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...
The film starts with a handsome man Elias, in Atacama desert in Chile’s north, the place where his boyfriend, Sebastien, died a month earlier. Having borrowed his father’s big red truck without asking, he arrives in the pre-dawn darkness still in the suit that he probably wears for work; the job he told Sebastien he couldn’t quit. As he continues his joinery towards south passing Santiago, in bits and very very few flashbacks we see Sebastian and Elias meeting and Sebastian always wanting to travel south with Elias which they couldn't. The book of drawings and collages that Sebastien left Elias lends additional facets to the love story, and it’s the source of the movie’s title. On his road journey, he starts meeting people and had very brief time spend with them and I am not sure what was the point. His encounters on the road are friendly and easy, however laced with his unspoken pain. There is also a hint that Elias was probably not ready to make their relationship public. So when he tells one of his hitchhikers, a girl from Canada, "My boyfriend was also from Canada", he is probably saying that for the first time. The finale of the film is again very open ended.
The one thing that stands out in the film is how gorgeous, even in his tragedy, is our lead actor. Guy playing Elias is smoking hot. You wanna hold him, hug him and just tell him that everything is going to be alright. His eyes have that sadness. And of course, the more than gorgeous landscape of Chile, a country which I must say, I am grateful to have visited a few years back. The problem with the story is that it moves at an excruciatingly slow pace, so much of the film relies upon the stoic expressions of the lead. There are barely any dialogues and long drawn scenes of just pain, anguish and sadness. It's like a grieving man is trying to use road trip and memories of his love with his boyfriend to try to move on and you just follow him and that it. Along the way, Elias meets fellow travelers who help guide him towards the spiritual peace he craves. Some of the encounters are fleeting – a brief conversation with an English backpacker, a surprise meeting with an old friend. Others are more substantial. Elias forms a bond with a stray dog and, for a few hours at least, considers taking it with him. And a Canadian backpacker complements him on his positive energy. A visually beautiful escapist experience and a film about about love, loss, and the grieving process, but seriously, from a story perspective there is literally nothing happening here. Nothing at all. You make your own decision on this one. (4/10)
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