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...
Starting in the year 2069 (wink wink), the crown less King Alfredo of Portugal is on his death bed and shining back of his life. The film goes in flashback, where Prince Alfred is a young man, who is troubled by the wildfires sweeping the country.Against his parents wishes, he announces he wants to be a fireman. “Don’t confuse the royal family with documentary cinema!” his mother chides. Nevertheless, he joins and he meets Alfonso, who is assigned his buddy. The handsome black man and young prince feel sparks. Before long, desire is kindled between the two men when Alfredo must practice his mouth-to-mouth resuscitation technique on his teacher. The homoerotic atmosphere extends to the other firemen in residence, who like to recreate scenes from famous paintings with each other while naked. The two men go all out, but soon Alfredo hears that his father has died of Covid. As much as the duo are supposedly in love, Alfredo has to leave Alfonso to fulfill his duty. Back in the present in 2069, Alfredo has died and gets a secret visitor, Alfonso, an agin man who is now the president of the country.
My favorite scene in the film was one, the big dancing number between the two leads. It was romantic, erotic and very well choreographed and the second when they ar both fully naked playing with each other. Two totally different reasons for liking those scenes. The film, in sot so many words, does show an analogy between sexual awakening and forest fires while also touching on topics such as classism, racism and academicism. The humor of the film is hard to explain. It is not the laugh out loud kind, but different. There is scene where Alfonso does a slideshow of different kinds of penises and compare each one to a specific type of forest based on girth and pubic hair styling. Sex, in this film, is fun yet goofy at the same time. The two actors have a good chemistry together, although they do lack the finess, but everything still just works as a story filled with music, comedy, pornography, arthouse, and social critique.
What persists in this hour-long film is a queer perspective that, in light of all the suffering and injustice presented, wants you as the viewer to have a good time. It’s altogether hilarious and yet still heartfelt, extremely weird but wonderful regardless. (7/10)
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