Life Is A Long Quiet River #心居 - trailer, synopsis, preview

#LifeIsALongQuietRiver #心居 #TongYao #童瑶 #HaiQing #海清 #ZhangSongwen #张颂文 #FengShaofeng #冯绍峰 

(For capsule reviews and links to other reviews of Tong Yao's work, please CLICK ME)

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.

Additional Comments 1 ~ The Rebel (叛逆者) 2021

#TheRebel #叛逆者 #ZhuYilong #朱一龙 #TongYao #童瑶 

USE OF MISE-EN-SCENE AND NARRATIVE ELEMENTS TO CREATE MEANING - Lin Nansheng + Zhu Yizhen

[Version 2 18th August 2021

-- added a section on the use of Walt Whitman's One's-Self I Sing in the section on Whitman.  I can't believe I forgot about this key scene. 😅 Also, other minor grammar, spelling & formatting errors]

Preface:

I have already written a review on this series if you would like to read it, please CLICK ME. That review is spoiler-free.  Unlike the review, this post will have SPOILERS, please read at your own risk.  Also, this post assumes that you have already watched the entire series because there won't be a synopsis and references to scenes won't be in chronological order.

I had originally written these additional comments as part of the review but it kept expanding, so I decided to finish the review and publish it first, if not it might go the way of the many posts that I have started and never finished.  😁

I have also decided to write at least one more post on The Rebel because I have enough material already written to start it but I will need time to finish it and that will probably take a while which is part of the reason why I'm splitting up the post again.  When that post is done, I will edit this post and post that link too.  If time permits and I still retain an interest in writing more about the series, I might still write one more.  When either one of those posts gets completed, I will rewrite this paragraph and post the links here.

(Timecodes may vary slightly depending on which version of the series you are watching.  Some episodes of the version I used had some advertisements & trailers.  If time permits in the future, I might go back and fix the TC using a version without advertisements. If I do so, I will note it here.)

(For capsule reviews and links to other reviews of Tong Yao's work, please CLICK ME)

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Review / Comments ~ The Rebel (叛逆者) 2021

 #review #TheRebel #叛逆者 #ZhuYilong #朱一龙 #TongYao #童瑶 #WangYang #WangZhiwen # ZhuZhu #LiQiang

(For capsule reviews and links to other reviews of Tong Yao's work, please CLICK ME)

(For Additional Comments 1 ~ USE OF MISE-EN-SCENE AND NARRATIVE ELEMENTS TO CREATE MEANING - Lin Nansheng + Zhu Yizhen, please CLICK ME) 

(For Additional Comments 2 on  The Rebel, please CLICK ME -- currently WIP, will update this post when the link is ready)

The Rebel is an espionage series set in China during the Republican Era.  The story centres on a young cadet, Lin Nansheng 林楠笙 (actor: Zhu Yilong 朱一龙) who was plucked out of military school even before graduating by the head of the Shanghai Branch of the Fuxing Society to help flush out the Communists spies in the city.  Chen Moqun 陈默群 (actor: Wang Yang 王阳) is mostly concerned about trying to capture a mole within the Shanghai Branch.  He decided to recruit a new face into his team because he knew that there was a mole in his branch and had begun to suspect everyone there.  He chose Lin Nansheng because he noticed the young man's intelligence and powers of observation.

Review ~ Happiness as Flowers (2005) #幸福像花儿一样 (#孙俪 #SunLi)

This is the first time real life couple #SunLi (#孫儷) and #DengChao (#邓超) have worked together.  When they made this drama, they were only a reel life couple and only became a real life couple some time after this series and before the 2008 series Tian Mi Mi (甜蜜蜜).

I actually finished most of this review in Dec 2018 and hoped to publish it before the year turned because last year happened to be the 30th anniversary of China's Reform and Opening Up which would be kind of fitting since this series has something to do with it.  However, lots and lots of things got in the way and, in the end, I can only call this just one of many missed opportunities.

This is part of my ongoing effort to watch all of Sun Li's work and honestly, when I first decided to try this series, I was a little worried that it might be a difficult watch.  I don't particularly like idol type dramas, nor do l like generic sappy love stories that are designed to draw as many tears out of the viewer as possible.  As I was under the impression that this was a generic teary romance, I approached the series with a little caution.  However, it turned out to be a surprisingly interesting series, albeit with some caveats.

Review ~ Goddess of Mercy (2003 drama) #玉观音 (#孙俪)

Goddess of Mercy (玉观音) is Sun Li's debut drama.  Well, technically she's been in at least one previous series before but that's as an extra and it's a non-speaking part.  This is the fourth series starring Sun Li that I have ever watched.  By this time I am already a huge admirer of this excellent actress.  It only took one series and that's Nothing Gold Can Stay (那年花開月正圓).  I still hope to do a post on that series but that might take quite a bit of some time and so I thought I would do something that I think I might find easier.

I am trying to watch everything Sun Li has ever done to get a full understanding of her evolution into the exceptional actress that she is today.  So there's no place better to start than by watching her award winning debut performance.  This is the performance that heralded the arrival of a star-in-the-making which by default makes it an important series for anyone who is interested in Sun Li's progress as an actress.