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...
Set in 1979 in Paris, we meet Anne who is a gay porn film producer. She has just broken up with her editor girlfriend Louis and pours all her energy into work. We realize that her porn films work because she takes a leaf out of real life situations and turns them into gay porn. One of the make actors from her films is murdered pretty quick and the police calls her for interrogation. She uses that situation and creates a porn film out of it. But soon there are 3 more murders in quick succession and her cast and crew start questioning her on how can she not be affected. Since investigating murder of gays is not a police priority, she decides to do digging on her own. Secrets are revealed on how the killer is this man named Guy who is presumed dead in a barn fire when he was caught with his boyfriend and burned alive in a barn. Only in the end we get to know that, Anne had made a gay porn film on the subject and the murders were all the actors who featured in the film. And of course, in this journey Anne is helped with future readers, a blind crow etc.
So, if you read the story above, you can tell that it is weird. I am shocked that the film featured at Canned because according to me this was a B-grade movie. Multiple porn gay films within the movies. (Although I do have to admit that it did bring me a chuckle more than a couple of times to see how the porn films were being shot in the film). The absurdity of the murder, bling crow and everything that happens is too much to handle. Also, I am not sure on what was the purpose behind setting the film in 1979. When the explanation of the murderer’s motives finally arrives, it’s deeply unsatisfying. It would have been more interesting if it was someone from within Anne’s entourage. I am wondering now whether this was supposed to be spoof on some bad murder mysteries or gay porn but doesn't seem so, because I didn't laugh much overall.
This is a film which is drunk on its own trashy aesthetic which doesn't make much sense otherwise. A lesbian love story, a gay murder mystery, a campy trash or just a sattire? This wasn't as bad as some trash form 90s but given that this is a brand new film, there is no excuse for making this in the name of cinema. (4/10)
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