As I bask in the leisurely and relaxed life of the Lunar New Year holidays...
I've managed to "clear"/"杀青" a couple of movies and drama series...
Here are the drama series....
1. Queer As Folk - Final Season （USA)
The Final Season of QAF. I think
Gale Harold did a fantastic job as usual as
Brian Kinney... Ever trying to hide his own insecurities towards commitment, etc under a arrogant and tactless front...
If you don't have a clue what this show is about at all... Here's the synopsis of the series just to get things moving...
"Queer as Folk" is about the lives of a group of gay men and women living in Pittsburgh who, like anyone, are focused on their relationships, careers, loves and ambitions.The series is a realistic, funny and sometimes graphic portrayal of a minority community living in present-day society. It's not West Hollywood, it's not the Castro and it's not Chelsea. It may be a small world -- a gay Main Street with a couple of bars, a disco, a few shops and a diner -- but its reverberations are universal."Queer as Folk" is an unapologetic celebration of life in its varied forms. And as always, in the differences we discover the similarities that make us all human.Brian Kinney (Gale Harold), is a sexual animal, always on the prowl for his next conquest. Michael Novotny (Hal Sparks) is his best friend.Justin Taylor (Randy Harrison) is a 17-year-old boy whose life is changed one night when he experiences sex and what he thinks is love, for the first time.Emmett Honeycutt (Peter Paige) is the most flamboyant of his friends and wears it with pride.Ted Schmidt (Scott Lowell) is an accountant whose fatal flaw is a lust for 20-somethings who don't return his interest.Debbie Novotny (Sharon Gless) is Michael's eccentric mother -- vehemently proud of her gay son.Lindsay Peterson (Thea Gill), an art teacher and Melanie Marcus (Michelle Clunie), a lawyer, are a loving lesbian couple who decide to have a child sired by Brian (whom Melanie despises), not realizing exactly how complicated and entwined their lives will become.
I think this is an amazing drama series as it's really considered a benchmark in terms of content production worldwide... The issues discussed are sooooo controversial, yet relevant to the modern day society...
The script is fantastic cos it has us holding on to our seats trying to figure out what's going to happen next... yes, the script is that unpredictable... Something that is not very common nowadays, as we are usually so attuned to watching TV programmes and movies that we KNOW what's gonna happen next... Just when you think the show's gonna end with the leads living happily ever after TOGETHER.... something else happens...
And though I really HATE shows that end with no ending... alas what they call open-ended storyline... So there's always a possibility to continuing the series in future... I think this final season presented an open-ending which could be considered as a proper ending... but then again, not so FINAL and the story could carry on if the producers wanted to...
Sign... This is similar to the Korean drama
《我叫金三顺》/"My Lovely Samsoon" which also ended similarly... Life goes on... Many possibilities ahead... Don't know what will happen next.... But you (the viewer) know/hope that it'll go someway that you would like it to...
So that's the beauty of this kind of ending...
Sweeter than parting.... Yet not as sweet as living happily ever after together forever, which we ALL know is very far from reality...
2. 恶作剧之吻 （台湾）
The Taiwanese version of the Japanese manga 《悪戯なKiss》 (Itazura na Kiss), which was also dramatized into a Japanese Drama in 1996.
悪戯なKiss (Itazura na Kiss) is a drama produced in 1996 which was adapted from the same-titled manga series by Tada Kaoru. The drama stars popular idols 里愛子（Sato Aiko） and 柏原崇（Kashiwabara Takashi） alongside with veterans like Naito Takashi.
相原琴子（Aihara Kotoko）, a third-year student at St Tonan Gakuen is in love with the top student in the school, 入江直樹（Irie Naoki）. The main problem is that Kotoko is from the 'F' class while Naoki is from the 'A' class which is the cream of the crop. On her 18th birthday, Kotoko decides to come clean with Naoki and express her feelings for him. However, Naoki looks down on Kotoko and rejects her. To make things worse, a fire razes Kotoko's house and she is forced to live with her father's friend's family. To her surprise, she finds that she will be staying under the same roof with Naoki, the love of her life. The story between the unlikely couple begins there ...
This is a story full of laughter and tears and you will be amazed at how 里愛子（Sato Aiko） manages to make the character come alive with her antics. For fans of 柏原崇（Kashiwabara Takashi）, it will be another chance for you to drool over the cool Takashi. Although 琴子（Kotoko） gets spurned by Naoki repeatedly, she is able to pull herself together. The courage and unrelenting spirit of Kotoko should be one fine example which we should learn from.
Personally I watched the Japanese version first when I was in Higher Sec or JC. And I've only just finished watching the Taiwanese version recently, in two days' time... Having not read the manga before, I am not sure which one is closer to the original manga. So I'm basing my comments on the Japanese version that I've seen first...
I think the male leads did a fantastic job portraying the characters in the Taiwanese show - i.e.
郑元畅（Joe Cheng） &
汪东城（Jiro Wang）. Not that the female lead
林依晨（Ariel Lin）didn't do a good job as
袁湘琴 (Kotoko), but I think the guys were better as compared to her as the cool
江直树 (Naoki) and comedic
金元丰(Kin-chan) who is ever so madly in love with 湘琴, respectively...
Moreover, once you've seen
里愛子（Sato Aiko) as
Kotoko, you'll never think anyone else can be better than her as
Kotoko... Cos she totally fits the character to a fiddle... The portrayal was soooo convincing that my mum and I still can remember her as
Kotoko when we're watching the Taiwanese version... Even when it's after a period of so many years... In every episode, there'll be scenes where she is always calling for Naoki in her comedic and pestering tone "
Irie-kun....Irie-kun..."... You kinda pity her for she's always trying so hard to get him to accept her, but he's always so cold towards her.... Even his brother, Yuki starts to show signs of acceptance... But he remains so cold as usual....
Until the point where she finally makes up her mind to leave for good then he realises that he cannot do without her... I think the script when he tries to persuade her to stay is very touching... If my memory doesn't fail me... It's something about him being already used to having her get him in trouble, having her call after him everyday, having her follow him around everywhere he goes, etc... And he can't imagine life without all that... Without her in his life... So he wants her to stay with him, by his side always and forever...
The Taiwanese version apparently follows closer to the manga's plot, which is why there are more episodes, 13 instead of just 9 (Japanese). In the Taiwanese version however, the strong father-daughter bond is not fully expressed in the show, and most of the time 湘琴's dad is not around... And 直树 shows his growing affection for 湘琴 appears rather early in the show, despite the way he disguises his feelings for her by treating her coldly and tactlessly, which makes it much more predictable that he will end up with her eventually... Which is why I also prefered the Japanese version compared to the Taiwanese one... As it was less predictable...
One thing I thought was better in the Taiwanese version was that there was a better closure to
金元丰(Kin-chan) 's unrequited love for 湘琴. In the Japanese version, I just remembered that he ended up with the female staff in Kotoko's dad's restaurant, and there wasn't as much emphasis on him. I mean having spent the same amount of time and feelings on Kotoko for 5 years (like Kotoko for Naoki), it should be as hard for him to give it up as Kotoko. And he wouldn't be able to move on to another relationship so hastily... I mean is he could, that means he doesn't love Kotoko that much to revolve his entire career and life around her right??? In the Taiwanese version, you actually feel more for him as a person, who has lost the love of his life, and struggles to accept reality.
And the wedding is sooo funny for the Taiwanese version!!! 直树 and all the men dressing up as ladies, and the ladies as men... Ha ha ha... And the rain.... Ha ha ha ha.... Poor 郑元畅（Joe Cheng）kept tripping on his wedding gown, and what seemed like he was going to break out in laughter (possibly a NG take) was actually used for the final cut... And the drenched hair... The slipping tube gown.... Ha ha ha... So funny....
I think 郑元畅（Joe Cheng）in real life is someone who breaks out into loud and uncontrollable laughter easily... As you can see in previous shows, variety shows, and NG takes... So for him to act as someone as cool and cold as 直树 is much harder for him than 柏原崇（Kashiwabara Takashi）, who's personality is already cool like 直树. So you can see a difference in the two 直树... One that's cool but yet cheeky when you know him well 郑元畅（Joe Cheng）, and the other who's just plain cool 柏原崇（Kashiwabara Takashi）.
Cheerio,
Same Old
Drama-Mama
