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...
Sometimes a film might sound interesting by the synopsis on the paper but if you mess up the direction, it leaves a really bad taste in audience's mouth. So in the end it all boils down to a good direction.Midget loves to party and surf with his best friend Paul. Since school is over and it is summer time this is all they do in their small town. This may seem an ideal life but Midget begins to feel claustrophobic living with his mom, sharing a small room and a bed and questioning hi sexuality. Cass, the elder brother of Paul suddenly comes home after having traveled in Europe for four years. Midget immediately is attracted to him. He is openly gay and exudes self-confidence. He is also a wonderfully graceful surfer. Midget and Cass become involved and their meetings are filled with passion. The problem is that they live in a town where secrets cannot be kept and every one knows what everyone else is doing. Midget realizes that being gay and the life style he leads are incompatible and even though he tries to imitate Cass's confidence he sees that he can't and wonders why Cass ran away for four years. Intermittently he also tries to date a girl but that doesn't work out either. We son find out that the reason Cass ran away was because he and his teacher were caught having sex and they became talk of the town and thats the reason Cass ran away. After all these years his parents still don't accept him, so he leaves the town again with is teacher. Midget meanwhile realizes the need to independence and hence moves out of his mom's house and accepts his sexuality.
This film had lot of odd things. Starting from mom son sharing the same bed, a weird aunt wanting her niece to have inappropriate conduct with Midget so that she learns how to control plus the whole chemistry between everyone involved. It all seemed fucked up. Some scenes were so slow that I was like, move it man. Actor playing Midget did a very good job. Cass was bad. The only good thing was some intimate scenes between the lead characters.
Not just US but Australian's make bad movies too. Avoid it. (3.5/10)
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