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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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A Man, His Lover and His Mother (Swiss German) [Rosie]

By Golu
This film is technically not a gay film to be precise. This is more of a relationship that an ailing mother shares with her children , especially her gay son. And since, the son being gay is an important aspect of the series, I am ok writing down a review of the film here. Originally titled as Rosie, I think the film's title was changed to attract more gay audience, because the gay son is definitely not the central character. Its the mother.

Rosie is old and lives by herself and one day falls and is admitted to the hospital. His gay son Lorenz who lives in Berlin, comes back to take care of her. Lorenzo, who is in his mid 40s, writes gay fiction but of late his books are not getting good reviews. He also has a sister who is herself dealing with her family issues. They both argue that neither of them can take care of the mother. But Rosie herself insists that she wants to stay independent and refuses any help. Lorenz struggles with her strong-willed mother but ultimately gives in and make frequent visits. Love comes knocking when he meets Mario, neighbor's grandson who is very attracted to Lorenzo. They have a great one night and Mario wants to see this grow into something. But Lorenz pushes him away and it becomes obvious he isn’t dealing with his own issues, let alone those of anyone else. Eventually the drama continues to built and some past family secrets are revealed that delve deeper into why the marriage between Rosie and her late husband was a disaster and how this has eventually affected the relationship between her and kids and why Rosie has become the stubborn person that she is. Eventually when Lorenz realizes his love for Mario after pushing him away many times, it might be too late to make any amendments.

As mentioned above, the film is not a gay film but it does spend sometime focussing on issues that Lorenz has with Mario who he still thinks of as a young man and that eventually his relationship will fail. The family dynamics between the mother and 2 kids is very real and it deals with some very relatable issues. At first Lorenz becomes frustrated with Rosie and sees her as stubborn but as the film progresses he begins to understand that accepting your limitations isn’t something that’s easy to do. Rosie was brilliant as an actress. She carries the film completely on her shoulders and has a charm. She also brings in some light moments and humor times. Having said that, the family drama was way too much for my linking and it felt stretched in a lot of places. Given the changed title, I would have liked to see a lot more focus on Lorenz and on his past and current life focussing more on Mario. There was a lot of scope there. Lorenz and Mario have good chemistry and you can see and actually relate to why Lorenz would try to push Mario away.

Overall not a bad movie, but please don't think of it as a gay film. This is a film about relationship of a mother with her kids where the gay son plays an important part. Its stretched a bit but doesn't bore you. (5/10)
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luigi43 said…
It is too obvious , I must rate this film more than 10/10 : I live in their Country , my husband is Swiss .....Apart every sciovinistic joke , nice movie , well directed and realized , very recommended .
July 29, 2019 at 9:40 AM
Golu said…
:) You are too sweet.
July 29, 2019 at 5:14 PM
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