Monday, August 10, 2009

The Little Nyonya

I have heard of the famous Singapore drama The Little Nyonya which came out in 2008 but I never actually thought of watching it. Not until Astro decided to screen it with replays at 12am week nights! I started following but to sleep at 1am on working days was a huge sacrifice. Not anymore when I discovered a friend's DVD box set. I chased the entire drama and completed it in less than a week LOL. Astro is still just half-way through by the way :P


Anyway yup, I have to agree it's an interesting drama which revolves around the Baba Nyonya culture during the 1930s. To be honest, I have never followed Spore drama or series but only the occasional comedy ala Money Not Enough and PCK Pte Ltd genres. So kudos for a drama that finally caught my attention. The cast were pretty convincing in their actings and I must say I really hated the guts of the villains.

However it is also a little frustrating to see the not so Happily Ever After ending. And some of the actions and thoughts are pretty mind-boggling. I'll be like o_O "Oh, come on"..Do the people in that era really have such naive thinkings and such filial piety, I wonder? Not to say filial piety is not good but too one-sided either way is not the way to go I would say. Oh, and women in Baba culture led pretty sad and dull lives unless you became the matriarch of the house. Then you had all the say. Plus I notice some loopholes in the storyline and fyi, they are also listed on wikipedia LOL

Anyway, again I must say the ending isn't what I would have hoped for. Worse they came out with an extended episode which many thought was supposed to be the alternate ending. Instead, they went on to emphasize the original ending. Kinda lame-ler. There are speculations of a possible sequel that will twist the existing ending to create even more drama. To me, it's just an excuse to prolong the story, garner more viewers and ultimately higher ratings. Though if it's really out, I guess I would watch it anyway :P

Lastly I must touch on the themes. All 3 songs featured are pretty nice and I like the 2nd subtheme the most. A sad song and when played during the sad scenes, it up the sadness a notch further. Sang by JS, it's called Xu Yao (Need). I particularly like the 2 lines in the chorus:

Ai shi yi zhong xu yao, que bu ying ding yao de dao
Love is a type of need, it's not a must to get it

Zhi yao ni jue de kuai le jiu hao
It's good as long as you feel happy



需要 - JS

如果把你的眼神默背好
ru guo ba ni de yan shen muo bei hao
就可以无视寂寞的悬崖
jiu ke yi wu shi ji muo de xuan ya
我想,我不会像现在这么糟
wo xiang, wo bu hui xiang xian zai zhe me zao

如果把走过的路都记牢
ru guo ba zou guo de lu dou ji lao
就可以面对断线的依靠
jiu ke yi mian dui duan xian de yi kao
至少,孤单不用如此的骄傲
zhi shao, gu dan bu yong ru ci de jiao ao

不止热雨的微笑
bu zhi re yu de wei xiao
增加跟脑海的湿掉
zeng jia gen nao hai de shi diao
抓不紧,也放不掉
zua bu jin ye fang bu diao
未来的某个街角是否转身就找得到
wei lai de mo ge jie jiao shi fou zhuan shen jiu zhao de dao

爱是一种需要,却不一定要得到
ai shi yi zhong xu yao, que bu yi ding yao de dao
只要你觉得快乐就好
zhi yao ni jue de kuai le jiu hao
梦会温热眼角,让回忆像水草般缠绕
meng hui wen re yan jiao, rang hui yi xiang shu jao ban chen rao
却总能让人勇敢不笑
que zong neng rang ren yong gan bu xiao

爱是一种需要,聚散却没办法预料
ai shi yi zhong xu yao, ju san que mei ban fa yu liao
只能在心里做个记号
zhi neng zai xin li zuo ge ji hao
直到哪天遇到,还会是同样的味道
zhi dao na tian yu dao, hai hui shi tong yang de wei dao
下雨也好驱风也好 心想着就能不会难熬
xia yu ye hao qu feng ye hao xin xiang zhe jiu neng bu hui nan ao

My Rating:

15 tots:

Soo Huey said...

Ahh!!!!!!!!!!!! Your video is a SPOILER!!!!!! Need to have spoiler warning ler...

I must agree. I rarely get hooked onto dramas and don't even go to the cinemas anymore because I find most mainstream movies we get are sub-standard. But Little Nyonya deserves following. Interesting and script cleverly written (referring to interweave of characters n storyline, but I try to ignore loopholes like how come she didnt die of food poisoning when the crazy guy fed her birdsnest that is already so white and how a butchers cleaver can cut a bullet into two). Love it!

Currently on Astro, Yue Niang just got home after doing all those tests to choose wife for Chen Xi, but because of the Liu Yi Dao controversy, the grandma chose for Yu Zhu to marry him instead. Chen Xi just found out at the end of the episode today. Stress la me waiting to find out what will happen!! But you dont tell me harr...

Wei, I notice in your video there's an angmoh with Yue Niang. You know, I never understood how come her pronunciation so perfect for an uneducated person learning English at a mature age. Anyway, based on your writing and the video, looks like Yue Niang listened to his family and married Yu Zhu???!!!??! But Yue Niang ended up with some angmoh?? Sigh. Don't tell me. I shall just be sad till i find out what happens. :(

Soo Huey said...

ei, the dvd boxset belongs to who? how many episodes? i dont wanna google to find out in case i ter-see spoilers again... xD

Catherine said...

LOL i din know shuey chase drama one :P
Anyway the video was meant the song nia, jst ignore the ppl in it kekeke...

haha so u watching the 12am replays isit or the 7.30pm slot? haha dats y i dint want to wait and watch 1ep per nite, stress nia...oh and boxset belongs to Terry. 34ep altogether.

haha cannot be she is a deprived genius ar? dats y can learn such perfect english from Yu Zhu?

"..Yue Niang listened to his family and married Yu Zhu??"
WEI, get your characters name right la at least LOL.. ok i will not TELL you but give u a hint, there are still surprises installed. keep on watching ;)

tanshuyin said...

MY...i wanted to discuss some stuff wiv u on this drama wan. now dare not write anything. later shuey TER-read then scold me summore!
hahahah

Catherine said...

hahaha write la in question or generic form..or we ban shuey from reading anymore comments for this post until she is done with the show kkekekeke :P

Unagi said...

i followed this drama closely also some weeks ago, and really loooooved it! listening to this song somehow brings back some nostalgic feelings...

Catherine said...

nostalgic feelings abt the show or own memories? :P

Soo Huey said...

@SY: u ask lah... but i'm gonna stop reading comments here k? if theres anything i'm supposed to read, pls pm me on msn or hotmail.

@MY: aiyo.. 'chi kek' so typo yue niang instead of chen xi. sigh.. more surprises installed means more 'chi kek'!! 1 by 1 episode memang susah. can i borrow fr terry too? or SY has it too? wei... u answer me elsewhere coz i'm not gonna b reading here d.

Catherine said...

haha wah shuey really dun wanna read comments d :P

so sy u can ask d if u still want to keke..

oh n shuey was asking me in msn whether u have the dvds coz the ones i borrowed sudah returned

tanshuyin said...

MY...bout the loophole arr on y yueniang knows how to go to find her mama coz juxiang is deaf n mute. maybe her dad told her the address leh. coz the dad also knows where juxiang lives wan ma coz he has been there to take photographs rite?

and the moral of the story is BUAT BAIK AKAN DIBALAS BURUK.
coz Yuzhu masuk tanjung rambutan and yueniang no descendents.
(hopefully shuey really dont read here anymore!)

DVDs ada tapi kat peter's parents' place. they are still watching it.

:)

Catherine said...

haha possible also la..but after the dad came back from the war like a bit "wan wan tan tan" d..alwiz war nitemares nia..duno whether he might have told her or not.

ahhahahah yalo in the end the son was Robert Zhang's face..wah i hate dat guy!! :P

Elly said...

Ooo.I'm soooo suprise taht Soo Huey chasing for this drama ...haha...really suprise seriously~!~! Anyway, i loveeeee singapore movie since the day i study in UTM cause we get to watch all singapore movie all the way from Johor and their movie don't have any cut scene leh...i mean those with xxx ahem.and they even have victoria secret fashion show..love it~!~!...which we can't have it here in malaysia but only available through download......All their movie has a story behind to learn..my mum has the DVD and i was discourage from watching it because of my hubby...cause they say have sad ending la..but after reading your blog YIng, i guess i will start to watch the first episode by ignoring him..let see he will watch too when he see me watching tonight hehe...cause both of us are a big movie fan.. and see how exciting this movie going to me. My mum friend is acting inside as a part timer (that why she bought the DVD for her haha) but i'm not sure in which scene. let me find out first haha...is the movie held in Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion?

Catherine said...

hahaha yeah she is really chasing..very into it somemore. even asking me to fill her in on the 2eps she missed :P

yeah, i watched movies in spore cinema before too and yup takda censor one

watch, watch..let ur husband get hooked also kekekkee

ooh really ar, wow let me know which one is ur mum's fren when u find out ok..yup cheong fatt tze's mansion was used as part of the filming ;)

Ciyou said...

I first watch this movie when I visit my sister at singapore last year christmas. It was a popular drama there too.

I was out at 8pm when the movie starts at 9pm, those aunty will say quick quick, I want to go back watch movie liao....

I didn't really watch the entire movie as when I watch that time adready toward the end, later when I come back to Malaysia, I just chase finish the few episodes reminding...

I am too lazy to watch the whole drama~~

Catherine said...

haha well since you know the ending d, i guess no need to watch the start d lo :P

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