The Maturation of Zhao Liying in “The Story of Xing Fu”
Taking a step away from historical dramas, Zhao Liying (趙麗穎) transforms as a villager in urban drama The Story of Xing Fu <幸福到萬家>, where she overcomes hardships with positivity.
The Story of Xing Fu is adapted from novel The Wan Family’s Lawsuit written by Chen Yuanbin (陈源斌). The story follows young villager He Xingfu (Zhao Liying) on her journey from the rural village to the city. After successfully becoming a lawyer, she returns to her hometown and helps the villagers fight for their land while emerging as an unlikely leader.
Playing a character with a grassroots background, Liying embodies her role from inside out. With Liying’s detailed and skillful control of expressions, director Zheng Xiaolong (鄭曉龍) complimented, “She is not simply a beautiful actress. She made great efforts to study her character, and eventually found a way to make it uniquely her own.”
Despite the drama’s positive focus, some viewers believe there is a huge quality gap between The Story of Xing Fu in comparison to 1992 The Story of Qiu Jiu <秋菊打官司> starring Gong Li (鞏俐). However, the film is based only on the first chapter of Yuanbin’s novel, while The Story of Xingfu is adapted from the novel’s entirety and covers a broader range of issues.
While some viewers found fault in Liying’s acting, others pointed it was a turning point for the actress, “There are no doubts on Liying’s acting” and noted her performance “was enough to make people cry.”
Source: Up Media
“Story of Xing Fu” Trailer
Maturation of looks? Maturation of resources? Yes and yes. Maturation as actress? IDK what to say when she doesn’t even film much, it’s always the second leads working harder and their performance are better but goes unrecognize. Actually, even blame for stealing more scenes when I don’t think that’s the truth. I think she is unable to memorize scripts, so she always let second leads take over.
I also understand the use of stand-ins for period dramas when there are fighting scenes. For contemporary, if there is nothing dangerous, there shouldn’t be any stand-ins. Standing up and walking are not dangerous or hard scenes. Please save these types of praising articles for the truly serious and hardworking artists instead.
ZLY picks her scripts well and has a fair amount of acting chops but against Gong Li or even Betty Sun there is no comparison. She needs to move beyond relying on the support of her fans and improve her acting skills.