Laughing in the Wind (2001)

So far the best wuxia martial arts based drama from china that I've watched. Most have many stupid plots thrown in as well as love stories that go wrong for stupid reasons but this drama manages to find a good balance and at least give sensible reasons for most of the things that go wrong. Also has a happy ending if you care about that stuff.

One of the things I enjoyed most in this is when the main character goes into disguise and does chivalrous hero stuff. Theres usually lots of hilarious content when he does that though it only happened about twice if I remember correctly. This is your basic regular-martial-artist-turned-super strong/strongest-after-journeying-the-wuxia-world-and-learning-skills-from-some-master(s) type of story. So if you're a fan for that kind of stuff (or Jin Youngs novel adaptations) you should definitely give this a go. It has all that ridiculous martial arts with people flying all over the place (aka wire-fu) and explosions happening lol (like actual explosions and not a lot of the crappy cg effects you see in Chinese drama these days due to budget restraints or whatever).

Overrall production was very well done. The characters immersed with expertly/appropriately designed costumes (got to respect actresses as nuns with actual shaved heads, or at least wearing props that make them look bald), so many awesomely choreographed martial arts fights, lots of non-cg explosions, so many epic moments and the build ups that lead to them, and a really good love story that pondered some challenging questions; The love of a man from a righteous sect and a woman from an evil sect and what it meant to be considered righteous/evil in such a time. Oh and theres bloody conspiracies.

Major flaw with this series is that there are parts of the story that seem out of place or missing. It could have you confused like you missed an episode even though you didn't. An example would be when the next episode does not continue from the cliffhanger of the previous episode (Unfortunately this happens quite a bit during the first few episodes and then once/twice in the later eps). I think they might have shot too much footage and had a hard time deciding what should be included in the final cuts. And thus parts of the story might have been cut off. This was my only major gripe with the drama even though it still ends up being my fav wuxia series. Also watch out for episodes being mismatched on streaming sites e.g. a video would read ep 39 but it’ll be listed under episode 38 in most sites (this exact problem is present in most sites except youre streaming on maybe dramafever, which probably has better subs as well)

Still the overall experience definitely makes this a must watch. So if you can ignore the major flaw I mentioned and make it past a few eps, you just might find yourself an enjoyable wuxia adventure with a love story you’d be happily shipping.

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Unforgettable wuxia drama

Laughing in the Wind is one of my top wuxia drama and Jin Yong adaptations. Whereas there are shows that are forgotten as quickly as you’ve finished watching them, this one still haunts me. I have flashbacks of scenes in which friends play music in the misty mountains or a hero mourns the death of his enemy as petals rain upon him.

I loved pretty much everything about this adaptation. I found the main cast members to all be spot on. The plot is beautifully rendered: it is dynamic and vivid, full of quidproquos and mysteries, yet also poetic and evocative, soulful and contemplative. The characters’ arcs and inner life are fascinating. The landscapes are gorgeous. The fight scenes showcase the beauty and skill of martial arts. To me, this show is the twilight of a golden era, before the excess of CGI and before a time when actors are idols who can’t fight so close-ups and slow-motions have to be used to hide their lack of skill.

The drama has its flaws. I found the latter part to be messy and rushed. The viewer has to fill in some of the blanks to link different episodes together.

Overall however, I rank this adaptation as one of my very favourites among the Jin Yong’s works and among wuxia dramas in general!

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