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 ...
Adam, an IT teacher at an illustrious public school, is picked up by a charming photographer Jake at a gay bar. After spending the night at Jake’s flat, he leaves, but manages to pick up the wrong mobile phone by mistake. When he returns to give it back, he witnesses a couple of thuggish men carrying something that looks suspiciously like a body in a sack out of the flat. Unfortunately, it seems that they were also after the very same mobile that he now happens to be in his possession, and they want it back. Knowing he’s out of his depth, Adam turns to his old college friend, Amy, who now works for a high profile media baron (who incidentally happens to be Jake's father) and when he hears what has allegedly been seen, he’s understandably interested in helping discover exactly what’s going on. What Adam soon realizes is that he has stumbled some proof regarding an alleged gay affair between royal prince and Jake and now the royal team will not stop at anything to make sure that the new never comes out. Adam gets sacked from his job, staked by sinister looking heavies, and given a good talking to by an aristocratic fixer. Adam has no idea how to get out of this chain of misevents where his friend is killed, can he trust Amy and is Jake really dead?
The plot of this film isn’t too bad; it’s partly a mystery, partly a conspiracy thriller but the treatment feels very dated and naive and amateurish to me. The gimmicky format of watching many scenes through eyes of camera lenses be it through shops or streets start to get jarring after a while. At places it almost goes documentary vibes. Back in 2007 it must have sounded a good idea on paper – giving it an instant edgy, contemporary feel – but it’s used to such a degree that it’s actually extremely irritating, detracting from the plot and becoming increasingly repetitive. IT feels made for a TV film for a channel that is undergoing losses. Even the acting is pretty basic. I think the aspirations were quite high but what eventually unfolds and the way it got executed is quite questionable. The thriller dares to question on rights of public about privacy v/s what the government may have data on you, but sadly the film itself fails short of becoming a thriller that it needs to be. The bright side is actor playing Adam was cute (same can't be said about his acting). (4/10)
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