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 ...
We are introduced to rival class friends group, one of Filipino origin and other native Hawaiian. Edmar is a high achieving shy quiet student of the Filipino group while Pili, the native Hawaiian is from the other group. Somehow for a class project, these two boys are paired together and come up with a dish that imbibes both their cultures. As expected they both protest, but they are forced. Pili invites Edmar to a gathering with his family over the weekend, where he gets to learn a lot of things about Hawaiian culture. Similarly, Pili gets. To lean a bit about Edmar , his background and culture. Even though they both have girlfriends, they do feel some sort of attraction with one another. As their friendship grows, they do have to hold back because if their respective friends, but eventually they cannot control their bond and attraction and the film ends with two rival groups becoming friends and the two boys finally giving into their feelings with a kiss.
To be honest, I do appreciate the director's intention to bring something new to the table. The setting of Hawaii is breathtaking and gorgeous to say the least, but I feel bot the actors and the film makers have some way to go before they can make something more engaging. More than the love story, the film focuses on the struggles that Hawaiians and Filipinos in Hawai’i face result from the same global economic forces. Using love story as a background, lot of these issues are discussed. I did like that they do give us a lot of information about Hawaii culture. But the problem is the love story. It barely exists. When and why do they two boys get attracted to each other is never clearly shown. I mean just because two seemingly foes spend a weekend together getting and understanding each other's culture; is that reason enough to fall in love? Maybe it is, but I would like to have seen the process for that. Also, these are supposedly high school students, while Pili clearly looks like a 25 year old young man (albeit extremely good looking). Edmar can still pass off as a school student. The two boys falling for one another just happens so randomly that it doesn't make much sense honestly. And that''s like a big red flag for me. The film switches between English, Tagalog and Hawaiian language easily and effortlessly, which is nice. At almost 2 hours long, the story between the two main protagonists could hav been handled so much better. I don't feel any empathy for the characters. There are random characters like Edmar's cousin sister who drools over Pili every time she sees him. Honestly its embarrassing to watch her. There are a lot of scenes of almost nothingness which tests your patience.
Yes, the attempt is good, but unfortunately the final product leaves lot to be desired It will be a while before Hawaii gives Asian BL's a run for their money, bth in scripting and direction , at least for time being. (4/10)
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