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

That Is All (Canada)

By Golu
This indie feel film could have been so much more. But even in its almost 2 hours of run time, it takes forever to come to the point. The film is about a man in his early 30s discovering things about his sexuality, something we have seen plenty of time before. Is he bored, is he lonely, is he scared of relationship - there is no deep exploration of any of that. Sure love can hot you anytime, but what was it that this film was trying to say?

The story is straight forward. Ryan, a man in his 30's works from home mostly and has a roommate. He is consumed by loneliness, living an uneventful life with a dull job that just about passes the time. Ryan is secretly struggling with his sexuality and finding comfort in online encounters with men, usually on video and never in person. At a birthday party for his friend Brad, Ryan meets Brad’s boyfriend Sam and the two hit it off. Ryan and Brad quickly become close and before either of them realizes it, they start having an affair. The next half hour is about how they plan to meet at various times, various places and just enjoying this feeling. Along the same time, Ryan is also kinda flirting with a girl Maya who has a crush on him. One day after they had sex and Sam quietly leaves, Ryan believes that his roommate has figured out and that he will tell everyone. This completely freaks out Ryan who doesn't want anyone to know about him possibly being gay or bi and asks Sam to breakup. But by now Sam is very much into Ryan and instead he breaks up with his boyfriend. Sadly, Ryan is too much of a coward to make any decision and he makes it very clear to Sam that they cannot have anymore going forward.

Once the film starts, it becomes clearly very quickly that Ryan is in denial about his sexuality, hiding his wants and desires from the small group of friends he has. But reaching this point takes forever, almost an hour, where all we see is a bit of mundane life f Ryan and his friends in the dead of winter where they either have house parties or watch movies. Like it happens in most affairs, neither side thinks of the eventual consequences. Things just happen. For Ryan, he’s doing the unthinkable to someone who is supposed to be a friend, and for Sam he’s finding comfort in Ryan’s 'straight' arms because he’s unhappy with his relationship with Brad. The further the relationship progresses, the more Ryan is worried that people will find out whereas Sam is happy to continue their affair, regardless of any consequences that may occur down the line. The two actors have a great chemistry though, and you find yourself rooting for their relationship even though you know what they are doing is wrong. The problem with the film is that it takes forever to reach across the point that it is trying to make. More than half time, all you are doing is watching people do stuff. Ryan is definitely drama. Unsure of what he wants from himself, he does break many hearts including Sam, the girl Maya and another girl from their friend circle who he sleeps with despite being warned by his roommate. There were so many ways the movie could have ended, and the way it did just seemed like what happens when you live an unfulfilled life. It is not bad, but the film could have been so much more. (5.5/10)
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