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Despite obvious budget and format constraints, enjoyed it quite a bit !
A very short 1 hour movie (or 2 episodes drama) about the relationship of two highschoolers : bully Ko Tae Seop and newcomer Park Jin Woo. More than really about romance, the story is focus on showcasing the discrimination faced in an all boys school by students suspected of being gays and the bullying inflicted by their peers on them.
Despite the lack of time to get very deep into it, I appreciate this attempt at societal criticism on this important topic of discrimination faced by the LGBTQ+ community. However, it is a bit of a shame that this is also done to the detriment of the romance. There are some interesting master-servant elements that are approached in the relationship but there as well, it remained at surface level of what it could have been. I still enjoyed truly the story overall as it was quite gripping.
Regarding the acting, it was a bit green for some parts, and a bit unbalanced in terms of acting level for the various roles. I particularly enjoyed the cameo of Hong Seok Cheon. I found Lee Ui Seop to be very good for a rookie but I was less convinced by Holland for some aspects of his role. He did not feel menacing enough as a bully and the transition to a more subservient part did not totally work as well. There were obvious budget limitation here. Limited decors with just a couple of sets to film in, minimalism was clearly the key word of the production. The soundtrack was also not bad but not memorable at all.
I would recommend this to people that are looking for a short BL with an indie feel and some elements of master-servant relationship. It approaches heavy topics such as bullying and discrimination which I found interesting but lacked a lot of time and budget to make it really good. It remained as well quite surface level on the societal criticism it was attempting to propose. Still, given the after-credit scene, I'm wondering if a sequel is planned. If that is the case, I will watch it for sure because it was quite entertaining and I see room for further development.
Despite the lack of time to get very deep into it, I appreciate this attempt at societal criticism on this important topic of discrimination faced by the LGBTQ+ community. However, it is a bit of a shame that this is also done to the detriment of the romance. There are some interesting master-servant elements that are approached in the relationship but there as well, it remained at surface level of what it could have been. I still enjoyed truly the story overall as it was quite gripping.
Regarding the acting, it was a bit green for some parts, and a bit unbalanced in terms of acting level for the various roles. I particularly enjoyed the cameo of Hong Seok Cheon. I found Lee Ui Seop to be very good for a rookie but I was less convinced by Holland for some aspects of his role. He did not feel menacing enough as a bully and the transition to a more subservient part did not totally work as well. There were obvious budget limitation here. Limited decors with just a couple of sets to film in, minimalism was clearly the key word of the production. The soundtrack was also not bad but not memorable at all.
I would recommend this to people that are looking for a short BL with an indie feel and some elements of master-servant relationship. It approaches heavy topics such as bullying and discrimination which I found interesting but lacked a lot of time and budget to make it really good. It remained as well quite surface level on the societal criticism it was attempting to propose. Still, given the after-credit scene, I'm wondering if a sequel is planned. If that is the case, I will watch it for sure because it was quite entertaining and I see room for further development.
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