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Chained To My Bully Stepbrother (AI Vertical BL Drama)

By Golu
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 ...
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Jump, Darling (Canada)

By Golu
I have very mixed feelings about this film. The film got a lot pf press for being one of the last films by the older actress Cloris Leachman, who by the way is absolutely amazing in the film. But I am a bot confused as to what was the film trying to say. Is it more about coming to terms with your situation or making amends in life, or more like just a slice of life story.

Russell, a wannabe drag queen, breaks up with his boyfriend of many years and moves to the rustic countryside to be with his grandma. She has been living alone by herself and is absolutely against the idea of old age home. Initially Russell's plan is to take borrow her car but something makes him stay. In the only gay bar of the area, he makes some friends and starts doing drag for some money. He slowly starts to fall for one of the bartenders and their relationship is a bit all over the place. When Russell's mother shows up, she is aghast by the idea of her son taking care of the mother but eventually realizes. It seems at some point Russell wanted to be an actor and everyone around him had been very supportive but the drag scene is not working for many. Russell himself is not very sure. His relations with his grandma improves daily who is more than happy to have someone by her side. The end is weird where Russell moves back to the city to pursue his dream of drag and the grandma is left to die alone in her ballet shoes, a tribute that Russell gives to her in his performance too.

Russell is trying to struggle to find his place in the world by revisiting his past, and almost trying to create a do-over. He plans to initially get some money from his grandma quickly turns to taking care of her and loving her. Also the budding romance feels like a fresh start but is not very clear what's the nature of it. It felt toxic in the brief scenes that I saw. There are a lot of drag sequences where Russell is lip synching to the songs. So for viewers who enjoy it, this could be a hoot but for me, it was literally a drag. Performance wise, I felt Russell was a bit rusty initially but eventually I started to warm up. The grandma was definitely the soul of the film. I actually also enjoyed the mother's character who was always supportive of her son. Film is very simple and straight forward at the core but fails to make an impression or give a message. The erroneous ending doesn't help the cause either. (5/10)
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