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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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Mates (UK)

By Golu
This film was probably made on a shoe string budget with only 5 actors and being shot in open fields. A hiking movie probably catering to male bonding, friendship, coming out and gay awakening of sorts, it is difficult to box this film in a specific genre. The film, maybe too simple, wasn't that bad to be honest. Except the direction style was a bit amateurish and something like from early 2000s.

The film starts with a shy and awkward guy Connor, traveling across to different corner of London just to jog with Nathan. It is obvious that He probably has some sort of a crush on him. When Nathan invites him for a hiking trip, he agrees, but it's only at the beginning he realizes that another buddy is also coming along. It's too late for Connor to back out now. The hiking starts and the new macho friend doesn't really get along very well with Connor. During these walks, there is a father-son also hiding a the son Adam reaches out to Connor. IT is very obvious that Adam is hitting on Connor but he doesn't take the hint, until on the second day, the macho guy makes it obvious to Connor.  Connor doesn't know how to react, and he tells Adam that he is not really gay. The awkwardness grows between three friends on multiple issues including when Adam touches Nathan in a friendly way. Clearly Nathan has his own issues about sexuality (which we are never clearly told). By the end, Connor decides he doesn't want to hike anymore and decides to go back home. On his final goodbye with Adam, he gives him a kiss and they decide to meet again.

The film's hero was in the right place but I have to say that it was a little bit all over the place and a bit unclear. Connor clearly has a crush on Nathan but what does Nathan think about him is not made obvious. You can see that he is not happiest to see Adam giving attention to Connor, but also at some point t does feel that Nathan is enjoying the little attention that Adam is occasionally giving him. So, where does Nathan stand in all this, wrt to his sexuality, and his feelings for Connor is never made very clear. Similarly, with Connor. I thought he was comfortable with himself, so why would he say he is not gay to Adam. Sure, he has a crush on his friend and he could have said he doesn't like him. It felt like all the three main characters wanted to have a back up in their pockets. When Connor rebukes Adam, he suddenly stops talking to him, ignore him and in fact flirts a little bit with Nathan. Similarly after initially rebuking Adam and finally figuring that he will probably not get close to Nathan, he goes back to Adam and kisses him. Nathan is a confused man. And the straight macho friend is to just stir shit up. It felt like no one wanted to genuinely explore their feelings. Also, Adam deciding that Connor is the man of his life in just one awkward meeting was a bit too much. I mean its 2023. Things works very different these days. I think we needed but more character build up on these people. There were dialogues thrown about bullying but that doesn't go anywhere. It is as if the makers are teasing us with multiple possibilities but never really exploring anything. 

The actors do an alright job with the script limitations they are provided. The landscapes are nice, lush and green; but the film is all talk, talk, talk. I can see some people find it boring because not a whole lot is actually happening. To be it was strictly an average film. With just about 80 minutes duration, it was an easy watch and it didn't bore me. But it really was just very very basic. It gives the vibe of those TLA released independent gay films that came out in early this century. (5.5/10)
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