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Journey With You (Chinese Series)

By Golu
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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Retake

By Golu
An interesting story of someone trying to relive his past in an effort to fix it or make it better. The film is one of the few in the genre of a road-trip film in queer cinema but still it does not completely succeed in keeping audience’s interest peak for a long while. At least I had to watch film more in a fast forward mode, just in the hopes that something more worthwhile will happen.

Jonathan, a middle-aged man travels to find a young male escort. After a few tries, he hires a young male prostitute to accompany him for a road trip to Grand Canyon, with the condition that the entire trip will be about role play. The young man is playing Brandon, a young, temperamental, rough around the edges kinda guy who is Jonathan’s boyfriend and they are madly in love with each other. As the young man, he is more interested in finding the true reality but Jonathan insists that he stick to the role he was hired for. Slowly, he starts to put small pieces together to understand who Brandon really is and what does he mean for Jonathan. Eager to leave his own past, he finds an odd connection with Jonathan. Slowly their affection starts to grow. Clearly the young man feels a stronger connection to Jonathan which he reciprocates, but is it for Brandon or is it for the real man that the young escort really is.

The story was very unidirectional. The entire film is on the road trip and motels where Jonathan is taking pictures of his companion in exactly the same places that he took with his ex-lover. I really did not understand the motivation behind that. He kept saying he wants to fix things but how does this trip help, is not really explained. The escort has had a rough childhood when he was thrown out form his own home but a little bit more background would have helped to show why did he get so attracted to Jonathan towards the end. Was it because finally someone showed him love and affection! The acting by both the leads was actually quite decent as per the script demanded but I had personally issues with the pace of the film. I really don’t mind slow films as long as they are trying to say something. but this one definitely tested me.

An average film on a lazy evening. Its not bad at all, in fact an interesting story but the slowness of the film can be challenging for some. (5.5/10)
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