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...
The story Strats one year after Haruta comes back to Tokyo after spending his time in Hong Kong. A slight misunderstanding causes Maki to have cold feet about his relationship and he gets himself transferred to the HQ, just as they swoop in to take control of a huge redevelopment project. His replacement Justice is a nice distraction for Haruta, who still very much cares for Maki. But an accident leads to selective amnesia for the chief boss , who finds himself, falling over Haruta all over again. As happens in the original series, the battle to win over Haruta begins. Chief likes Haruta, so does Justice. But Haruta still loves Maki, who is unaware of a little too close focus by his new boss. A series of events create all sorts of confusion, slapstick comedy, funny situations and Haruta and Maki realize that their true love is with each other. The ending is still a bit open ended where Maki is probably moving to Singapore.
In terms of gags, as I said before, the film as a sequel is a notch down from the series. While the series gives an opportunity to build up characters and their goofiness, the film fails to exploit on that. All female characters get a very raw deal and are relegated to the background.
Haruta's contorted face in multiple slow motion gets a bit annoying after a while and the film is full of those scenes. He screams and gawks in exasperation or confusion, like in series, but while it appeared charming in the series, here it feels revolting. The new characters of Justice and Maki's new boos add a new dimension. The ending was definitely funny where the kidnapped girl just sits around expecting Haruta to do everything and people trying to co-ordinate. It was also funny to see Maki and the chief finally literally fighting it out for who deserves to be with Haruta. Having said that, the whole kidnapping angle felt so not a part of this film and just didn't fit in the overall premise. The film doesn't add much to the love story or the Chief's infatuation with Haruta, but nonetheless it was still an ok watch. If you haven't seen the series and watch the film as standalone, a lot of the context will be left missing for you and I would not advice doing that. (6/10)
Comments
If you planned on watching the "second season" (which is really a similar story in a parallel world), it has the same deceptive feeling as the movie imo. I've read the hong kong remake is more on par with the original though.
I you want a good BL to watch, I can highly recommend "Be loved in house: I do" :)
Noting "Be loved in house: I do" immediately. Do keep telling me more, please !!
I can't bear to watch some crap, just in case they turn out to be like Amour, the absolute worst BL Asian show ever!!
I can recommend most taiwanese BL : We best love, We are gamily (short, with a weak beginning but then becomes surprisingly interresting), Papa&Daddy (slightly disapointing for me but I think I had too high expectations given the subject). I still have to watch Crystal boys that looks good too.
For Thailand it's difficult as most recent ones (My engineer, Why R U, Gen Y, Fish upon the sky, Nitiman...) are the usual highschool cliche ones with not much happening. If you like that kind some are good but that's it. The only ones standing out for me would be Golden blood (mafia in disneyworld lol), Lovely writter (deals with BL world industry, has some very good episodes but some painfully slow ones as well) and Manner of death (good plot). Then you have my favourites albeit strange ones and not even totally gay: "3 will be free" and "Greatmen academy". The last one is VERY special though (especially the 1st ep) and may not be your cup of tea : mix magical girl+harry potter+hunger games disguised as a BL in a Barbie world. There is also the short series "The best story" that surprised me.
For Philipines I can only somehow recommend Stuck on you (nice but nothing exceptionnal). But I'm really looking forward to watch gameboys the movie.
In Japan, the movie "restart after come back home" is very good, and I loved "Kinou ni Tabeta" (with grown ups 40smth characters woohoo!). The Pornographer has a unique ambiance too.
The korean "Light on me" that finishes this week an have very very good comments so far.
Can't remember the names of the others, perhaps because they were forgettable at best... Now I'm hoping to catch up on YOUR recommendations ;-)
Youtube just sent me a video for some indian gay series for a change, and one of them, "his storyy", seems particularily interesting. Have you heard of this one?
Yes I have heard of Indian series "His Story" and interestingly I am in middle of watching it. Have seen only 4 episodes so far. Its alright .