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 basic premise of the film is very simple and straight forward. Two former high school buddies meet for dinner in a cozy restaurant after 17 years. One of them has just had a baby and they were able to connect through social media. When asked about his wife, the other friend very casually says that he is gay, used to have a boyfriend but is now single. As they drink and talk they realize another life is possible on a land where toxic masculinity does not exist. They represent the great divide in Turkish gay society: The lonely self-declared homosexuals and the married hypocrites. While they talk more anymore, we realize that. They might share a history from high school. As the gay man says that they were not friends in high school. What they used to do easily makes them lovers. But only if the other guy had the courage to accept who he really was, things could have been very different for both of them.
As modern as Turkish society is towards sexuality, Turkish men still feel weird labelling themselves as gay. They may not be great at expressing themselves and their emotions and this comes out beautifully in this film. I can see many folks not liking this film, since this is very conversational film. Wo friends reminiscing their old days. The straight guy still have feelings for his friend because it was only that time he was true to himself, but he also cannot escape from his reality. All the past memories, their present fights are so well shown. I also really appreciated how well the culture of eating, drinking raki and music in such places was shown. I liked ho the waiter would just slightly let the gay man know about his interest in him, hoping something would come out of it. Even the ending is beautiful in its own way, where they both have to be true to themselves and protect their feelings. Some things were never meant to be. Great acting and a good choice of actors. A wrong casting choice and this ilm would have fallen flat. I appreciate that the film was not stretched just for the heck of it. Told in four parts, the film is just one being evening of dinner and drinks and chat, and guess what, I quite enjoyed it and a glad I saw it. (6/10)
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