First Time (Movie)

                                     

     This movie was very short but surprisingly beautiful and I was on the verge of tears at the very end. I did not have to doubt whether the love was real or not because I think that was the idea of the story. They wanted to convince you that despite the scenarios, the love was real. This story is kind of complicated in it's own way. It starts off convincing you that this man is the girl's high school crush and his name is Gong Ning. They form this relationship rekindling old feelings. However, this romance was not as innocent and fluffy as it appeared to be. 

       The girl is named Song Shi Qiao.  This girl has some sort of genetic problem that affected her respiratory system. Her father passed away because of this genetic disease (I think). So her mother is very loving and protective of her. You see a very strong bond between mother and daughter. That love the mother had for her daughter played a huge role. Song Shi Qiao likes to record her thoughts on these cassettes like it is a diary. Her mother listened in on the cassettes without her knowledge and finds out that her daughter's still talking about her high school crush Gong Ning who had passed away. Because of the medication Song Shi Qiao was taking, her memory was slowly fading. Using this to her advantage, Song Shi Qiao's mother hires a man named Lu Xia to play the part of Gong Ning and got his family and friends to play along. All the beautiful scenes of love were scripted. Then slowly things started to get unscripted as feeling begin to develop for the kindhearted girl. 

          In the process of all this, it showed family problems that Lu Xia faced. The touching moment in the rain with his father made me tear up. As it went on, Lu Xia's double identity was showing in many aspects even though he managed to hide everything pretty well. He enrolls Song Shi Qiao at a dance studio so that she can perform. It was a way to let her do something that doctors said she couldn't. Almost like a dying wish. However, upon her death, you find out that she was hiding the biggest secret of all and that just maybe their love was not as scripted as it seemed. Their love had been real. 

         I loved the dynamics of the characters, the character depths and background stories were great, and the scenes with family were extremely touching. The romance made me feel fluttery feels the entire way. The cinematography was also beautiful as the director used light tones strategically. Great film and I really enjoyed it. 

Fall In Love With Me

Episodes: 20

Synopsis (viki.com): 

A man at the peak of his career and fame suddenly walks away from it all. Lu Tian Xing/Xiao Lu (Aaron Yan) is a renowned prodigy in the advertising industry who makes a surprise announcement that he is taking three months off and goes off the grid. Going by the name Xiao Lu, he re-surfaces with his new persona at the ad agency of Tao Le Si (Tia Li), a young woman who is struggling to keep her deceased brother’s agency afloat and away from sharks trying to take it over like the former Tian Xing. What could Tian Xing have in mind and will he ever return to his former high-profile life? “Fall in Love With Me” is a 2014 Taiwanese drama series.

Review: 

        It was really interesting to see Aaron Yan act with Tia Li after acting with her bandmate Guo Puff in the drama Just You. It was nice to see the change in partner and how the chemistry shifted into a different form. It was also interesting to see that one of Puff's friends from Just You also appeared here. However, I did not like this drama as much as I liked Just You. I felt that Tao Le Si was a very weak female character despite her ability to maintain her brother's advertising company. She wasn't witty or bubbly but rather serious and awkward for the majority of the drama. I felt the chemistry that Aaron Yan was trying to project through his eyes and kissing but I couldn't see the two together as a couple. It felt awkward for the most part. 

       However, I would recommend this drama for anyone that wants something fluffy filled with romance and friendship and conspiring, dramatic evil people. It was still a cute drama with all the things required for a fun watch. It had second leads, company issues, love, and also the big issue that Lu Tian Xing had to make Tao Le Si see that he is the same person as Xiao Lu (who he pretends is another person). I still don't understand how she was unable to see how similar Xiao Lu and Tian Xing were to each other considering they were one person. Everyone was too trusting on the idea that Xiao Lu was a different person that looks similar to Lu Tian Xing and I found it odd that no one suspected that the dude was lying about looking similar to Lu Tian Xing and is actually Lu Tian Xing until the very end. Surely nobody can be that blind, right? But to my dismay, they kind of were. And it was interesting to see how Lu Tian Xing's worst love rival was himself while Tao Le Si had to realize her true feelings for two people that looked identical as well as recognize that they are the same person. On the bright side, because of the two characters Aaron Yan had to project, we saw two sides of him. One was the cold, business-like Lu Tian  Xing and the other was the cute, dorky Xiao Lu who got close to Tao Le Si. 

      I had frustrations throughout this drama though. I mean, why couldn't Lu Tian Xing just tell her the truth? Yeah, it's probably a big deal and it can lead to complications considering Tao Le Si despises Lu Tian Xing. But if he explained his motives and why this was happening, I' m sure that she'll come to understand. Again, it was my high expectations for drama land. I also felt that Tao Le  Si's character was not attractive when Xiao Lu left her life. It showed how weak and delusional and crazy the girl can get. She was depressed and dramatic. I considered understanding her because it was heartbreak but it got to a point where she went crazy and she wasn't listening and she was running in the rain and not trying to be open to new ideas. It frustrated me and her character had no emotion throughout the whole freaking drama. Her face was the same the whole freaking drama.  I was constantly torn between the emotional and expressive Aaron Yyan and the expressionless Tia Li. Big difference. I also despised the whole conspiracy part to get Lu Tian Xing to marry Huan Huan. Huan Huan is the girl that grew up with Lu Tian  Xing and has this mindset that she is destined to be with him and that it is meant to be. I was hopeful that she would not be the bitch of the drama because she started off giving us this impression that she's spoiled, young, immature, very little sister-like, and someone that only knows how to whine. I was hoping that she'd be like the cousin from the drama Perfect  Couple and that she would not pose a threat. But after a ridiculous accident upon a cliff, the girl is injured for a while and she ends up faking the injury because her brother thought it was best for her to do so until the very end. She got increasingly bitter, angry, and had to constantly remind everyone that she was the only one for Lu Tian Xing when it was evident that marrying her was going to be torture and forced on his side. I personally hate when dramas have those kind of storylines because it's manipulative and ridiculous at how helpless everyone is. Like I just wanted to shake Huan Huan and get her brother's words out of her head and tell her that that is not the way to find love by manipulating them to stay with you.
      Even though, the unrealistic aspects and scenarios frustrated me. There were parts that I did enjoy. In episode 8, I thought it was a very hauntingly sad scene that was extremely similar to the scene that appeared in Tiny Times 3 (movie). Strangely, that is one scene that I will never get over because in both this drama and that movie, it was portrayed hauntingly beautiful. Basically, you have Tao Le Si confiding in Xiao Lu that she fell in love with him while Lu Tian Xing's mindset was for her to forget the fake character he made and fall in love with him. So he disappears while she's making a wish resulting in her crying for him to come out while he's crying and hiding from her behind this wall. The funniest unrealistic scenario that I ever saw was in episode 11. You have Lu Tian Xing holding on to both Tao Le Si and Huan Huan as they dangle off of a cliff. It was the funniest thing because it wasn't really a cliff. It was like a grassy hill that led to these rocks in the ocean. It was the hypothetical "If I was hanging off a cliff with this person, who would you save?" It was hilarious. And I was so shocked at how stupid they were in dealing with the situation. Considering that Lu Tian Xing already was holding on to them, the girls could have easily curled up so that their foot gets a grip on the grass and slowly make their way up. They didn't. And Huan Huan's injury did not seem realistic to me because she was already in a vertical position. With the grass and her shoes and her position, I saw no reason why she couldn't stop herself from falling on to the rocks. Also if Lu Tian Xing can walk down the freaking hill to go get Huan Huan, it is not that bad. But I mean, it was a good laugh. I also loved that part where Lu Tian Xing and Tao Le Si were outdoors just having this make out session. That was a beautiful scene.
       As for the ending, I felt it was kind of abrupt in a way because of all the drama that happened before the end. It was very typical that everyone got their happy endings in the end and everyone's happy. So I can't say I hated the ending nor can I say I liked it. I'll just leave it at that.
       

Tiny Times 3 (Movie)

      This movie was probably my least favorite of the Tiny Times movies. It just was so weird and unrealistic and because the scenes were choppy, I was confused many times.

        This movie starts off with the girls going on a business trip together.  The girls had fun, they took weird pictures, and they played around. They even bumped into Lily's "little brother." And then, Lin Xiao is on the airplane crying and immediately we're introduced that Zhou Chong Guang is dead. And from the last movie, we basically kind of get the idea that the two are dating. So it was confusing for me because the movie just started and you know five minutes ago, we saw a scene of him with Lily's boyfriend and they both looked perfectly fine. Not to mention, his cancer was taken care of in the second movie. At the funeral, Lin Xiao goes to the casket to see him one last time but Gong Ming wouldn't let her. I was very upset to know that the actor for Gong Ming changed. I really liked the previous actor and I just couldn't get into this new one. 

       Lin Xiao then is depressed and acts half dead. Lily tries to get Lin Xiao to do daily tasks like taking a shower and tells her to get her act together but Lin Xiao blows Lily off saying that she can't be as cold as Lily is. Offended, Lily leaves the shower with the water running on the fully clothed Lin Xiao. This is when the relationship flashbacks are shown. It was a really cute and simple way to show how great the relationship was and depicting how much she hurt without dragging these scenes out. Nan Xiang then comes into the shower to turn off the water and to comfort her while Lin Xiao says that no one would love her as much as he had. Following that, Lin Xiao had one of those New Moon depression scenes (Yes, I'm talking about one of the Twilight movies). Lin Xiao did the Bella thing where she sat in front of a window expressionless and watched the seasons pass and life move on. 

       Nan Xiang's ex boyfriend is extremely annoying and keeps bothering her while she has to deal with her mom's problematic gambling problems. Her ex boyfriend shows his abusive side once again by hitting her simply because she said that she didn't want to get back with him. While Nan Xiang cries, Wei Hai appears and recognizes her. Meanwhile, Gu Yuan is buying a ring and getting ready to propose to Lily. Ruby and Lin Xiao tease him as they fantasize the whole situation.
       Moving forward, there is that weird appearance of another one of Lily's little brothers. That was weird. There are just so many little brothers popping out in this movie. Then we see this weird blond version of Zhou Chong Guang walking around the company as the new model. His name is Shaun. Lin Xiao spots him and starts stalking him because of the uncanny resemblance to her dead boyfriend. After this, I was very confused. It was a jumble of thoughts. Like: what's up with Chong Guang? That is Chong Guang right? What is happening?  Did Gu Yuan just take Lily's position? What is this weird spy mission?
        Lin Xiao finds out that Shaun is Chong Guang which led to a very sad scene of her screaming into the streets for him to come out and face her while he hides behind a tree. Both were crying. It was painful to watch but it was confusing. His motives were so weird. Lin Xiao then finds out that Lily had suspicions about  Chong Guang's death and felt hurt that this information was withheld from her. Ruby sees Wei Hai kissing Nan Xiang and is infuriated because she had a crush on him for so long. Nan Xiang tries to clear up the misunderstanding to no avail and then told Wei Hai that she had no feelings for him. Lin Xiao's crying in the snow. Lily had a failed proposal. Gu Yuan's trying to get the ring out of the sewer. Ruby's crying in front of their high school picture while crossing out Nan Xiang. She then packs and leaves the home. Chong Guang tells his brother that he's old and is ready to be independent and that his brother doesn't have to worry about him anymore. That was a depressing birthday for Gong Min but it was a progressive step for Chong Guang. Ruby and Nan Xiang then fight and then Lily and Lin Xiao fight. However, both end up making up with one another especially when Nan Xiang's debtors get involved in the fight. Ruby defends Nan Xiang like how Nan  Xiang used to defend her back in high school and Ruby ends up getting hit in the face with a brick.
         I thought it was hilarious when Ruby woke up at the hospital and faked amnesia just to scare Lin Xiao. Everything was okay by the end of the movie. Gu Yuan and Lily are still cute as ever.The movie ends with Lin  Xiao getting encountered by someone in a bear costume. The person in the costume did the secret handshake that belonged to Chong Guang. This movie is leading up to the fourth. The trailer for the next movie seems to be very dramatic and I am actually looking forward to that one because I didn't like this movie that much.