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 ...
A young boy Darren arrives who arrives in Toronto seeking a new life. Running out of money, and with nowhere to live, he quickly is befriended by a group of rent boys with whom he had locked eyes a few times during last few days. The give him shelter and food while he figures out next steps. The group has Alex, another young boy very dependent on drugs, hallucinates in sleep and someone who feels like a problem child. His boyfriend is Steve, mature of the two, loves Alex and genuinely takes care of him. And then you have the big guy who makes sure everyone does enough "work" to have fodder" He tries to get Darren also to do sex work but Darren flatly refuses causing wrath. Complicating matters for himself, he falls in love with Steve, which as you can imagine, with his situation for Alex is already complicated. While desperately trying to avoid becoming a prostitute himself, Darren's loneliness and infatuation with Steve eventually sets him on a downward spiral with tragic circumstances.
Films like these are tricky. I am sure the makers want the audience to feel empathy for these characters (depending on their back stories), but here all I felt was pity. Sure, Darren ran away from home, but the reason he gives is not very convincing. Running away with no experience, no knowledge of the horrible thing the world may be is going to be tricky and one is bound to find people who will be willing to take advantage of you at any given point. It feels like the bus have good intentions to help out Darren but the pimp won't have any other way. It's eventually Steve who gets sandwiched between the problem child Alex and his growing attraction for Darren, who doesn't leave any chance of flirting with him. The direction was strictly ok and the film felt unnecessarily stretched at multiple places. I guess the message is that the world is not a kind place for anyone, especially with young boys on the street. You may find love but will that be enough? (4/10)
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