Skip to main content

Chained To My Bully Stepbrother (AI Vertical BL Drama)

By Golu
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 ...
Post a Comment

Turtle Hill, Brooklyn

By Golu
This film reminded me so much of Ferzan Özpetek’s films that I have seen over the years. A very similar setup, specially to the Italian film ‘Saturno contro’. But I am not gonna judge this film based on that. We all have inspirations and as long as we still end up producing a good piece of cinema, I am going to appreciate it and enjoy it. This film falls in the same category and was a very pleasant experience in a lot of departments which we will talk about later. The title of the film comes from the name of the neighbourhood in Brooklyn where the protagonists live.

The premise of the film is a birthday party. Will and Mateo have been together for sometime and it is Will’s 30th birthday and they are hosting a party for their closed ones and friends in the backyard of their apartment. Mateo is Latino  and is frustrated with his career not going anywhere and we then find out that Will is not out to his family. Soon after the plethora of friends start pouring in and the plot just follows a party with the interactions between guests. Both Will and Mateo are unsettled emotionally, as are many of their party guests who engage in conversations of love, sexuality, politics, age and ethnicity. New secrets are revealed when Will’s gym trainer comes and kisses Will but it turns out it is Mateo who had slept with him a couple of time sand is now scared that his secret is gonna come out. It is on this birthday in presence of the guests that Will and Mateo have to try to figure out why they are not the happy, loving couple they want to be.

First things, the acting and the whole setting is pretty natural. No one seems to be acting and thats the biggest USP of the film. Friends--straight and gay--arrive, liquor and conversation are flowing, and everything appears to be as it should be. We know that there's a serious underlying tension between the two men, but this isn't obvious to most of their friends. Camera flows smoothly between all the characters. Everyone is given sometime and but none of the characters are probably established including the main leads. I think this has a good potential to become a web or TV series where all these individual stories can be established. Filmed on probably very low budget, I will still congratulate the director for finding actors who are natural, where the flow of scenes are natural and it makes sense. Sure, from a story perspective there may not have been anything conclusive to say but the director knows his craft and I think he can do a good job in making more films

Essentially Turtle Hill, Brooklyn is a snapshot in the life of a couple who are reaching a turning point in their relationship. It wasn't really a great party, and it wasn't really a great film, but the movie had its moments, and its charm, and it exudes honesty, authenticity and transparency. (6.5/10)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Phor Lae Lukchai (Thai) [Father & Son]

By Golu
I think the budget of this film was probably too small, but for that, the film definitely offers a different and unique storyline without over dramatizing anything. Yes, some scenes were a bit amateurish but in the bigger scheme of things, that can be overlooked. The film is both beautiful and sad in its own unique way. Aek is a gay dad, whose partner died right around the time their son Nueng was born through surrogacy in a road accident. The relationship between father and son is unpleasant and unstable. We are not really told why, but it seems the father has been unsuccessful in caring and loving his son because of his partner's death. Aek continues to hook up wit hookers. Also, Nueng is constantly bullied by everyone around him for having a gay dad. He has no friends, except Nat, a neighborhood boy, who also happens to be Nueng's boyfriend. In a sudden turn of events Nat is found murdered along with another boy naked. Saddened by the events, Nueng jumps from roof and k...
1 comment
Read more

Sei no Gekiyaku (Japanese) [Dangerous Drugs of Sex]

By Golu
Every person has their own unique way of dealing with loss. This film is as much a psychological thriller as it is a soft porn BDSM portrayal of two young men that makes the film overall horrifying as well as humane. It is really hard to describe the genre of this film in one word. Its important not that the film has some really disturbing scenes so if you go into seeing this film, please proceed with caution. Although any sexual non-consensual activity is not ok, this film has its won strange way of showing that suicide is not the only solution to all life's problems. Makoto is a regular office goer, who just finds out that his girlfriend is probably cheating on him. ON top of it, his parents sudden death coming back from a trip that he forced them to take, he gets completely dejected and decides to commit suicide. Unknown to him, he is saved by mysterious man Yoda Ryoji, and he wakes up finding himself tied up in leather and belts in a very BDSM setting. This mysterious saver soo...
3 comments
Read more

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

By Golu
Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin...
5 comments
Read more