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Aniki and Me 3: Switched Hearts (Japanese)

By Golu
If you've been following along with these Japanese Pink films, you already know the deal. An hour of simulated gay sex, a little story baked in, and a premise that's completely ridiculous but somehow keeps you watching. This one goes all in on the body swap fantasy, basically asking the question, what if you woke up one day inside your hot friend's body and could finally act out everything you've been keeping to yourself? Atsushi is gay and has been quietly carrying a crush on his childhood friend Yuma for years. They fell out of touch but end up back in each other's lives when they wind up at the same company. Yuma is straight and has a girlfriend, though things between them aren't exactly great. Then one day, after some kind of signing strike, the two men swap bodies, and suddenly Yuma is walking around in Atsushi's skin and Atsushi is living inside the guy he's been fantasizing about forever. Atsushi wastes zero time taking full advantage, fooling aro...
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Memories Of Forgetting (Filipino)

By Golu
What a train wreck of a film. I am all about experimenting, not just with story but also with film making style, but this film just doesn't work. As if the paper thin story wasn't enough, the various, inconsistent stylistic choices are distracting and annoying. Also, the dialogue  delivery is strange; it gives a feeling of theatre or bad poetry. I saw it as a film, but I believe this was aired as a 6 part series.

The premise is very basic and simple. Jim, 30s, is a filmmaker who had a special relationship with Michael, 20s, an actor he worked with five years ago. In the midst of shooting a film, Michael quit from the project. While the city is in a lockdown, the two meet again. Their dynamics becomes volatile, fighting at some point and making love the next moment. During this time, Jim's mother becomes ill, and dies which somehow comes in between the relationship of these two men, halting their relationship once again. After sometime, at a wedding, Jim and Michael meet again. Will they finally seize the chance to realize their protracted relationship?

This hour long plus film could easily have been a 15 minute short story. I guess what the maker is trying to say is that true love will stand the test of time and a couple truly in love may meet a few times and feel that their relationship is not headed anywhere but destiny will give them chance. But what is annoying was the overtly used poetic tones which annoyed me as a viewer. We have shots of stairwells and staircases that do not appear to allow exits and entrances. Lines of walls crisscross and shoot up to tiny apertures letting in the blue sky or, maybe, some artificial light. Hallways are photographed in blistering red and pus yellow. The long dialogues with the mother, the random music and the almost love-hate relationship between the couple; none of it made any sense at all. The actors are strictly ok, but what can the poor folks do, when there is hardly a script and the director is probably getting free money to enjoy his experimentation phase of making films. I am sure there are people out there who would possibly describe this film as a beautiful work of art, but of my cinematic sensibilities tell me anything, it is a sheer waste of time and money and art. (1/10)
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