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Journey With You (Chinese Series)

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...

Beyond Gravity (New Zealand)

With a duration of just under an hour, this film from back in 1989 is a short, quirky, and romantic story about two men, one an astronomy-obsessed worrier and the other a free spirit who enjoys breaking into places. The charm of late 80s set in Auckland is what makes this film worth watching. It is atale of opposites: coming together and coming out.

Richard, an astronomy-obsessed worrier spends his time fantasizing about outer-space and the cosmos, an activity which antagonizes friends and family. He lives with his sister in an apartment. One day, he meets Johnny, a handsome Italian man at the library, with an enormous appetite for life, whose idea of a holiday involves breaking into the nearest small holiday home. The next day he shows up at Richard's door and asks him to join him at the beach. The two have sex there and Johnny mentions that he will soon be back in Italy after 3 weeks and offers Richard love and an escape from the monotony of work. The duo spend sometime together partying, loving, having sex and everything. When it time for Johnny to go back home, he misses his flight and the two boys are glad that they will likely get to spend more time together now.

This was a very nice and positive happy gay love story. I can only imagine how much it would have been loved when it came out in late 80s. Times were so different then. It is just a story about two people falling in love and the troubles that comes for free with that process. The film isn't perfect like the low budget shows quite a bit; there's a needlessly bloody beating; some of the acting is bad; the story has its weak spots and (at times) the sound is inaudible. Still, the two lead actors are extremely handsome and have that vintage charm and sex appeal and the tone of the film is very gentle and romantic. I enjoyed how the two guys meet, how one really goes after the other to make him realize there is more to life and love than studies and outer space. The sister's character was also nice and supportive and there were at no point judgements about sexuality. A very good quirky feel good gay film. (6/10)

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