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...
Mario Mieli was born in 1952 to a rich upper class family. He was obviously gay and no one besides his mother ever tried to keep a cordial relationship with him. He loved to cross dress and regardless of the family's hostility, Mieli lacked for neither money or material possessions. When he went to London, he took active part in London Gay Liberation Front and back home in Italy, he was also responsible for the first homosexual demonstration at a Congress. Even though he was the founder of Italy's first major gay-rights group in 1972, he left it 2 years later since he thought the gay movement should remain independent of political parties. We see him meeting innumerable suitors and many times equating gay rights to women rights. His fiercely bright intellect empowered his contributions to the gay rights movement but his personal life was a mess. He found love many times and eventually with Umberto but his bipolar intensity drove him away too.
Mario killed himself in 1983, before turning 31. He was an activist, a writer and a performer and a key figure in the Italian cultural panorama at that time along with his friends. He was a communist and also an intellectual who was as interested in the philosophy of change as in the reality of achieving it. He liked to provoke and to innovate but either he always went over board or was always not understood and it is this behavior of his over a period of time that drove more and more people away from him. I wonder, if Italians would find more connect with the story and the history which is paramount to the gay freedom and liberation that our generation is enjoying today. The performances by everyone in the film is almost pitch perfect, although its a first where I think the real person was much better and good looking that the reel equivalent.
This is an intriguing account of a slice of LGBTQ history that not many of us know about, and it is always rewarding to discover queer pioneers to whom we should feel indebted. I may have not connected with the topic personally but it doesn't take away from the fact that these important stories need to be told, so we don't take things for granted. (5/10)
Comments