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 ...
This is the second of the Arthur J. Bressan, Jr.'s film that has been restored. His cinema traditionally has been a look into an often forgotten corner of gay cinema: The erotic film that offers a full package of story, sex, and soul; as written in my review below.
Larry re-reads the letters he didn’t dare send to his imprisoned lover, remembering how sensual & beautiful life with Richard once was. Richard, behind bars, yearns for Larry and imagines him near. Now Richard is being released. Together again, will Larry and Richard find the love they once shared?
The reason Larry doesn't send the letters is for the fear that they could mark him for abuse inside the prison. Larry has been counseled to type his letters and sign a woman's name to them, but he doesn't want to do that; he prefers to pour out his honest feelings in his own voice, and save his letters as a homecoming present for his man. In between all this, of course we have more than plenty of sexual encounters like sensual picnics, fantasies about joining Richard in jail for simultaneous episodes of onanism in adjoining cells, and a swaggering daydream in which Richard approaches from a desert landscape before pleasuring himself. Maybe there is a much deeper meaning to these letter exchanges and how the two men are feeling but so many sex scenes, IMO, take away the essence of the storyline itself. The film eschews the crude fetishization that many porn films have of the prison and prisoner, Richard is fighting against the mundane with his memories of Larry being the only thing that carries him through the days. I can see why everyone keeps saying that these are important pieces of film making for anybody who wants to fill in the blind-spots of queer film and queer filmmakers who emerged during gay liberation; but these are just not for me. I am curious what others think. (3/10)

Comments