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...
The film starts with a straight actor opening about his struggles trying to make it as an actor. He talks about being taken advantage of by his agent, then a producer and that how he landed into the gay film because a man has to eat. There’s a young man who has to find the bravery to tell his parents that he’s a puppet, despite the fact they think that puppets are disgusting and abnormal. We have a man who appears to have kidnapped someone and is holding him in his basement, who slowly undresses as he reveals what is going on. In another, a hot young guys talk about what he’s really looking for as he lies in the arms of another man just after sex. A man slowly shaves off his beard, with each look he tries on a new persona that allows him to explore the fact that despite being with a woman, he has strong desires for men. And more...
Anthology films are always hit or miss, just because of the nature that some stories connect better with audiences and others don't. Even though genre wise, we get to see comedy, horror, empathy; but there were actually only 2 segments that I connected with. The first one with the actor really establishes the contrasting light and dark reveals that are to come over its duration. And then of the man slowly shaving off his beard was intense and gripping. That one was deep, but rest of the others were strictly ok or bad. The actors are thankfully good to look at and easy on eyes, but after a while, the constant jibber jabber takes my mind away from actually focussing on the film and as an audience I feel thats a problem. Surely, we are all looking for different meaningful cinema but it should still manage to hold your attention. I will probably give it a pass. (4/10)
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