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...
Nolan, in his sixties, is a married man with a very routine & monotonous life. His days are spent in bank and at home his relationship with his wife is more of companions. They sleep in different rooms. He has a best friend Winston whom he occasionally spends time with. His father is in a care house and is dying. One night while driving home after visiting his father he accidentally runs into a gay hooker and befriend him. He starts confronting his closeted homosexuality. The young guy is Leo, who doesn’t mind spending just time with Nolan, listening to what he has to talk about and getting paid for it. But for Loan, it is confronting and accepting himself. We later find out that he has known ever since he was 12 that he was probably different but he never did anything for fear of God and his parents. As story starts unfolding, there is more to Leo’s character. We never know the real reason but he also starts depending on Nolan for money and financial and emotional support, because Leo gets bullied by some guy who expects money from him all the time. When things reach to a brink of Nolan almost losing his job, Nolan decides to break things up with his wife and just move on with his life, with or without Leo.
The whole suburban setup and a routine mundane life is something that we have seen before in the past. So there is nothing new but the performances of Nolan and his wife keep this film very real. It is very interesting to see how over the years the couple has managed to practice to not talk about issues that they both think would be uncomfortable to discuss. Many scenes where Nolan is probably lying and the wife knows, she choses to ignore. The film although offers something painful and true, the problem lies with pacing. I understand that for stories like these, you cannot just run through, but still, I found myself empathising with characters but completely losing interest in the film because of the pace. Had it not been a William’s film , I may actually have fast forwarded it and seen it quick. Also some other things were a bit odd for me, like why would Nolan wanna spend all that money on a hustler? Is it because he is the kind of person who loves to care? Nolan was never sexually interested in Leo, so why couldn’t it be that he had more father-son feelings for Leo. And the guy who bullied Leo, who was he? why did Leo owe him money and why would he just brutally accept his beatings. To be honest, now that the ilm is finish, I am not too keen on even finding the answers.
A simple film, with very slow pace, it is ok just because of Robin Williams. It could have totally gone south easily. (5.5/10)
Comments