Let's just cut right to it, this show was painfully boring. There, I said it. A story built around partial amnesia has real potential, but between the choppy scene structure and random flashbacks thrown in constantly, the whole plot ends up feeling more tangled than it needed to be. The romance doesn't fare much better either, it's written so poorly that I never really found myself invested in this couple. Both leads come across stiff on screen and deliver their lines in a really awkward way. The show runs 8 episodes, each somewhere around 30 to 35 minutes. Hanuel, a 29 year old language teacher, wakes up after an accident only to realize his memory stops at age 19. It turns out he'd been in another accident back then too, which is why his memories cut off at that point. He has zero recollection of the fact that he's currently living with his childhood friend Saebyeok, who's now a huge celebrity. That makes the whole situation even harder for Hanuel to wrap his ...
The movie centers on Jeffrey, who's grown completely disillusioned with finding a decent partner in early nineties New York City, a place still holding onto its reputation as a gay mecca from decades past but badly bruised by the AIDS crisis of the previous ten years. He decides to swear off sex entirely once the fear of AIDS sucks all the enjoyment out of it for him. Naturally, the timing couldn't be worse, because he meets Steve at the gym not long after. Jeffrey starts grappling with his own baggage around sex in the AIDS era, especially once Steve tells him he's HIV positive. His best friend Sterling, an older guy who's in a relationship with his own HIV positive partner, becomes his main support system, dishing out that mix of tough love and grounded advice Jeffrey needs, telling him it's fine to date someone who's positive and that safe sex cuts the risk down significantly. Even with advice pouring in from everyone around him, including his own parents, Jeffrey stays stuck in his own head until he finally realizes how limited his thinking has been. It becomes a real wake up call when Sterling's partner passes away, and that pushes Jeffrey to finally go to Steve, confess he loves him, and tell him he's ready for sex again. Steve's hesitant at first, since he's spent so long chasing after Jeffrey that he's scared Jeffrey will bolt again the moment things get real, but Jeffrey manages to win him over in a scene that's both gutting and genuinely sweet.
You can tell right away this started life as a stage play, it's a short, breezy comedy that's light on actual plot and heavy on style, built out of these sketch like segments complete with characters breaking the fourth wall and dream sequences thrown in. It's a tricky thing to describe on paper, but once you're watching it, it just clicks. The whole thing unfolds in these chapter like vignettes tracking Jeffrey's journey from swearing off sex to landing his happy ending. There's a ton of cameos from actors who are now huge names in the industry. I honestly couldn't tell you how famous they were back then, but watching them in these early roles definitely hits a nostalgic note. This isn't really a movie about AIDS itself, it's more about human connection and emotion, and what happens to that connection when a massive risk is constantly hanging over you, all told with a genuinely funny touch. At its core it's about a man so terrified of catching AIDS, or worse, of watching someone he loves die from it, that he'd rather shut himself off from love and life entirely. Not everything in this film lands perfectly. Its theatrical roots show through a bit too much sometimes, especially with this recurring gag about Jeffrey getting rescued by Mother Teresa. That said, this film doesn't apologize for being gay in the slightest. It's wall to wall shots of glistening, chiseled torsos, one innuendo after another, and dance numbers, and honestly it's great. I can totally see why straight audiences might not connect with the humor here the way queer viewers will. This has to be about as lighthearted as a movie tackling AIDS could possibly get, and it's genuinely enjoyable once you adjust to its style and presentation. Sweet, charming, and yeah, definitely shows its age. (6/10)
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