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 ...
Told entirely through a third narrator (I saw the English version), it was extremely difficult to follow through what twas the exact storyline of the film. I would focus and follow for about 10 minutes and think that finally I understand what's going on, but then suddenly a tonal shot would happen, and it will again start going into circles which I was not able to keep up.
As per the official synopsis, After being framed in a murder, Nick returns to his troubled hometown Exalon, where he begins an affair with a young man working at a family restaurant. The arrival of his former employer convinces Nick that he is being personally hunted down. We go into flashback in another fictional town where it seems Nicks used to do some illegal business and also had sexual relations with his ex-boss. But he is missing deeper currents unravelling a wave of local unrest, to which he unwittingly contributes.
The film is way too artsy and extremely heavy on symbolism, which went over my head most of the times. There are images of barren lands, government migration office cubicles, women making kimchi in the streets, and karaoke bars in Chinatown, and at some point I also felt was the main protagonist also struggling with his sexuality? I also read somewhere the the film is about one's sexual awakening and love life is entangled with matters much larger than one's own body. But the pea sized brain of mine doesn't have the ability to comprehend such hidden meanings in this film or in any other film. The one and only good thing about the film was the good looking and handsome leading young man. Besides that, I didn't understand the film at all. If any one of you did, please enlighten me. (1.5/10)

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