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...
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Seven-year old Ludovic lives in an upper-middle class Belgian suburban neighborhood. He behaves in a way that is quite natural to him, dresses in a dress or skirt whenever possible, and is quite convinced he will be marrying a neighborhood boy, Jerome, the son of his father's boss. He knows a boy doesn't marry a boy , so he will marry Jerome when he becomes a girl. The rest of the family humor him as best they can, rationalizing that Ludovic is only trying to find his identity and will be over it soon. While playing a game Ludovic and Jerome are caught while pretending to marry which is seen by Jerome's mother. The situation worsens when Ludovic stands in a Snowwhite for a school play. The parents of other kids file a petition to have him expelled. Ludovic's parents are so far very supportive and understanding and take him to a psychologist regularly. Ludovic's father gets fired after he shows up in a skirt to a party. Suddenly the all supportive mother starts blaming the young Ludovic for everything. She wants to set Ludo straight so she cuts his hair to make him look like his brothers. Ludo hates his mother for doing this and wants to live with his grandmother. The family later moves to a new town, where Ludovic befriends Chris, a girl who wishes to function as a male. The parents slowly start coming around in the new neighborhood.
Ludovic's parents confront the problem of their son's sexual identity with a minimum of hysterics, which is not to say that each of them don't go ballistic at least once. But even at moments of maximum stress, they never stop loving their self-proclaimed ''boygirl,'who thinks that God just misplaced one of his chromosomes as explained by his sister, and he will soon be a girl. The fantasy element of "Pam", a "Barbie-Doll-like" fictional character, serves as an escape for Ludovic and somehow its well in the whole storyline. My favorite thing about the movie is that it is neither over the top or unnecessarily melodramatic. I wonder how many parents would actually be so loving and supporting even in worst times like the way Ludovics parents were shown. Even the siblings were pretty normal in the sense they didn't bully or overtly support Ludovic. They are all kids after all and trying to figure out a lot of things themselves. The film captures well the sense of confusion and panic that can occur to any child when the sense of a warm, safe family environment is suddenly punctured when it bumps up against social expectations.
This film accurately portrays the struggles that hundreds of youth face today. Youth that are struggling to discover their identities, having to deal with family and friends that tease and taunt them for being "different". (7/10)
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