The aforesaid quotation is an ancient Chinese proverb which encapsulates our leads’ love saga. This Homeric drama whetted snug emotions in my heart and made me grin from ear to ear, especially when the leads canoodled with each other. I have a fervent penchant for the dramas that involve healthy and affectionate mains’ relationship and if the leads get together in the early phase of drama, then that would be cherry on the cake, wherefore this drama plucked my heart’s strings the way it did. This drama depicts the Michelangelo phenomenon beautifully. In case I forget to mention, the OSTs of this drama are simply mesmerising! I am listening to them non-stop these days.

The story of this drama is like a gently babbling brook on smooth rocks. It seems simple, nothing out-of-the-box or avant-garde, and yet is aesthetically pleasing. It might be this simpleness which lends such aesthetics to the story. I might be the only one but as I am growing old, I am finding myself liking these kind of relaxing and simple stories more than others. The male lead, Lin YiYang, falls in love with the female lead, Yin Guo, at first sight and rest of the story enunciates the constantly evolving relationship between them. She was like a warm zephyr for him amidst a snowstorm who brought spring into his heart after a long winter season. We get to see the leads going from strangers to friends, friends to lovers and lovers to those who can’t live sans each other. Whenever I saw Lin YiYang, I was reminded of Marie de Rabutin-Chantal’s quote, “I love you so passionately, that I hide a great part of my love, so as not to oppress you with it.” The actors breathed life into this story with their top-notch acting. These kind of stories can easily go downhill if conflated with subpar acting. Whenever I watched the leads on the screen, it made me feel as if I was peeking into a real couple’s private life, which highlights the level of the acting.

The cinematography was posh and sumptuous. The employment of different kinds of shots, like long shots, extreme close-up shots etc. to accentuate the nuances was commendable. The snowy vistas augmented the already beautiful cinematography. Another point that I would like to bring into your notice is the apparel of the characters of this drama. I, personally, found them very attractive. It could be because of my love for denim but hey, as I said, it’s my subjective take on it. I didn’t know anything about billiards apart from its existence. I ferreted out lots of information about the sport solely so that I could understand the matches and could get soaked into the thrill and nervousness whenever they were shown. Another thing that touched my heart was esprit de corps amongst leads and their friends’ clique. It was nice to see the warm friendship between Lin YiYang and his two friends, both of whom were his wingmen in the relationship.

This is my first review, so pardon me if I made some mistakes. I decided to write a review because I am pretty influenced by Rainer Maria RilkeI’s quote, “The work of the eyes is done. Go now and do the heart-work on the images imprisoned within you.” I wrote as much as I could think of so that I won’t fall victim to the dreadful l'esprit de l'escalier, though it seems I am inevitably going to.

I shall rest my figurative quill with the gilded lines of Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘Song for a Winter’s night’ that sum up the feelings of Lin YiYang when he first saw Yin Guo:

“…If I could only have you near
To breathe a sigh or two
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love
On this winter night with you.”

An honourable mention to Roger de Bussy-Rabutin’s words on the subject-matter of long distance relationship:
“Absence is to love what wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small, it inflames the great.”