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 ...
Caz (gay) and Chris (straight) are best friend, who are DJs but they also run a pirate radio network promoting punk music. The film starts with murder of TJ at a local gay cruising park. While Caz is distraught by the death of his friend, Chris seems focused on balancing a professional career in commercial radio without selling out. During this time Chris meets his girlfriend Tracy also. Somehow Chris gets hold of the tape that was recorded during murder making him a suspect but when he calls Caz for help, he is busy with his new boyfriend Billibud. The duo even have a showdown leading to Chris to broadcast the music alone even though the radio station has been vandalized. Chris is then attacked by TJ's murderer, who turns out to be someone he and Caz had thought of as a friend. Meanwhile, Caz's boyfriend Billibud also gets attacked by local skinheads. A grand reckoning takes place at an open-air disco in the park where TJ was murdered, where his murderer falls to his death in the inferno of his own creation. The film ends with the two DJs reconciling their differences while they clean records, which is followed by a one-by-one each of the friends joining into dance together.
The film is less about gay romance but more about friendship, and the racial and sexual tensions of the 70s Britain where you have blacks, mixed, skinheads, people affiliated to different school of thought and political affiliations. You see and feel Chris' distraught when the friend is murdered. He keeps thinking that it could have been him in the cruising park. You could be harassed, or assaulted, or even killed and most of the world would just move on. And anthem interesting perspective of what cops feel about Black lives is during the interrogation scene of Chris when he is taken in for questioning fo this suspected involvement. While all this is going on, there is a certain elect of resistance that prevails throughout the film. All of the cast bounce off of each other and there’s a playfulness you see in all of them. Queer love was radical then, and it's still radical now. Interracial queer love is even more so. The way they fill the screen is not exploitative. Overall, there is a LOT happening in this movie and the makers have tried to address many issues, many of which surprisingly are still relevant even after 30 years of the film being released. The film is vibrant, political, slightly overlooked with punk music and a tiny little queer story. IF these things sound relatable to you, go for it. I understand the importance of the subject and presentation, but did I enjoy the movie while watching, Id say, just about. (5/10)
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