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On The Sea (UK)

By Golu
This one's a beautiful, tender, quiet romantic drama with a moody atmosphere, set in a tight knit Welsh fishing community. It's a touching story about a man waking up sexually in the middle of his life, and how he, his family, and everyone around him deal with it, which makes it emotional and sentimental without ever getting over the top. The slow burn plays out against a landscape that's as bleak as it is gorgeous, where quiet, closed off men are stuck inside rigid ideas of what masculinity should be. Some people might be reminded of "God's Own Country," but I think both films are lovely in their own way. Jack is a middle aged guy who co-owns a mussel farm with his rough around the edges brother Dyfan, and the tension between the two of them is simmering under the surface right from the start. Dyfan's three sons all help out with the work, while Jack's sulky teenage son Tom keeps skipping out. Jack's been with his wife since they were both 16, and...
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Han Zi Gao: The Male Queen (Mandarin)

By Golu
I believe this made for TV or web film is based on a true story. It's interesting how gay relationships can be traced back to hundreds of years back and still our current politicians can say that this is a western phenomenon and that homosexuality have never existed in our culture. This story is set in sixth century.

Han Zi Gao was born as Han Man Zi. He was well known for his beauty and during times of war, he always managed to escape because of that. Around 554, when he was 16-years-old, he met the future Emperor Wen of Chen, by then only a general. Chen was deeply attracted to Han Zi Gao's breath-taking beauty and urged him to go with him, promising the boy a life of wealth. Ever the clever boy, Han Man Yi agrees to serve him and Chen Zi Hua is changing his name into Han Zi Goa as a sign that they are going to be connected for the rest of their lives. They both start to take care of each other's need including physical. The general also starts to teach him fighting, martial arts, music etc. And what starts as a master-slave relationship soon turns into a quiet love story. Of course the relationship is not taken good by either general's wife or his sister, who wants Zi Gao for herself. As it is General has trust issues and we see some misunderstandings but eventually he promises to Zi Gao that if and when he becomes emperor, he will make him the queen.

The film, to be honest, at one point got very confusing because there were way too many names in the subtitles, and I couldn't keep a track of whether it was name of a person or a place or what was going on. The film moved from scene to scene very random so it was also difficult to keep a track whether it's a continuation of sort or we have moved beyond a few years or months. Clearly the 2 men were deeply in love, stuff that pure love is made of but the general couldn't help his jealousy. He always felt that Zi Gao will leave him for some woman or someone else. But that never happened. There are no kiss or love making scenes between the two men but they share good chemistry with their eyes, their dialogues, that you can tell that they deeply care for each other and are in love. They both were good actors and had good chemistry. I just wish the subtitles I had with me were clearer.

At just over an hour of length, this was good time spent watching a period gay love story, which also happens to be true. Decent, not great. (6/10)
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