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Journey With You (Chinese Series)

By Golu
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...
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Luces Azules (Spanish) [Blue Lights]

By Golu
It feels like this film took a cue from the Italian gay films made by Ferzan Ozpetek, which are some of my favorite films by the way. The film places us in the privacy of a comfortable Buenos Aires house where a group of friends meet to celebrate the seventieth birthday of Alejandro, Pedro's partner and the couple have been together for many years. The film is a celebration of sexuality, friendship and how times have changed. As you would expect, relationships evolve as truths about love, loss, and societal shifts emerge, exploring complexities that bind people together.

It's Alejandro's 70th birthday and him and his partner Pedro are throwing a dinner party. What follows is the audience meeting s group of friends and what their relationships are with each other and everyone else. First to arrive is a straight couple who have been close friends. But we soon find out that the wife is extremely unhappy in her very boring wedding while her conservative husband is stuck in his old school ideologies. Next to arrive is a younger man who works with Pedro and his new, superhot boyfriend. At the same time , an older bear couple also arrives. Turns out that one of the guys from the older bear couple had slept earlier wit the new hot guy. The attraction is still there, but over the course of evening, everyone realizes that the older guy is flirting with hot guy. Thankfully no drama happens, because both these individuals eventually tell their partners that they have hooked up in the past. Then we have Pedro/Alejandro's niece and her girlfriend who announce there relationship and there is a small drama around them wanting to have baby. Finally we have their closest friend Germain arrive. Germaine lost his boyfriend 9 years ago and has been in depressions since. When he arrives, he privately confides in Pedro that he is HIV positive, who encourage shim to tell all friends because we are all a family. The dinner continues, chit chat happens, minor drama ensures but nothing that would spoil the birthday. End of night, everyone goes their own way and we viewers are left wondering if we were watching ace actual dinner with friends using a spy camera.

If done well, these kind of films can be actually interesting. A lot depends on what kind of backgrounds the group members have, how interesting they are, what kind of space are the dialogues giving them etc. This film doesn't come close to Ozpetek's films but I would say that this film does stand out on its own. Couples of diverse sexual orientations and spanning generations discuss love, jealousy, open relationships, HIV, death, loneliness and ways of meeting people in the gay world, both then and now. They talk about how humans we have evolved. Older generation remembers meeting guys in bars while younger lot is all about online apps. Each couple is giving enough grants and time for us to know just enough about them so we can see their POV on any discussion that is happening around. All actors do a decent job and it is one of those ensemble films where everyone balances out. No one in particular stands out here. The film is not perfect, but it's sincere and has the heart in right place. Seeing these simple film sometimes makes your time worth it. (6/10)
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