A timeless love story with no beginning and no end.
An Ancient Love Song is a beautiful, haunting and timeless love story with no beginning and no end. The fresh storytelling approach fits Graham Greene's description of a story as something one arbitrarily chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.Shen Buyan is a professor and popular chronicler of the life of the wicked demon queen of Nancheng that lived thousands of years ago. She is reviled by history for killing a virtuous prime minister and living an extravagant life. Shen Buyan comes into possession of a mysterious jade artefact under an ancient wishing tree that sends him back in time. He discovers that all is not what he expected it to be. He meets the badass Lu Yuan and she moves him so much he wants to change her life and tries desperately to put a stop to a treasonous plot. The story told from Shen Buyan's perspective is in reverse chronological order. Each time he travels to the past, he goes back further in time. Thus the first time he meets Lu Yuan is when she loves him most. And the first time Lu Yuan meets Shen Buyan is when he loves her most.
The plot design is innovative and invites multiple rewatches. The first time I watched it in the order the production intended but you can really start anywhere as the story is a continuum that can be started at any point and can be watched forwards and backwards. Shen Buyan and Lu Yuan are star crossed lovers 有缘无分 destined to meet across time and space but not fated to be together. But because it is a love story that has no beginning in many ways it also does not end. Their enchanted love affair spans thousands of years. Surely that has to be enough.
I cannot praise enough this impressive low budget production that punches above its weight and originates from a fan made video. It is clearly a passion project that the entire cast and production team put a lot of heart into and it shows. It is anchored by the spectacular Zhang Yaqin from Love in Between. She is gorgeous and baddass here too and effortlessly and convincingly transforms from the 36 to the 18 year old Lu Yuan. Shen Buyan is played by Guo Jianan, a bit of a cute newbie actor that takes awhile to get into character but he gets pretty good by the end. The young cast overall delivers charismatic and empathetic performances. The villain role is especialy well done by a young actor with great screen presence and gravitas.
This is a must watch drama that I enthusiastically rate 8.5/10 overall with a story by itself that is worthy of at least 9.0.
PS - Be sure to catch the special, told from the FL's point of view.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYPDTcUwJqQ&t=71s
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A Wonderfully Crafted Love Story
This is a wonderfully crafted love story that takes a unique spin on the time travel genre. I've seen many time travel dramas, but this one is undoubtedly the most intriguing. In this drama, the first time our male lead, Shen Bu Yan, travels back in time and meets our female lead, Lu Yuan, is actually the last time she sees him. He first meets the older Lu Yuan - and each time he time travels, he meets a younger Lu Yuan. So it's like a reverse timeline story which makes it even more depressing imo.It is a low-budget drama, but I think they've used the budget very well. I can tell there's been a lot of care put into this. The cinematography actually looks really good and has some memorable shots.
I have to say, Zhang Ya Qin [Lu Yuan] carried this drama! She absolutely nailed the character. She perfectly showed the different personalities of each Lu Yuan, from a carefree Lu Yuan to an empress. She's also so beautiful I can't- On the other hand, Guo Jia Nan [Shen Bu Yan] honestly delivered a very mid performance imo... He was definitely outshined by Zhang Ya Qin.
Overall, I highly recommend this gem. It's a short one, so it should be very easy to get through. Plus, the story makes you wanna watch the next episode right away lol.
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Watch, Pause, Think and Savor It.
“An Ancient Love Song” shows you that you don’t need a lot of money to produce a drama that moves the audience. Inspired by a fan-made video, this low-budget passion project is able to deliver a well and creatively told story of two star-crossed lovers.The reverse timelines really took me a while to think, pause and then realize what just happened. I have to be honest, I was a little confused in the beginning when ML first met FL. I even felt that the romance was off, because of how it all started. But after I got my bearings, I really appreciated this unique way of storytelling. It reminded me of the Japanese movie “Tomorrow I will Date with Yesterday’s You”, but way better. As the story progresses, each flashback sequence helps fill in the blanks of what actually happened, and the story touches me a little bit more each time.
Zhang Ya Qin (FL) has come a long way. I wasn’t super impressed with her acting in “Love in Between” but here, she did a good job in playing an 18-year old innocent girl all the way to the 36-year Empress. Guo Jia Nan (ML) took a few episodes to get in the groove, but he found his groove and his character grew on me. Zhuang Han might have stolen Guo Jia Nan’s thunder a little and has a stronger screen presence. The rest of the supporting cast did fine but not outstanding.
Since this is a short 14-episode drama, the pacing is good and there are no fillers. I actually would have loved to see a few more episodes, or longer episodes, as I think there’s enough material to dive deeper into each timeline and background stories.
This is a quick and easy-to-binge watch. If you are usually scared of long Chinese period dramas, this is a perfect length to start. You will be greeted by a touching romance told creatively with reverse timelines. Watch, pause, think and savor it.
Completed: 7/18/2023 - Review #332
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"My Tommorow, Your Yesterday."
Watching Chinese dramas for a couple of years finally makes you realize what exactly is wrong with the plethora of them released every month: there is little to no uniqueness in many of their productions or even if it did hold up for a while, they somehow manage to make me lose interest halfway through.For a country that is far behind when it comes to changing their game or shying away from neat finales, An Ancient Love Song satisfies all that I wanted: a no-nonsense story that sticks to its logic to the very end.
So, if you are looking for some regular, well paced drama with sweet fluff, this one might not be for you. "Reverse timelime" is quite serious. Meaning you know the ending before it even began.
An Ancient Love Song reminded me strongly of the Japanese movie, "Tomorrow, I Will Date Yesterday's You." Or the alternate title which is the same as my review's.
Both of them deal with the concept of reverse timelines, although, AALS is anchored to a plot with an objective: fighting your destiny.
Shen Bu Yan, a professor/writer, has released a hit novel he had written based on the few evidences and relics left behind regarding the "Kingdom of Sheng". Unfortunately, when he is pressured to write a sequel about the leading character, an obscure Demon Queen who plundered the Kingdom to ruins, inspite of lack of further information, he hits a dead end. While pondering about the future of his tale, he dreams of the so called Demon Queen and finds that he has time travelled to the past.
Whats more? Lu Yuan, the Demon Queen herself seems to be waiting for him.
While trying to piece together the truth of the events, Shen Buyan discovers that he plays a far greater role in determining Lu Yuan's fate… and that he was stuck in a reverse timeline. He decides to attempt to change destiny.
☆ The Story/Characters/Acting:
I have to mention, I felt that the writers messed up the timeline a bit: it's stated that he meets Lu Yuan after every 10 years into her past. Meaning that there is no way he could've met her at 21 and then at 18 again.
The run time of almost 25 to 30 minutes per episode was well utilized. The story did not stray away from the main leads and their missions.
Setting this aside, the story has a solid plot with strong characters, albeit not having many of them.
Lu Yuan is definitely the star of the show: Zhang Ya Qin manages to portray every single emotion convincingly. From the naive 18 - year - old to the 36 - year - old Empress, she did not falter. The scenes were she grieved for the dead were particularly striking.
Her character was a person of her own, intelligent, powerful and sharp.
Although Shen Bu Yan falls on the silent side of the crowd, I liked him as a person. Though, I would like to know who chose his wig in ancient times - he reminded me of the second senior in Love and Redemption.
The romance was just pure. [I can't find the right words to describe what I felt.] It's not overly passionate, but sincere and gentle. The time reversal does leave us with an unpleasant feeling once we lay down everything from both the leads' point of view, but it is this very feeling that makes the couple one who are not easily forgettable. If you have seen 'My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday', you might get a feeling of deja vu at times.
The secondary couple had little time onscreen, but even the focus on them did not appear annoying.
The supporting cast were strong enough to appear believable and invoke emotions to varying degrees.
In a way, all the characters were tragic in their own right. Though, I found the portrayal of Prime Minister Li Yong's pivotal moments lacking. The time skip of 10 years into the past left several voids in the storytelling -- we are 'told', but never shown how things came to be. One another downside of seeing the story through Shen Bu Yuan's eye's.
☆ Soundtrack/Visuals:
After seeing some flamboyant dramas such as Till the end of the Moon, AALS doesn't have much. But, it did not really matter to me as the story was the one that had me hooked. The OST was plain simple. And the title An Ancient Love Song did not even strike until the end of the series.
Kudos to the bilibili video editor who is the reason why this drama exists. I hope other studios are inspired by this and start making content with quality and not quantity.
All in all, I will recommend this to anyone who seek something unique, romantic yet unfluffy, frustrating yet logical, and entertaining, yet emotional tale of love, loyalty and loss.
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An epic love story meets time travel and destiny
A multilayer love story like this truly breathtaking. A modern man, Shen Buyan, is transported back to Ancient Sheng and watches the death of Demon Queen Lu Yuan, hated by the commoners but loved by her adopted son the Emperor. Upon her death, a jade pendant is smashed into five parts, each part giving Shen Buyan the opportunity to relive a different part of Lu Yuan's life. He quickly realizes history is not what was written and she is a woman motivated to protect her country, even at this risk of her own life and love.What's really unique about this is the freshness of the romance storyline. When Lu Yuan loves Shen Buyan the most, he treats her like a stranger. By the time Shen Buyan can't leave her and chose to protect her silently, she no longer remembers him. They symbolically layer flashbacks, mementos, and music to heighten the bittersweet love story. On rewatch, I bet more of these hidden nuggets will surface.
Although a low budget drama, the costumes, production quality, and cinematography were impeccable. The acting of Zhang Ya Qin as Lu Yuan was phenomenal - she played across a 30 year lifespan and somehow played each age convincingly. The ML started off a little weak but by the end, I was fully bought in to his role as a time traveling historian who fell utterly in love with a young peasant girl destined to be queen. Every lesson he taught pushed her closer to her destiny, despite his intention to merely protecting her from harm. Each time he travels he re-learns that he cannot change history and Lu Yuan will always chose protecting her country over her life and love.
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Sensation of time is unique
When he met her for the first time, he didn’t know she would be his beloved memory.When she met him for the first time, she didn’t know he would influenced her deeply.
Time travel and transmigration stories have a special place in my heart because they often give the perfect context for the main character, usually the time traveller, to be the hero of change / influence.
In An Ancient Love Song, Shen Buyan found a broken jade that allowed him to travel back in time for a set number of times. The plot twists here were
1) He can only stay for a short period (even if he was not killed, he will be forcefully pulled back when the time’s up), and
2) Each time he travelled back, he will go back further to the past instead i.e. meeting the younger Lu Yuan and other characters.
As Shen Buyan figured out the logic of the time travel and going back the past a couple more rounds, it is wonderful (and heartbroken) seeing his growth and acceptance of what he can’t change. By the time the story progressed to his last time travel, a lot of Easter Eggs started to click for both him and the audience.
What’s more, as we see the younger versions of Lu Yuan each time, it becomes even harder not to feel for her and really really hope that she would have made a different decision to change her ending which Shen Buyan and us knew - for herself. Here, it is important to give a shout-out to Zhang Ya Qin for portraying Lu Yuan so well. From the bright hopeful young lady to the wise authoritative queen. That “shackles of fate”, oh my, how irritating, how familiar, how…helpless. The untold irony was Lu Yuan’s skills and potential are influenced from each of her interactions with Shen Buyan.
Such are the fate of star crossed lovers.
Love story aside, the Ancient Love Song also managed to make the supporting cast come alive. The patriotic Lu Shi, the loyal Yi Hua, the complex Prime Minister, the lonely emperor and the strict grandfather - all of them add their unique tune to create this wonderful Song.
If it sounds like a lot to take in for a 14 episode, 30 mins each series, yes it is. There were no fillers throughout the story. We can’t expect a top notched production quality or watertight plot logic from a crew that clearly have limited budget. More importantly, we can feel that there’s a lot of care taken to ensure the important things are done right and the key themes of the story are expressed well.
I hesitated to check this out despite great reviews due to the predictable helplessness of star crossed lovers’ fate. However, what’s more valuable is I got to watch a creative unique story plot that’s made by production and cast with heart.
And I suppose, this is what journeys are made of. :)
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"There's always a cause that results in consequence"
An Ancient Love Song may have been a low budget, shorter Cdrama, but longer, more expensive Cdramas could learn a lesson or two from it. The story was written well and the writers believed in the old adage, “Give them what they need, not what they want.”Shen Bu Yan is on a book tour touting his most recent title which covers the Demon Queen during the Nine Kingdom era. After an argument with his editor, he encounters an old woman selling trinkets to tie to an ancient wishing tree. He spots a broken jade pendant he’d seen in a dream the night before. Back at home his editor tells him he’s required to write a trilogy despite not having any more research for such books. A drop of blood touches the pendant from a nosebleed and he finds himself at the Great Sheng Palace in ye olden times. The Demon Queen is expecting him and the game is on.
I don’t know how this drama passed the censors and the “no time travel” edict, maybe Shen Bu Yan’s jade pendant dazzled them or there was enough standard warfare propaganda to appease them. Whatever the reason, I’m grateful. I’ve never seen Zhang Ya Qin in a lead role before and thought she played Lu Yuan well regardless of the character’s age. She brought Lu Yuan's patient love for Shen Bu Yan to life as well as Lu's determination to do the right thing. And a definite plus, she was no shrinking violet in a fight. Guo Jia Nan as Shen went from hapless fish out of water to strategist just as believably. The two had a nice chemistry despite the characters’ brief interludes throughout the story as each was traveling in different directions. I admire the writers for bringing the drama to a logical end, as logical as time travel dramas can be. Although no one seemed to be concerned about the Butterfly Effect.
Though not a big budget drama An Ancient Love Song was impossible for me to stop watching once I started. It took only the first episode to realize, one’s life and heart was set in “drive” and the other’s was in “reverse”. Forever in each other’s minds yet never quite together, it was a heart wrenching ride as they attempted to save each other and the kingdom, always hoping the next glimpse of the other would be forever.
3 April 2024
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This review may contain spoilers
"A fish in the water, the tail is also the head"
"You fell in love with someone, but we're destined to be apart".An Ancient Song of Love is a beautifully told love story that will stay with you long after you finish watching it
The drama is a beautifully shot and well-acted historical romance. Despite the limitations in production, the director Zhi Zhu has managed to turn a small budget, a cast of lesser-known actors/actresses and an idea based on a fan-made video into what I would call a masterpiece.
The director managed to keep the viewers wanting for more, but also somewhat satisfied with the story and its ending. Despite the entire show only consisting of 14 barely 30-min episodes, the story, characters and their relations is well written. On top of that, the cinematography and set design remained beautiful, and not lacking. The lead actor and actresses chemistry and their respective performances were both moving and heartbreaking.
One of the things that makes An Ancient Song of Love so special is its unique approach to the time travel genre. Instead of simply sending the protagonist back in time, the drama explores the concept of fate and how it can be both a blessing and a curse. Director Zhi Zhu also managed something that is beyond rare in modern day television, she managed to create a show that can be watched from both ends, this way, we as viewers can gain the feeling of knowing the past and the future while watching everything unfold, just like our main characters.
This drama will stay with me for a long time, one might wish for a happy ending, but given the context and the story that is being told, I believe, unfortunately, this is the perfect ending to this drama.
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A Full Circle Storyline
When I first heard about the beginnings of this drama, I really didn’t think I would actually give it a try and watch it. Mainly because I knew from the beginning that it was most likely a tragic love story obviously, which I don’t normally watch because life is sad enough. However I recommend you watch this drama if you’re thinking about it. As someone who would have stayed clear of this masterpiece I genuinely recommend it. The actors did such a good job representing this unique storyline, it wasn’t cliche at all. The OST and cinematography was 10/10 honestly. I am speechless for such a job well done in a drama that was so under budget. Comparing it with other airing dramas like “Legend of Anle”, which had such great A list actors and such a high budget yet cannot even compare in my books honestly.Was this review helpful to you?
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Unique and different in a incredibly beautiful way
This drama serves as evidence that grandiose scenes, big names, magnificent costumes, and outstanding OST are not essential. Instead, the only thing you need is a genuinely touching and marvelous story brought to life by capable actors, proving the timeless truth behind the old saying 'less is more'.Story: 10.0 *** THE SPOILERS AHEAD ***
A truly beautiful and highly unique story, presented in a manner distinct from any others I've encountered so far. Despite its moments of profound sadness, it remains incredibly touching, especially approaching the end, at the end of the 13th episode I've felt that deep emotion of sadness when you are about to lose someone, when you are aware that you're not going to see that person anymore, the one you love so much but you can't do anything about it, they did an excellent job of bringing it to the screen.
The last episode attempts to console the audience, but in my opinion, they didn't even need to do it. The understanding, the love between them, I already sensed that deeply, and if the drama had ended at the 13th episode, it would have been enough, at least for me.
Acting: 9.5
Overall acting is good enough and with excellent job of main leads I give it 9.5, especially the main actress, she is the star of this drama, if you re-watch the episode with his first time travel and their last meeting, you can see her caring love for him and sadness intertwined, just great.
*** THE END OF THE SPOILERS ***
Music: 9.0
It's very good, maybe my rating is a bit high but because of overall impression, I must give it 9.0
Re-watch: 10.0
Constructed in this manner, it leaves ample room for exploring this amazing story through multiple viewings, perhaps even in a non-linear order, and being such a wonderfully written love story, the re-watching value of this one is through the roof.
Conclusion:
My ratings here are purely based on the love story, other things are not so important in this case, maybe some people will find a lot of problematic things with the plot, and maybe they are right, but I ignored all possible time traveling issues and everything that comes with it, only thing that matters here is the love story between them.
So if you enjoy love story and romance without all the unnecessary drama (misunderstandings, love triangles etc.) in it but told in very unusual and unique way, then I highly recommend it.
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Wow! One of the best Historical dramas and Time Traveling dramas ever!
I was blown away by this drama! The screenwriter was masterful - something so rare these days given the plethora of really stupid scripts and storylines. This 14 episode drama was more powerful in its story than most 40-50 episode dramas. It was so well done!I hope this drama and all that were involved with its making and acting get the awards they deserve.
The characters were wonderfully developed and the layers of their complexity were masterfully revealed. Even the last scene with the Prime Minister caught me by surprise. The reverse timeline had me confused sometimes, but it only lasted for a minute, because things became clear as the scene progressed- again, kudos to the writers for doing that so well.
This is one of the best Historical dramas and Time traveling dramas that I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot of them. This is a great one.
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Another good short drama, with complete concept with beginning-middle-end. We can see this is not really a low budget short drama. Even though it's only 14 ep with 35 min each, but we can say this made with love & story to tell.Really interesting how they flip the concept of time travelling & what a poor Lu Yu An (YA). This story start in the future & with each time travelling Shen Bu Yan (BY) move backward in time instead just moving forward. So the first time meeting between BY & YA is actually the last time they met each other & the last meeting is actually the first time they met each other. So yeah, with all the knowledge & missing feeling of BY by YA, it's just pity her...
This drama tell story of BY that try to change the fate of YA. With each time travelling he tried his best to change the fate of YA, but instead changing it, I say he put everything just in the place where it's belong. And with the wheel keep going backward each time we got story to tell...
This time travel concept tell us that we can't really change what in the past, we can only learn & know what happen in the past. That's why, I kinda frustrated with BY actually. He a little bit slow in understand the concept of his time travelling, so he just waste so many valuable time to tell YA what she need to know about future. I mean YA obviously already told him, in the second time, at that time she still has memory of BY, how he not understand that he can't change the wheel of fate...? A little slow if I must say. Haha...
Overall this really one good short story that you may check out. Oh and btw, This is maybe the first time that I really like the performance of Zhang Ya Qin as YA... She played her good....
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