One Boat One World (2021)

A drama to watch only if you are a Han Zhang's fan and have patience!

I won't hide that I watched this drama for the CL because I really like these two actors: Han Zhang and Claudia Wang.

The context of the cruise liners is interesting and unusual (I feared a Chinese version of "The Fun Cruise", but it's far from it). The situation is well described: we can discover all the background of cruises, the (sometimes complicated) relationships within the crew, the technical constraints, the challenges of the cruise market, etc. A important place is given to this aspect, on the screen.

To enhance these interesting but not always attractive aspects, there is the romance between a sailing executive and a tourist guide. The chief seaman (the ML) is masterfully performed by Han Zhang. His character is charismatic and allows Han Zhang to demonstrate the full extent of his talent. Claudia Wang's character is on this other hand, a bit ridiculous. The FL (supposed to be a young woman of 24), kind, full of good will, but stupid and eternally hesitant. This character quickly becomes unbearable with her uncertainties, her permanent inertia. We end up wondering what the ML can find in her!

The rest of the cast is very good and the characters (especially CL2 and CL3) are well developed and endearing (more so than FL :( )
The production is too slow and sometimes too detailed. I admit that I zapped sometimes.

MAIN DEFECTS: POOR SCREENWRITER :( :(
* unlikely situations:
= cruise liner coming to rescue a container ship in the middle of a typhoon? a helicopter in the typhoon? seriously ?
= a runaway kid messing up all the boat?
= 40 passengers still visible (no more out of 4000 passengers announced),
= Marseille seen as a village of 2000 inhabitants? A plainclothes cop who fines a pedestrian who wants to cross at a red light?? :) :),
etc
* unsuitable and unbearable FL character (and yet I love the actress...)
* the "racism towards Asians" bias in the maritime environment is much too obvious!! Westerners are seen as the bad guys, ready to do anything to win, corrupt, etc. A little too manichean :(

TL;DR : it would be good if the scriptwriters knew the countries they were describing (or did some real documentary research) before writing anything... :( :( :(

OST:
The generic has a little air of "Titanic" :) Quite nice overall.

Conclusion: a drama to watch if you are a fan of Han Zhang and have patience!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Je ne vous cache pas que j'ai regardé ce drama pour le CL car j'aime beaucoup ces deux acteurs :Han Zhang et Claudia Wang.

Le cadre des paquebots de croisière est intéressant et inhabituel (je craignais une version chinoise de "La croisière s'amuse", mais on en est loin). Le contexte est bien décrit : on découvre tous les arrière-plan des croisières, les relations (parfois compliquées) au sein de l'équipage, les contraintes techniques, les enjeux du marché des croisières, etc. Une place très importante est donnée à cet aspect, à l'écran.

Pour agrémenter ces aspects intéressants mais pas toujours attractifs, il y a la romance entre un cadre navigant et une guide touristique. Le cadre navigant (le ML) est magistralement interprété par Han Zhang. Le personnage est charismatique et permet à Han Zhang de démontrer toute l'étendue de son talent. Claudia Wang est moins bien servie. La FL (censée être une jeune femme de 24 ans), gentille, pleine de bonne volonté, mais stupide et éternellement hésitante. Ce personnage devient vite insupportable avec ses incertitudes, son inertie permanente. On finit par se demander ce que le ML peut bien lui trouver !

Le reste du casting est très bon et les personnages (notamment le CL2 et le CL3) sont bien développés et attachants (plus que la FL :( )
La réalisation est un peu lente et parfois trop détaillée. J'avoue que j'ai fait du zapping sur certains passages.

DEFAUTS: POOR SCREENWRITER :( :(
* situations invraisemblables :
= paquebot de croisière qui vient secourir porte-container en plein typhon ? un hélico dans le typhon ? sérieux ?
= gamin en fuite qui met le bazar sur le bateau ?
= 40 passagers toujours visibles (pas plus sur 6000 passagers annoncés),
= Marseille vu comme un village de 2000 habitants Un flic en civil qui met une amende à 1 piéton qui veut traverser au feu rouge ?? :) :),
etc.
* caractère de la FL inadapté et insupportable (et pourtant j'adore l'actrice...)
* le parti pris "racisme envers les asiatiques" dans le milieu maritime est beaucoup trop flagrant !! Les occidentaux sont vus comme les bad guys, prêts à tout pour gagner, corrompus, etc. Un peu trop manichéen :(
BREF : ce serait bien que les scénaristes connaissent les pays qu'ils décrivent (ou fassent des vraies recherches documentaires) avant d'écrire n'importe quoi... :( :( :(

OST :
générique qui a un petit air de "Titanic" :) Assez sympa dans l'ensemble.

Conclusion : un drama à regarder si vous êtes un fan de Han Zhang et que vous avez de la patience !

Lire davantage

More than just a love story - weave plot lines, held together by some great acting and filming

Beautiful weave of life stories of people who board a cruise ship, then follows them on-board and land. There is a lot more to it than the love story which carries the plot to the end. Some formulaic and quite a bit of propaganda promoting the Chinese values and expertise on the world scene, but it feels quite true to real life - we can relate to the push and pull of the economic relationships between China and the West from the headlines, whether it's cooperation or strategies to undermine each other.

Unlike other viewers, I was glad of the racism slant in the story - it's hard to watch, but all too real. It's really important to expose the damage that even low level racism can cause, especially as we've seen developments after the pandemic.

As a westerner watching, I found the scenes of chaotic mob blame when things go wrong quite frustrating, but rather believable - they made their point!

The acting is phenomenal - Hans Zhang steals every scene he’s in, whether he grieves, loves or just smiles, you can feel it! I really liked the quiet, understated development of Wang Likun's character - yes, some of her accidents and incidents are silly, but quite useful to the plot, and you can see how each crisis is adding to her character - the actress brings this to life. Unlike other viewers I think that self blame and PTSD as a survivor of the coach accident is believable and quite real, and her reaction is nothing to do with taking responsibility, but a psychological réponse.

Some of the other acting is fantastic. I found the scenes between Ding Kai and his mother utterly magnetic, even when they are communicating silently - hard to describe why!

There are a few plot holes and the acting of the European actors is quite stilted, as is their dialogue - it feels as if it was translated to Mandarin and back again. Not to speak of… “there’s a famous Chinese saying” - how well versed the Western senior crue are in Chinese philosophy! It was a good laugh to spot these sayings!
The “captain, my captain” - lovely, but quite over the top in his patronising kindness!

I would probably watch it again if there were well crafted subtitles to enjoy the dialogue fully - seeing it with Google translate is hard work, sometimes funny and I frequently needed to stop and “retranslate” to work out what it means. I often felt that there was a well crafted dialogue that I missed out on, I could just listen to the beautiful tones and guess.

I loved some of the music, it’s quite mesmerising!

The filming and scenery need a mention too - it takes you around the world with the tourists, but it also gives tiny insights in many ways of life - from tiny fishing and mountain village to high rise Shanghai office, with the city and the river as its stars.

Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable watch.

Lire davantage