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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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Golpe de Sol (Portuguese) [Sunburn]

By Golu
I would call this film more of an arthouse film in the LGBT genre. The film doesn't judge you for your sexuality, in fact it keeps it fluid, without asking or providing for labels. The film is more about friendship, love and issues that we all have in our lives and the past we can't bury and the future we wanna get.

Four friends are spending a relaxed weekend in a summer house: Francisco owns the villa and is supposedly straight (or bi), who is with Joanna. Joanna is best friends with Simao, a screen writer, secretly writing his next film on the lives of himself and his friends and finally Vasco, a romantic at heart who doesn't believe in hook-ups and has been in an online relationship with  married man, who hasn't met him yet. In morning, they are all surprised to individually have received a call from an old friend David, who is in town and wants to visit them all. We gradually learn about their reasons for being excited and/or scared by his announced visit. David seems to have let each of the four down in a uniquely personal way. And for all the damage that he has previously wrought, each of them secretly hopes that David is coming for them. Francisco and David were lovers when they were teen and decided to take a break, David and Simao brokeup because David wanted a family and kids. He also had a brief relationship with Vasco. The interactions between the four of them change from fun, to whispers to fights to apologies waiting for David who takes almost a full day to come (for a distance that was only supposedly 2 hours).

The film is visually beautiful. Good looking actors who can also act quite well, gorgeous house and pool and a neutral luxury and warmth. Sadly, the character buildup of all these individuals is very little and all we know about is their mutual relationships which also for no reason keeps going up and down. It is hard to relate to the intensity of the issues that they are going through because they all seemed to be hurt by David in some way, but what is it about David, that even after 10 years it a subject of sore discussion and why cant they all forget him even after 10 years. Keeping the sexuality aside, even the whole treatment of the film is very artsy where a whole lot is left to the audience to interpret. I didnt understand why Francisco and Vasco fought, why did Vasco have a random hook-up, why did Joanna get in a fight with Francisco or most importantly why suddenly Simao feels suicidal. I have a lot of questions unanswered.

The film is pretty and stretches too much in its long duration with silences and pool. This film is gonna need a lot of patience but ends up being frustrating because it just keeps going in circles. (4.5/10)
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