Skip to main content

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 ...
Post a Comment

A Distant Place (Korean)

By Golu
This is a nice and quite, slow burning drama that slowly but surely takes you deep in its layers. Yes, the film is slow, but the rural beauty of the countryside and some really god understated performances make up for it. Just be patient. The film is about individuals, relationships and how we perceive one another.

Jin Woo works and lives a quiet life in a sheep ranch somewhere in the countryside with his daughter Seol. The ranch owner and his daughter treat them as family, which also consists of the owners mother. Soon after, Jin Woo’s male friend Hyun Min arrives at the ranch, and reveals that the two have been long-time lovers. Except no one knows about their relationship and they try to keep it quiet. They dream of living happily with Seol in this peaceful place. However, with Jin Woo’s twin sister Eun Young’s visit, the conflict begins. In fact, Seol is Eun Young’s daughter but Jin Woo has been raising her because Eun Young disappeared. Conflicts internal and external start happening, starting with old lady's death, and town people finding out truth about Jin-Woo's sexuality. They become exclusive and discriminatory as they learn about the truth of the two men. Even the intentions of family members, who thought they knew each other well, feel like ‘a far place.’ Worse is when Jin Woo cannot take it anymore and the couple has a bad fight where he blames his boyfriend for everything. The boyfriend leaves him and soon his daughter is also supposed to go live with her real mother.

The ranch and its surrounding area provide a number of lovely sceneries to be admired, just like the characters and their story and how it unfolds. We are never given the backstory of the two lovers but it is not important. They met in college but for some reason Jin Woo moved here and now his partner wants to be closer to him. That is clear. My problem with the film is that if the idea was to make a queer film, which is what it feels, there was too little focus on it and it got crowded with a a lot of other characters and focus on them. Maybe that was the intention. How I wish the focus was more on the couple, the kid, the love but it also felt the makers wanted to have a good focus on the ranch owner and his family, which to be honest could have been reduced a lot. But, besides this, the film has a undercurrent of poetic vibe going on, which is not surprising given that the boyfriend teaches poetry. I would definitely recommend this film, if you have enjoyed slow burning films like God's Own Country. It definitely is not a match to that one, because of not going too deep in exploration of the entire queerness of the cinema, but nevertheless it does make for a good and beautiful watching experience. (7/10)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Phor Lae Lukchai (Thai) [Father & Son]

By Golu
I think the budget of this film was probably too small, but for that, the film definitely offers a different and unique storyline without over dramatizing anything. Yes, some scenes were a bit amateurish but in the bigger scheme of things, that can be overlooked. The film is both beautiful and sad in its own unique way. Aek is a gay dad, whose partner died right around the time their son Nueng was born through surrogacy in a road accident. The relationship between father and son is unpleasant and unstable. We are not really told why, but it seems the father has been unsuccessful in caring and loving his son because of his partner's death. Aek continues to hook up wit hookers. Also, Nueng is constantly bullied by everyone around him for having a gay dad. He has no friends, except Nat, a neighborhood boy, who also happens to be Nueng's boyfriend. In a sudden turn of events Nat is found murdered along with another boy naked. Saddened by the events, Nueng jumps from roof and k...
1 comment
Read more

Sei no Gekiyaku (Japanese) [Dangerous Drugs of Sex]

By Golu
Every person has their own unique way of dealing with loss. This film is as much a psychological thriller as it is a soft porn BDSM portrayal of two young men that makes the film overall horrifying as well as humane. It is really hard to describe the genre of this film in one word. Its important not that the film has some really disturbing scenes so if you go into seeing this film, please proceed with caution. Although any sexual non-consensual activity is not ok, this film has its won strange way of showing that suicide is not the only solution to all life's problems. Makoto is a regular office goer, who just finds out that his girlfriend is probably cheating on him. ON top of it, his parents sudden death coming back from a trip that he forced them to take, he gets completely dejected and decides to commit suicide. Unknown to him, he is saved by mysterious man Yoda Ryoji, and he wakes up finding himself tied up in leather and belts in a very BDSM setting. This mysterious saver soo...
3 comments
Read more

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

By Golu
Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin...
5 comments
Read more