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

Papi Chulo

By Golu
After finishing watching this film, it reminded me a little of 'A Single Man'. Not that the two movies have anything in common, but its the fact that both films focuses more on the loneliness of a gay man and in both cases it has something to do with the loss of their partners.

Good looking weatherman Sean broke up with his boyfriend Carlos almost 6 months ago. After a breakdown on live TV, he is asked to take few days off. He decides to get rid of the bog plan from his deck, the last remaining memory of his ex, but then that means he needs to get his deck repainted. For some reason, he picks up Ernesto, a middle-aged hispanic migrant daily worker. There is obviously a language barrier, but intentionally, Ernesto becomes an ear to everything that Sean has to say, given his loneliness. A very unlikely friendship develops between the two. Sean takes Ernesto for hikes, rowing, parties, eateries, much to Ernesto's dismay on why this is happening but sensitively provides listening companionship. One day when Ernesto doesn't show up, Sean takes to drinking and shows up to his place drunk where his family takes care of him. He leaves embarrassed for his actions and few days pass till one morning Ernesto shows up with his kid to help them translate and to finish the deck painting job he started. The 2 friends are back together.

The story may sound very serious but it's actually done in a very light comedy manner. The chemistry between the leads is really good and you get to see how the friendship between them ultimately develops. There are very few films that show friendships between a gay man and a straight man, unless they have been friends from childhood, so in that sense it was something new. It was fun when Ernesto would call his wife everyday to tell him of all the odd things that he was doing and he doesn't understand why Sean is taking him to all these places. I didn't understand the reason why Sean picks up Ernesto? Did he look like Carlos or something else? May be it was just a chance! It was great to see the hot hot Sean also do a great job of acting and bring out the sensitive side of him. You could see the loneliness he is going through and the craving for friendship and companionship. Talking about flaws, the film dragged in a few places to be honest, and I found myself losing interest, but overall it was ok to see how the two men get used to one another.

A funny yet poignant tale of a lonely gay man, that shows that long lasting binds can be made in the unlikeliest of people. (5.5/10)
Labels:

Comments

Unknown said…
Hello! Our LGBT/thriller CRISIS HOTLINE was recently released on Dekkoo (https://www.dekkoo.com/crisis-hotline) and I'd love for you to review the film after coming across your blog. If you don't subscribe to Dekkoo, just give me an email address where I can send the private screener link and press kit.

Thank you so much for doing thoughtful reviews for LGBT films! And we will make sure it gets posted to all of our social media as well as the IMDB page!

Thanks again!

Mark Schwab
writer/director - Crisis Hotline (aka Shadows In Mind)
mschwab@ditrfilms.com
April 28, 2020 at 12:02 AM
Miisu said…
Actually the story is much deeper than that. It's not presented very clearly, but Sean and Carlos didn't break up, Carlos died and Sean is grieving. That's why his coworkers keep on suggestin he'd take days off and talk to somebody, because he's been hiding his sorrow and devastation and it's starting to affect his work. I was rather confused about the situation with Carlos throughout the film until the moment when Sean calls Carlos's parents and expresses his devastation about them closing Carlos's voice mail. It's a frequently used feature in gay films - when a loved one dies, their voice mail is not closed so it would be like calling the person. You dial their number, hear "their voice" and speak to them, until the inbox is full ("Breaking Fast", "Eyewitness"). Sean offers the parents of Carlos that he could have paid the monthly fee of his voicemail himself, if that was the problem, just to keep the option of "talking to him".

And when Sean arrives to Ernesto's party, all drunk, Ernesto takes him inside and puts him to bed. Some male relatives make a joke and Ernesto says something like "don't you remember what you were like when you were grieving?" and the man immediately becomes serious.

I absolutely loved the last part where Ernesto arrived to finish the deck and brought his grandson to interpret. Since I'm a translator it brought me to tears, because our profession was valued so much in that scene - sometimes all you need is someone who can navigate between languages, and everything becomes clear again.
August 9, 2021 at 7:23 AM
Golu said…
This is such a very very interesting perspective on the film. I never saw it this way, and it makes more sense now.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts !
August 10, 2021 at 9:51 PM
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