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 ...
Ezéquiel, 15, is left home alone by his parents for a month while they tour around Europe. His big house and pool make it easy for him to invite male friends, allowing him to test whether they’ll return his overtures. Frustratingly none of them does till he meets Mano, an older skater and they become lovers. Things seem fine till Mono invites Eze for a weekend with his cousin Chino. Mono suddenly disappears after that weekend. It's only when Eze receives a video clip of him and Mono having sex from Chino, is when Eze realizes what has happened. The video’s going to go out on a pay site with blurred faces, and what’s more, he needs Ezéquiel to recruit younger boys for videos just as Mono did with him. Initially disturbed by turn of events, he starts to gain confidence as he turns to seduce a 13 year old boy Juan from his neighborhood. He follows the same tactics that were done to him, only to finally realize that this is not who he is and he confides in his father.
While watching the first half of the film, interestingly the film gave a thriller vibe as well, both through observational visuals and a score that keeps jumping the gun whenever anything potentially unsettling is on-screen. You could feel something is going to happen but it doesn't. It's not until you see the blackmail video. Nothing is in your face. You feel something is off over the weekend when you see a bit of aloofness from Mono and how they both just happen to be alone. The Mono chapter suddenly is paused and the focus then gets on Juan which I found a bit odd. I guess the idea was to show Eze's growth and how he deals with situations presented like this. The actor playing Eze fits just perfect in a role that demands childlike eagerness towards sex and also being aware of his own sexual power in the second half. He slides glances under his eyelashes at other boys when he thinks that they won’t notice, then is tongue tied with embarrassment when they do. He is learning to flirt and that reminds one of your youth days. The entire film rests on him as an actor and he does a great job. A few gaps that I feel are why would parents leave a teenager all by himself for a month, how come they don't question his friendship with younger boy, and how they seem totally disinterested in his life. Some background would have helped. But yeah, you do have a sigh of relief when Ezequiel (I love that name btw) reaches out to his father.
Slow film but if you are familiar with Marco's work, you wont find this out of place. Novel story and good treatment, I just feel slightly underwhelmed but still a good movie experience. (7/10)
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