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Journey With You (Chinese Series)

I've always had kind of a love hate relationship with Chinese historical BLs. Some are genuinely excellent, but then there are others that cram in so much plot that keeping track of all the layers of betrayal and scheming gets exhausting, and I end up checking out mentally. Part of the issue is also just how much content is out there in this space, so something really has to stand out to keep me hooked. In this case, the production value is genuinely impressive, top tier stuff, but story wise, I just couldn't bring myself to actually care about these characters. There's a ton of political scheming and backstage manipulation running throughout. Somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, a hostage ends up falling for his own Prince Charming. The show runs eight episodes, each around 50 to 60 minutes long. After spending three years guarding the border, Fifth Prince Yin Qi gets called back to the capital because of a secret letter, only to end up walking straight into a deadly...

Yeladim Tovim (Israel - Hebrew) [Good Boys]

My expectations in the recent past have not been much. This film that depicts life of commercial sex workers in Israel did not give me much hope but it was still better than the other movies that I have seen.

Menni is a 17 year old sex hustler who has a set of clients whom he meets regularly. He is done with his hustling on street days. He wears well and lives well. One night he meets another hustler Tal in a club and they end up spending the night together. Tal is very friendly with Menni even to the extent of making him breakfast. They both feel that there is some connection and decide they will meet later at a club. Meanwhile, Menni once slept with a girl Mika with whom he now has a small daughter (incidentally called Tal). Mika is now living in streets as a whore. She cannot take care of Tal, so one day she just leaves her with Menni. The night when Tal and Menni had decided to meet, Tal ends up going with another guy who turns out to be a cop and the cop holds Tal as a hostage and makes him his whore and handcuffs him. Tal manages to eventually kill the cop and run away. The same night Menni is struggling to figure out what to do with his baby. He is also struggling with his feelings for Tal. As per him he never believed in love but why cant he now stop thinking about him. The film just ends with a lot of open questions.

The film although directed by a hand held camera is still very realistic. Its a raw and brutal film. The two leading characters are heartfelt and genuine, the living conditions are real, background of the people and the tragic events that happen, are so real. The way the cop treats Tal is particularly saddening because such things could actually be happening.

Moral is that even sex workers could be god souls at heart. A different, emotion evoking movie. (5/10)

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