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 ...
I am gonna use the roles instead of names, otherwise it will get very confusing for me. The film starts with two men on a trip where they spend time and make love with each other. Turns out they were being followed by a 'photographer' to follow her 'husband' and the 'lover' because she suspected him of having an affair. What completely shocks here that this person will be a man. Out of anger and respite, she barges into the 'lover's' office and creates a scene. This makes the lover completely cut off all the ties with his boyfriend and stops taking his calls. Eventually the 'husband' can't bear to anymore and commits suicide. Meanwhile, the lover guy immerses himself back into the safe bosom of gay nightlife, where to audiences surprise he starts to make a bond with the 'photographer' guy. This spy is also somehow puppy eyed in love with the gay man despite having a 'girlfriend'. Maybe he feels responsible for the gay couple's breakup. Anyway, after a few meetings the 'photographer' and the 'lover' start having an affair and the girlfriend also son finds out. She is so in love that she thinks she will make this work and they both will share the man, only to later realize that this is a far fetched dream. When she runs away, that makes the 'photographer' feel guilty and regrets his decision of having relations with a man and he also leaves. Back in city, all alone, the 'lover' guy is attacked by the wife. He survives, moves to a different town with a new lover.
Apparently this film was shot in secret, since the film maker had a 5 year ban by Chinese authorities. Premiering in the Cannes festival, eventually this feels more like an independent European arthouse kind of cinema, that will also straddle around the gay audience. The sex scenes, duskily lit, and shot with a foggy, grainy texture, are a tame shadow of China’s underground homo-erotica scene. The film drifts from one sweaty, murkily lit encounter to the next, manufacturing enough drama along the way for a pair of overlapping love triangles. It shows the messiness of down-low gay life as a stand-in for shiftless, apathetic young adulthood in urban China back in the day. The vibes are solemn, there is an understanding that almost everyone in the cast is just floating by and that carnal sex won't fix it but soothe it only until the point where they eventually break. I found the characters interesting and the story decently intriguing but I did feel disconnected after a while. Just because the wife created a scene at work, why would the 'lover' guy suddenly go MIA for the love of his life. I mean, you feel bad for the husband (not that him committing suicide is justified, but you can relate to it). I do understand how and why the spy guy can be ambiguous and curious and get in to a relationship with both a guy and a girl , since helloes with girl but is equally fascinated by the man. I don't think this is the most profound film ever but it certainly feels raw. And another reminder on how strict laws can be in China around homosexuality and what life could be for folks living a hidden life. (5.5/10)
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