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...
Petros, a 45-year-old office archaeologist, has just come out of a long-term relationship, disillusioned by the romantic notion of self-less love. During a visit to the ancient theater of Argos, he will meet Hussam, a young Arab immigrant who eventually becomes his lover. As you can imagine, Hussam sometimes has these guilt situations given his Arab origins, but also something about Petros that makes him want to be with him. Petros also helps manage a small music group of young Albanians, two men and one woman, who come and start living with him, out of the blue. It feels Petros is the helping kinda guy. Petros and Hussam have occasional arguments around love, immigration , money and sex. Soon Hussam also moves in with him, constantly reminding him that he is there for love because if he wanted, he can get enough money for sex, being young and Arab. In fact he does trick out occasionally. He also sometimes steals from Petros but really still loves him. I don't know, their relationship is never really clear to me. At some point Hussam also meets Petros' family who welcomes them and then as randomly the film started, it ends. In between this main story, Petros meets a bunch of "different" people, who leave an impression on him and who affect him financially or emotionally.
As I mentioned before, this film doesn't amen much sense in terms of what it is really trying to say. If you read the official synopsis, don't get fooled by it. The film is quite different and unsure of its purpose. Ambitious in its scope - an anatomy of post-crisis life in Athens with an emphasis on LGBTQ and immigration themes - , it veers off a bit too quickly to predictable melodramatic tropes. And then it suddenly goes from black and white to color in the last 5 minutes. The actors playing Petros and Hussam are both quite good looking and hot (or maybe that's just my type) and we do get see some kissing and ass shots, which are good for eye-candy, but overall as a film, it is a huge disappointment. (2.5/10)
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