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...
If you have been a follower of my blog, I put this post about a short film "Dare" and did mention that this film has the potential of being made into a full length feature film. Well guess what, someone did listen to us and used this idea to make a full length feature film. Although the film really didn't preceded or follow the story but the short story fits in very well in the narrative. I liked the fact that they stuck to the original dialogues and scenes of the short. I wish they stuck with the original actors too. The film is split into 3 acts from the perspective of individual 3 characters and a final act of them together. Alexa is a typical teenage high school girl who wants to become an actress. He drama partner is Johnny who doesn't take it seriously. She wonders if being bad would benefit her and so she gives in to have a physical relation with Johnny. This transformation in Alexa makes her best friend Ben feel betrayed. He also has had a crush on Johnny. One night when he is there to pick up Alexa, he offers to give a ride to Johnny home. They talk and end of kissing together and Ben giving a bj to Johnny. (This was the whole re-enactment of the short film) This makes him very happy and he comes back home and decides to tell Alexa all about it. We don't get to see the reaction. Finally we are shown that Johnny has had a troubled life with divorced parents, lot of money but no one to talk or be friends with. He is happy that he now has Alexa and Ben as friends but both of them think they have Johnny. Johnny wants to be with both of them together but its not possible. This causes friction between Alexa and Ben as to who rightly deserves Johnny. This breaks his heart and he goes back in his silo. The film ends with a scene where Ben and Alexa are ready for college and Alexa sees Johnny going for an acting audition.
This was a typical teenage drama. As much as I am glad the short film was made in a film, it did not satisfy my expectations. Acting was good and good direction but somehow a connection was missing. I would have liked to see what exactly was Johnny's history. The good thing is that the film does not judge anyone's preference. The ending is yet another "profound" attempt at open-endings.
The film didn't bore me but didn't meet my huge expectations either. (6/10)
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