This one falls into that darker corner of gay cinema. There was real potential buried in here, but the execution feels so flat that at points it plays out more like a filmed stage play than an actual movie. It's a dark psychological drama built around a street hustler confessing to a brutal, confusing murder of his own lover. Black and white flashback sequences do a solid job laying out the details of what happened, but the real focus stays on the dialogue and the writing itself. Right at the start, a young hustler has already killed his male lover Claude. Three days go by before he calls the police to turn himself in for the murder. But instead of just reporting it somewhere ordinary, he actually summons the police and the local press directly into a judge's private chambers. Yves has keys to the place, which tracks given what he does for a living, but having the press waiting right outside makes the whole scene look like some elaborate blackmail scheme against the judge. The ...
We are introduced to rival class friends group, one of Filipino origin and other native Hawaiian. Edmar is a high achieving shy quiet student of the Filipino group while Pili, the native Hawaiian is from the other group. Somehow for a class project, these two boys are paired together and come up with a dish that imbibes both their cultures. As expected they both protest, but they are forced. Pili invites Edmar to a gathering with his family over the weekend, where he gets to learn a lot of things about Hawaiian culture. Similarly, Pili gets. To lean a bit about Edmar , his background and culture. Even though they both have girlfriends, they do feel some sort of attraction with one another. As their friendship grows, they do have to hold back because if their respective friends, but eventually they cannot control their bond and attraction and the film ends with two rival groups becoming friends and the two boys finally giving into their feelings with a kiss.
To be honest, I do appreciate the director's intention to bring something new to the table. The setting of Hawaii is breathtaking and gorgeous to say the least, but I feel bot the actors and the film makers have some way to go before they can make something more engaging. More than the love story, the film focuses on the struggles that Hawaiians and Filipinos in Hawai’i face result from the same global economic forces. Using love story as a background, lot of these issues are discussed. I did like that they do give us a lot of information about Hawaii culture. But the problem is the love story. It barely exists. When and why do they two boys get attracted to each other is never clearly shown. I mean just because two seemingly foes spend a weekend together getting and understanding each other's culture; is that reason enough to fall in love? Maybe it is, but I would like to have seen the process for that. Also, these are supposedly high school students, while Pili clearly looks like a 25 year old young man (albeit extremely good looking). Edmar can still pass off as a school student. The two boys falling for one another just happens so randomly that it doesn't make much sense honestly. And that''s like a big red flag for me. The film switches between English, Tagalog and Hawaiian language easily and effortlessly, which is nice. At almost 2 hours long, the story between the two main protagonists could hav been handled so much better. I don't feel any empathy for the characters. There are random characters like Edmar's cousin sister who drools over Pili every time she sees him. Honestly its embarrassing to watch her. There are a lot of scenes of almost nothingness which tests your patience.
Yes, the attempt is good, but unfortunately the final product leaves lot to be desired It will be a while before Hawaii gives Asian BL's a run for their money, bth in scripting and direction , at least for time being. (4/10)
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