Stories of Our Lives is an anthology of five short films with LGBT themes from the East African republic of Kenya. It was made by the Nairobi-based art and activist group The Nest Collective, many of whose members prefer to conceal their identities to avoid possible persecution under Kenya’s notoriously draconian anti-gay laws. The film is still banned in it some country. The five dramas are mostly personal and domestic inspired by true incidents. ASK ME NICELY Kate, a rebellious young high school girl, meets first-love Faith, a fellow student. They begin a secret relationship, until the school principal takes action to separate the two by suspending Kate from the school. Back at home, Kate impulsively has a sexual encounter with a boy in her neighborhood. Two weeks later, Kate and Faith have an awkward reunion leading to their separation. RUN After negotiating a business deal, Patrick stumbles upon a local gay bar with his homophobic best friend, Kama. Patrick later returns to the clu...
Bu Xia is a university student who lives alone in his dorm room which is rumored to be haunted. He and his sister were raised by their grandfather who was a spiritual medium and he has some history of ghosts trying to reach out to him. Like most youngsters, he is messy, love himself and is great at basketball. Enter Jiang Chi, a new transfer university. He comes from a rich family but he wants to tread his own path and works various jobs to support himself and decides to live in dorm. As luck would have it, he is roommates with Bu Xia. The duo form a poor judgment of each other for various reasons and leave no stone unturned to make the other's life miserable. But, apparently Jiang Chi is an extremely good basketball player and the team wants him to join them so they can win university game. The duo slowly start to grown on each other and the animosity subsides. Due to a family mishap by his sister, Bu Xia starts to gain a power where he again starts hearing ghosts and that scares him to death. He soon realizes that the only time these voices stop is when he is close to and touching Jiang Chi. At first Bu Xia pretends to like him so that Jiang Chi can stay close to him including bringing him to the basketball team, but soon they both realize that their feelings for each other are stronger than they thought. Of course, there is some drama when Jiang Chi realizes that he might have been used , but the couple talk this through. Bu Xia's sister tells him the truth about the ghosts and Jiang Chi decides that he will do everything to support his love and get rid of these evil voices in his head. The sister prepares a ceremony where she could use yay's ghost immunity to help her brother, which seems like it worked. But the show ends with an interesting twist, where now maybe Jiang Chi can hear ghosts.
The one thing that I liked most about the show was how light hearted it was. The fluffiness, th cute moments, the fights, the flirtations, the caring moments between the two and the whole dynamics and chemistry that Bu Xia and Jiang Chi share was amazing. Bu Xia is devilishly handsome and a great actor and he knows how to keep the audiences hooked to him. What an amazing find. Jiang Chi also does the job well, but the credit goes to the screenplay that makes sure there is always something fresh happening on the screen. The way the fights between the couples start, their relationship eventually develops with intrigue and uncertainty. You can see that Jiang Chi probably likes Bu Xia but the latter wants to hang around him to stay away from ghost voices. It's fascinating to see the couple navigate their uncertain feelings. The series has a knack for creating many cutesy moments between the couple. We see them flirt around campus, canoodle in bed, and make out in the sun-basked corner of their dormitory room. Each affectionate exchange is like a delightful treat. This series is far from perfect but sure far from bad one. It is entertaining, doesn't stretch beyond what it needs to and the chemistry is spot on. And guess what , it does have cutesy moments, some awkward kisses but also a happy ending with a twist giving us a reason that a sequel is in order. Overall, this was a fun show to watch which reminds you of like a college sweetheart romance, adversaries turned friends turned lovers with some paranormal interference. Despite its minor hiccups, I still quite enjoyed the show and one of the main reason for that is the actor playing Bu Xia. I would definitely recommend the show. (8/10)
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