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...
Brent, an aging gay man is the main protagonist of the story. He is a huge fan of his mother, whose used to be a famous artist and is now on death bed with cancer. He has lived in the shadow of his famous mother all his life, and is constantly trying to survive and find out who he really is by stealing and doing odd jobs here and there. Along the way, we meet his group of eccentric and quirky friends, who might be a bit more colorful than most people. A woman friend who runs a bar, an older gay man whose house is always filled with drag queens dressing up for performances and most importantly a straight couple, close friends of Brent, and Brent who secretly has a crush on the husband. All these characters may not significantly add much to the story itself , but it's a more slice of life kinda film. When Brent's mother passes away and he almost gets a reality check by various people on his looks and what he really means for most folks, at the end he leaves the city with all his mother's stuff.
The film was supposedly a queer comedy and I can see how the film sensibilities were different in that era. Likely influenced by the famous queer French film La Cage Aux Folles (which was filmed the very same year); this film wasn't my flavour. The films need to say something or mean something and here that wasn't very clear. Sure queer solidarity, rebellion against pettiness, celebration of life could be a few examples, but all these things in isolation do not make a memorable movie watching experience. Thankfully the lead actor was quite charming and portrayed the role of Brent very beautifully and you could see the mischief and sadness and perkiness with his mother; different emotions at different times. But overall, there is not much to keep you going. Even the group of drag friends, just dressing up and the forced comedy of neighborhood man beating his wife or the new straight tenant, just did not work for me at all. (2.5/10)
Comments