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Al Mar (Spanish) [The Sea]

By Golu
This movie was just plain weird. I really went in wanting to like it, but the whole pretentious, overly poetic vibe, combined with this choppy editing that keeps hopping back and forth in these tiny five to ten second bursts, just made it feel dragged out for no real reason, way too self indulgent if you ask me. Honestly this could've been trimmed down to a fifteen minute short and lost nothing. And I still don't get what the deal was with women dancing along the beach while some overwrought, flowery narration plays over the top. The plot creeps along at a snail's pace, slowly building toward some confrontation that you can see coming from a mile away and that just gets duller the closer it gets. By the time it actually happened I'd totally checked out as a viewer, even with two genuinely good looking guys leading the film. The setup itself is pretty basic. Lorena and Diego are trying to settle into a new life in a small town by the coast, both nervously starting fresh ...
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Melody Of Secrets (Thai Series)

By Golu

Honestly I don't even know where to begin with this one. Going in, I figured this would be a solid BL wrapped around a murder mystery, and that part actually was true, but the logic just completely checks out at some point, so by the time everything gets revealed you're left saying what, not because it's shocking but because it's genuinely that dumb. The worst part is our main character supposedly has memory loss and can only recall the last ten years of his life, which is fine on its own, except then why does he need some stranger to mail him a diary to jog his memory about the past? The whole thing just felt way too random. This one runs ten episodes at about fifty minutes each. The title comes from the fact that there is this specific melody that both hypnotizes and brings memories back to Botpleng, but has actually no relevance.

Our lead is Botpleng, a crime journalist who only remembers the last decade of his life, and his mom's currently in a coma. Out of nowhere he gets sent a diary from a stranger, filled with old entries from a time when he was apparently in love with Tankhun. Once he heads back to his hometown, he gets pulled into a double murder case and that's how he crosses paths with Tankhun. Botpleng has no memory of him at all, but he keeps reading through the diary and slowly starts getting close to him anyway. Tankhun's working as an advisor on the murder investigation, but he's also got his own agenda, quietly looking into the mysterious death of his younger brother Thunpob. The only real lead points to the fact that Thunpob was actually dating Botpleng. As something starts developing romantically between Botpleng and Tankhun, the murderer eventually gets caught, and that's when a ton of buried secrets start unraveling. Turns out Botpleng isn't even the real Botpleng at all. Years earlier the actual Botpleng died as a kid, so his mother and grandmother took in this other boy, hypnotized him to wipe his memory completely, and raised him as their son instead. Why? The show never bothers explaining that at all. And then it turns out Tankhun isn't who he claims to be either. The real Tankhun was actually the brother who died under mysterious circumstances, the one who was actually involved with the real Botpleng, and this guy only introduced himself as Tankhun's brother to get close to Botpleng and figure out the truth behind everything and crack the murder case. When the actual killer finally gets revealed, that part does make sense, but then throwing in a whole subplot about a female police officer being involved in the murders too just felt completely unnecessary. And naturally, exactly like you'd expect, the two of them end up genuinely falling for each other despite all the fake identities, sort their lives out, and eventually get married.

I genuinely don't know where to start with all the plot holes in this thing, it feels less like a coherent story and more like a road that's just crumbling apart as you walk on it. Nothing about this show actually held my attention. The first three episodes did pull me in a bit, but once the whole nobody is who they claim to be chaos kicks in, I completely lost interest in following along, especially since the show never bothers explaining anything and just abandons logic entirely. Even the acting and direction were pretty rough. The guy playing Thunpob was easily the weakest link, stuck with the same tired expression of half closed eyes and raised eyebrows no matter what's happening, whether it's supposed to be distress, arousal, anger, or determination. It's genuinely strange to watch. The actor playing Botpleng I've seen in other stuff before and he does fine here. The kissing and sex scenes between the two leads felt totally forced and honestly landed with zero emotional impact. At this point we all know these random sex scenes are just going to show up whether they make sense or not. Neither the mystery side nor the romance side of this show is something I can genuinely recommend anyone go watch. There are parallel story of Botpleng's friend and boss who maybe likes him but also flirts with this girl, which was again very confusing. This is one you can safely skip, especially with how much BL content is already out there competing for your time. I really wish someone had warned me off this one beforehand.

Bottom line, nonsensical plot holes and forced romance make this one skippable. (3/10)

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