Tamra the Island: the Island of Awfulness
Aug. 8th, 2009 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousie(Yes, I know I owe everyone a million replies. I promise to get to them).
Not being one to bash something I have never seen (much as I do get tempted), I decided to give Tamra the Island a chance, despite the fact that the trailers made it look like bad slapstick, the fact that I found the male lead (a French model who looks albino) horrifically hideous, and the fact that it was produced by that powerhouse of awfulness, Group 8.
Theoretically speaking, a drama tongue-in-cheek take on a story of a 17th-century European teenager with a huge Orientalism fetish washing out on the Korean island of Jeju at the height of the Hermit Kingdom's isolation could be pretty neat.
ALAS. Unsurprisingly, with Group 8 at the helm, Tamra is indeed The Island. The Island of suck.
Bad english is one thing (though why do all the Dutch speak english to each other is a mystery). Bad acting is another. Plus, the whole tone seems jerky, not right - the thing does not draw you in, it has no flow. It sort of feels like period Boys Over Flowers *shudder* but BOF was quite good in the beginning and certainly entertaining.
I am not against slapstick and OTT - not even in a period setting. But to do a period drama with slapstick silliness and make it work is HARD - normally it comes across as awful (I never warmed up to Legend of Hyang Dan and it was a lot less OTT than Tamra looks set to be). Hong Gil Dong managed - it was almost ridiculously OTT and slapstick in the beginning and it was an amazing amazing drama, in my Top 10. But unlike Tamra, HGD was written by my favorite kdrama screenwriters, the Hong Sisters. And it starred the beyond-awesome Kang Ji Hwan, my favorite Korean actor - the acting and writing made it work, made the dark underpinnings stand out even in the beginning among the giddiness, made the people feel real. Tamra has a young cast who are extremely inexperienced (the only one I recognize is Im Joo Hwan - he played Yi Jung's older bro in BOF). And as to the screenwriter, the best I can say is it's not written by the insane person who wrote BOF.
Now, I may be wrong - it may magically improve. Stranger things have happened. But with Group 8 at the helm, a young, inexperienced cast, and a scriptwriter I am not familiar with, I sincerely doubt it. The PD is that of The Legend but oh well - even the best of us need to eat, I suppose. From Bae Yong Joon first drama in 6 years (and THE epic masterpiece, IMO) to this. Poor guy.
I am not particularly complaining - my kdrama slate is full as is - I am still way behind on the genuinely AMAZING Friend, the solid action-romance Swallow the Sun and delightfully trashy Dream.
But yes - Group 8 continues its exemplary track record. I am very very not surprised.
Not being one to bash something I have never seen (much as I do get tempted), I decided to give Tamra the Island a chance, despite the fact that the trailers made it look like bad slapstick, the fact that I found the male lead (a French model who looks albino) horrifically hideous, and the fact that it was produced by that powerhouse of awfulness, Group 8.
Theoretically speaking, a drama tongue-in-cheek take on a story of a 17th-century European teenager with a huge Orientalism fetish washing out on the Korean island of Jeju at the height of the Hermit Kingdom's isolation could be pretty neat.
ALAS. Unsurprisingly, with Group 8 at the helm, Tamra is indeed The Island. The Island of suck.
Bad english is one thing (though why do all the Dutch speak english to each other is a mystery). Bad acting is another. Plus, the whole tone seems jerky, not right - the thing does not draw you in, it has no flow. It sort of feels like period Boys Over Flowers *shudder* but BOF was quite good in the beginning and certainly entertaining.
I am not against slapstick and OTT - not even in a period setting. But to do a period drama with slapstick silliness and make it work is HARD - normally it comes across as awful (I never warmed up to Legend of Hyang Dan and it was a lot less OTT than Tamra looks set to be). Hong Gil Dong managed - it was almost ridiculously OTT and slapstick in the beginning and it was an amazing amazing drama, in my Top 10. But unlike Tamra, HGD was written by my favorite kdrama screenwriters, the Hong Sisters. And it starred the beyond-awesome Kang Ji Hwan, my favorite Korean actor - the acting and writing made it work, made the dark underpinnings stand out even in the beginning among the giddiness, made the people feel real. Tamra has a young cast who are extremely inexperienced (the only one I recognize is Im Joo Hwan - he played Yi Jung's older bro in BOF). And as to the screenwriter, the best I can say is it's not written by the insane person who wrote BOF.
Now, I may be wrong - it may magically improve. Stranger things have happened. But with Group 8 at the helm, a young, inexperienced cast, and a scriptwriter I am not familiar with, I sincerely doubt it. The PD is that of The Legend but oh well - even the best of us need to eat, I suppose. From Bae Yong Joon first drama in 6 years (and THE epic masterpiece, IMO) to this. Poor guy.
I am not particularly complaining - my kdrama slate is full as is - I am still way behind on the genuinely AMAZING Friend, the solid action-romance Swallow the Sun and delightfully trashy Dream.
But yes - Group 8 continues its exemplary track record. I am very very not surprised.
