I have been hearing talks from Yu Zheng about the movie version of
The Palace for the last two years. I actually never expected much from the guy except for fluff. Thanks to my growing interest in the Chen Xiao and Zhao Liying pairing, I started to pay attention this movie when I learned that they both have a part in it. This newly released official trailer unexpectedly blew me away with the visual quality and cinematography. The overall atmosphere of the film is characterized by this dark heaviness. The actual film looks tenfold more impressive than any official stills publicized so far. Chen Xiao's real voice is also very character appropriate and sounds so much better in the movie than in interviews. I can already sense bitchiness of Zhao Liying's character smug. And lastly, I love Zhou Dongyu's innocence and melancholy. Her youth certainly adds to the natural innocence of her character. I do not feel any forcefulness.
Watch Trailer:
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTcxNzE1OTI0.html
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Zhou Dongyu as Chen Xiang, 13th Prince's second wife |
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Chen Xiao as the 13th Prince, Yinxiang |
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Zhao Liying as the villainous Liuli, 13th Prince's first wife |
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Zhu Zixiao as the evil 9th Prince and Liuli's secret lover |
However, I still highly suggest those looking forward to this film to keep their expectations low. The script is written by Yu Zheng. As you may all know, Yu Zhen is not quite popular for his storytelling.
Both Zhao Liying and Chen Xiao show a lot of promise in their acting career. They exhibit no shadows of their past roles and succeed in curving out an unique vibe in every character I have watched so far. I usually judge a good actor by how much I can dissociate their new character from their past performance.