I thought that I would write up a little something on this series since it's
going to be released very soon. Most international audiences should be
able to view this on iQiyi.
This series boasts a strong cast with award winning and/or well regarded
actors like Tong Yao, Hai Qing, Zhang Songwen and Feng Shaofeng. The
director Teng Huatao is also an experienced award winning director who also
helmed two older series that I found quite interesting. I'm hopeful that this will be a quality series about women, life and family in our current world.
I suspect that most international audiences and perhaps a sizeable
proportion of younger Mainland Chinese audiences have not watched either of
these earlier Teng Huatao series that I liked.. 蝸居 Dwelling Narrowness and 双面胶
Double Sided Adhesive Tape are quite interesting with
thought-provoking central conflicts. While not flawless, they were
absorbing watches. While not easily likeable and, maybe not even
likeable for some people, those of us who enjoy characters that are complex
and well explained will enjoy these two series. Teng Huatao seems to
be more than capable of telling engrossing stories where women are the
central characters because at the center of these two series were several
strong and well written women characters. This bodes well for
Life is a Long Quiet River (henceforth abbreviated as
LLQR) because this tale's two protagonists are two women.
Interestingly, Hai Qing was one of the leading actors in both these series
and has actually worked quite successfully with Teng Huatao a number of
times. This makes Dwelling Narrowness feel like it might be a
companion piece of LLQR because not only is the director and one of
the main actors in both series, both series also deal with buying houses and
the conflict that arise from that.
The story is set in Shanghai and the family at the center of the conflict
about the buying and selling of houses in LLQR is the Gu
family. According to the summary of the novel (click me), the matriarch of the Gu family had given birth to three children and
each of them have their own little families and issues. The story's
two protagonists are a pair of sister-in-laws who are part of the Matriarch
Gu's second son's family.
Tong Yao plays Gu Qingyu, who is one of the protagonists. She is one
half of a pair of twins born to Matriarch Gu's second son. Gu Qingyu
is a very capable person and works as an executive in a multinational
company. She's beautiful and financially stable. It's also
precisely because she's financially stable that whenever the family faces
financial difficulties, she's the one who has to bail them out. She's
not only financially independent, she also has an independent mind.
Hai Qing plays Feng Xiaoqin who is the other protagonist. She is
married to Gu Qingyu's younger twin brother, Gu Lei. The couple have a
son together. Gu Lei isn't as capable as his older sister Gu Qingyu
and isn't as financially strong. But his wife wants a house to call
their own and applies pressure on him because of that. Feng Xiaoqin
and Gu Qingyu will also fight about this house.
Although Feng Xiaoqin has been married to Gu Lei for 10 years, Gu Qingyu
still treats her with some suspicion and views her as a foreign usurper. After Gu Lei's accidental death,
the relationship between the sister-in-laws will deteriorate. The story of the this pair of very different sister-in-laws and their growth will form the central core of this
series.
Life is a Long Quiet River is based on a novel 心居 by award
winning novelist Teng Xiaolan (滕肖澜). The novel was first published
in October 2020 so it's a pretty recent novel. In an interview with the
author (click me), she said that the main the novel is not about physical houses but about
the heart. Her novel is about the people who work hard and struggle for what they want before managing to find their "spiritual home".
She hopes that after people have finished reading the novel, that they can
appreciate that life isn't easy and that they should cherish the present.
She hopes that people will come to understand that even in the face of
adversity, we always have hope.
The production team for LLQR have released two nicely edited trailers to date. One was released in Oct of 2021 and the second was released in Mar of this year. I've linked both below; hopefully they won't get removed. I quite like both trailers. The first one just teased us with what appears to be a portrait of a happy family but the music isn't quite happy and jolly. Instead it's urgent and seems to be building towards something and suggests an undercurrent. The second trailer reveals what that undercurrent is and the fissures in what initially appeared to be a perfect family portrait.
This is a quality cast and just from these short trailers alone, in particular the second one, I can already feel the sparks fly between Tong Yao and Hai Qing. Hai Qing seems like she has the more easily likeable or sympathetic role. Although, she does have shades of her character from Dwelling Narrowness. If Feng Xiaoqin has some resemblance to that character, it might mean that she may have a side that is more intransigent. I'm more interested in Tong Yao's Gu Qingyu, especially from the trailer though. She seems like a multifaceted character who can be too force, and a little unreasonable but she can also be a romantic who's also loyal, protective and occasionally girlish.
Fingers crossed that this will be a good drama. Looking forward to its release later this month.
Amend 3rd March 2022 - added support cast photos
Sun Anke (Feng Qianqian aka Feng Xiaoqin's sister) I have fond memories of Sun Anke from her role as Yang Buhui in Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre 2019.
Dong Qing (Ge Yue)
Jie Bing
Lu Siyu
Zhang Zhihu
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