This is your typical indie coming-of-age tale about a teenager, though it’s clearly working with a very tiny budget. Set within a migrant family living in Southern California’s Coachella Valley, the movie digs into how fragile old-school traditions and expectations can be. We follow a teenage son as he goes through the process of coming out and struggles to find acceptance while dealing with homophobia, domestic abuse, and a messy love triangle that involves his own sister. Goyo is seventeen and just about to graduate from high school. Since he’s been a bit more feminine since he was a little kid, he’s always had to deal with emotional and physical transition from his dad, Ramon, who is obsessed with him being "a man." The only real love he gets is from a lady next door who actually respects him for who he is. The family lives in a Mexican community where everyone works on a grape farm, but things get shaken up when a new guy named Lucio arrives. Lucio basically seduces Goyo ...
I will try to see if I can explain the story here. Mork is a young boy traveling in wilderness and mountains. A mysterious stranger dressed in all white suddenly appears and asks to be his travel companion. Every time the stranger appears things start. Going missing from Mork, but reluctantly he allows the Sanger to accompany him on his journey. Story goes in flashback. Mork works in a store and is visited by the stranger in flesh named Tiew. The duo soon become friend sand even start a relationship, but somehow we see Mork's twin Mon (is he a twin or figment of imagination, I could just never understand) and Tiew is now dating this two guys who can sometimes remember and sometimes not these things. And then there is this cafe owner , a mysterious man who just sits outside collecting dew from leaves, starting in open mountains, giving random shit on how spirits stay alive for 99 days or something like that. My understanding is that somewhere both Tiew and Mork died without actually culminating their love. Tiew remembers it but Mork doesn't and somehow in these 99 day period Tiew tries his best to being those memories live for Mork.
My understanding of the show could be completely different from what it actually was, but I am so shocked that even after having seen the whole thing I still can't say for certain what the show was really about. The transitions between past and present or between real and fantasy were just not there. Also the editing is so bad that it feels random scenes are joined here and there for no reason at all. I am still stretching my head on whether Mork really ha a twin or not, how did they die (not even sure whether just one died or both), what was the whole flirtatious thing about, what was the reason that Mork/Mon play this weird game with Tiew) etc etc. The show tries to give a lot of emotional sentimental feeling, but as a viewer when I am so confused about trying to make sense of whatever is unfolding in front of me, I really stop caring about good scenic location or cute guys, simply because nothing at all makes sense to me. I checked and read online, hoping that maybe something will make sense, but it just doesn't. I am not sure who really are these people who are going crazy over how amazing this show is. This is one weird confused puzzle that cannot solved. I hope at least the storywriter knows what he was trying to tell. I'd recommend to stay away from this, unless you have seen it, you understood it; in that case, please explain it to me, because I have no clue. (2/10)
Comments
Back to on cloud nine, I found it captivating, moving, and with an obvious refined aesthetical cinematography. The story went from strange to deeply touching (and not that messy in the end imho). Especially the last episodes when everything falls into place and finally makes sense. The fact Tiew waited in death for 99days for Mork is poetic and romantic as hell. And the pain of the twin brother still alive broke my heart. I won't argue that some parts needed more development but even so,the feels of this series just left me with a WOW.
Similarly there is an Indian film (I won't bore you with details) which I absolutely loved and started recommending to my friends and till date they give me a hard time on how can anyone love such a bad film. lol