Love and Redemption (2020)

De gustibus…

Attratta dalla miriade di recensioni positive ed elogi a non finire ho deciso di continuare questa serie, nonostante non fossi rimasta colpita dai primi capitoli.
Purtroppo sono rimasta dello stesso avviso fino alla fine.
Non saprei dire cosa mi sia mancato nello specifico, non mi sono sentita coinvolta nella vicenda dei protagonisti come altre serie xianxa che ho visto in precedenza.
Forse quell’intensità che tanto ricerco nelle relazioni tra i protagonisti, oppure solo il gusto personale.

Trama: c’è ed è evidente, ma a mio avviso è avvenuto tutto troppo in serie; gli eventi si sono così sovrapposti che mi sono sentita un po’ sovraccaricata di informazioni, il che mi ha fatto perdere anche un po’ di curiosità sul seguito.
Ho trovato degli elementi superflui, aggiunti come al solito per allungare il brodo e che ho saltato senza per questo perdermi chissà che sviluppo nella storia.
C’è come sempre un gran bel percorso da fare con i protagonisti, ma ahimè arrivati ai 30 episodi mi è sembrato un po’ tutto ridondante.
Ecco, dopo il 30esimo episodio mi sono trovata più dentro alla storia: gli eventi si sono fatti più chiari e anche più interessanti.
Il rapporto di amore-odio tra i protagonisti ha dato quel pepe in più che ha risanato il mio coinvolgimento.
Per il resto i colpi di scena anche qui ci sono, ma avrei preferito che fossero stati dosati e sistemati, piuttosto che buttarli tutti di fila verso il finale.
Altro elemento quasi sempre presente è il malinteso, che può piacere o meno.
Personalmente non sono una fan di quei giochi di fraintendimenti tra i protagonisti che possono benissimo risolversi con il dialogo puro e semplice.
Scene su scene di cose non dette alla lunga possono annoiare, come in questo caso.
In compenso la presenza di una protagonista femminile forte e guerriera ha evitato che fosse sempre la solita minestra.

Recitazione: mi è mancata un po’ di partecipazione. Considerato quanto si sono spinti oltre i protagonisti per salvarsi a vicenda, non ho sentito appieno il loro legame.
Molta sofferenza, tutti che sputano sangue (letteralmente, anche troppo), tanti fraintendimenti, ma poi i momenti tra i protagonisti non mi sono sembrati tutta questa profondità.
Con questo non voglio dire che non meritano, gli attori sanno il fatto loro e la sofferenza che provano è tangible; forse però lo è un po’ meno la loro gioia e felicità.
Insomma, mi è mancato qualcosa.

Complicità protagonisti: ho letto molte recensioni che elogiavano a più riprese il rapporto tra Xuan ji e Yu Sifeng.
Devo dire che non mi hanno coinvolto particolarmente. Certo, ci sono scene adorabili che li riguardano, ma mi è mancato sempre quel qualcosa che mi facesse davvero emozionare.
Questo giudizio è rimasto perfino alla fine, dopo aver assistito a tutto il loro percorso insieme.
Sinceramente mi aspettavo molto di più.

Emozioni: rispetto ad altre serie dello stesso genere, come Ashes of love o Eternal love, mi ha emozionato molto meno.
Diciamo che mi sono sentita più esterna alle vicende e mi ha coinvolto decisamente meno dei precedenti.

Musiche: una nota positiva della serie, decisamente piacevole e in linea con le dinamiche della storia.
Di sicuro vi rimarrà in testa.

Love triangle: c’è e non c’è. L’idea sembra esserci, ma fino alla fine non si capisce quale sia davvero il coinvolgimento del secondo protagonista maschile.
Durante la storia è il pubblico che giunge alla conclusione, perché quest’ultimo non confermerà mai di provare davvero qualcosa. Di certo, però, mette per bene i bastoni tra le ruote alla coppia, alla ricerca di una visione tutta sua di pace.
La coppia principale rimane comunque la stessa, e il trasporto di entrambi è ineliminabile.

Skinship: chissà perché mi aspetto sempre di più dalla cinematografia cinese in questo frangente.
Se la complicità sembra esserci, le effusioni che si scambiano i due protagonisti è superficiale.
Mi è mancato un po’ di pathos, intensità che coronasse tutte le loro azioni e sacrifici l’uno per l’altra.
A mio avviso ha poco senso parlare di amore viscerale e eterno se sullo schermo ciò non si nota.
Volendo anche tralasciare i baci a stampo e gli abbracci fraterni, lo sguardo può trasmettere più di mille parole.

Ending: se cercate storie a lieto fine, allora questa serie fa per voi. Ogni nodo si scioglie sul finale e vi lascia il sorriso sulle labbra.
Interessante anche il ribaltamento del pregiudizio per cui bene=angeli è male=demoni; bene e male sono presenti in ogni regno sempre e comunque e non ci sono razze superiori ad altre.

Lo consiglio? I gusti sono gusti, quindi non saprei dire se vale o meno la visione.
Consiglio di provare a vedere se vi coinvolge o se vi fa storcere il naso fin dalle prime battute, come è successo a me.
A mio avviso trovate molta più azione e dialogo e romance più cauto, rispetto a serie come Eternal love.

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A Love Story That Is Truly A Treasure

Love and Redemption summed up for people who don't want to read this long review:
- Beautiful love story
- Misunderstandings could be frustrating for some
- Amazing acting from main and supporting leads
- Music with deep meaning and value
- Highly recommended for Xianxia romance lovers

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Love and Redemption is truly a treasure. You know that a drama is a treasure when you try to find that special word to describe it, but instead come up with many. Everything is so beautifully acted out and composed, and the ending result of the directors, actors, and others' hard work is a drama that will make you laugh and cry until you can't anymore. It really shows the importance of the three kinds of love: the love between lovers, love between friends, and love between your family. The setting and special effects all seem so real, and the costumes are just so intricate and beautiful, which makes this rare gem even better. And this drama is not only fun to watch, but it also teaches us life lessons on friendship, loyalty, and love. Over 200,000 people in China have rated this drama on Douban, and it is extremely popular.

Story: 9.5-
Love and Redemption was adapted from the Chinese novel The Glass Maiden （琉璃美人煞）, and has parts similar to those of Ashes of Love and Eternal Love, being a love story that lasts for quite a long time. (ten lifetimes, to be exact) The love story, like most, encounters various frustrating problems but is one that shows the beauty and sweetness of true love, and how we strive for it. Chu Xuanji and Yu Sifeng are truly a match made in heaven, but it just took them longer to find their happy ending.

Love and Redemption has become one of my favorite c-dramas, but the reason why I did not give the story 10 is that while the misunderstandings made the story more captivating and interesting, I felt like there might have been too many of them, which made it quite frustrating sometimes. If you’re a person who can’t stand long term misunderstandings, this may not be the perfect drama for you, but when the misunderstandings are slowly unraveled, it is certainly satisfying. Another smaller reason is the editing. The cinematography was gorgeous throughout the whole show, but some scenes (mostly the sweet ones in the last few episodes or so) had rather bad editing, which disappointed me, as I had seen the scene in the trailer but the one released was edited differently. Well, no drama is perfect.

This love story is certainly one that is very special and memorable. All male leads in romance dramas are willing to do things for the female lead, but Yu Sifeng takes this male lead image to a whole new level. I sometimes wonder how he can do so much for Xuanji even if he knows she may misunderstand him. In the first few episodes, Xuanji is portrayed as a clueless girl, which frustrated a large number of watchers. After she regains what she was deprived of, she turns into one of the strongest female leads I know, protecting her love at all loves. The ending was happy and very satisfying as the good were paid for the good they did and the evil received retribution. While 59 episodes may seem long for some, it is definitely worth your time. In fact, you might even think that 59 episodes is far from enough.

Acting/cast: 10-
Many of these actors and actresses can be found in other dramas as leading and supporting roles, and their performance here was outstanding, especially the two main leads. Everyone's characters and personalities contrast greatly, and the actors acted their parts so well that many characters are either extremely loved, or extremely hated. And although I just wanted to simply stab the evil characters to death, I really need to give them a round of applause. The evil characters have so much personality that without them, there would be no drama. And their stories are all captivating, even if they are evil people with no sympathy or heart, especially Hao Chen and Wu Tong. They were both acted exceptionally well, as the actors showed their emotions and evilness quite well. Those two were the two main antagonists, along with Tianxu Sect Master, but both Hao Chen and Wu Tong found peace at the end. I really liked how this story showed how the evil characters accepted their fate, and their closures was one that was fulfilling.

The main leads, Crystal Yuan as Chu Xuanji, and Cheng Yi as Yu Sifeng have amazing chemistry, and their acting can truly make us feel the character's happiness, sorrow, anger, and pain, and not help but shed a few tears here and then. I almost never ship actors and actresses, but I just couldn't stop this awesome ship in my head. In my opinion, both actors did amazingly well here and showed the characters' thoughts and feelings very well. I have heard quite a lot of people comment that Cheng Yi did better than Bingyan, but I believe that they both acted spectacular well. Cheng Yi did kind of pop out though, because his portrayal of Sifeng is so accurate and heartbreaking at times. Bingyan also did great at showing the change in Xuanji as time goes on, from a naive little girl to a woman of great strength and power. I was also quite amazed at their acting of different characters in ten different lives, they were all so different. Bravo to these two talented actors!

There is a second and third lead couple, and they made the drama more interesting as well, but I felt that the second lead, Linglong and Minyan, played by Zhang Yuxi and Li Junyi did not have much chemistry, and while it's cute that Minyan loves Linglong so much, his “sacrifice” seemed rather stupid to me. But Linglong and Minyan do make a very happy family together. In my opinion, the third lead, Purple Fox and Wu Zhiqi, have an amazing love story that lasted for a thousand years as well, and I cried a river when, well, I'll leave you to find that out.

And the other characters, such as the sect leaders and elders were acted out so well that I was laughing at their uselessness and stupidity. Man, these actors have talent. If you watch any behind the scene clips, you'll know that they're all pretty different or are literally the opposite of their character.

Music: 10-
All of the songs in this drama have such deep meaning lyrics that they could just tell the story with the music. I am Chinese, and listening to these songs honesty made me cry. The OST could easily go on my top five, and the song Thousand Years of Love （千年之恋）by Shuang Sheng is just so beautiful and sorrowful it brought tears to my eyes. The songs all are so special and suit all the different situations in the drama very well, and you could probably understand this love story even if there wasn’t any drama. (Okay, I may have exaggerated, but this music is, just, indescribable with words) There is a song for every occasion that is repeated. For example, Xuanji unleashing her powers always has that exciting music while Wu Zhiqi and Zi Hu always have the music that sounds like a sense of longing.

Rewatch value: 10 -
There are parts that I have rewatched multiple times, and just won't get tired of it. I also have a few episodes that are my favorites, either because they are so cute and sweet or because a misunderstanding was cleared. There are many satisfying parts that I keep watching over and over again. So yes, the rewatch value is high, unlike some dramas that just have cliche plots.

Overall, this drama is just amazing, from just the story itself to the diverse characters. You should definitely give it a shot, and discover the wonderful Xianxia world in the love story of Chu Xuanji and Yu Sifeng!

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