First impressions: Blossoms Shanghai (繁花)

I watched ep 1 of Blossoms Shanghai, Wong Kar-wai's first foray into TV format, starring a mostly Shanghainese cast such as Hu Ge and Tang Yan, and screenplay by Qin Wen (The Rebel, You Are My Hero).

As other people have pointed out, the period vibes are a bit off, feeling more like a glitzy Republican era drama rather than one set in the more recent 90s. Without any familiarity of what 1990 Shanghai looks like, I think the places look plausible in daylight, paired with footage of those years, but fall further back in time at night and in interiors (especially Xin Zhilei's scenes!). There's this moment where a voiceover of Hu Ge recalls Shanghai's dazzling neon lights, but the accompanying shot is a single signage that feels glamorously dated and not quite right—but who am I to tell. XD

There's a lot of exposition and character introduction in ep1. Production values are very pretty and the cast is robust with talent and aesthetic! But IMO but the cinematography lacks the space and time to breathe that I normally associate with WKW's works, which I think contributes to the ambiguity of the setting. In his movies, Hong Kong with its nooks and alleys is a character of its own for the other characters to interact with. In this show, it doesn't feel like the setting is anything more than the reconstructed (or, more accurately, reimagined) backdrop and context for the story. There isn't really a characteristic sound, either, other than the language that the characters are speaking in.

My other comment is that the script/writing isn't drawing me in, which makes sense since 1) it's about business and the stock market during a period of economic change, 2) this is a drama adaptation of a preexisting novel. I do really like the cast which is probably very important to get people into this type of premise. 😂 I'm expecting it to get stronger once they've gotten past the infodump eps.

Overall I'm not yet sold but I'm curious and wish this was more accessible to international viewers, especially the original Shanghainese audio!

PS. TIL: Shanghainese pronouns: 伊 is the third-person pronoun (same as in Hokkien)? And 儂/侬 = 你?