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 ...
Manuel returns home earlier than originally planned for his parents big celebration of their 25th wedding ceremony. He secretly wants to ask them for money so he can visit his boyfriend in Europe. We find out that he had come out to his family sometime back. Even though everyone is happy to see him, he feels they are different. His sister is really happy to see him and they discuss various things. It's not like parents are unhappy but they just don't want to talk about either his sexuality or his boyfriend, despite various attempts by Manuel, which eventually frustrates him. Meanwhile, just after a day of coming home, Manuel's boyfriend dumps him leading to Manuel's existential crisis. The poster child for the parents is their second son, who is a budding tennis player in Europe. But Manuel soon finds out that the family is hiding the secret that their son impregnated his girlfriend and they are now trying to hide the whole thing not just from society but even their own son. Manuel finds comfort in his old teacher and starts seeing him but it's just a fling for the teacher. The other siblings have their own issues going on with the family. But when the father singles out the second son as their pride, Manuel blurts out the secret, giving an opportunity for introspection for the whole family. Feeling like the black sheep in his close-knit boisterous family, who all happily work together in their family-owned pasta factory, Manual’s trip home becomes an opportunity to reconnect with the family he thought he’d left behind.
This film is more about self discovery. It turns out Manuel doesn't want to be architect but he also doesn't know what he wants. His parents accepted that he is gay but he is not allowed to talk about that at home. Part of it I can understand. It is not easy for parents to just change their life long beliefs. It takes effort and patience. Now that would be a good topic to make a film on from parents point of view. I don't think they were entirely wrong. I wish we could know more about real reasons for Manuel's frustration. Was it him not finding love, was it the family, was it his own career uncertainties? It felt like it was a combination of all and this trip back home eventually turns out a good opportunity when re finally realizes that cooking is his real passion and he can even in fact make a living out of it. Manuel, both as a character and an actor, is a bit weird in first 20-ish minutes of the film but then grows on you. An actor with slightly more charm would have worked well. And whhy does he have to walk around with that fanny pack everywhere in that small town. It's 2020, for God's sake. All other actors do really well, especially the sister. There is not much graph to either the poster child or the youngest teen son who is pretty much in his own world.
The film is really about relationships with family and their expectations with a happy ending. After a clunky beginning, the film eventually is a decent watch. (6//10)
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