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 ...
Eric is grieving. He is separated from his wife (and are now very close friends), but the real reason is the loss of his father. He lives in this small town where everyone stands for each other. He struggles in his everyday life and in hopes of better future for his town starts posting videos online. They are seen by Drew, who used to study with Eric. In fact they were best of friends but Drew ran away from the small town in hopes of better future . Now successful, he wishes to reconnect with Eric, though we don't really know what happened in the past. When he visits town Drew gets a warm welcome from everyone, but an indifference from Eric. Eric still blames Drew for leaving him all alone when his father was dying, the time when Eric needed his best friend. At the right time, when Drew is finally able to explain the reason of his leaving the town, Eric is surprised but not shocked. Drew comes out as gay but mentions he is single and misses home. Big cities can still make you feel lonely. Clearly Drew has feelings for straight Eric, who as it turns out may have some hidden feelings for Drew. After a couple of hits and misses, the duo manage to confess their feelings and Eric finally gets some happiness in life.
This film has a very indie film vibe to it. Th subject on the paper is very interesting and to a good extent the makers are successful in execution also but at many places it becomes very preachy. I think the ambition was to make this the serious kind of drama that award and film festivals cater to, but somehow something is missing. And I have been thinking about it, but can't really out my finger on. Was the story too simple or was it acting? I don't know. The acting was good. There relationships were good, but I think at some point we Neve got a feeling of small town community. The 4-5 people we meet felt disjointed and would just come together randomly. Eric was good but wish there was more details into reason for his grief. Agreed his father died sometime back, but that cannot be the only reason. He is clearly not disappointed by divorce since the two of them are best of friends and much happier now. Drew was alright. His character was good and ok as an actor. Eric's ex-wife was the best and the shop lady was too preachy all the time. Also the film moves at a very slow pace and it could have been improved. It take a while to get to the point. The audio of the film is also not very good. The dialogues get lost in the background noise.
I think the makers were trying to go for a niche artsy film, but somewhere ended up making just an average product. (5/10)
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