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

The Third party (Filipino/Tagalog)

By Golu
A romantic comedy film, this film has a very interesting premise when started but somehow somewhere in between, I felt the makers were confused as to what genre did they really wanna focus on. It was primarily drama but the comic scenes or dialogues were thrown in at random places, and I as an audience was quite confuse as to what mood should I keep while watching the film.

Max and Andi are a couple in college, but when Max decides to go to US for medical studies, she decides to break up with him because she doesn't believe in long distance relationships. 5 years later when he comes back home, he reaches out to Andi increasing her hope of getting back together but all her dreams are shattered when Max introduces her to his boyfriend, a fellow doctor Christian. Max convinces her that he i snot sure of he is gay but he knows that he loves Christian. 2 years later, the film gets in current time when Max and Christian have been together for 3 years and Andi is still struggling to get her events management business going. Christian is slightly controlling in the relationship and keeps pushing for the couple to adopt baby but Max is not sure, especially when his parents don't even know about him being gay. Around same time, Andi's boyfriend turns out to be a crook and she finds herself pregnant. She reaches out to her best friend Max for help and Christian sees this as an opportunity and they make a deal that the couple will adopt the baby and till then they will take care of all Andi's expenses. As expected, Andi sometimes longs for her ex-boyfriend; Max finds comfort remembering old days with Andi around and Christian is always worried if Andi is going to take his boyfriend away. Things go sour when finally the stress of relationships takes over and Max kisses Andi. Andi leaves home and Max and Christian decide to take a break. Sanity prevails soon and once the baby comes and a year later, everyone is happy in their space.

My big problem with this otherwise decent film is none of the characters are really sure what they are and what they want. Andi keeps telling herself she is over Max but secretly still longs at him. Max is still confused when Andi comes back in life whether he is gay or straight. When in one specific scene, he clearly says he is bi and its about person and not gender, the film could easily have gone to that route, instead of the cliche when Christian asks Max to pick either him or Andy. As an audience we are always confused as to who to empathize with, because all the characters are full of faults themselves but they expect perfection from the others. Some comedy scenes are over the top but I think thats a common scenario in filipino movies , so I will discount that for now. Max and christian's conflicts are cliché, and the solutions to their conflicts are grossly convenient and seemingly ill-suited. The last 10 minutes is so rushed when everything magically and very very conveniently comes along together. Max's parents are accepting, the couple is happy and even Andi is ok being a very good mother. It all felt very convenient. On the positive side, Max as an actor was good and very handsome to look at. His and Andi's chemistry was better than his with Christian.

As I mentioned before, had the film explored the topic of gender fluidity, as it was briefly mentioned, it would have been a lot more interesting. In current space, with some tighter editing, this film is strictly an average light watch. (5.5/10)
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