Shadows of Love is a movie that until now I can’t reconcile how I was able to finish.
It is bordering between plain to abysmal. It is supposed to be a romantic comedy but the romance part I thought was playing hide-and-seek with me.
Chinese rom-coms are really far behind acting and story wise. I think Chinese production companies should really start investing in good stories first and not predictable ones.
Kwon Sang Woo is so good in Pained and it really baffled me why he took on this project. Let’s just blame it to him trying to expand his stardom to the Chinese audience, but really it is such a waste of talent.
The story went like this…
Paris, an heiress to a business empire was thought to have been affected by a disaster in her visit to Korea. Because her father is sick and recuperating in the hospital, it would affect her family’s position in the company especially since her uncle has been wanting to usurp the top position.
To remedy the situation, Kwon Jung Hoon (Paris’ boyfriend) approached a woman who looked exactly like his missing girlfriend to assume his lost GF’s identity. That would pacify the situation in the company and the worsening health of the Chairman.
Paris’ doppelganger acquiesces to Jung Hoon’s proposition but started awkward in imitating the heiress because of their extreme opposite personalities. While Paris is bossy, cold and classy; Qin Xin is meek, natural and warm. Eventually, Qin Xin was able to adapt Paris’ identity in time for a charity ball hosted by her evil uncle.
Paris on the other hand made contact with her cousin and is aware of the contingency plan by Jung Hoon. Conflict arises when Jung Hoon’s emotion gets swayed towards Qin Xin who is also feeling the same way with him.
On the night of the ball, Paris emerges unannounced and meets Qin Xin for the first time. The latter steps down to the role she is playing sadly owing to the growing fondness she feels for Jung Hoon.
Paris makes Jung Hoon chose between her and Chung Xin. Jung Hoon apologizes for breaking Paris’ heart and decides to be together with the girl who has made him fall in love unexpectedly fast.
There… that was just the story about. No frills, nothing new, not even something that would make your heart flutter. This movie no matter how I tried to see any hint of goodness in it, I still am unable to compose a decent encouragement for viewers to watch it, as there’s really nothing worth seeing. I’m sorry movie.
*Originally published on abbyinhallyuland blog on 6 May 2013
Photos: DMG Entertainment
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