This is a very different Chinese Vertical Drama as it is very adult take on the genre. It does not have many of the tropes of Vertical Drama and it is very subdued and thoughtful. It is beautifully and carefully filmed. You have a very mature male character, Zhou Sheng An (Lu Xiao Xu). Even though the actor is only 27, he carries himself as if he was 37 or even older. I was amazed to find out how old he was. The female lead, Bai Qing Mei (Guo Yu Xin) is supposedly much younger, but the actress is only a year younger. Bai Qing Mei, is young, but mature, cosmopolitan, worldly, and creative. She is probably one of my favorite female characters of the Vertical format. She travels the world as a global photographer capturing wars and crisis. In the world she is bold, but in romance she is careful of having her freedom. Zhou Sheng An, is an older man, who is quiet, careful, polite, and very respectful towards Bai Qing Mei. 

Zhou Sheng An and Bai Qing Mei enter into an arranged marriage by both their families. Bai Qing Mei is a great female lead as she sets the rules and Zhou Sheng An has a green flag by accepting the terms, which are reasonable. They are to stay out of each other's careers and lives, be discreet, do not have any illegitimate children, Bai Qing Mei is set on a loveless contract marriage because her mother fell victim of falling in love in a contract marriage and it ended her will to live. 

Their chemistry sneaks up on you. This is a very quiet film. His attentiveness and his respect for her career, talents, mind, and beauty catches her off guard. She finds herself falling in love and stuck, because it was her who set this union up as a one without love. He is so polite and respects her need for space and it looks like he isn't interested from her point of view. That is something we see from these contract marriages. There is a tension of trying to determine if there are real feelings or merely obligation. The obstacles to love are more internal and intimate between them, rather than any "Green Tea" scheming or family intrigue. 

Actor Lu Xiao Xu has a very mature handsomeness and Actress Guo Yu Xin is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. Their acting is top notch and subtle. They parcel out the heat of their chemistry in a careful way. The cinematography is far superior than usually found in these Vertical Dramas. It has a feeling of a mainstream Chinese Drama. The writing is also out of the league of Vertical Drama. Everything is just well thought out and the pacing is slower than in verticals, which can be more manic. 

This might be more boring for lovers of the manic energy that Chinese Vertical Dramas provide, but if you need a palate cleanser and a respite from the craziness, this is a great harbor to pull into. I did not regret watching this and I will probably watch this again in a couple of years. 

Movie Link: https://youtu.be/7c3ON-Wiohg?si=VQzHcwK1hf_zCpw3

A female lawyer, Wen Xu (Cui Yiliang) from North City, takes a break from her work and travels to Hong Kong Island. She checks into an idyllic B&B, and soon finds a great way to relax...in the arms of a very sexy B&B owner, Zhou Lie (Zhao Zhendong). They flirt back and forth first, but then unleash their passion during a typhoon. So begins a very steamy 2-3 month romance knowing that she would have to return to North City and that she hates long distance relationship.

What begins as a short-term physical, adult relationship, evolves into a friendship and romance. They endeavor to really enjoy their time together. There is a snag with a local woman, May, who is in love with Zhou Lie, but that is easily pushed aside as she is no match for Wen Xu. Zhou Lie is a succession of green flags in this drama. He is a respectful and attentive lover. He not only owns a B&B, but a bar, a grocery, and a candy shop because his great-grandmother has a sweet tooth (aw!). 

Wen Xu is called back when a friend needs her legal help. They are falling in love and missing each other as soon as she leaves. They try to keep it together in a long distance relationship. The chemistry with these two is strong enough that the viewer will get frustrated they are not on the same screen with each other. 

There are times when you just want to see two good looking people falling for each other without too many roadblocks and drama. The movie doesn't get in the way of the chemistry that is the secret sauce to this show.

Her childhood sweetheart is a childhood friend who has a thing for her, but he never really puts up a fight. He says that they have slept together, and she responds, "In parenthesis, we were under 2 years old!" After meeting Zhou Lie and  seeing what he was up against, the character must realize that his sizzle and abs game was not good enough. 

There are some mental obstacles and obstacles of geographical distance. Actress Cui Yilang plays this big city lawyer who can let loose and be bohemian on vacation. She easily plays a woman who is very comfortable with her sexuality. Her struggles are more about whether she is objectifying and only wanting his body or if she has feelings for him. She is beautiful and she is mature enough to be believable as an independent career woman, who unexpectedly finds herself in love. She has completely normal, loving and affluent parents. They want to see her married, but they are not jerks about it. 

Of course, it is actor Zhao Zhendong  that provides the heat, the heart, and eye candy. He fronts a bad boy vibe, but like I said before, it is all green flags. I just discovered this actor recently, and he has become an actor I am always happy to see in these dramas. 

It is kind of nice that despite reservations and questions, they both know what they want. They just do not know how to get what they want.

One of the things about watching Korean and Chinese dramas is that you need translation. As someone, who has a long history of loving foreign cinema, subtitles have never been a problem for me. It is at the point that I can get immersed in the film while reading subtitles. Most of my experience until I got into Chinese and Korean dramas has been with established world cinema films at international film festivals. These films have high likelihood of good translation. 

So when I discovered Chinese Vertical Dramas, which are short form dramas made specifically for the Internet, I noticed a drop in quality when it came to translation. At first, it was jarring, but now I have seen enough Vertical Dramas, that I can look past them. I still notice when character names are literally translated into "White Demon" or "Real Stars" instead of the actual character names. I have learned to translate in my head what they mean. This is what happens when you do not have someone actually interpreting what the characters are actually saying and they are sticking to literal translations which often end up confusing to comical. 

HIGH QUALITY SUBTITLES> HIGH QUALITY DUBS> LOW QUALITY SUBTITLES> MEDIUM QUALITY DUBS> LOW QUALITY DUBS

Occasionally, I run into dubbed films and they are not my favorite. I grew up watching Japanese monster films like Godzilla with famously bad dubs.  I would rather have a low quality subtitle than a low or medium quality dubbed film. The dubbing would have to be extraordinary for me to give up subtitles as I am used to subtitles.

The worst dubbing is the ones are the ones that mix up gender of who is speaking. When it seems that they threw in just anyone and sometimes use different people for the same character, it is really jarring and it is hard to get through.

It is also bad when it is clear that the dubs are electronically done, where it is just text-to-speech. Everyone has emotionless computer voices and it really distracts from what the actors are trying to do. Medium quality dubs are when they at least have the emotional vocal acting, but do not specifically cast to the character. If you can deliver the emotional content and get the genders right, I count that as medium quality DUB. 

Dubbing is best when the production makes the effort to cast voice actors who fit each character and they seek to properly synchronize the English to Chinese or any language. If I can completely lose myself in the story with dubs, then I will take that over low quality subtitles. Many of the foreign series and movies on Netflix do a very good job, at least from the perspective of someone who doesn't know much Chinese, Korean, or Japanese. 

There is a part of me that wants to learn all of these languages so I can turn all of it off and experience the native language. Then you get to immerse yourself in the culture via the words and phrases they use. When I took linguistics at University, I learned that language can reveal so much about the culture , history, and the people who speak and write it. I feel the same way about foreign books and how important it is to have a great translator who can actually write in English all the nuances of meaning of the foreign text. That is really hard to do for books as it is for film or tv series. 

What do you like better? What are your stories of good or bad substitles or Dubs?

 Link: https://youtu.be/6askQYAfdh4?si=smr6KYPBKsUfsOqP

Summary:
Wen Ning (Zhang Jinyi), a gorgeous young woman from the wealthy Wen family, arrives at Macau from the Capital. We meet her in a sizzling red dress, eager to escape an arranged marriage with her childhood sweetheart, Song Ziye and unravel a family mystery. Wen Ning runs into a "dangerous" casino owner, Xie Zhiyu (Zhao Zhendong), who she find is employed by her father.  She suspects that the mysterious job involves her father's illegitimate son who may take her spot at the head of the family. Throughout the story, she wonders if Xir Zhiyu is that little boy she remembers from her childhood. 

So, Wen Ning uses her charms to try to get Xie Zhiyu to give her information and he wants her help to get rid of a clingy wanna be fiancee. He is absolutely amused and fascinated with Wen Ning (who wouldn't?). Their banter is fun and they have an incredible chemistry. The slow burn is delicious and steamy.  This is the first vertical drama that made me tear up, because I got really invested in these two crazy kids. I really felt their longing  and deep feelings. Zhao Zhendong has this soulful presence that lends to his character with a deeply traumatic past who has had to survive being a feared figure. He goes from tough guy to playful flirt to vulnerable clingy puppy in a very skilled way. They tend to each other's wounds which seems symbolic. 

People have noticed the lack of tropes and this is more restrained for a Chinese Vertical. It has great cinematography for a Chinese vertical. There are those who lament the lack of steamy scenes. I disagree. They gave off enough physical chemistry throughout the show to satisfy me. Would I have loved to see more abs and or shower scene? Sure, but I really felt this one. The male lead (ML) and the female lead (FL) did the job they had to do. You do not watch it for the story, you are watching these two actors play off each other and fall for each other. These actors are apparently in two other Dramas. I am going to check them out and let you know. 


Also known as "Capital Branch Is Difficult to Climb"