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 ...
The story is simple (is it?). Captain Favila is the S3 officer in an exclusive school. Private Abel and Private Fujioka are both aspiring for Favila's prestigious position, with the power and popularity it brings. However, the one-on-one interrogations of Favila with the cadets took extremely unconventional detours for him to determine who among the two was the right candidate for the job. The cadet's every aspect is thoroughly scrutinized and humiliated physically, sexually, intellectually. The cadets are pushed to their limits and then a gentle hand from Favila leading to rape like sex.
I believe the film is based in 70s and has a very theatre like feel to it. Favila is in a position of authority and abuses his position accordingly; cadets squirm and twist under his command and can do little else in response. The question of morality is pointedly ignored by both cadet and superior, and much of the tension comes from maintaining that carefully cultivated act of evasion. I'd say this film is less of a gay film but is full on obsessed with homoeroticism with lot of bare chested shots with their faces so close to each other, sweating and sort of wrestling. Even though the setting was theatre lie, I must say, the acting by all three leads was very impressive. It didn't feel amateurish at all. In fact quite a bot of hard work must have gone since their roles demanded a lot of intensity. The seduction scenes are tense and very loaded. I have read online that this film has won many awards. I might be missing a lot of subtleties in the film, but I fail to see if I would recommend this film to watch. I still have very very mixed feelings about this one. (4/10)
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