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...
When I started watching the film, I was excited to see that it is going to be a murder mystery but all along the way, I also kept wondering how does this film fit in the gay film bucket. My doubts were soon put to rest as the plot starts unfolding. The climax took me completely by surprise. I was not expecting it. I wish the movie had better subtitles because it seemed like a lot was being lost in translation. Not to be mean but it also took me sometime to get used to all the characters. They looked pretty similar, specially all the detectives (5-6 of them) an trying to differentiate on who's who takes up a lot of time.Kyeong-yoon and his female long-term colleague Eun-ju work on an especially gruesome case. The victim has been stabbed multiple times and the crime scene has blood all over it. Although the killer has erased his tracks very carefully, the detectives find some evidences which makes them to believe that the victim could be gay and that the culprit must have blood type AB and is male. The detectives soon have found a suspect, but that pretty soon that person also gets killed in a similar gruesome manner. The case becomes a serial murder case and Kyeong-yoon loses track of any lead. Only by chance do the detectives find out that the two victims were part of the same military unit and have been transfered to another military base because of an unknown incident. There was also a third person involved in this incident, who could become the next victim. At the same time Kyeong-yoon is having troubles with his girlfriend Soo-jin. When during their investigation, the name Lee Yoon-su pops up, Kyeong-yoon's past is catching up with him. A truth he would have liked to repress forever crawls to the daylight again, and the investigation enters its finale phase. It turns out that the reason the 3 guys were transferred from the base was because of a rape case of a guy who happened to be a very dear and close friend of Kyeong-yoon. But Kyeong-yoon wanted him and the guy to be man enough and he suppressed the feelings throughout his life. The ending comes as shock in who is actually the main culprit for all these murders.
The film is super efficient, moves at at brisk pace, back tracks to causes and brings all the lines together. There's a lot of dialogue, but mostly plot points, so lot of subtitle to follow. The clues and the twist are given progressively to you so that he audience is as involved in trying to find the culprit. This is half the battle won for the film. It's not easy for the audience to sympathize with certain persons, something that becomes especially apparent with Kyeong-yoon, who becomes more and more unfathomable towards the end. And for those people who read it so far are still wondering how does this film still fit in queer cinema, you have to watch it. I would not wanna spoil someone's fun.
If you are looking for a decent korean thriller, then you will get what you want with this film. (6.5/10)
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