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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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Glen Or Glenda [I Changed My Sex]

By Golu
While the subject matter of this film is definitely ahead of its time, it’s the kind of film , where actors seem to be reading lines from a book trying to educate people about transvestism.Its like hearing a narrator telling a story without compassion and feelings. It is just not a good film, however noble the intention may have been to educate people back in the 50s. It’s poorly shot, atrociously acted and further butchered by a ton of editing mistakes. The director of this film is Ed Wood, a director known for some of the worst films of all times, mostly horror.

It’s about a cop who, after having been called in to investigate the apparent suicide of a transvestite, consults a psychologist to better understand crossdressers. The good doctor then tells him the story of Glen, a man who struggles with telling his fiance that he likes to wear women’s clothing. He fears that she’ll reject him once she knows the truth, and his anxiety grows as their wedding date grows ever closer. Then the doctor tells the story of Alan, a pseudo-hermaphrodite who undergoes a sex-change operation once he gets back home from fighting in World War II. And in between all this, at the beginning of the film and spread through its run time, we have an actor playing some kind of creepy scientist/doctor type that randomly shows up to say spooky things that have nothing much to do with the story at hand. 

Told mainly in semi-documentary fashion, this seems like the director's most personal story. I think I read somewhere that he also used to cross dress. The film does try earnestly to educate people on crossdressers and show them in a positive light.  While the acting throughout the movie is awful for the most part, it’s not bad enough that it blunts the message that the director was trying to give. Behind the really weird editing the movie tells a lot about transvestitism, transsexualism, relationships, sexual identity and social roles. The second story feels like an afterthought addition. It should actually have been delved deeper but was rushed through instead. With extremely low production value and quality and bad acting, I still feel that somewhere the film's heart was in the right place. Its the execution where it faltered. I wasn't completely disappointed since I constantly kept reminding myself that this is form the 50s, but at the same time, this is not the kind of ilm that I would go about recommending anyone. (3.5/10)
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