[Mainland Chinese Movie 2016] A Round Trip to Love 双程

[shuwei]

Title: A Round Trip to Love 双程
Genre: BL, Modern, Romance, Drama
Release: September 12, 2016

Based on the novel A Round Trip to Love by Lan Lin

Synopsis:

Lu Feng and Cheng Yichen (亦辰) has strong feelings for each other, despite of being extreme opposites in terms of personalities and family backgrounds. But due to cruel fate, their love ended prematurely and Lu Feng was sent to Hong Kong by his family. Years later, they met again but both are no longer the same person they were in the past.

The rich and beautiful Zhuo Lan, the imperious and overbearing Lu Feng, the Cheng Yichen (亦辰) that always place his friends and family first, the Cheng Yichen (亦晨) that wants to protect his other brother...their lives are haunted by many struggles and misunderstandings.

Cast:

Huang Jingxiang 黄靖翔 - Cheng Yichen 程亦辰

Gao Taiyu 高泰宇 - Lu Feng 陆风

Shang Hao 向皓 - Cheng Yichen 程亦晨

Yi Shuai 乙帅 - Qin Lang 秦朗

Luan Leiying 栾蕾英 - Zhuo Lan 卓蓝

Trailer:

OST:

Behind the Scenes

Spoiler

BTS 1

BTS 2

BTS 3

BTS 4

 

Official movie: LE

Official weibo

Director's weibo

Novel author's weibo

A Round Trip to Love Novel English Translation

[new_breed_asia]

Full version

 

[new_breed_asia]

Yi Shuai and Huang Jingxiang (via Yi Shuai's weibo)

[shuwei]

my thoughts after watching part 1. i have been waiting on this release for what felt like a million years u_u... this entire thing is just going to sound like a giant plug for the novel, but it's my mom lan lin's magnum opus and i gotta promote it

general impression: 

Spoiler

omg it's well-made. the cinematography was great and the visuals are on point; it looked like a music video. 

there's no debate about the general plot, at least for me anyway. a round trip to love gave that masochistic pleasure of reading about two people who are the absolute WORST for each other but has no way to move on from each other. that's why it's such a long novel; you gotta be dragged to all that angst to convey the vicious circle. of course, it's very difficult to do that in a 1 hour. it's the disadvantage of the movie format...some scenes felt rushed and that diminished the emotion of the overall story. i wish that this story can be adapted into a 50 eps makjang story, but it is what it is...

but leaving that aside, i like the movie a lot. who doesn't want to see such a beautiful montage of a favorite novel

acting: 

Spoiler

gao taiyu did a good job with lu feng. they did tone lu feng down (i know that shi*t goes down in part 2 on but they did cut down a lot of the gritty stuff in this part too) and gty's mannerism in particular made lu feng's very sweet, but i can still sense that boiling temper underneath that's threatening to rupture at any moment. he also looks just like how i imagined lu feng in my mind! 

as for huang jingxiang's portrayal, to be honest, it was very different from my image for xiaochen. idk, the way huang jingxiang carries himself has sharpness and confidence that xiaochen definitely would not have. he's also looks too made up. like, he's saying xiaochen's vulnerable lines, but it doesn't feel right. and that's ok for the initial portion of the movie, but it's important to show how later on being with lu feng progressively wears xiaochen down mentally. it's a pretty hard role, but i'm definitely anticipating him to deliver in part 2

but let's be real here, him and gao taiyu...they look so damn pretty together. the beauty in some their intimate scenes was blinding! easily the most good looking gay movie cp i have ever seen since joo jinmoo and jo insung lol

some changes i liked SPOILERS

Spoiler

1. increasing their ages to college (?) students 

2. keeping xiaochen/qin lang to a minimum. i was actually hoping they would cut it out all together but this is good enough. bc in the novel, they actually dated for awhile and qin lang even called out yichen's name while they have sex and xiaochen thought it was his name....those chapters were such torture for me bc how sad is xiaochen's life seriously

(and tbh i hated yichen and qin lang in both the main novels and whatever sequels they appeared in, lol...maybe it's bc there's so little screentime, but they're less irritating in the movie)

3. changing the reason xiaochen got upset with lu feng when they were about to get back together. bc in the novel, xiaochen went to lu feng's house with the key he was given and caught him boning some guy on the couch D: and when xiaochen turned in his resignation, lu feng said some really awful things to him and brutally raped him right then and there. i ABHORRED that scene. that's when i knew lu feng is a true nutjob. 

since they changed it to lu feng's engagement in the movie, it wasn't even lu feng's fault! lu feng seemed so sad and desperate during the resignation scene that i really felt bad for him. and when xiaochen went to find him at the construction site after reading his letters, it was cute (unlike what happened in the novel...)

 

[IMOmusings]

@shuwei DO you know how many parts there are meant to be in total? I don't want to start and then invest myself in it if there's a possibility China's going to pull it before they complete the story T_T

EDIT:....watching this in Viet....is so much more cringeworthy than without subs T_T

this is like....THE MOST toxic relationship ever...but for some reason I can't help but hope that they get together O_O

[shuwei]

@IMOmusings i have no idea. probably 2? so far it looks like they are using exact same format as uncontrolled love (even right up to the post-release q&a lol)

honestly, it would be complete miracle if they can get part 2 released bc of the subject matter...but hey, they managed to keep the kiss scenes in part 1 so i have hope

[IMOmusings]

12 minutes ago, shuwei said:

@IMOmusings i have no idea. probably 2? so far it looks like they are using exact same format as uncontrolled love (even right up to the post-release q&a lol)

honestly, it would be complete miracle if they can get part 2 released bc of the subject matter...but hey, they managed to keep the kiss scenes in part 1 so i have hope

I was having a look around, and apparently part 2 is getting released in 1-2 weeks. One of the fb fan pages apparently has a connection to the production team O_o

[new_breed_asia]

Gao Taiyu

credits to his weibo =)

[shuwei]

lan lin's weibo:

lmao why is xiao cai this short omg...i feel like would be cuter if they just hug at their real height and xiaochen's entire face is in his chest

[IMOmusings]

this movie is cultivating the sadistic side in me...I know all those...violent scenes should make me cover my eyes and ears...but for some godforsaken reason it just draws me closer to the screen...

CHINA IS CORRUPTING ME T_T

[new_breed_asia]

6 hours ago, IMOmusings said:

this movie is cultivating the sadistic side in me...I know all those...violent scenes should make me cover my eyes and ears...but for some godforsaken reason it just draws me closer to the screen...

CHINA IS CORRUPTING ME T_T

 

You can't blame the online novelists who started this craze...

[shuwei]

omg the bts for the sadistic scenes in part 2

lmaooo...when i watch part 2 all i'm gonna remember is the tickling

btw blued is one of this movie's sponsor. it's the biggest gay app in china, so the cast had a photoshoot with the most important lgbt symbols of all. this pleases me :)))

 

[shuwei]

i have never had a summer so full of turtle necks in my life

Spoiler

is lan lin trying to tell us something about psychos who runs a company and loves turtlenecks...

 

[IMOmusings]

ROFLMAO - the bTS AHHAHAHA:

"you still have more lines" AHHAHAHAHAHHAHA

[shuwei]

official weibo: 2nd part release on 9/28

*sweats*

[cahserayu]

On 9/13/2016 at 5:38 PM, shuwei said:

keeping xiaochen/qin lang to a minimum. i was actually hoping they would cut it out all together but this is good enough. bc in the novel, they actually dated for awhile and qin lang even called out yichen's name while they have sex and xiaochen thought it was his name....those chapters were such torture for me bc how sad is xiaochen's life seriously

(and tbh i hated yichen and qin lang in both the main novels and whatever sequels they appeared in, lol...maybe it's bc there's so little screentime, but they're less irritating in the movie)

o y,in the novel I think Qin Lang was date with xiao chen if im not wrong,but in the movie he is yichen's bf

the movie change plot?

@shuwei,please tell me  the novel story abt qinlang and yichen(coz that I know qinlang like xiaochen,but why at the end qinlang be yichen's bf?)

[Guest]

Lu Feng and Cheng Yi Chen are the most attractive couple so far in BL dramas from what I see.

Gao Tai Yu reminds me of a mix between Bae Yong Joon and Kang Ha Neul for some reason. A lot of times, Gao Tai Yu's 'cute' face makes it hard for me to envision Lu Feng's sadistic nature in his toxic relationship with Cheng Yi Chen in the upcoming scenes to unfold.

[shuwei]

17 hours ago, cahserayu said:

o y,in the novel I think Qin Lang was date with xiao chen if im not wrong,but in the movie he is yichen's bf

the movie change plot?

@shuwei,please tell me  the novel story abt qinlang and yichen(coz that I know qinlang like xiaochen,but why at the end qinlang be yichen's bf?)

Spoiler

what happened in the source material: 

qin lang is yichen's friend. qin lang and xiaochen met a in bar and had a drunken one night stand. afterwards, xiaochen asked qin lang to be his boyfriend, wanting a new relationship in order to get over lu feng, and qin lang agreed. 

they dated for awhile until one day xiaochen overheard qin lang confessing his love for yichen. turns out, qin lang never liked xiaochen: they only had a one night stand bc qin lang mistook xiaochen for yichen that night. yichen was actually aware of this, but he pressured qin lang into dating xiaochen to make xiaochen happy (mess...)

of course, qin lang/xiaochen broke up. then qin lang/yichen got together

what happened in the movie is an abridged, less traumatizing version

[Guest]

FengChen are so cute!

Spoiler

Credits: Kenh14

 

[izziehudson]

Just watched this after recommendation from a good friend, love love love it! Didn't know Huang Jingxiang is also a top cosplayer o_o 

Wow the novel seems pretty messy (simply put, the movie version is the waaaaay MILDER version) - I have to read this novel!

Hmmm Gao Taiyu is a babe. So good looking, he gives me Aaron Yan vibes... HJX's facial features are great too, loved his videos on Weibo!

Can't wait for Part 2 ^.^