Is this technically a gay show? Even after getting through the whole thing, that's still kind of tricky to answer. There's never any physical intimacy shown between the two leads, not even a single kiss. What it gives you instead is something that goes way deeper than that. It traces an emotional bond that spans a full decade between two guys who are both dealing with their own baggage, and what they share basically amounts to being soulmates. The story moves across Japan, South Korea, and Berlin. Honestly, whether people want to call what they have a romantic relationship or not doesn't really matter to me. A relationship doesn't need a label like boyfriends attached to it to actually mean something. And closeness doesn't need to be physical to feel genuine. What this show captures is something quieter but way more powerful, a bond rooted in understanding, respect, and just showing up for each other. Across eight episodes, each running 35 to 45 minutes, this is one...
Corey, soon to be 30, has a successful career as a psychiatrist and lives with his boyfriend Jon. The night Corey is about to propose to him, Jon finds out and freaks out completely. To the extent hat he ends up sleeping with a woman, who happens to be Corey's patient. He comes back home to tell Corey that he might be bi and Corey completely flips out. They break-up. Corey's sister, Kelsey, moves in. She is lesbian and runs a neighborhood coffee shop where queer community can be themselves. She introduces Corey to the world of Grindr, where he finds Pete, who delivered him pizza twice. They go on couple of dates but Jon re-enters Corey's life. But it is pure physical pleasure for both of them. Corey is going through emotional turmoil. He fails to see the true love that Pete has for him because he is not very confident about himself. Meanwhile, Kelsey is having award time keeping the cafe safe, since she is losing money but she gets no help from Corey. Finally sense prevails and Corey realizes all the mistakes he has been doing of sleeping with an ex, not recognizing love when it finally knocks your door and helping out his lovely sister. He amends his mistakes and takes some hard but life-changing decisions that are good for him and people around him.
The best thing about this movie was that everyone who sees it will be able to identify with something or the other in the film. The feelings of all the characters have been nicely captured. We see Corey in love, gets his heart-broken, the excitement of finding love again, precious moments with his sister and he does a pretty well job of it. The films beginning was a little cheesy with the lovers playing out their fantasy but ultimately it was ok when it dealt on the real subject. The film thankfully doesn't stereotype anything, even when Corey screams surprised why someone so hot like Pete would be interested in Corey. Apparently hot or not, everyone ultimately is looking for love or whatever. Everyone else acted pretty well too. Kelsey provides enough reasons to laugh in the film. She was my favorite, slightly over the top, but it worked for the film. Jon was total eye candy with muscle body and good looks. Pete was the right combination of sensual looks and guy next door attitude.
As I said before, I went with very low expectations and was actually quite pleasantly surprised with the final product. Not bad at all. (6.5/10)
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I am not sure if the film is out on dvd yet! I think it is still doing rounds in various festivals
http://www.tlavideo.com/gay-love-or-whatever/p-343168-2
And, soon to be streaming on Vimeo.
Thanks for watching!