and likeable, though possesses basically no charisma. I think the actors also have decent chemistry. This series would’ve been unwatchable had the actors been worse.
7. And the worst bit of all is that I watched this to the end because I thought it was going to be explicitly LGBT, and I want to support explicitly LGBT Chinese content. But it turned out to be just another one of these Chinese bromance productions to get by the censors - FFS! No kiss, no declarations, nothing. A true waste of time.
I've numbered the paragraphs for my review if you want to just skip to the topic you're interested in.
1. general remarks; 2. plot; 3. cinematography; 4. music; 5. miscellaneous; 6. main actors; 7. bromance.
1. This series (or short film? only 2 episodes) is thoroughly unremarkable and forgettable. The quality is reminiscent of old-school kdramas, with the cliché plots, cheap cinematography, sub-par music etc. - and yet this a 2021 production, and doesn’t have the ‘makjang’ element which at least makes old-school kdramas fun to watch.
2. The plot was completely predictable, as the student at the bottom of the class becomes close to the number one student who is also (of course) a social recluse. And disappointingly, nothing new or innovative was done with this shitty cliché that abounds in hetero high school cdramas, beyond the obvious of transposing it to a bromance story.
3. The cinematography was bad to the point of being jarring, with inappropriate use of slow motion, the hand-held camera often jolting too much etc. The camerawork consequently detracted from the story-telling, rather than enriching it. A real sign of the amateur filming was also revealed by the way the camera framed Chen Zihao and Yang Yuhang with sunlight streaming over them on multiple occasions (sorry, hard to describe). You see this done a lot in Asian dramas to create a romantic/tranquil atmosphere, but the fact that it was done multiple times shows the real dearth of creativity in this production. I suppose at least some pretty scenery was utilised throughout (the forest was beautiful).
4. The music was often jarring and inappropriate, usually drawing attention to itself rather than heightening the atmosphere in any given scene. The tacky piano smashing sound effect is the best example of this. Sidenote - if you don't get what I mean, check out Bad Buddy (Ep. 5, part 4) to see a great example of music heightening the atmosphere.
5. There are various other small signs of the low-effort/low-quality production. For example, when the word ‘OUT’ pops up on the screen and looks like it’s straight out of some 2010 WordArt. Or the shitty acting from supporting actors, which is more often than not a sign of weak directing eg. when all of the students are completely silent while packing up after their class has ended. That's completely unnatural; the director should've told the actors to chat a bit.
6. The main actors aren’t even that good, but are the best part of this series (tells you how good it is…). The guy playing Chen Zihao is charismatic, charming and likeable. The guy playing Yang Yuhang is somewhat cute, charming, and likeable, though possesses basically no charisma. I think the actors also have decent chemistry. This series would’ve been unwatchable had the actors been worse.
7. And the worst bit of all is that I watched this to the end because I thought it was going to be explicitly LGBT, and I want to support explicitly LGBT Chinese content. But it turned out to be just another one of these Chinese bromance productions to get by the censors - FFS! No kiss, no declarations, nothing. A true waste of time.
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