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 ...
Starting in the year 2069 (wink wink), the crown less King Alfredo of Portugal is on his death bed and shining back of his life. The film goes in flashback, where Prince Alfred is a young man, who is troubled by the wildfires sweeping the country.Against his parents wishes, he announces he wants to be a fireman. “Don’t confuse the royal family with documentary cinema!” his mother chides. Nevertheless, he joins and he meets Alfonso, who is assigned his buddy. The handsome black man and young prince feel sparks. Before long, desire is kindled between the two men when Alfredo must practice his mouth-to-mouth resuscitation technique on his teacher. The homoerotic atmosphere extends to the other firemen in residence, who like to recreate scenes from famous paintings with each other while naked. The two men go all out, but soon Alfredo hears that his father has died of Covid. As much as the duo are supposedly in love, Alfredo has to leave Alfonso to fulfill his duty. Back in the present in 2069, Alfredo has died and gets a secret visitor, Alfonso, an agin man who is now the president of the country.
My favorite scene in the film was one, the big dancing number between the two leads. It was romantic, erotic and very well choreographed and the second when they ar both fully naked playing with each other. Two totally different reasons for liking those scenes. The film, in sot so many words, does show an analogy between sexual awakening and forest fires while also touching on topics such as classism, racism and academicism. The humor of the film is hard to explain. It is not the laugh out loud kind, but different. There is scene where Alfonso does a slideshow of different kinds of penises and compare each one to a specific type of forest based on girth and pubic hair styling. Sex, in this film, is fun yet goofy at the same time. The two actors have a good chemistry together, although they do lack the finess, but everything still just works as a story filled with music, comedy, pornography, arthouse, and social critique.
What persists in this hour-long film is a queer perspective that, in light of all the suffering and injustice presented, wants you as the viewer to have a good time. It’s altogether hilarious and yet still heartfelt, extremely weird but wonderful regardless. (7/10)
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