I've always had kind of a love hate relationship with Chinese historical BLs. Some are genuinely excellent, but then there are others that cram in so much plot that keeping track of all the layers of betrayal and scheming gets exhausting, and I end up checking out mentally. Part of the issue is also just how much content is out there in this space, so something really has to stand out to keep me hooked. In this case, the production value is genuinely impressive, top tier stuff, but story wise, I just couldn't bring myself to actually care about these characters. There's a ton of political scheming and backstage manipulation running throughout. Somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, a hostage ends up falling for his own Prince Charming. The show runs eight episodes, each around 50 to 60 minutes long. After spending three years guarding the border, Fifth Prince Yin Qi gets called back to the capital because of a secret letter, only to end up walking straight into a deadly...
I now seriously need to rethink my whole strategy of gay films. Of late, barring a few films here and there, most of the gay films that I have seen are nothing but a major disappointment. Needless to say that this film just adds to that list.
A young artist Manny spends a lot of his time on internet chat with webcam when he is not working or hanging with friends, keeping his physical encounters anonymous to avoid personal disappointment. On the Internet chat line (using 'open camera') some murders are captured and a detective Hamilton takes over the investigation. The detective and Manny had a fling a few weeks back. When Manny's friends (or ex tricks) begin to fall victim to the serial killer on the Internet, Hamilton moves in with Manny to protect him, and it is in this living situation (a very physical arrangement) that the serial killer is finally caught on camera and in person. Who it turns out was dramatic, stupid and just stupid again. I mean common guys grow up. And to top all that Manny ends up with his best friend with whom he had absolutely no chemistry whatsoever. Just because the friend liked him doesn't mean that Manny has to also like him. Its just bizarre.
Except the fact that lead characters were good looking, well built, their acting skills left a lot to be desired. And what was that with the music just playing in the background like moising overriding even the conversations that people were having, specially in the first few minutes of the film. Other thing was nudity which clearly was there just for soft porn reasons. I am gay but I do like decent gay cinema not just random sex scenes thrown in here and there
Utter time waste in the name of gay thriller. (2/10)
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