Once Upon a Time (2017)

Trigger warnings for suicide and very stylized eye trauma.

I am not very familiar with the source material, either the web novel or drama. I watched some of the drama but only enough to know it wasn't for me.

The production design of this movie, specifically in terms of practical sets and costumes was pretty solid. The decision to put every actor and actress in miles of chiffon is one I agree with. From what I've read this is a director who is best known as a cinematographer and I think that carries through in terms of direction.

Where the movie falls apart for me is in terms of plot and narrative.

Without a Wikipedia plot summary, I'm not sure I could've followed along with this movie. There is a lot of information crammed into 2 hours, which while admirable is perhaps not advisable. These characters have lived thousands of years worth of plot relevant suffering and giving us a cliff notes version of those years is a good way to give your audience narrative whiplash.

The overall performances are fine.The rest of the movie is, in a word fine. l have never seen a more beautiful movie that I did not care about.

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What could go wrong with a movie based on an amazing book?
For those who know the book or watched the series, they can make some connections, but those who don't, see just a bunch of disconnected scenes. Obviously, it is not possible to present all the details of a book in a series, still less, in a film. The screenwriter of a film has to prioritize the best parts of the book, however, he must maintain a sequence that synthesizes the logic of the plot. The screenwriter chose random scenes and hindered the understanding of the plot.
The director started by making a mistake in choosing the female lead, as the actress has no facial expression and her voice is just the reading of a text without any feeling. He chose a sequence of scenes for editing that made the film nonsensical. The special effects are a roller coaster ride, some good and some bordering on 'special defects'.
The performances are poor. Yang Yang was all smiles and charm, but he had no one to play with. There was not the slightest chemistry between him and the female lead, so, as much as he had emotions expressed in his face, the scene was not round, as there was no cooperation from the other party.
The costumes were well crafted and pleasing to the eye.
The soundtrack chosen was well below expectations.

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I absolutely loved this movie. I loved the story, I loved the acting, I loved the OST and I rewatched it 4 times already. Therefore it is 10/10 for me.

I do understand, why the movie might be confusing to western viewers, especcially if they don't know the story allready. Or why it could be somewhat disappointing for people, who watched the tv-drama first.
I think that is the main problem of this movie - it isn't targeting any audience: people who don't have enough background, might have problems understanding it. Whereas for people who watched the tv drama, the storyline will most certain come to short. But for me it luckily was none of that.

First: I majored in sinology, so although I didn't know this paticular story, I do am quite familiar with the chinese mythology. Even though I didn't know the plot and not everything was explained, many motives were not strange to me and I could follow quite easly or at least guess more or less corectly.

Therefore unlike some other viewers I didn't find the story confusing (+ I dont really need subtitles, so I could concentrate on enjoying the story without getting lost because some scenes switched to quickly to read).
There was one thing I didn't get (the Mo Yan -part) but it did not bother me much either, I just assumed that this is the big mistery in the movie. And since the movie was open ended I simply assumed they left the expanation for a second part and didn't wonder to much about it either.

Second: I did not watch the tv-drama before I watched the movie.

I did it afterwards and enjoed it very much as well. But as it goes for the movie itself I did not have certain pre-expectations or got disturbed because some story parts or characters were missing. I also didn't feel the pressure to compare who is the better lead, which naturally happens if you watched the tv drama first. I watched Yang Yang as Ye Hua first, so he kind of was the original Ye Hua to me. The same for Su Su.

Regarding these two points I think I got very lucky because I really could just enjoy and appreciate the movie - without the expectations or understanding problem. And I just loved it.

I loved the acting of the two leads and their chemistry. I don't understand why some comments say, there were no chemistry between them. They were great together and both acted incredibly well. They both did a great job in expressing emotions, especially Yang Yang . And boy, that kissing scene! That must have been the best kiss on set in the history of chinese cinematography (I will leave the chinese tv out of this, because the kisses in chinese tv-dramas are mostly just ridiculous).

I loved the story itself (I watched the movie in the first place because I like fox motives). It was told beautifully. It might not have been the typical from a to b storytelling. But this kind of made it more intereting to me, as it added some peaceful artistic values to the movie. The sceneries were gorgeous too. And I really fell for the music.

Because of the beautiful tale, I later watched the tv-drama and fell even more in love with the story. Afterwards I rewatched the movie and enjoyed it in a new way because I knew all the details by then.

All in all I recomend this movie - though probably the best way to watch and enjoy it is to first read somewhere the short version of the story to better understand it. But without watching the tv-drama itself:)

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I haven't seen the original drama. This is my first take on the story, and honestly, this movie is one big trailer as you watch you get bits and pieces of the larger storyline. As a viewer, you see the different branches of the storyline being told. But you don't get the full story behind each. It's not a disappointment of a film. It has to some small degree a plot. It has some music that is used both to help the story along or to show the different moods. But it is not a standout soundtrack. Its just something added as another layer of the story. I would say that it is just a too long trailer for the drama. In that respect, it did as it was supposed to. It makes me want to watch the original show and see just exactly what is happening. To me, it did a great job summarizing what exactly is going to happen in a concise snapshot of the drama. My interest in the drama has now made me watch that, but I was hesitant about its length. This movie provided an excellent overview and basic what to look out for a while watching it.

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