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 ...
Eduardo is a director of a big bank, 40 something, single, sophisticated gay men who uses his financial position to sleep with younger boys. HIs sexuality is known to his family but still very much a secret. Of late, Eduardo has been eyeing a young straight boy Miguel who is from a poor humble family and almost falls for him. He somehow manages to get him a job in his bank, so that he can be close to him while he figures him out. He soon finds out that he has a girlfriend and would not be interested in Eduardo sexually, but he does like the attention that Eduardo has been giving him financially and socially. Miguel also occasionally has sex with her neighbor, a married woman. When Eduardo can't keep his feelings of much longer, he tells his secret to Miguel, who as expected is disgusted by this information and rejects him and leaves. Meanwhile, a group of thugs from Miguel's neighborhood use an opportunity to rob Eduardo's home and beat him up. When Miguel finds out what had happened, he worries about Eduardo and goes to meet him. They talk and their friendship rekindles with understanding that nothing can ever happen between them. In fact even the girlfriend is introduced and the trip start a very healthy friendship. Everyone is happy, except the neighborhood lady who now doesn't get the attention from Miguel. She hatches a plan with neighborhood thugs and spreads the rumor that Miguel is gay, because of which he loses his face in society and also his girlfriend. And to make things worse, the thugs tell him that they did this on Eduardo's sayin. Hurt and enraged, Miguel goes to the bank where Eduardo works and makes a terrible scene, shouting, insulting, and revealing Eduardo's homosexuality to all. An alone and lonely Eduardo is sitting in his room, when he hears a knock at the door and seeing the visitor through keyhole lightens up his face and the film ends there.
Apparently the film created quite a stir on its release, which can be expected. Both pro and opposing parties did all kinds of demonstrations. The film may have stated off creepy with Eduardo using his financial position of power to win over a young Miguel, but thankfully it does take a regular sensitive turn, when Eduardo realizes that he will never be able to get Miguel's love in a way that he expects. This is when after a few misunderstands, a very healthy friendship develops between the trio. I mean, 'healthy' is a relative term because Miguel and his girlfriend enjoy the company because they get to do things using Eduardo's money that they normally wouldn't have been able to and in return Eduardo gets Miguel's company. But they are all respectful of one another, open and honest and never misuse. The film also highlights the time of those days where you had to hide your sexuality because things could go completely south if anyone found out about you. It could affect your work situation as well. The drama and challenges thrown somehow all fit together and you can see that no character was out of place or didn't add anything to the story. I first thought that the whole story about Miguel's affair with a married woman was unnecessary but towards the end, even that has a reason. I also liked Eduardo's best gay friend, who would occasionally try to make sense into Eduardo to stop using his position of financial power but eventually it was Eduardo to make a decision. Overall, a nice journey into past on how someone. Had the guts to create a complex story, handled with sensitivity, as best as they could at the time and circumstances, to create something decent. (6.5/10)
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