Tuesday, March 18, 2008

The Seventh Day

Wow, I can’t believe that I didn’t watch any drama during the last months…I decided that I would watch The Seventh Day when I saw the preview clip in the TVB sales presentation and since I saw Under The Canopy of Love with exactly the same cast so yeah…

The Seventh Day Synopsis (from Wikipedia):
Different people have different attitudes to love - even those born on the same day in the same year do not necessarily share the same views. YAU CHI-WING (Cheng, Kevin) and HUI WAI-YAN (Wong Chung Chak,Bosco) were both born on the seventh day of August, but one takes relationships seriously while the other is so money-minded and sees love as a tool to get higher up the social ladder.

The tale begins on the seventh of August, when WING and YAN first encounter their own dream girl on the same island. WING works as a lifeguard on the outlying island. He gets to know pet shop assistant LING KA-YAN (Chow Lai Ki, Niki) by chance and is soon mesmerized by her endearing personality. YAN who works at a coffee shop meets a romance comic artist called WONG CHI-KWAN (Tong Sze Wing, Natalie). Being misled into believing that the girl is from a rich family, YAN decides to chase her. He would never have thought that someone as calculating as himself would end up falling into a love trap.

Cast:
Kevin Cheng as Yau Zi Wing 游志穎 (Wayne)
Niki Chow as Ling Ka Yan 凌加恩 (Niki)
Bosco Wong as Hui Wai Yan 許懷仁 (Don)
Natalie Tong as Wong Chi Gwun 王芷君 (Sa Sa)
Ken Wong as Ching Yat Long 程逸朗
Charmaine Li as Wong Wai 王慧 (Jessie)
Elaine Yiu as Yeung Hau Yee 楊巧兒 (Jade)
Joel Chan as Ma Teen Fook 馬天福 (Martin)
Yvonne Ho as Chu Lei Lei 朱莉莉 (Julie)
Eddie Lee as Lee Geen Kwok 李建國 (KK)
Sam Chan as Shek Ka Wing 石家榮 (Dino)


My comments:
It’s similar to Under The Canopy of Love, meaning it’s still shot in blurry style and still a fairytale-ish trendy city drama. The whole feel and atmosphere actually reminds me of Korean dramas because of the snowy scenery and mainly because of the forever evil terminal disease element.

First, I’ll talk about the bad. It was trying to highlight two men born on the same day but facing different fate but I think that part was not too deeply and well developed. The story can get draggy at times and I felt that the part with Kevin and Niki in Japan was totally pointless and unimportant for the drama. Yes, it’s beautifully shot there but I had my good share of snow this year, so the scenes didn’t amaze me that much. Initially, I thought that I would enjoy the Kevin-Niki pairing more because I found the Bosco-Natalie pairing loud, childish and silly but it turns out later that I enjoy the latter pairing more. Lots of familiar moment and let’s do a recap…The first scene with Kevin and Niki involving the drink…where I did see something similar? A Moment To Remember (Korean movie)! Kevin’s special and odd car…where did I see something similar? A Moment To Remember again! The scene with Kevin covering Niki’s mouth after the fight in the alley…where did I see something similar? Dalja’s Spring (Korean drama)! The antics that Natalie uses in hope to dump Bosco…probably inspired by How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days (Hollywood movie) and possibly My Sassy Girl (Korean movie)!

So is it a total failure? Not really. As predictable and cheesy as it can get (those I have a disease and I don’t want to be your burden blabs…), I was actually moved and I did get teary at some scenes. One thing that is worth to praise is that this story is actually not a love square involving the 4 main characters. Kevin and Niki have their own storyline so did Bosco and Natalie and these stories are not really interconnected. Only Kevin and Bosco have scenes together and their relationship in this drama was nothing more than coworkers. Therefore, Kevin didn’t have scenes with Natalie (okay, maybe one scene), Niki didn’t have scenes with Bosco (maybe one scene as well) and Niki and Natalie didn’t as well. The pairings had good chemistry and the friendship of DDMK and 3J + Sasa is also a pleasure to watch. The best acting goes to Jack, Niki’s dog in the drama. Once you watch the drama, you’ll know what I mean, a true scene-stealer. It’s too bad that he had fewer scenes toward the end. I like the ending, although a bit sad but not overly melodramatic and it’s satisfying this way.

Watch it if you have free time and if you don't mind occasional stiff acting. Really, Kevin is still the same Kevin, Niki still the same Niki (I hope that she can improve her crying though), Bosco still the same Bosco. Only Natalie improved…

* Themesong of the drama

2 comments:

p.w. said...

gah, everything about this series screams 'extreme cheezy!' (like, that promo poster, the theme song, the opening clips, etc...).

but for some reason, i think i want to see this. i guess i'll watch the first episode when i get the chance, then judge from that...

Anonymous said...

This series is so good. Kevin and Nikki seems like they're just living their real life as couples... Bosco and Natalie had no chemistry what-so-ever. The best character would be Jack the dog! ^^