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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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Ekaj

By Golu
The story of a lonely, confused, adrift teenager trying to survive in the big bad world of New York streets is what this film is about. Sadly, even though the premise is interesting, there is no real story to speak of. Its just a sequence of events that take the narrative forward that show the numerous dangers and negotiations one has to do on a day basis to survive.

Ekaj, a sixteen year, gender fluid person has an abusive boyfriend who just uses him and Ekaj somehow can't see it. Things change when he meets Mecca who takes him under his care. Mecca has AIDS and multiple problems of his own. He is high all day, stays occasionally with his cousin but still manages to be the only voice of reason in Ekaj’s hopeless world. They cruise the city together looking for money and places to stay, which includes meeting prospective clients where Ekaj gets forced into prostitution and sometimes rape. Their relationship develops into true love and care for each other. With passing time as Mecca gets sicker, Ekaj starts to become less vulnerable and stronger.

A film like this laced in realism with no professional actors is a gamble, which didn't pay off in my opinion. Mecca was good in his portrayal , but the innocence and grit and confusion needed was somehow missing in Ekaj's performance. The presentation of a marginalized community of people who have bene probably thrown out o house , belong to LGBTQIA community and need to survive, is a topic that's never easy. It shows reality and not entertainment and this is what this film does as well. Not just another portrait of life on the mean streets, it is also a study of sexuality that rings extremely true in todays shifting cultural climate, where the LGBTQ community continues to evolve, now, more than ever, within a media saturated aesthetic. This is independent cinema with low budget trying their best to make a point, except it just did not work for me. Had the film known that it is going somewhere, with something concrete to say, I would have connected more with it. (3.5/10)
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