In love with Love Contract
I am about episode and a half into Love Contract and am more in love with it since I've been with anything since...last thing I was in love with :)
Love Contract centers around Xiao Feng (played by Ariel Lin in my favorite of the three things I've seen her so far) and Ken (played by Mike He who has never looked better). Xiao Feng is a tomboy (she wears loose, baggy clothing and even an unpretty short wig to school so as to get less attention) and is a president of the college kendo (type of fighting) club. She runs it with a strict strict hand, and two of the members rebel and decide to join the swim team instead, only to find out too late that the swim team captain is just as strict and perfectionist as Xiao Feng herself. The captain in question is Ken, who is a quiet loner, the strong and silent type. Well, the friends decide to make life easier for themselves and offer Ken a deal. In exchange for finding a coach and swim team members (no one really want to join), he would have to take Xiao Feng out for a movie. That way (reason they) maybe both of them will mellow out. And it goes from there.
First off, because it needs to be stated: Mike He is FRELLING hot! Seriously, it's unreal. In fact, between this and Devil Beside You, if you want to check him out, I'd rec this one. I like the story better but also he looks much better in this one, and the acting is natural (not OTT the way DBY was) and hey, I find his character more appealing.
But now, for meta. It obviously is spoilers for the first ep and a half, but it's all set-up anyway so I don't reall think it's spoilery. Still, bits pertaining specifically to the eps are under the cut.
I love the way this is shot. It's beautiful. I love that whenever XF chats on the computer she is literally in a rectangle of light tubes (I am not sure how to explain it, but it's really cool). Blues predominate and the images of water are really really prevalent. Both XF and Ken relate to water in different but very crucial ways. When we first see XF, she is in the aquarium, and she seems the most relaxed and at peace I've seen her so far (and there is another acquarium at home). And the one shot of her i the shower makes her look as if she is cleansing herself in the water, not just cleaning. Yes, this is a dual relationship because she also fears it. She cannot swim and she mentions that she used to love swimming but we get a flashback to her being pushed into the pool when she was little and the boys mocking her and she seems to have a fear of drowning. There is a brilliant intercut when Ken throws her into the water in the first ep (she challenges him to a fight) and her memory of that childhood terror. And as for Ken, he seems to find some sort of focus with all the water. He is a pretty isolated guy; we get repeated images of him by himself when the rest of the people are in a crowd: he is by himself in the locker room, he is running laps around the pool when XF's class is taking an exam, at the bar, he is by himself bartending when the rest of the people are partying, he is by himself in his room. And the water must reinforce this sense of isolation, which could be good or a bad thing.
I like XF because she is a fiesty person (a very overused word but appropriate). She is the captain of the fighting club and when she challenges Ken to a contest and he refuses saying he doesn't accept challenges from girls, she makes him take it anyway. And in the kendo match she beats him. But she is also wounded. She wants to fall in love, but she won't let anyone close, she has a fear of both swimming and fire (the latter might be connected to the fact that she has severe scars on her back). And her parents have basically abandoned her, mother for trips and father for work and she is left to the care of elder sister.
The odd thing is, Ken reminds me of (for the two people on my flist who've read 'The Charioteer' by Mary Renault) of an Asian version of Ralph Lanyon, only straight. And if you know of my thing for Lanyon the size of Kentucky, it's a good thing. We haven't found out much about his background yet, but he seems entirely lonely. We see him cook and care for an older woman who just lies in bed without moving (I am not sure if she is his mother or what) and there is a girl a bit older than him who he asks if she had her medicine, but those are the only real personal interactions he has. If they are his family, than he is their caretaker and all he has there is responsibility, not support.
And he likes to draw. I love the bit where he is drawing and that girl who lives there asks him what he is drawing and he replies 'angel floating in the water' and it's clear he is remebering XF (who he jumped in and fished out after that incident and then gave her CPR which normally isn't hot, but when Mike He is doing it in that gorgeous lighting and with that music...hold me) and the girl comments that the hands as drawn are too rough and then leaves and he looks at his hands and touches them to his face.
I am already shipping them, and they haven't even dated yet. But so gorgeously filmed.
Love Contract centers around Xiao Feng (played by Ariel Lin in my favorite of the three things I've seen her so far) and Ken (played by Mike He who has never looked better). Xiao Feng is a tomboy (she wears loose, baggy clothing and even an unpretty short wig to school so as to get less attention) and is a president of the college kendo (type of fighting) club. She runs it with a strict strict hand, and two of the members rebel and decide to join the swim team instead, only to find out too late that the swim team captain is just as strict and perfectionist as Xiao Feng herself. The captain in question is Ken, who is a quiet loner, the strong and silent type. Well, the friends decide to make life easier for themselves and offer Ken a deal. In exchange for finding a coach and swim team members (no one really want to join), he would have to take Xiao Feng out for a movie. That way (reason they) maybe both of them will mellow out. And it goes from there.
First off, because it needs to be stated: Mike He is FRELLING hot! Seriously, it's unreal. In fact, between this and Devil Beside You, if you want to check him out, I'd rec this one. I like the story better but also he looks much better in this one, and the acting is natural (not OTT the way DBY was) and hey, I find his character more appealing.
But now, for meta. It obviously is spoilers for the first ep and a half, but it's all set-up anyway so I don't reall think it's spoilery. Still, bits pertaining specifically to the eps are under the cut.
I love the way this is shot. It's beautiful. I love that whenever XF chats on the computer she is literally in a rectangle of light tubes (I am not sure how to explain it, but it's really cool). Blues predominate and the images of water are really really prevalent. Both XF and Ken relate to water in different but very crucial ways. When we first see XF, she is in the aquarium, and she seems the most relaxed and at peace I've seen her so far (and there is another acquarium at home). And the one shot of her i the shower makes her look as if she is cleansing herself in the water, not just cleaning. Yes, this is a dual relationship because she also fears it. She cannot swim and she mentions that she used to love swimming but we get a flashback to her being pushed into the pool when she was little and the boys mocking her and she seems to have a fear of drowning. There is a brilliant intercut when Ken throws her into the water in the first ep (she challenges him to a fight) and her memory of that childhood terror. And as for Ken, he seems to find some sort of focus with all the water. He is a pretty isolated guy; we get repeated images of him by himself when the rest of the people are in a crowd: he is by himself in the locker room, he is running laps around the pool when XF's class is taking an exam, at the bar, he is by himself bartending when the rest of the people are partying, he is by himself in his room. And the water must reinforce this sense of isolation, which could be good or a bad thing.
I like XF because she is a fiesty person (a very overused word but appropriate). She is the captain of the fighting club and when she challenges Ken to a contest and he refuses saying he doesn't accept challenges from girls, she makes him take it anyway. And in the kendo match she beats him. But she is also wounded. She wants to fall in love, but she won't let anyone close, she has a fear of both swimming and fire (the latter might be connected to the fact that she has severe scars on her back). And her parents have basically abandoned her, mother for trips and father for work and she is left to the care of elder sister.
The odd thing is, Ken reminds me of (for the two people on my flist who've read 'The Charioteer' by Mary Renault) of an Asian version of Ralph Lanyon, only straight. And if you know of my thing for Lanyon the size of Kentucky, it's a good thing. We haven't found out much about his background yet, but he seems entirely lonely. We see him cook and care for an older woman who just lies in bed without moving (I am not sure if she is his mother or what) and there is a girl a bit older than him who he asks if she had her medicine, but those are the only real personal interactions he has. If they are his family, than he is their caretaker and all he has there is responsibility, not support.
And he likes to draw. I love the bit where he is drawing and that girl who lives there asks him what he is drawing and he replies 'angel floating in the water' and it's clear he is remebering XF (who he jumped in and fished out after that incident and then gave her CPR which normally isn't hot, but when Mike He is doing it in that gorgeous lighting and with that music...hold me) and the girl comments that the hands as drawn are too rough and then leaves and he looks at his hands and touches them to his face.
I am already shipping them, and they haven't even dated yet. But so gorgeously filmed.