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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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Working Beks (Filipino/Tagalog)

By Golu
The movie is about five different gay men from different backgrounds whose lives are peppered with struggles as they face the world trying to survive and make each day count. Thankfully, the film doesn't get into the stereotypes of being gay, or the stereotypes of gay films. It’s mostly a celebration of being true to oneself and fighting for the rights of gay people, not just because they are human but also because they are part of the society.

The five narratives are connected by a leaked sex video of a supposedly straight famous actor Champ with another guy. Champ has now suddenly disappeared and his team is running everywhere to lessen the damage. Tommy is the marketing manager who needs to shoot a campaign with Champ, but can't find him. Also, unknown to him, there is sexuality discrimination against him at workplace and is sidelined for promotion for being gay. Thankfully he has a loving husband and two teenage daughters waiting for him at home. Gorgeous, a trans female is huge fan of Champ and runs a small canteen outside Tommy's office but her family underappreciates her and she is the sole bread winner for. Ahiuge family. Thankfully she sees bits of love when the security guard of the office building shows attention to her. Then we have Mandy, who happens to see Champ's sex video on the day of his wedding. He has been fighting his sexual urges for a while now and is now unsure of whether he should be honest or fake to the girl who he is about to get married to (because he genuinely loves her). And finally, we have Jet, a handsome call center worker, who is feeling a bit under the weather and is scared if he has contracted HIV. Towards the end, Champ decides that he doesn't want to hide anymore and comes out publicly as gay. Turns out the guying the video with him was Jet. Gorgeous decides to move out from her family and think for herself for a change. Tommy leaves work to focus more on his family and Mandy eventually does get married but only after confessing the truth to his wife.

The conflicts shown in this film are real and something that a lot of us would be able to relate to. Issues like workplace discrimination for being gay, HIV threat, being comfortable with your sexuality are real problems. Sadly, even though the movie addresses them, it doesn't really take a stand and bring any of these to a proper conclusion. And that's probably because all of these storylines have been handled with ample humor to keep the proceedings light hearted, which actually personally, I liked. A heavy hard drama with this subject would have been too difficult to handle. I am personally ok with how every story ended except fo rMandy, who ends up getting married despite knowing very well he is gay and even when the girl knows about it. That just didn't make sense. The story of Gorgeous and his lover could have been developed further and a happier finale provided to her. There was a lot of scope to go into details of each of these, but there is only so much you can do when you have to squeeze everything in a 2 hour film. Thankfully, all the actors do a good job and suit their part.

Even in its loudest and most uneven moments, this film echoes sentiments that deserve to be expressed and heard. It presents that gay people are having the same struggles as straight people, and the world is big enough for everyone to live in harmony, in equal, without judgements and discriminations. The way it was executed feels a lot to be desired , but I think the heart was in the right place. I still recommend for some over the top fun humor and some decent time pass. You may not feel satisfied with the culmination, but you won't feel bored either. (5.5/10)
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