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...
In this revealing look at a taboo world, sixteen of the hottest adult film stars provide a candid and raw insight into their careers and lifestyles, describing in shocking detail the dangers of the gay porn industry. At 7 episodes, of about 25 minutes each, this series does try to go deep into many things. Unfortunately, this documentary series has been produced on an extremely low budget, probably shot with hand help camera, fails to really enlighten audience anything additional about the business that an average person doesn't really already know about.
The episodes keep cut to cut moving from one person to another answering basic questions like how they got into the business; their childhood, how did they tell their family, self-image; how they "act" (get it up, basically); they're private lives, drugs, especially their romances--or lack of them; and they're coming-out experiences. It also talks about the silly plot lines that they are made to shoot, what crazy stuff they have done. We briefly also hear the story of a porn star who killed a gay porn producer and eventually what these men do to stay relevant in this competitive industry. These series of talking-head interviews edited into themes starts getting boring very soon. The topics would have been ok but these porn stars that were shortlisted are not all that articulate. Nor are their individual stories all that interesting or compelling. They all start to merge with one another after a while.
Sure this series/documentary came back in 2008 and things have changed drastically, right from how porn is shot and consumed and the cutthroat competition thats out there. I feel that a subject like this in today's time will be a lot more relevant and with the right set of director asking some pertinent questions with hopefully some smart subjects could actually make for an interesting watch. But for now, If you get your hands on this, it could be easily skipped. (3.5/10)

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