This Indian series is being sold as a story about a gay man falling for his straight best friend but honestly, at its heart, it's really about friendship and what friendship can look like when it gets complicated and messy and emotionally loaded. It's available on the YouTube channel of Last Leaf Pictures, seven episodes of about 30 minutes each. I had mixed feelings throughout and a big part of that comes down to how I felt about one of the lead characters, but more on that in a bit. Anshul and Kavith are the two men at the centre of everything. They first meet on a train heading to Delhi, both of them not really ready to go back to their hometowns. They get off midway, turn around and head back to Mumbai to give themselves one more shot at the life they want there. Anshul is an aspiring actor with a young son back in Delhi living with his grandmother. Kavith is gay, freshly out of yet another relationship, his 17th by his own count over the years. The two strike up this unusu...
The story takes place in the city of Querétaro in 1957. It shows the mean things, violence, and hate that gay people had to deal with in Mexico during that time, especially in small towns. The main character is Jardiel, a young guy who lives with a mother who controls everything, a sweet father, and several brothers and sisters. He is secretly in love with his friend Carlos, who he went to college with and now works with. When Jardiel finally gets the nerve to tell Carlos how he feels, Carlos says no. This rejection sends Jardiel into a deep sadness, which gets even worse because his mother hates him and makes fun of him in front of everyone for being gay. She even takes away his clothes and wraps him in a bedsheet so he can't leave the house. Most of his siblings hate him, too. His father is too shy to help and eventually dies after seeing how much the mother tortures Jardiel. The four siblings have their own side stories, too: the brother is chasing a woman, one sister gets pregnant and is left behind by her boyfriend, and the other sister, Lulú, is the only one who actually loves and supports Jardiel. She eventually has to run away just to get away from their mean mother.
It seems like Mexican movies back then never really talked about being gay unless it was for a joke or to show shame. This film treats it like a tragedy—not because being gay is bad, but because the people around Jardiel are so cruel. The mandolin he plays represents what he’s allowed to be in public—talented and part of a group—while his life at home is full of things he’s forbidden to do. The mother is so evil that you will really hate her. At the same time, you have to cheer for Jardiel’s bravery for telling Carlos the truth about his feelings. Even though Carlos rejects him, they decide to stay friends. I’m not sure how other people will feel about this one, but for me, it just didn't work. Maybe it made more sense in Mexico when it was released, but as an international viewer, I was just very bored.
This is a dull and strange look at a dark time in history that fails to stay interesting for very long. (1.5/10)
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