Skip to main content

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 ...
Post a Comment

Stranger's Kiss (Filipino Series)

By Golu
I must have missed watching this during cove times for some reason. And now when I watched this now, it feels so laughable to be honest. This is obviously a low-budget production that looks like it was sort of thrown together. The production frankly is just awful, and editing made it hard to follow the story. They certainly packed a lot in this short series like love, homophobia, trans rights, rich exploiting poor, made up friends etc etc. The show has 8 episodes of about 20 min each average.

We have three main characters in the show - Nico, Prince and Julius. The series starts with Nico saving Julius in a motorbike accident. In a drunken state, Julius kisses Nico. Few months later, we now see that Nico actually moved to this place from his province and he left his younger brother to fend for himself after his parents died. Prince is his neighbor, who one days saves Nico when some local goons are trying to rob him. Two lonely individuals become good friends taking care of one another. Now Nico gets an additional part time job to make some extra money as a caretaker. Turns out the man who he has to care for is the guy Julius whom he saved him sometime back. After being an arrogant prick, eventually even Julius starts to fall in love with Nico. Some small dramas happen where Julius tries to forcible kiss Nico this time but it seems like Nico has hots for Prince, but he is also very worried about his brother back in province and he goes back to meet him eventually . Prince shows up there and they bond.

The show is very much set in slum and very poor areas of Manila and surroundings, so you can only imagine that the production team barely had any money. That aside, the story had a decent potential but hammy acting and some very very bad editing ruined the show completely. The camera work is awful and also most shots are shot in very little light and they seem dark all the time. Besides the main plot, there are other stories as well where we see Nico's brother is taken under her wing by some madam (although we are never told what she does), neighbors bulling for being gay or trans, trans characters wanting to live a life of respect and not being there just for comic relief, attempted suicide, fake friends etc. Despite all this, sadly because of the really bad production values, the show is just not worth watching. Most of the money, it seems went into doing photo shoot and creating a very polished opening of the show in every episode where every actor seems great, but reality is far from it. So, in short, if you managed to watch it during cove times because there was nothing better to do, then good; but if you are catching up on stuff like I am, its better to avoid it. (2.5/10)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Phor Lae Lukchai (Thai) [Father & Son]

By Golu
I think the budget of this film was probably too small, but for that, the film definitely offers a different and unique storyline without over dramatizing anything. Yes, some scenes were a bit amateurish but in the bigger scheme of things, that can be overlooked. The film is both beautiful and sad in its own unique way. Aek is a gay dad, whose partner died right around the time their son Nueng was born through surrogacy in a road accident. The relationship between father and son is unpleasant and unstable. We are not really told why, but it seems the father has been unsuccessful in caring and loving his son because of his partner's death. Aek continues to hook up wit hookers. Also, Nueng is constantly bullied by everyone around him for having a gay dad. He has no friends, except Nat, a neighborhood boy, who also happens to be Nueng's boyfriend. In a sudden turn of events Nat is found murdered along with another boy naked. Saddened by the events, Nueng jumps from roof and k...
1 comment
Read more

Sei no Gekiyaku (Japanese) [Dangerous Drugs of Sex]

By Golu
Every person has their own unique way of dealing with loss. This film is as much a psychological thriller as it is a soft porn BDSM portrayal of two young men that makes the film overall horrifying as well as humane. It is really hard to describe the genre of this film in one word. Its important not that the film has some really disturbing scenes so if you go into seeing this film, please proceed with caution. Although any sexual non-consensual activity is not ok, this film has its won strange way of showing that suicide is not the only solution to all life's problems. Makoto is a regular office goer, who just finds out that his girlfriend is probably cheating on him. ON top of it, his parents sudden death coming back from a trip that he forced them to take, he gets completely dejected and decides to commit suicide. Unknown to him, he is saved by mysterious man Yoda Ryoji, and he wakes up finding himself tied up in leather and belts in a very BDSM setting. This mysterious saver soo...
3 comments
Read more

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

By Golu
Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin...
5 comments
Read more