Romance drama If Paris [is] Downcast 如若巴黎不快乐 (also known as If You Are Unhappy in Paris, Paris is Not in a Good Mood) stars Zhang Han as a successful CEO of a corporate firm, and Kan Qingzi as a lawyer who serves jail time for making misrepresentations to the court on behalf of her client and ex-boyfriend.
The 48 episode drama airs 2 episodes every Sunday to Monday on Mango TV beginning tonight, while VIP members get a 6 episode head start. Overseas viewers get the VIP treatment for free on Youtube.
Undercover/The Undercover to Return 卧底归来 takes inspiration from true events, and focuses on the conflict between China’s anti-narcotics forces and drug dealers. The most recent teaser can be found here.
Not Li Shen and Li Qin.
Last seen battling the illegal drug trade in Hua Kai Ban Xia 花开半夏 together, Li Qin and Lin Shen team up again in Undercover 卧底归来. Lin Shen plays an undercover cop set to infiltrate a drug cartel. He gains the cartel’s trust and becomes the bodyguard of its leader’s daughter (Li Qin). They are joined by Zhang Jiayi, Liu Yijun, Fu Jing (the very model of perfection in her role in Educated Youth), and Zhai Tianlin.
“They were born like the flowers of summer, but the flowers never last to see the end of summer.”
Part innocent incestuous childhood love, part mafia and police intrigue, Summer flowers never last 花开半夏 brings together two top companies run by women – Mango Films (Fall in Love) of host-producer-Angela’s-mom Li Xiang and Rosat (New Dream of Red Chamber) of producer Li Xiaowan and director Li Shaohong. The series, based on the book of the same name, currently airs two episodes per day on Saturdays and Sundays on Hunan TV.
Two orphans raised together, Ruhua (Li Qin) and Rufeng (Lin Shen) have depended on each other and their adopted grandmother for all their lives. As the two slowly realize they’ve developed feelings for each other, they’re also faced with the trials of life. When Rufeng becomes caught in the mafia while trying to save their grandmother, their lives turn upside down.
Zhang Jiani plays the daughter of the mafia boss who falls for Rufeng, while Yang Yang plays a fellow piano student at Ruhua’s college who befriends her despite differences in their social status. Kan Qingzi likes Yang Yang, while Ma Xiaocan plays the daughter of the detective seeking to solve the mafia case, and she likes Lin Shen.
More of the soft posters below the cut, and darker ones here.
Karena Lam: How could I still have been outshined despite having 12x as much screentime as everyone else? It's back to being under appreciated.
This movie (also known as Call for Love 2) raked in more than its predecessor, Call for Love and signaled the first week of the wave of holiday-friendly movies. There were no actual numbers but according to reports, theaters were 80% full, and some were even sold-out. Also according to reporters, it seemed to be doing better than Desires of the Heart. I really wish there were actual numbers because it’d be interesting to see how these two romanace comedies stacked up against the other two new releases, guy-friendly Beast Stalker/Witness and The Underdog Knight. I predict the action flicks win because there are more men in China. :P
Inside sources say that a script for Call for Love 3 is already in the works.
Also, guess which character audiences liked the most in Fit Lover, according to Sina? I’ll give you a hint…it wasn’t Karena…so which one of the twelve guys?
It looks like Deng Chao is the main lead. Congrats…out of 12 actors, that’s quite an accomplishment. They made the right choice in picking the charismatic Karena Lam as the lead. I’m watching this, and I don’t hate her. Sorry that the audio quality is not so good on the video. It’s actually quite a pretty song. Under the cut.
Zhang Junning spending whatever precious few minutes he has in Fit Lover with Karena Lam
Those criticizing the one-child rule can look no further than upcoming films in China for support. “Fit Lover” is going to star 12 guys chasing after one girl (a spin-off of the 2007 Lunar-New-Year comedy where 10 women chased after one guy), and the upcoming Superboys musical will have all 13 region winners. It doesn’t matter how bad these films turn out; I will probably watch them more than once. It’s going to be cracktastic.
The cast list of Fit Lover with more pics under the cut, and pics from the press conference of the Superboys musical.
