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On The Sea (UK)

This one's a beautiful, tender, quiet romantic drama with a moody atmosphere, set in a tight knit Welsh fishing community. It's a touching story about a man waking up sexually in the middle of his life, and how he, his family, and everyone around him deal with it, which makes it emotional and sentimental without ever getting over the top. The slow burn plays out against a landscape that's as bleak as it is gorgeous, where quiet, closed off men are stuck inside rigid ideas of what masculinity should be. Some people might be reminded of "God's Own Country," but I think both films are lovely in their own way. Jack is a middle aged guy who co-owns a mussel farm with his rough around the edges brother Dyfan, and the tension between the two of them is simmering under the surface right from the start. Dyfan's three sons all help out with the work, while Jack's sulky teenage son Tom keeps skipping out. Jack's been with his wife since they were both 16, and...

Hatachi no binetsu (Japanese) [A Touch Of Fever]

This is supposedly an art house cinema from Japan. I either must be watching this film too late in the game but I honestly ran out of patience sitting through this film and trying to make head or tail out of this film. Doing my research, I did find that this film was a huge hot in Japan when it came out but I still can't figure out why! I asked the same question when i saw the film and find myself asking the same question while reviewing the film.

The primary focus of the film is on its 2 main characters. Tatsuru and Shin are both teenage boys and they work in a club as rent escort boys for gay guys to make that extra money and get them going in their day to day life. Tatsuru has a girlfriend but he doesn't feel sexual towards her. Deep down he knows he is gay but is not ready to accept it and his girlfriend is ok with not being overtly physical. Shin also has a girlfriend but they are both like girlfriends. When Shin comes out to his parents, he is thrown from the house and he starts living temporarily with Tatsuru. Shin is falling in love with Tatsuru but can't do anything about it. It is easy for Tatsuru to have sex with his clients at a mechanical level and not think emotionally. On the other hand for Shin things are not that easy. He truly loves Tatsuru and so he cannot get physical with his other clients and at the same time can't do anything about it. It is interesting how  gay man is a complete failure win gay prostitution because he is emotional but a supposedly straight guy does it all with on-off switch.

The two boys are frustratingly clumsy about showing any feeling towards each other, which doesn't offer much hope for any possibility of some happiness evolving in their dreary lives. Their daily schedule is pretty mundane and boring and as a viewer it started testing my patience. There is this scene where Tatsuru goes to his girlfriend's house for dinner. That scene of the 4 people eating just goes on forever. I was like wtf! A lot of other things also did not make sense in the film. Wa Shin truly in love or was attracted to Tatsuru? Are they in it for money or because they really like doing it. For 2 guys to be in love or attracted to wards each other, the 2 boys had zero chemistry.

There are a lot of bad gay themed movies out there. This one just joins in my list of that section. (1.5/10)

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