Gagaoolala

The intimacy and intensity of a stage play coupled with the intensity and intimacy of close film work. Still working on finding adequate words for this.

good disabiity rep in a small bit of the world where no one blinks twice with a same sex relationship. very much a comfort series vibe

Excellent short series about the dissolution of a marriage, wrapped in a story of hiding oneself and love between women. i can't find fault with it, but it is sad and often painful.
Season 2 - again good but on the whole rather melancholy and the way they're developing it, the best ending would be realising clinging to a first love doesn't mean later compatibility. On-hold/dropping ep 6 as it's adversely affecting my mental health, however well made it is.

so well done, both as a Japanese introvert BL and as a gentle spoof of Japanese introvert BL

(dropped series 2 after 2 eps, it's so far below the standard they set with the first. maybe try again if i rewatch the 1st?)

Suspense/thriller that kept me looking in the wrong direction often enough it got me. Even though it was all there.

Mildly charming and fluffy. The artificial set-up of animals turn humans is a more natural uke/seme than many. But seriously, it was nowhere near as bonkers as this premise from this country merits.

It's like they decided to redo Kinou Nani Tabeta as a Japanese-flavoured Thai uni BL. I think this would have worked better as a series.

An end of life love story between middle-aged lesbians with brilliant actresses. I've rated it high for them.
Let down though by some of the artistic choices from the Australian and male director/screenwriter.
The foreign influence pervades, a Japanese director would have done this differently.

On their own, it's three short stories interconnected by two characters. Together, it's an invitation to look for other themes like valuing your own life and yourself for who you are.
Loved the gentle French chanson in Taiwan feel of the music.

Loved this so much. Lockdown provided the reason for the two to be alone together in a beach house; the actresses did the rest, with characters who felt real and truly friends who bring out the best in each other.

The same fantastic actresses as Matcha & Vanilla, and the same male western director, but this one is done as if it were a French silent film. I guess that is part of its artistic statement.

Wanted a short episode series to fill time on a bed rest day. This wasn't it.
Repressed Japanese teenage boys negotiating overwhelming feelings of love, lust and jealousy.

Unsettled and unsettling, but that's intentional, along with a relationship dynamic I found difficult and have seen too much of elsewhere. It does make sense here, especially as the thick symbolism reveals its meaning.
It's fair to say I admire it more in retrospect than I enjoyed watching it.

Not sure why I put myself through this to be honest. Club Friday - Inside the BL Industry. Where fan service and shipped couples are manufactured but they're all actually secretly gay, at least for their ship.

It's hardly original but it is very nicely done. I hope to see these young actors again.

There was something of a COA in the older one's story near the beginning. A sex scene focused on light touch even. Quiet depths in the emotions. Good big sister, found family. Bits of Thai from one character. Good music.

very short (9 min) documentary about third gender people and the military draft

Past trauma art film. Sometimes less is more, and sometimes less is just confusing.

Long lakorn which did brilliantly well with its dizzying array of complicated, emotional truths, but went on too long and eventually throw in enough twists the wire holding it all together snapped for me.

Fluff with slightly bonkers energy, some serious issues handled well, some melodrama emotions and an episode I didn't care for, but over all it's good fun and has a great heart.
2nd stage - Should have just watched the 1st series again, that was delightful. This was annoying and dull. Like they took formula from the 1st but failed to understand what gave it its spark.

When this goes all in as a meditation on grief, death, memory and love, it is exceptional.

Slice of life short where everything matters, gentle and very well done.

The things Gaga's Leaving Soon list gets me into...
Nong Sao's First Bad Boys BL. Fluff and teenage girls' fantasies about players/bad boys. In lieu of plot, there's a lot of drinking to create situations, a lot of simulated sex, so much gossiping... and friends who give good advice. Eventually it's followed and poof, the magic of love prevails. Not great drama, but the advice is good.

Somewhat stylised and artistic about the difficulties a trans woman faces in daily life, mostly because of others' ignorance and lack of thought. It's good at evoking empathy.

The heart-breaking parts were well done and Tupe and Rich's characters had reasonable motivations - a younger man whose childhood with an abusive father left him feeling like he didn't deserve love, a much older man coming out into his first gay relationship. The fluffy parts were uneven and the overall story painful for me, an older woman who won't be loved in this life time.

Great comedic use of tropes to add energy and shorthand a lot of plot, including bad guys it refuses to take seriously, and a truly lovely, mutually supportive, understanding relationship developing amongst it all. Amongst the very very best.

A bit too novice to pull off a confusing structure like this. But the beginning, with young love and teenage boys veering between chaos and vulnerability. Have missed that energy.

Novice and sometimes disjointed film-making but it's gentle CoA which does something else I adore in Thai movies so it very much worked for me. I want to give it a hug.

8 mins but well done. May be on YT too.

Overall quite charming despite some gaping plot holes. In theory age gap could have been weird but the actors are only 3 years apart so it felt quite small. Far better than average use of ex. Enjoyed it.

Endearing slice of life - gay dads, cute kid and their family/found family of friends

On Gaga as Finding the Adolescence, which is a far better title - moody coming of age. I'm not entirely certain what to make of it. A touch of melodrama & the intensity of teenage emotions.

A lakorn where two of the storylines are so tightly interwoven they become one narrative. One is a BL, full of cliches and lakorn emotions. The other is about a young woman. For those who are open to seeing it, her story is the beating heart of this lakorn, with the best acting and writing.

Well-done spoof of BL tropes. Need to see more from Inukai Atsuhiro, so much of this depended on his facial expressions.
Series 2 was a bit meh, variations on the same jokes, though some of the seriously unserious boy band spoof moments made me laugh out loud.

music is good, vibe a bit melancholy, story a bit odd, ending happy. it probably means a lot in a repressed homophobic society.

Bit darker, more coming of age. They did a lot with the short time.

Restart After Coming Back Home

Gentle, kind, honest.

Some theatre staging/deliivery but mostly a woman's fantasy of gaining her father's love, all repressed into a tsundere-tsundere age gap romance where cliches carry the story. The sunshine love rival's interest makes even less sense.

lovely short - women in their 30s finding themselves, and each other

like part of a crime thriller condensed. the middle felt het male gaze/fantasy scenario, rather than lesbian, and the very end confirmed it imo. well-made though so i won't rate it. another Midnight Tod from the same director is M-M and idk trying to be arty or something.

gaga's choices sometimes confuse me. but then they make most of their money from het women chasing their fantasies of cute straight boys falling in love and snogging so idk

Easily my favourite S Korean title. Slightly daft, slightly camp humour, charismatic, chaotic leads and a whole mess of feelings well-delivered. If this wasn't on the leaving soon list, I'd be planning to watch it again.

Did some things well, some things poorly. There's a scene which mixes the young and old versions of Win and Lin that was very effective. David Asavanond was great as the fun, loving paa. Kob Songsit's bad father was just cliched. Mothers underdeveloped. Ultra-wealthy parents being supportive is unusual. Music was good but it could have used another song just for some variety. Relied too much on melodrama without enough to support it.

One of those films where it helps to not get caught up in details and just go with the emotions. Some melodrama in the plot but not the delivery. Far more centred around the women than the cover image and tags suggest.

Tender short film of older lesbians finding their way back to each other. Excellent music as well.

Maybe it was the wrong time to watch this but I found it somewhat confusing despite the story being simple. Oh, Gaga subs call Jun "Ren" instead. I didn't stand a chance today.

But still - Japanese male repression erupting in self-centered jealousy and anger. 

imdb adores it, Letterboxd crew has many complaints. so of course i'm questioning my reactions. it worked for me as a powerful critique of the many intersections which keep the damaging status quo and an unjust justice system in place.

Dropped 15 mins ep 1 or so. After two excellent J send-ups of yaoi, this fell very flat. Finished it after all. The whole shipping thing is lost on me.

Melodrama plot but it's pretty bleak and lonely.

Gentle slice of life on the subject of negotiating your own sense of self amidst conflicting identities, both personal and for colonised states, with an ending where it's less that lives have changed and more that the two men themselves have grown through their friendship. It leaves a few dots for us to connect.

to like something - "You're happy that it exists and it gives you energy and courage."

Japanese introvert BL where the characters' work on a BL gives them opportunities to explore their own emotions whilst also clouding what the other feels. More about the psychology of the characters than plot.

A series of vignette introducing the characters and connections between them, which shifts into ensemble theatre as they gather for a small house party and things begin to fall apart. The ensemble work and writing is superb.

Wow. This is magic, where much is said without words, or in between words, where words are an invitation to emotion and dance their expression.

Can't comment on the hard of hearing rep, but they did convey the isolation of disability in ways I relate to hard. The characters made sense as overly blunt sunshine (his grandfather's zest) who throws himself into the things he cares about / not really tsundere but more situationally-depressed. Great story of friendship and a love which grows from it.

Earnest, hopeful, syrupy sweet and obviously written by a US American, but not entirely a US film.

Almost slice of life and somewhat disjointed. Nice moments but mostly sombre or gloomy. Dialogue heavy, nearly everything is two people talking, often upset with each other or circumstances. Even Mum supporting him over a possible HIV dx is preceded by her chewing him out about using protection. Like fair, but I'm tired of the amount of shouting.

Mess of a family (parents) uproot the kids to move to Canada so now their son is dealing with the mess plus being in a different country, plus being a gay teenager. Editing is choppy.

The kind of story which ends up only emphasising my isolation. May this be over soon.

I need some Thai now.

One episode and my head is right again. What is it about Thai telly & movies that works so well for me?

Exceptional film. How do I find words adequate to this story-telling?

New Year's Special (2020) - hour fifteen minutes of food & eating together as an expression of love - there was never going to be a right time for this for me.
Movie (2021) - Shiro's growing comfort with himself makes this. Acting in the dramatic parts too, and moments of laugh out loud comedic timing/contrast.

This is one that's going to stay with me for a while, although I don't know if I'll watch it again. It's long, with a backdrop of politics the bones of which I understand but not much detail and an aura of sadness. In it's quiet way, it's a beautiful story of heartache and love.

Life, death and naked men. Technically well-made, including use of music. Slow-paced and somewhat sparse in story, like slice of life spread over decades. Less deep thoughts and more a stream of emotions. When I was younger, maybe I would have thought I learned something from it. Now it was more like an experience.
May be marking it down relative to others for how self-referential it is and a sense that it perhaps fancies itself to be deeper than I found it. I liked it though, and am glad to have seen it.

Often melancholic love story between women and the problems in a relationship, at times very real.

It took a while to draw me in, but then it didn't let me go. I'm really liking the Filipino way of telling a story. That's been one of the best things to come from this subscription.

Slow moody reminiscence framing slow moody coming of age. Melancholic Taiwanese lesbian. Again. Well, this was early so the others are the Again.  
That waves have different sounds on different beaches as a metaphor for differences in love was beautiful. This film asks us to listen to that. But so. very. slow I found it difficult to stay present with it.

Don't know anything about Indonesian film (this isn't Thai), but it feels like there's a very strong western influence on the story-telling. Director is Chinese Indonesian but I can't find much else. Copy on Gaga has English subs hard-coded, so maybe this was made with an eye to international festivals?
There is a lot of internalised homophobia in it and the struggle for self-acceptance in a homophobic society underlies it all. The central character is a filmmaker and the difficulties letting go of a first love feel autobiographical reminiscences.
The final section is well-delivered, albeit with some long monologues. This was the wrong time, and perhaps too late in my life, for this film to work for me. I may have loved it when I was young.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a moody teenage boy used so well in a coming of age, certainly not to carry the entire film on his complicated shoulders.

Taiwanese but not as melancholy as everything else I've seen with lesbians from the country. The first three felt good indie fare, but the beginning of the 4th threw me with its cartoonish domestic violence. In the end though, that was surprisingly the best, looking with compassion but not excusing the impulse in some women to seek out dysfunctional relaationships because they're convinced they don't deserve better.

Catholicism as malevolent, Latin-based sorcery as well. Three siblings in love with the same young man, two using trickery to snare him. Music sometimes over-obvious or grandiose. Wondering if I might like some Philippine lakorn, but this isn't well enough developed to hold my interest. Probably dropping 1hr 10mins (movie edit of a series).

Beautiful, beautiful film. In every way, from the cinematography to the layered story-telling to the quiet depth of emotion.

Visually beautiful, and some of the music too. Didn't work for me, maybe I watched it on the wrong day. May try again another time.

On Gaga as Seventeen

Viu and somewhere else I think

Saeng's review, free on Viki

dir Nuchy Anucha (Not Me)

no longer on site

free on Viki

free on Viki, but only the first one. Gaga has lots/all?

free, don't know which cut

on YT

on YT

(and Present Still Perfect, 2020)