This is the second vertical AI BL drama I've sat through, and honestly I went in knowing better. I had it on while I was doing cardio at the gym, and what struck me was just how much the plot echoed the last one I watched. Same step brother romance angle, same mystery girlfriend showing up near the end, same extra guy pining after one of the leads. Genuinely the only thing going for it was the runtime, the whole thing wrapped up in forty five minutes flat. The setup kicks off with Finn moving schools because his mom just married into money. He finds out his new step brother Aiden goes to the same place, and he's warned to keep his distance from him. Their first run in at school is rocky, just like you'd expect, but there's this odd pull between them neither can shake off. Finn keeps telling himself not to read into it because Aiden's straight and openly homophobic. Things shift when some kids start bullying Finn and the student council president, Ryan, steps in to ...
This martial art film also is about sexual prejudice, hypocrisy, intolerance and violence. Rather than shying away, the film deals with all these issues head on. You get to see some really touching moments. Living in 80's in COlorado, McClain's life is a nightmare from every minute that town found out he was gay. Everyone despises him, hits him and no one talks to him. He is weak and gets beaten in school. He has tried to join a martial art school but they always make excuse to not take him. The school is run by an asian immigrant family. Their daughter Karen comes back to the town after 5 years. She had left the town because of the discrimination that she faced wherein every member of the family got black belt except her because she was girl. When McClain's mother approaches her to train her son, she accepts the challenge and one day the truth comes out when suddenly a college guy tries to bully McClain and he hits back. This does not go down well with Karen's family and the town. Both McClain and Karen get into a bad fight with local hooligans and are hospitalized. The truth then comes out that Karen is HIV positive and got it through her boyfriend. After a slurry of emotions, Karen's family comes to term with it, nurses her till the time she finally gives up and dies. A strange strong bond had developed between the 2 protagonists. Karen shared with McClain the story of when everyone in the town had refused to bury her boyfriend who was dying of AIDS, the LGBT community came forward to help and teaching McClain martial arts was her way of returning favor back to community.
It is truly an amazing and touching film. Although made on a very low budget, the film looks pretty true by heart. Problems aren't completely solved here. But The Sensei gives us an idea of where we can start. Acting is alright although the family of martial art reactions were a little incomprehensible to me.
A good and decent watch. (5/10)
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