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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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Legend Of Long Yang (Mandarin) [Rebirth]

By Golu
There have been very few handful of gay films on China. Considering the very strict censorship laws there, its not surprising that these films are more of a homoerotic films with hints of love and no real action. Thankfully this film film did have a kissing and pseudo sexual scene but all in the end credits.

Film starts with Prince You coming back from a war and is attacked by assassins. A guard unknown to prince, named Long Yang comes to his protection, but eventually loses his life. HE sees that a token that was given this by the price has also broken and possibly. The prince has died too. Upon awakening though Long Yang finds himself having travelled back in time a year ago and he wants to use this opportunity to save the kings life. It turns out that the price had saved Long Yang's life when they were kids and had gifted him as a token. Long Yang reveals his identity to Prince You and before you realize they have an unbroken bond between them. He comes the prince's trusted advisor and bodyguard and a candid romance starts flourishing between them. This is not taken well by the process who is in love with prince and wants to marry him. She does her best to create misunderstandings between them to the extent that she even even accuses Long Yang of being part pf the conspiracy to kill the prince. She forces the prince to marry her but the prince soon realizes what game she is unto and manages to play trick where he and Long Yang can escape from the kingdom to there by live with each other in love.

At just about 75 minutes, the film went by pretty quick and in anyway its always nice to see elaborate kingdom sets. The problem here is the editing. If you do not pay attention, you can completely miss out on the time travel part and how the tings are being done right. At many places the scenes seemed completely disjointed. Its only later they show the reasoning and things fall in place. I am very sure that there are better ways of showing such sequences to the audience. I wish the film was more seamless rather than choppy edits that disrupt the flow of the narrative. The two male leads have excellent chemistry. The female lead playing the jealous princess does a good job in acting. You really end up hating her for forcing herself on the prince and blaming the poor Long Yang for the assassination plot. Thankfully the film has a happy ending and we even get to see the two boys kissing and undressing each other in the end credits. Overall, its not the greatest of film by any means, but it was nice pleasant distraction from the useless stuff that I have been seeing of late. (6/10)
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Sailor Maan said…
Thanks for the review, I also think it was an ok movie. Strangely production value ranges from beautiful for the kingdom sets (especially the princess costumes that are gorgeous!) to very cheap (combat scenes and those horrible false petals flying haha). What disturbed me the most were the blatantly cut scenes. I thought there was something wrong in the editing but couldn't pinpoint what until you find after the end credits they were the kissing and "sex" scenes. China homophobia and censorship really is something...
February 1, 2022 at 4:26 AM
Golu said…
True! But guess what censorship is still a very real and brutal thing in most countries.
And you are right about production too. Sometimes too good while really bad at other places.
February 1, 2022 at 8:55 AM
Sailor Maan said…
You're sadly right about global censorship... I'm certainly seeing this through my western eyes filter and tend to forget about it at times.
February 3, 2022 at 11:27 AM
Golu said…
It's all good. Some of us are lucky that we are allowed to be who we are.
February 3, 2022 at 9:59 PM
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