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...
Norman, a young gay black man lives with his boyfriend Garcon in LA. One day he gets a surprise visit from his father who is having a rough time since his wife ran away to Mexico with his brother. He is distraught and so is his son Norman who doesn't know what to do. He ass Garcon to relocate for a few days, but Garcon indirectly comes out to the father which hits him like anything. He is confused as to what he did wrong in bringing up Norman. He brings home a hooker for Norman which he gets insulted by and leaves home. When Garcon shows up home, him and the father end up bonding on unusual things. H likes Garcon but as long as he is not gay. He even tries to 'straighten' Garcon with the same hooker. Surprisingly a few days later, his wife comes back after a terrible affair when reality sank in. She is equally shocked to learn about her son's sexuality. The ending is a bit rushed where Norman decides that he will join Navy and the parents decide that they will take Garcon with him to work on their store.
This is a full on situational comedy that actually works primarily because of some great witty dialogues and an amazing performance by Redd Foxx as the father. Like most parents from hat time, he doesn't know a thing about what it means to be gay and has all of these stereotypical notions of what gay people are like. Yes, the film is stereotypical in almost every gag that you can think so, but with father's acting of a confused father and the ever sunny and optimistic Garcon hell bent on making sure that the father ends up liking him, the film is a laugh riot. The mother's entry in the latter half make the film even better. These are such great actors. Surprisingly the only bland part of the film was title character Norman, who had the least bit of role in the film. Garcon was funny and the actor was amazing too. The film when watched today feels totally racist, misogynistic and homophobic, and yet a head-scratching piece of woke entertainment from the late-70s, that deals with a black father accepting his son is gay. Dialogues like “It’s not like Norman was marrying a Puerto Rican. It’s more serious than that!” Make you cringe but also make you laugh out loud and trust me there are plenty of them. Having said that, the film does have a few tender moments when the father buys some books and tries to understand homosexuality and most of his interactions with Garcon are noteworthy. As it is there were probably very few films with gay characters as center in 70s, so keeping that in mind and if you can be a little more flexible in your attitude with actually enjoy homophobic and racist jokes (I know its completely inappropriate), you may actually end up enjoying and laughing a lot. I know, I did. The title comes from one of the funniest lines in the movie when the mother gets to Norman's apartments and she runs into a black female prostitute and thinks it's her son in drag ("Norman... Is that you?"). (7/10)
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