Skip to main content

Burnout Syndrome (Thai Series)

By Golu
True to its title, this show tries to capture burnout not as some big dramatic collapse but as this slow, draining exhaustion that quietly eats away at relationships and how you see yourself, and honestly it makes the characters feel really real. The pace is slow on purpose, and everyone here is flawed and full of contradictions, nobody's simple. It uses this messed up boss and employee dynamic to sneak in some pretty smart commentary on society. The story digs into toxic work culture, mental health struggles, and how money ends up running our lives whether we like it or not. And yeah, there's a love triangle thrown in too, because of course there is. This one runs ten episodes, each around 45-55 minutes. Jira's twenty eight, broke, and struggling to make it as a painter. Nothing's going right for him, his art isn't selling, he's got no steady job, and he's basically on the edge of falling apart. His best friend Ing does what she can, finding him odd jobs an...
Post a Comment

My Dear (Chinese/English/Hungarian) (Documentary)

By Golu
My Dear is a self-reflective documentary about the will of a young Chinese director Yao to express his own sexual identity in Europe. Shifting between observational footage, paper puppetry, and poetic symbolism, he explores expressions of sexual identity in this essay about queerness, immigration, and performance. (A question I have is, since Yao was living in Budapest, why is the country of origin shown as Portugal?)

Yao, a Chinese national, is nearing the end of his two year European college education.  Yet the 26-year-old is reluctant to return to China because he is already being pressured by his parents to come back home, get married and have kids. This closeted gay man has been in a relationship with Asim, a gay Iranian living in China for almost 6 years now, but no one in China knows this. He thought that coming to Europe would liberate him but now that he is finishing studies and finding a job is becoming increasingly hard, choices for him are minimal. He realizes that maybe one performance as a drag artist will make him feel free and liberate him before he may have to eventually move back to China. 

With just an hour duration, thankfully it was not too long but it just felt incomplete. Most of us have our own coming out stories but there has to be something very compelling and unique to make a film out of it, something that people would wanna watch. Is being together with the one you love worth abandoning the culture that defines who you are?  Is swallowing the dictates of the culture you were brought up in worth betraying and repressing your true nature?  This film offers no resolution of these questions. Yes, using puppetry and imagery to show us the conversations with his family is unique, but the story overall holds no attention. Why is Yao interested in drag? What is the boyfriend's back story? I would have liked to see some of that. Also the ending felt rather abrupt. The whole build up towards Yao trying to find a mentor to perform should have ideally culminated with the actual performance. But we never get to see that. I mean we don't even get to know what really happens to him or his boyfriend. The title of this documentary comes form the song that Yao is preparing to perform on, but honestly overall this documentary is something which doesn't really offer anything new or unique and I wouldn't consider it an essential viewing. (4/10)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Phor Lae Lukchai (Thai) [Father & Son]

By Golu
I think the budget of this film was probably too small, but for that, the film definitely offers a different and unique storyline without over dramatizing anything. Yes, some scenes were a bit amateurish but in the bigger scheme of things, that can be overlooked. The film is both beautiful and sad in its own unique way. Aek is a gay dad, whose partner died right around the time their son Nueng was born through surrogacy in a road accident. The relationship between father and son is unpleasant and unstable. We are not really told why, but it seems the father has been unsuccessful in caring and loving his son because of his partner's death. Aek continues to hook up wit hookers. Also, Nueng is constantly bullied by everyone around him for having a gay dad. He has no friends, except Nat, a neighborhood boy, who also happens to be Nueng's boyfriend. In a sudden turn of events Nat is found murdered along with another boy naked. Saddened by the events, Nueng jumps from roof and k...
1 comment
Read more

Sei no Gekiyaku (Japanese) [Dangerous Drugs of Sex]

By Golu
Every person has their own unique way of dealing with loss. This film is as much a psychological thriller as it is a soft porn BDSM portrayal of two young men that makes the film overall horrifying as well as humane. It is really hard to describe the genre of this film in one word. Its important not that the film has some really disturbing scenes so if you go into seeing this film, please proceed with caution. Although any sexual non-consensual activity is not ok, this film has its won strange way of showing that suicide is not the only solution to all life's problems. Makoto is a regular office goer, who just finds out that his girlfriend is probably cheating on him. ON top of it, his parents sudden death coming back from a trip that he forced them to take, he gets completely dejected and decides to commit suicide. Unknown to him, he is saved by mysterious man Yoda Ryoji, and he wakes up finding himself tied up in leather and belts in a very BDSM setting. This mysterious saver soo...
3 comments
Read more

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

By Golu
Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin...
5 comments
Read more