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...
This movie is a desperate wannabe. It wants you to like it so bad that it tries to have a mix of everything possible. But with constraints of actors, time, budget etc it just doesn't live upto all the expectations. Agreed it is a musical but I have seen hundred times better gay musicals. This one just seems to forced in every single department. Bethesda is an adopted Filipina who comes to San Francisco to pursue her performance art, which is inspired by her search for her biological parents. She is lucky to find a commune occupied by a gay man, Windham, who becomes her best friend and with whom she spends a lot of time in a gay nightclub; two lesbians, who have this on off relationship; and a petulant runaway. The film just shows their time spent, their interactions with each other and random singing and dancing thrown away. Bethesda’s agenda is never really explored. Instead we get a rag-bag of tangential sub-stories including her setting up blind dates, getting horrendously drunk, and trying to find a theatre to perform her one-woman show in. To make matters worse, the film ends abruptly. There is no particular story that Perhaps the strongest virtue of the film, a production of the Center for Asian American Media, is the diversity of its characters.
The music is so bad and utterly forgivable except the 'Fag Hag' song, which was kinda funny. Then there was this song, where when the 2 gay men on a blind date realize that they are both bottoms start describing musically, and explicitly, their preferred sexual practices. I couldn't believe it. It was so crass and embarrassing to even watch that song. Fruit Fly unfortunately falls flat on its face even though it’s trying its hardest. Maybe if there was a firmer storyline, more believable and relatable characters.
Save your time. Don't let it go waste like I did. (2/10)
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