Meet My Angel (2021)

Good, but a missed opportunity.

I really want to give this a 10, but I can't. The acting in this is better than any BL I can think of. All three performers deliver powerful performances, with Kaleb Ong as a standout. Enzo Santiago is as good as ever, and you might be surprised by Gio Emprese, who usually plays pathetic "comic" relief sexual predators, but here is wonderful as a deeply spiritual man put in a painful situation that he has to weather with grace and love.

The technical faults in this are inexcusable. The sound is terrible, the direction mediocre at best, tending towards melodrama in a story that that is already dramatic enough in content and in the strength of the acting.

The cinematography is also inexcusable. Half the shots feature people obscured by plants that are in the foreground, so it's not like the cinematographer could have missed them. If it was intentional, then I would ask, "Is this really what you want to do for a living?" There's a shot that occurs after Kaleb had been making me cry for 20 straight minutes that is so unintentionally funny that I burst out laughing. It involves a very critical moment in the series that represents a serious and spiritual moment, but it's a shot through Enzo's spread legs at a kneeling Kaleb - that's D/s sexual, which I suppose is appropriate for a gay boy and his gay angel. In gay angel porn.

The editing is also problemmatic, with scenes that would otherwise have been powerful dragged out so long that they're drained of energy and start to make you uncomfortable and feel sorry for Enzo, because they're almost all his. There's only one really long scene that had to be long, and it's doing a rosary, which the Catholics watching are already aware take forever, and the scene is really cute and funny.

If this had average BL acting, I wouldn't be writing this at all, because I would have dropped it half way through the first episode. But because the acting is a solid 10+, I feel comfortable recommending this, but just be prepared for a story that will make you cry, partly because you're moved by the story and the actors, and partly because your ears are bleeding due to the awful sound. It's worth it just for Kaleb - I'd watch anything he's in.

Warning: Do not watch the end credits scene, unless you want a beautiful story with a perfect ending reduced to a 1980s era sitcom. It's so bad and cringeworthy in every way (except how hot Enzo looked in it, but you can just google him) that I sat gaping at my screen and wondering if I really saw what I just saw. If you read the words "5 months after", you've gone too far, but there's still time to stop. It's up to you.

Outtakes begin at 32:40.

Leer más

An Excellent Series with a Caveat

I had a love/hate reaction to this series. The acting is SUPERB, honestly. The screenplay is excellent. Some of the dialogue of what is God is spot-on. What brought this down was the production issues. Hard to hear. Unnecessarily long-lingering shots. Camera angles at times were hidden by trees, plants that were annoying. But what bothered me the most (remember, this is just me), is the fact that the two main characters are in LOVE with each other and they never kiss. Dear God, I am getting tired and weary of these BL series who won't show one genuine sincere iota of love because of simple prudishness. You are creating a story of love between two men and we can't even get a simple kiss?? Hugging is not enough. Holding hands is not enough. What creates a relationship is that kiss of intimacy which is unfortunately and sadly missing in a lot of these series.

I am tortured because I really liked this story and the acting is so good and I want people to watch it. And, this is just me, I am disappointed because what I hold near and dear to my heart is the creation of love which starts with a simple kiss.

Leer más