Created by film producer Huang Junxiang (“Ramen Teh”, “Tiong Bahru Social Club”) in collaboration with playwright and comedian Luke Somasundram, “AI Love K-Drama” is a Viddsee Original series that premiered on February 5 on Viddsee.com. The 5 episodes of the series are directed by author Huang Junxiang and other young Singaporean filmmakers such as Tan Wei Ting, and brothers Wong Zhen Jiang and Wong Zhen Hai.
“When there are humans, there are errors. Less humans… less errors”. The fierce boss of a TV / Film production is briefing her frightened employees. Between a verbal abuse and a physical one, she explains the Company must be saved from bankruptcy at all costs, but to avoid human mistakes, she has ordered the innovative AI SANGW00 from the Korean HANGSANGW00 Corp. The robot-like computer will cover the role of director of a new revolutionary K-Drama, inspired and informed by the sea of data generated by all the previous existing Korean series. SANGW00 will analyse the data and come out with the “perfect” K-drama's script. “Producer, find me my cast and crew!” are the first authoritative words that the robot pronounces, fresh from the box, and the meek, stressed out producer Houxian (Lee Hong Kai) feels on his shoulders – as producers do – the terrible weight of this uncharted project and the whole lot of problems it will generate and that he will have to solve.
At the same time, actress Tia Tan (Michelle Wong) is escaping a mysterious painful past living on a small island and taking acting lessons from a retired famous director (Yong Ser Pin). When she receives a flattering letter from the production wanting her for the lead role, she doesn't think twice and heads to the big city, leaving behind her exile. However, once on set, few surprises await her; she meets the cast and crew, including the impossibly handsome Korean co-lead Kim Hun (Aloysius Chua), the veteran actress Mei Hua (Goh Guat Kian) and the technical crew, to the shocking realisation that the director is not human and that the flattering letter was one of many copies sent around to fish out any available actor. Not a good start, but the filming kicks off and a tense relationship starts to form between Tia, who wants to act following her heart, and SANGW00, who follows its flow of big data analytics. Few times the script is re-written, according to Tia's instinctive reactions to the plot and a hybrid, unpredictable drama starts to take shape. Moreover, in episode 3, we discover the traumatic past that has shaped Tia's career choices.
Mixing the familiar self-referential trope of “films about films” and the stimulating theme of human vs AI interaction, “AI love K-Drama” aims at exposing and ridiculing the plethora of dramas whose scripts resemble one another as if composed by a dedicated algorithm. In doing so it takes as an example (no offense) a K-Drama and it genuinely makes fun of it, creating an imaginary computer-generated series where all the usual suspects – Joseon princes, trendy baristas, repressive mothers, languid-eyes heroines – are dished out in a chaotic and hilarious soup. Moreover, in a sort of meta-script, “AI love K-Drama” also informs the audience (deliberately or not) that K-Dramas do love AI. In fact, one of the recent trends in K-Dramas is the theme of a love story with Artificial Intelligence. “My Absolute Boyfriend”, “My Holo Love”, “I'm not a Robot” and “Are You Human Too?” are only few examples.
“AI love K-Drama” does a good job in highlighting the unpredictability of human behaviours and the impossibility of simulating the creative responses humans can provide to unexpected situations. SANGW00 is more than capable to elaborate a script analysing previous themes and storytelling styles, but Tia's inputs are the key to success. In fact, the most interesting part of the series is the dialogue / rapport that builds up between Tia and SANGW00, although it is a bit fragmented and not fully developed. However, some final scenes create a good hook in that direction, to be used in case of a follow up.
As an additional playful sub-plot, the uber-cute Korean star falls in love for the senior character of Mei Hua. Therefore there is a lot of the running time dedicated to languid glances and slow-motion takes between Kim Hun and Tia when shooting, and between him and Mei Hua when on set. It certainly conveys very well the satire about the saccharine mannerism of rom-series, but the point is so loud and clear that after a bit it becomes redundant and the slow-pace of those scenes kills the comedic timing. There are also few comedy moments that are a bit lost in translation, not totally clear or funny to a non-local audience. For example, the archer character; or why in just the first 10 minutes 2 people vomit after a car ride? The only answer I can imagine is that in famously disciplined Singapore driving fast is a rarity … maybe? Not too funny though.
The character of the producer Houxian is the one that opens the first episode in a first-person frantic shoot. He is also the one that seems more affected by SANGW00 leadership – as producers are often the recipients of all the troubles – and in the final episode, he will set in motion a snowballing chain of events leading to the shambolic finale. However, he remains strangely dormant in the whole central part of the drama, which is somehow a shame, as he could have easily been a key element to carry the plot and the comedy across the 5 episodes.
Leading lady Michelle Wong came to the limelight in 2015 through the Singaporean reality-acting-hosting competition program “The 5 Search” and she has starred in many TV series since. She is a talented and accomplished actress and owns the series with confidence. The rest of the cast is capable and charming, notably the Korean hunk Aloysius Chua for his physique and self-ironic role, and the wonderful veteran theatre actor Yong Ser Pin, recently awarded for his compelling supporting role in “Wet Season”.
“AI love K-Drama” has some teething bumps, especially in the editing room and rhythm but it is a fresh and young product; it has been pieced together with noticeable enthusiasm and it deserves a second season.
