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...
Tana and Eros are a married couple. He runs a small street-front shop. She’s an opera singer struggling to stay engaged in her art. They have a good relationship. But unaware to Eros, Tana starts to frequent a gay bathhouse Copa 181. which starts to become his happy place. That's where we meet a few other characters primarily being transgender Kika who is falling in love with straight and married hustler Leo, who hustles in the gay sauna. We do see a couple of other characters whose scenes just come and go. eros harbors a dream of singing other kinds of songs as well and not just opera. When she eventually gets an opportunity to song at Copa 181, her husband's secret comes out. The film ends with them having a mature conversation around if they are happy or not.
The problem with this film is that it tries to do too much without putting enough focus on certain storylines for them to hold any emotional weight. Even though Eros and Tana are the main characters, we hardly get to know about their marriage and relationship. Why are they unhappy, why does Tana want to move to Japan, why does Eros' father not talk to her etc. Also we see a wee bit of Kika and Leo's character but it is never gone deeper which eventually frustrated me. Eventually, what we do get is how the inner workings of a gay sauna happen, how the make hormones rage inside, the hustling culture and how saunas serve as escape for many men. Visually the film is taught and nice but remains unfocused during the more tender moments between the characters. It just brushes on the surface. There was a lot of potential here from a story perspective which sadly was missed.
Nevertheless, this film is an empathetic tale about love, life, and relationships that doesn’t beat you over the head with any particular message. (5/10)
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