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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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The Cost Of Love (UK)

By Golu
Gosh! What was the point of this film? It was almost at par with some of the American gay vampire movies in terms of how senseless the plot is and how low the production values are. The film was neither funny, nor trying to make a point. It wasn't visually stunning or even emotionally charged. I guess, what I am trying to say is that there was no point behind bringing such a story in a feature film format.

Dale is a young man who has a high sex drive. He is a high profile hustler prostituting to high-paying clients making their sexual fantasies come true. When Dale's best friend from childhood, the straight guy Raj announces that he is love with a girl Veena and is about to marry her, it stirs up all kinds of emotions in Dale. Dale apparently has always loved and wanted Raj. Besides Raj, Dale's other best friend is Sean, a prolific drag queen, who also happens to have a crush on Dale. and then towards the end of the film we see homophobia setting in the small town, when one of the gay man gets brutally murdered. This leads to a S&M scene where Dale has agreed to meet a client but gets brutally murdered. And in a dreamlike "funeral scene", all the grieving characters are present in the church to "mourn" Dale's loss, while Dale is commenting on their lives after his departure, while they are reminiscing on the impact Dale had on all their lives.

First thing that you notice is that there is really no structure to the narrative. A bunch of characters are just thrown in to make something up. Dale, as a character, is so much into himself, that I am surprised he even managed to make two friends who are ok taking his bullshit all the time. As an audience you could care less about him, his love and what happens to him and that is my opinion is a big negative. The story has hollow sentimentality and the whole psycho killer subplot seemed to come out of nowhere adding more nonsense to the already contrived plot. It was also not clear what were Raj's feelings for Dale. Was he marrying Veena because she was dying as an obligation or was he really straight? The whole situation of Sean's father suddenly coming into the picture also came out of nowhere. Seriously, I am just not sure what this movie was trying to be. The only funny scenes were Dale fulfilling fantasies of his clients which brought a smirk on my face thinking that well we do have all kinds of people and all kinds of fantasies in this world.

Big waste of time. There is nothing really to enjoy here. Also, not sure what the title of the film refers to !! (3/10)
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