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 ...
Doc is a regular student awaiting graduation, who spends most of his time online either jerking off for his fans or stalking Go (a go-go dancer in NY) because he has huge mancrush on him. One night he drunkenly sends email to Go pretending to make a documentary about the NY club scene and asking if Go wants to be his subject. Surprisingly and to Doc’s horror, Go replies and agrees to be filmed. The movie follows the next three weeks, as Doc tries to make a documentary about Go. They interact in a way that makes viewers feel it more like a documentary. We visit Go’s apartment, we get to know what he lives like, what goes through his mind when he performs and his intimate thoughts and desires. During this, as expected, Go and Doc come closer physically as well and start a relationship. Thankfully, Go knew that this documentary making was all a facade for Doc to get closer to him (which we find out only later in the movie) but it works for the film. Things move on and slowly Doc realizes that there is more from life that he wants. He doesn’t want to be a regular run-of-mill gay man in NYC. Instead he wants to be in country, farm and create his own life. Finally, Doc leaves his shell of online stalking and Go proves to be a lot deeper than the shallow facade he displays.
First things first, the film has only 2 characters and the whole film rests on them being engaging and likable. Thankfully both the actors are amazing in this department and thankfully both of them can also act well. So half the job of the film was done with the absolute right casting that keeps the viewers engaged with their half scripted and half natural dialogues. The film also dissects the gay culture vis-a-vis the conversations that the two have with respect to whats normal, acceptable or radical. Taking in two polar opposite characters, this task becomes easy. Doc is anti-social and feels comfortable in the recluse on his online world in the safety of his room. On the opposite, Go’s character brings certain expectations of who he is, but actually getting to know him is such a sweet surprise. On a flip side, the beginning 30 minutes takes time to like and is a bit slow. And then there are 2 long scenes which just go one forever: one where we watch Go sleeping and the other where Doc and Go are kissing all over NYC.
This is one of those films that seems fairly small and simple on the surface but reveals surprising depths as it unfolds, with interesting characters, some intriguing ideas and plenty of sexiness. (7/10)
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