Pan's Labyrinth

This is perhaps the first time that I've had problems with Blogger, as magically my previous review of Pan's Labyrinth has disappeared. Here is a shorter review that hopefully captures most of the content of the original.

Pan's Labyrinth is one of those films that comes close to being a classic but fails due to a few glaring flaws. The story involves Ofelia, a girl caught up in a civil war in 1940s Spain during the height of fascism. Ofelia's stepfather is a ruthless captain sent to crush a resistance hiding in a countryside area. Caught up in the middle, Ofelia fails to understand what goes on around her, and instead delves in some magical pursuits, where she is the main character.

The coloring in the movie tends to be very dark, resembling much of the plot. The only colors I can recall are gray and the crimson red of blood, used rather liberally in the movie. As the story progresses, the characters start to gain stature, as the individual motivations become apparent. Most commendable is the dialogue, which is given with great suggestive tones that set the mood quite well. For those understanding Spanish, this movie will be a treat. For everyone else (including me), the subtitles will have to do.

Like a short story, Pan's is short on focus and depth. The characters undergo little development (besides Ofelia's dive into the fantastical) and the plot is fairly generic in nature. The segment covered is very short, and the anti-climatic ending truly destroys whatever suspense and excitement has built up in the hour before.

A constant question Pan's poses is whether magic exists. There is evidence that suggests both sides. I had decided in the first five minutes that magic did not exist in the world. However, I kept noticing the little signs that suggest otherwise, and I almost hate the movie for making me question this belief as the film progressed. But, that is the beauty of Pan's. It shakes things up.

Pros: Hopefully the first of many Spanish imports; gets one thinking
Cons: Doesn't live up to potential or hype; fairly cliche approach
Conclusion: This is one that is going to be whispered for a while, so you may as well watch it now.
Score: 3/5

Sword Stained with Royal Blood/ 碧血劍

What a show! Sword Stained with Royal Blood is another adaptation of a Jin Yong martial arts novel. Having read the actual novel, I had very high expectations of this series going in, and, for the most part, these hopes were met.

Set at the end of the Ming dynasty, the whole of China is in conflict. Ming's top general, sent to guard the country's northern borders against Ching invaders, is wrongly accused of collaboration and killed by Ming's ruler. His son barely escapes the slaughter of the family. After a good number of years have passed, Yuan Chenzhi seeks to avenge his father's death. On his journey, he faces many challenges he must overcome before he can achieve his aim.

The story is very complex, with a large cast of interesting characters. Being a martial arts story, the drama rife with combat sequences. In fact, there is not a single episode where there is no fighting. Although lacking a suspenseful build-up, the many sequences are satisfying on the whole. There are many special effects, with wiring and explosions aplenty. The only complaint I have in this regard is the lack of specilization and explanation to the fights. There are very few signature moves special to each characters. Other than the different weapons used, each person fights more or less in the same way. I would have enjoyed a bigger focus, as that was a highlight from the novel. There are many scenes in the novel where Chengzhi points out the flaws in his opponents techniques that I sorely missed in this adaptation. Another gripe I have is the lack of character development in Chengzhi. Events around him shift and change, but it is not obvious how he has changed. Without the improvement in his martial arts that was specified in the novel, it is puzzling how he beats an opponent that he could not earlier in the story.

Yuan Chengzhi is played by Bobby Dou, who does a decent job throughout the series, although the range of emotions he conveyed varied little from one scene to the next. Eva Huang, who played the notorious girl from Kung Fu Hustle without a single line of dialogue, plays Qingqing, the main actress. At times, I do find her to be a very irritating character, indicating that she must be playing her character right. When Chengzhi and Qingqing stand together, they do look like a very good couple, which is the most important factor for this casting.

A large part of the novel is about understanding the Ming-to-Qing turnover from different perspectives, and this adaptation does a good job of conveying the various factors that led to this historic event in Chinese history. The weaving of history and martial arts storytelling makes this a story that deserves to be told.

Given the emotional attachment to the characters, Sword Stained with Royal Blood is a series that I recommend to anyone who would like an entertaining dive into Chinese history, an entertaining story with nicely choreographed fight scenes, or story about a boy who must juggle the heavy burden on him with his relationships. As for me, I enjoy all of those things.

Pros: Great source material, excellent visuals, satisfying
Cons: De-emphasis on martial arts, weak romantic overtones, sometimes weak acting
Conclusion: A must watch for any lover of martial arts!
Score: 4/5

The Magicians of Love/ 愛情魔髮師

The Magicians of Love is the latest Taiwanese drama following in the footsteps of the successful Meteor Garden series many years ago. So here you have the one girl that starts out rather annoying along with several prominent guys that suddenly appear in her life. This all follows the well-treaded formula. However, from within this framework, Magicians of Love does a wonderful job of weaving the fantastically impossibles of the TV world with the realistic setting of Taiwan.

MoV stars the four members of the singing group 183 Club, three of whom play the role of world-renown hairstylists who just opened a salon in town, across the street from the local salon run by Xiao Bei (played by Joanne Zeng)'s father. The fourth member of 183 Club plays a neighbor who also work at Xiao Bei's family salon. The proximity of these two salons starts off a feud between them, until Xiao Bei decides to join the other team to make her dream of becoming a pro-hairstylist come true.

MoV starts off with the grand opening of the new salon, where huge crowds of girls cheer as the famous hairstylist arrive at the scene. Naturally, this is way over-the-top (come on, how many celebrity hairstylist do you know?). But this is also where MoV shines. Although there are some exaggerated scenes, the setting and scenarios are always on the verge of reality. It requires only a slight bit of belief in this world to accept the story. When the famous hairstylist are out and about, they are not treated as gods - they are recognized only by those who would care to visit their salon. They do not have overwhelming power to influence anything outside of the fashion world. This is a very good direction for Taiwanese pop drama.

One of the most important aspects of such a series is going to be the strength of the characters and their interaction with each other. MoV excels for the most part in this area, although most characters have fairly routine personalities, such as the obsessive parent, the sad girl with a tragic past, the mean guy with a good heart, etc. I must commend the director for casting a girl that actually looks cute straight up - that thing with casting a seemingly ugly girl that the audience will grow used to is simply intolerable at this point. This alone takes off much of the heat from the main actress. For the main actor, however, some more work needs to be done. His character's feelings appear genuine from time to time, but it is definitely not consistent. Aside from this minor quibble, the two main characters match very well together on screen. They complement each other well, and the chemistry between appears very real. When the two are happy together, the audience cannot help from smiling.

Thie leads to the next thing - the romance. The couple faces their ups and downs, as is expected. The problem I have is that we know they are meant to be together. This is reinforced in both the title and ending song. There is no ambiguity. While watching the series, the audience knows which choices the characters will pick to fulfill this destiny. No only does this detract from the suspense, this also leads the characters to make some choices that appear illogical.

Several miscellaneous items require mention. The settings rotate around several familiar locales, and the cast is big enough so that they do not appear repetitive. The light tone of the entire series does take away some of the audience involvement, as there is no great evil that challenges the characters. As usual, I paid particular attention to the ending. Although it does wrap up most of the loose ends, it was too abrupt to my liking. Finally, the theme of the series is rooted in fashion. Thus, characters are often very fashionably dressed, adding eye candy to an otherwise bland set. This gives a lot of flavor to the scenes.

TV series such as MoV is a very good move for the Taiwanese industry, as it is a good way to attract new viewers while spending a healthy budget. This is definitely a good response to popular Korean or Japanese romance series that tend to distort reality so much that every scene involves someone crying. Lots of sappy dialogue is not required for a touching story.

Pros: Involving story, adds to established drama framework, somewhat plausible, all on YouTube
Cons: Sometimes amateur acting, ridiculous comic relief, always happy
Conclusion: Excellent effort! Recommended for anyone seeking a solid pop drama.
Score: 3.5/5