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Contrast (Japanese Series)

By Golu
This is basically a high school BL where two guys who have nothing going on in common somehow end up getting really close to each other, and that's kind of the whole point of the title too. There's barely any drama or fluff packed in here, it stays pretty straightforward the whole way through. A little bit of friction pops up here and there, but it's nothing compared to what you'd normally get in this kind of show. Runtime wise you're looking at 8 episodes, each one sitting around 25-30 minutes. The two guys carrying the story are Akira and Kanata, and funny enough they knew each other's faces way before they ever knew each other's names. Kanata's the type everyone likes, always got people around him, popular guy, but there's this distance to him that people can't quite place. Turns out he had an injury that ended his football days, and that's what pushed him into being more withdrawn, and it only got worse once his younger brother got picked...
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The Last Straight Man

By Golu

This was an interesting film. I have very mixed feelings about it and still can’t decide what to make out of it at the end. Hopefully while writing this piece, it will get clear in my head. the few things that come to my mind after seeing the film is that it must have been made on a ultra low budget. Because the entire film has been shot in one hotel room along with some pics here and there but pretty much every single thing happens there. So the production cost has to be really low. Keeping that in mind, the film has been done actually pretty well.

Lewis and Cooper have ben the best of friends for a while. At Cooper’s bachelor party, when he gets too drunk , he decides to just stay back with Lewis at his hotel room. More shots follow and Lewis admits to being bisexual or maybe even on path of being gay. Thankfully Cooper doesn’t over-react and since he has never messed around with a guy, they end up doing so. Thankfully again, no drama happens in morning and the friends part way still being the best of buddies. Soon we se that this now becomes an annual event, where the 2 buddies spent the same day in the same hotel to screw and catch up. Something that was supposed to be just fun, slowly is turning into something else. They both open up to each other sexually and emotionally that they had not thought of. Lewis is falling involve but part of it still bothers Cooper since he has wife and a kid. They meet again a few years later and then again. What we are privy of are the conversations that happen between the 2 men and how it brings them closer to each other. Five nights over a ten year period are depicted, showing how their friendship/relationship changes, and exploring the boundaries of sexuality.

Since the entire film is based on the conversations between the 2 men, a lot depends on the dialogues of the film, which to be honest range from moderate to decent to good to mediocre. Often I felt that the conversations were going no-where and the film was unnecessarily being stretched, which I still believe, and the film would have been much better with a tighter editing. But then someone could argue that it is necessary to show the dynamics changing between the 2 men. The performances between 2 men is quite alright actually. Neither great shakes but not terrible either. Lewis is mostly the logical one  and Cooper just wants to let loose having to live a life for 364 days a year that he probably doesn’t enjoy. What surprises me is that the film is shown over 10-12 years but the duo doesn’t change at all over the course of years. Just getting a french beard for one of the nights, doesn’t make a huge change.

A decent watchable  film but unfortunately it fails to hold at the attention of the viewers. It needs crisper editing. (5.5/10)
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