The Nature Of Us (Mini-Series)

This mini series is a tender ode to young love with individuals struggling with their identity and hopes. Told over 6 episodes of a total runtime of about 70 minutes. The series is about Elly and his first summer after high school and people he meets. We are not spooned on what is Elly's background. All we know is that he has been dealing with some sort of depression and some sort of estrangement from his mother. 

Series starts with Elly’s best friend, Rowen, picking him up at the hospital. Elly is going to be staying with her for a while. The setting is a very small town. Here Rowen introduces Elly to Yonah, same age and a recently out young man. ON Rowen's insistence the two boys start to hang out, despite initial reluctance by Elly but Elly starts too slowly enjoy this. Yonah is not doing anything to cure his depression but the company helps. Yonah is a dreamer himself, who likes to read books and write poetry and dreams of traveling. Elly meanwhile had been  painter and has now applied for a residency in an art studio. The duo start getting close, kiss and even spend a night together, eventually deciding to take a road trip for few days. While they are there, Elly hears back that he has gotten into the art studio residency program. They are both super excited and come back to town and this is when Yonah decides that he needs to do something for himself and likely get his poems published. On a whim he decides to leave town for few days, leaving Elly confused as to what happened. During the program, he meets another man in the studio and the duo start to hang and have sex occasionally. The real nature of the relationship is not clear, but the show ends with the opening night of Elly's collection when Yonah shows up (likely as a friend and not as a lover), and the duo go for a walk.

I have mixed feelings about the show. It doesn't spoofed us , but it moves at an extremely slow pace. I wonder if the idea was to make 'art'. Elly struggles with his issues and his feelings for Yona. To say nothing of how Elly wants to stay in his hometown, and Yona wants to see the world. Both the boys are unsure of their feelings but since they are likely the only gay guys in the small town, they naturally gravitate towards each other and genuinely like each other. The show feels like a short story broken up into parts. Thankfully, it isn’t interested in melodrama, so much as vignettes exploring complicated character truths. There is no skin show here, just a couple of kisses. We also have background story of how Rowen is lesbian and is likely finding love with another girl at her workplace. The show feels a lot to be desired and audience wanting more. It works mostly because of the easy chemistry between its two leads. We see them gradually grow into the relationship until the eventual fracture begins to form, even though the reason for the fracture is never explicitly it is obvious that they are both growing up in their own way. Oftentimes people find each other and then grow apart, for a myriad of reasons; many of them, mundane and natural. Here, they both help each other realize they want different things. This story is tender and an easy watch about two people idly caressing each other’s souls and feeling loved and seen. It's beautifully shot, but the problem here is pacing, especially in today's time when it is hard to hold audience's attention. (6/10)