A Pretentious 'Masterpiece'
Not all films or series with a good cinematography and acting are worth it, especially when the story is trash... This is how I'll describe this film.This is very pretentious, to the point that there is no meat to the story in itself.
The actors and music were decent. Too bad that in its goal to be artsy, the rest of the aspects of a good creation was forgotten. To think that the length of the film was sufficient.
Even a problematic person would have a more decisive way of storytelling and reasoning than what the writers did to this film.
I deel bad that it looks promising but it remained to be all in the surface as nothing is inside it.
I ended watching the film with regret... regret that I even bothered to watch it.
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A masterpiece!
Why did nobody "warn" me this was a masterpiece?No BL clichés but a very sensitive portrayal of the characters' inner conflicts.
Nobody is a villain even though they often hurt each other.
You suffer with the characters but you enjoy the suffering because you experienced something similar before.
Who has not experienced a situation when you don't understand yourself, feel lost, hate your feelings and even get angry with people who arouse those feelings in you?
I have never given a 10/10 rating before (and I've seen a lot - check my watchlist) but here it is a must.
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GOOD FILM IN ITS ENTIRETY BUT….
Okay so..This film was pretty chill to watch eventhough it actually challenged my feelings.
First, too much timelapses and things showed partially making us confused at some point.
For example (only one in a lot btw) :
Idk, I don’t understand why Jonathan stopped when they were about to have sex with Carrie, like I can’t he couldn’t but why ? He was sort of motivated smh so…
Then the characters :
- Carrie ! I know everyone is coming at her and I’m also in this case. I mean I loved her reaction when she understood Jonathan had feeling for his best friend like she didn’t go harsh on him and respected him. BUT girlie I can’t tolerate that you went for Shane after that (I know it was completely not planned, that she couldn’t help but still…) because you knew how Jonathan felt about him. Also because of those confusing timelapses I was talking about, we had her on screen ´grieving ´about the end of her relationship with jonathan and then after few times going to the basketball game of shane and her breaking down in front of him out of sorrow and then they got together. Like out of the blue. We didn’t get the background of them getting together except them kissing. And this scene also bothers me because Shane (yes shame on in him as well) initiated the kissing move while she was confiding to him and she answered back….
A little thing that had me confused as much as the timelapses was the transgender book’s apparition. Although I’m still pretty confused now about it I’m thinking maybe he was questioning wanting to be a girl to be able to date his best friend, I mean you know when people see others and are like ´ do I wanna be her or do I wanna be with…’ maybe he was questioning himself about wanting to be one of those girls around Shane or else.
But even this explanation (far-fetched I know lol ) still doesn’t explain fully the apparition of the transgender book instead of another queer book but maybe it was also the only knowledge they had back then in Taiwan about queer people idk tbh 😭
Also what the heck was the old dude who slept with a broken hearted Jonathan doing ?? He disgusts me like why would you go in the streets, sit down next to someone for no reason, seeing they are crying and still invite them over an hotel to litteraly f*ck them ?? This scene was as uncomfy as confusing to watch…
- SHANE ! Because why most are shaming only Carrie when Shane was also the problem in this ? I mean he didn’t know abt his bsf’s feelings BUT what he knew for sure is that Carie was his girlfriend…. I also ´forgive ´ him smh as I did for carrie because you can’t ´help ´ with feelings but still…
Then I think it’s pretth clear that he is in love with his best friend by the way he looks at him (anybody becomes transparent to him smh when jonathan is in his sight), he wants to be with him everytime (even when jonathan clearly wants some space 😭). I know I’ve also described typical best friends’ actions but he went further and don’t wanna realize his feelings for jonathan (I understand smh knowing how hard the times were back then especially in taiwan). I mean who would get down to their best friend like nothing ?? Also many things I didn’t like about this sex scene was :
* Jonathan didn’t seem to be consentent. He said multiple times ´no ´. I know he stopped talking at some point but still idk. It felt wrong like I felt uneasy…
* Shane it is cheating on carrie! Even if you did tell her right after (which is a good thing to do to begin with) it still is gross !
* The fact he played the blind at what happened even when he was the one initiating sex between him and jonathan… Like why didn’t you try to give him explanations ???
And the fact he decided to still stay stucked to his ´best friends ´ card after that is actually quite disappointing. I mean you had sex with him, he confessed but instead of giving explanations before rejecting him if you don’t have the strength to commit into queer relationships, you stucked with anecdotes of your childhood and took out once again the bsf card 💀.
To end, it was a good and pretty chill film to watch but a few things were actually confusing and/or annoying. No memorable OSTs but the cast and acting were fire !
The end had me confused a little bit but I understood it. A shoutout to the people who explained things especially the end further in the comments ! I love y’all sm 😭💜
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Why, google?
I google searched "best queer romance movies to watch". This is one that google suggested. I've used this website for reading reviews of queer dramas and movies in the past to get a picture of the drama and they were usually negative about the drama but I watched the drama and wound up really liking the drama! But the reviews here in my opinion poorly reflect how the movie actually was. Start the movie out by showing the 3 leads in what comes to be what they would have looked like after the final scene. Also the monologue which Jonathan is saying at the beginning makes no sense imo. The actors did a really great job. But the random jumps between scenes (especially the jump between high school and university) make no sense. I thought Jonathan had to retake the exams but he's in university? When did Shane and Carrie decide to hook up? And hello the book at the beginning about the theory of transgenderism? That makes no sense and isn't relevant what-so-ever as being transgender has nothing to do with the story nor plot. And then Jonathan is always mad at Shane but Shane still considers him a best friend? Why did Jonathan hook up with that one man? It made no sense. Why did Shane and Jonathan have sex then explain nothing? Why did Shane take the 3 of them to the beach? Jonathan says he really loves Shane but Shane says Jonathan has always been his best friend? Is Jonathan rejected? Does Shane break up with Carrie? I'm sorry but wtf. The soundtrack was beautiful and I guess it's supposed to make you emotional, and the cinematography is wonderful. Honestly, I never have high expectations for a movie and my standards are really low. But as a queer individual, I genuinely do not think any of the screenwriters were queer, seeing how the one queer character doesn't even do anything to indicate being queer aside from stopping having sex with Carrie, indicating he likes Shane, and sleeping with a man--how does it make sense? The soundtrack was beautiful but just because the soundtrack was beautiful and cinematography was nice doesn't mean it's a good movie that makes any sense.Was this review helpful to you?
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pointless movie
I try to make this short. when you watch a movie or anything at all you ask yourself - ok so what was the point in this plot? what they try to achieve by making this movie this way? what emotions they want from us?This is the biggest problem with this movie - I didn't felt like it try to do anything! it have no directions at all! events can happen and another event and another and you just feel nothing cause there isn't any emotions behind those scenes and events or any connection like A connect to B, B to C atc. here you have no connection to anything.
there is some people that will love this movie and that's fine. me on the other hand belong to the group that didn't like it at all. Especially the end of the movie, that can't even be called an ending. they just stand there and look at each other for no reason and you feel how pointless it all was.
the most annoying thing in all the characters in this movie - they can't use words or speak to each other so they have sex. that how it felt like. will it kill them to sit together and really talk about what they feel/want in an open discussion? and I don't only mean the two main guys, of course they can't talk openly cause they need a conflict, but at least they can be open with the girl and the girl can be open about her damn feelings for real with those two guys!!! it felt so force and annoying how they all act, yeas all the main characters are just running away all the damn movie and will never talk about things! even in the end it was so irritating I wanted to punch all of them in the face. I didn't even mind if the two guys didn't end up together but at least try to make this believable, even for a little bit.
I really try to like one of the main characters, but all of them just annoyed me.
and the camera angles, god the camera angles drive me crazy! can't they hold a fucking camera steadily without me getting dizzy?! it was suck. I'm sorry but it really was bad.
the music wasn't too bad though. so I give them that.
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Waste of time
[NOT a BL]I might be harsh in saying this but this film was a waste of time watching. And I had most of it on 1.25x speed.
Overall, this film was very realisitc in how it was written, filmed and presented. There were no cliches and the plot of the film could happen in real life.
I just found that it was so boring as a viewer. There was no plot, there was no storyline and the film was poorly made.
The storyline follows the 3 characters' journey from high school to college. And with the title being 'Eternal Summer' you would expect it to take place in between the two. But it doesnt. It mainly focuses on high school exams and suddenly, there is a huge time jump, completely skipping the summer and you dont even realise they're in college until the end.
The romance is confusing, as it is in real life, however it wasnt portrayed great here. I find the issue with realistic films is that the viewer experience is lacking. I was bored. The characrers hide things from each other and it causes tension, but its never explored or established or even resolved, so the viewer is left feeling confused and annoyed.
In terms of acting, it was mediocre. There was no emotion apart from the intense scenes, which make me think that the cast are inexperienced. Becuase their facial expressions were boring. I had no idea what the characters were thinking half the time.
This film had so much potential but it was wasted.
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wanted to watch this ages ago cause of Ray Chang, since seeing him in We Best Love: No. 1 For You & warming up to him in We Best Love: Fighting Mr. 2nd, Meow Meow Boss & I Am Sorry, I Love You - wanted to check out more of his work & found this. but had a gut feeling that this would be sad, so put this off for yrs... & this had a very gloomy atmosphere from the get go IMO, even as kids there was this somber undertone to everything. by the end everyone was crying & i am sitting here wondering WTF. from the one sentence description, i assumed Shane & Jonathan already were attracted to each other, but cause of "society" didn't act on it... Carrie showing up, falling for Shane allowed Shane to distance himself from the person he loved or some such... not the case - 1st off Carrie moved to their town cause she "met" Jonathan via the school news paper & i guess they fell in-love. but when they were together & tried to consummate their love, Jonathan realized he wasn't attracted to women. maybe he always knew he was attracted to boy's/men & specifically to Shane & (ironically) Carrie was his attempt at forcing himself into being "normal", but that attempt made him face reality.
what i don't get is why Carrie, who understood that Jonathan didn't just reject her cause he was gay, but that he was in-love with Shane - her then turning to Shane, cause she was hurting. was that a subconscious way of hurting Jonathan for rejecting her?!? bitchy move - sorry not sorry.
also ironically i usually hate the trope; where one friend falls in-love with his bff & then cause the bff doesn't feel the same & never will, said friend decides on his own, not only enough is enough, but it's time to cut ties without consulting or giving their bff a heads-up. but this time around, i got Jonathans pain & he did try to tough it out... but given how he was physically losing it, i get his need to end things.
what i don't get (again) why the frack Shane f*ck Jonathan?!??? did he always know that Jonathan saw him as more then a friend, but as he didn't feel the same he ignored it/played dumb. but now that he was gonna lose Jonathan, he slept with him to keep him by his side?!? if so, another douche move cause 1. he is in a relationship with Carrie & 2. what he gonna offer Jonathan? the mistress role?!? or his taking them to the beach, was him trying to find the words to suggest an open relationship, a throuple??
either way i aint as impressed as others watching, cause this was very confusing half way towards the end, all 3 crying instead of talking, didn't help & then it just cut off - like is that supposed to help me understand this plot any better?!? idk i guess i needed clarity & more dialogue between Shane & Jonathan - this wasn't satisfying or enjoyable to me.
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I really liked the movie, i also rewatched it and noticed that the beginning is actually part of the ending. I would have liked more closesure about the ending how they end up. I do think shane loved jonathan more then a friend but was just in denial, he also liked cassie but i think more the idea of being toghether with her. I think jonathan always knew that shane would never have a relationship with him that's why he said in the beginning something along the lines of " i was to afraid to stand by you" he was still afraid so he never told his feelings, in the end he did bc he knew that their friendship was already kinda ruined.this is my opinion !!! sorry english isn't my first language !
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Good themes but confusing
This film has several extremely emotional scenes between the leads that absolutely blew me away, but as a whole, it feels very janky and choppy.There's not a lot of development between the characters in between the big moments, and the timeline just feels really unclear, as if we're jumping from scene to scene instead of experiencing the passing of time. I found myself pretty confused about what had happened between the characters and how long it took.
The acting is pretty good, but I think the script needed more tightening.
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Personal opinion
The fact that people don't understand the ending or the movie eternal summer pisses me off so bad. You didn't truly watch it, and if you did, then watch it again.This movie has so much depth to it, im not sure where to start.
The relationship between Jonathan and shane. While watching the movie, you can see that Jonathan and shane are almost emotionally attached even though jonathan was forced to volunteer to be his friend. Throughout the movie, you see Jonathan slowly losing his sanity and himself. His grades start to drop, and he doesn't make it to college. Before he became friends with shane, he was the top student in class. Be basically sacrificed his grades for shane.
When they get older and are seniors in highschool, you can tell shane is very attached to him and is always asking him to watch his basketball games and even at one paint says "my game went bad after you left" meaning his basketball game started going bad after Jonathan left.
Carrie, at first, I seriously hated her. And I still do. But i can't understand her at all. When her and Jonathan went to teipei and were gonna have intercourse then jonathan suddenly got up and locked himself into the bathroom. That's when he realized. Carrie knew something was weird when she was stalking him and found him reading a book on "The Theory on Transgenderism." Later on, she even asked him directly if he liked shane and advised him to confess, but still. She ended up getting with shane.
Anyway, I dont wanna talk about her.
You can tell that shane and Jonathan truly cared about one another, and after Jonathan found out shane and carrie (his ex) were dating, he left, and shane tried to follow after him
There's a big misunderstanding that shane didn't feel the same way or that he only slept with him just because he was drunk. No, shane loved him too he just couldnt come to terms with it, during the scene at the ball where Jonathan goes "me or carrie" shane acts like he didnt hear him when you know he did.
Did Shane SA Jonathan? Sorta, kinda, yes..? After shane got in the accident while drunk driving, Jonathan came and picked him up despite being upset.
Shane basically forcing himself on Jonathan was the only way he thought the friendship could be savaged. Shane knew about Jonathans feelings and his own. He thought that it would fix their relationship, Jonathan just kinda accepted it after he resisted, and I think their desperation in that scene showed how much they truly loved each other.
The ending. Im a sucker for an open ending, so I really loved it even though it hurt. You're supposed to interpret shanes' reaction to Jonathans confession yourself. Jonathan didn't have a reaction to the confessions because he already knew and wanted to keep him by his side. He just didn't wanna accept his own feelings.
Anyway Im tired of typing, but this movie has so much more depth than you think !!!
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Unlikable characters and unsatisfying ending
I hated a lot of things about this.Carrie? Awful. She didn't care about anyone but herself and she was a truly terrible friend to Jonathan.
Shane? Awful, but he was just doing his best. At least I thought so until the weird sex scene that came out of nowhere. Why did he do that? Did he have feelings for Jonathan or was he doing that to keep him from leaving?
Jonathan? He deserved better than what both the other characters put him through emotionally.
The ending? Awful. Where is the closure? It ended without actually knowing where Shane stands or knowing his motives for certain things he did. Is he picking Carrie? Is he picking Jonathan? Does he get to keep them both? Does he lose one? We just don't know and that made the entire experience of the movie a waste of time because nothing actually mattered and nothing is resolved.
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