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 ...
Franky and Ballas have been best friends forever and are also a part of the swim team. Ballas is older of the two and has a steady girlfriend and enough sexual experience. ON Frankie's birthday night, the boys ending up "experimenting". They both are slightly discomforted by the whole thing but Ballas completely freaks out. He spreads the news in school that Franky initiated the encounter and that he is gay. News spread and suddenly the school is against him. Its also important to know that Franky lives with his mother and sister and his father left them when he is realized he was gay; which is something that Franky doesn't want to accept. Shunned by everyone, Franky finds a companion in Ballas's sister Tasha, who is herself a victim of bullies and has a backstory. Also she is well too aware of her brother’s tendency to deny having any part in occurrences he himself instigated. Franky is not sure about his sexuality and both his mother and dad try to tell him that its ok to experiment. You shouldn't have to label anything. It should just be about sexual encounter with a person. Why does the gender have to matter! Tables soon turn when Ballas encounters Franky in an empty parking lot of beats the crap out of him. This gives Franky time to gauge things. He decides to make amends with his father and visit him and thats one of the most brilliant scenes of the film.
Some scenes in the film stand out. When Ballas and Franky have the encounter, we are not clearly shown what exactly happened and like the characters in the film, we don't actually know the truth for quite a while. And everyone , including audience is just assuming because no one is coming out in open and I thought that was wonderful. Also when Ballas beats up Franky, it speaks volumes about the self-loathing and his inability to accept. True friendship is tested and honored by Franky, when he does not tell anyone what really happened. Because that would put Ballas and his career in swimming team at risk. I love that at the end Franky learns to own it. We are still not 100% sure about his sexuality and neither is he but thats not important and this is exactly what the film is trying to educate to today's teenage youth. The end of the film is also very poignant. Franky recognizes that Ballas has had extreme difficulty owning his own sexuality. Franky can finally see that Ballas is suffering, and he lets Ballas know that he is aware of it and that he will always love him.
I am so thankful that this film did not follow any cliches and seemed very natural. Even parents judgement and their interactions were more practical than over dramatic. I would highly recommend this film. I am shocked that this film is not being talked about on a larger scale. (8/10)
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