Maggi64

As a side note, I am appalled at how celebrities who are addicts get fired and have their faces removed from any advertisements, as happened in this show. In America, celebrities send press releases to announce they are going to rehab. It gets them tons of desired publicity. Moreover, it gets them sympathy. Americans see addiction as a disease, not a character flaw, so we respond by telling the celeb, "We're praying for you," "You can do it," "You can overcome this addiction and we're rooting for you!" But the Asians, man, they are unforgiving. Look at what just happened to Korean celeb Yoo Ah In. He got caught with drugs and the media and entertainment industry there is DESTROYING him. I love Asian culture in many ways, but I hate this aspect of it.

Terrific film about 9 convict escapees. We watch as all 9 escape together, and remain together while traveling in a van, and then each faces his fate one by one. We get the back story of each convict as he faces whatever fate awaits him by the police, the yakuza, family, random members of the public, etc. The plot is propelled by seeing who of the 9 will make it to freedom.

There's a high amount of character development in the small amount screen time that each character has, given that it must cover 9 characters in 90 minutes. There is also a lot of dramatic tension, not to mention the slick, stylized camera work and cool soundtrack that this director is known for. It has this in common with the director's other 2 films of this period: Blue Spring and Tokyo Rampage, which are also terrific.

I just re-watched the kissing scene based on a comment here that praised how well it was done and, specifically how they stared at each other after the kiss. I gotta say, that kiss was stellar. Now, I had my qualms about this show because I think Ye Chan over played the country bumpkin, but I can overlook that because, overall, you felt the guy's attraction to each other. And this attraction was then physically manifest in that kiss!

That's why scenes of physical touching matter in love stories. It's why we see them in hetero romances and, thus, there's no reason not to expect them in gay love stories. I despair of people trying to shame us when we expect to see a kiss (ie, saying that we fetishize gay people). There's nothing wrong with wanting to see a kiss in a show about 2 people who are in love. Indeed, there's something wrong when the film makers don't show it.

I don't get how any BL actors these days think they can get away with not doing a kissing scene. Don't they see all the negative social media comments when they do fake kisses? The response to Star Struck was abysmal. I assume that the positive response to kissing scenes like this is why more BL actors are willing to go for it. As for the 2 actors in Love Tractor, wow, they really went for it. Bravo!

Totally agree. I thought that Ye Chan's character was portrayed as so over the top dim-witted as to be borderline offensive to rural farmers. Farming, in fact, requires a lot of brain power and these are not all "country bumpkins." To the contrary, universities even have departments of "Agricultural Science" because farming is such an involved enterprise.

But as you also said, his character had his charms, so I could still enjoy the show. His main charm was that he was so enthusiastic about his love for Yul and there was an innocence in that which was appealing. That was played very well. Hell, you could imagine him devouring Yul their first night together, lol.

Thank you! I thought he played this character as if he were slow-witted. It was so overplayed as the "country bumkin" stereotype that it was borderline offensive to rural farmers. It made the show difficult to watch for me. I get why others loved this show, but for me Ye Chan's overly broad interpretation of country farmers ruined it.

Very cute. But I must admit to being in the minority who thought Ye Chan overplayed the bit with being a big, dumb innocent. He came very close to appearing dim-witted in some scenes. Otherwise, no complaints. A sweet little BL with actors who understood that being in a BL means a gay kiss. Why don't more of these actors get it? Don't they even watch BL's before signing contracts to star in one?

Agree. There is no dramatic tension because the acting makes it feel one step removed from us. It doesn't help that all the drama is not in the present, but from the past. Indeed, the central conflict is set in the past, thus relying on flashbacks, which makes the present feel especially dull. And you're right that the acting in the flashback of the love hotel scene was pretty bad.

Sorry, the movie is so old I figured everyone knew how it ended. I'll add the spoiler.

It's a more cynical ending than The Departed, because the bad guy lives. Now that everyone who knew him has died, he can live happily ever after without worries. Now that's cynical, but also more realistic.

Scorsese never denied that The Departed was a remake, let alone denied it "adamantly." To the contrary, The Departed is widely and openly acknowledged to be a remake of Infernal Affairs.

Yea, he's not the best actor and overplays the big, dumb lug. You had said last week that he came off as if he'd hit his head, lol. You always nail it. But I will say his acting suffices for this show, which is a simple set up. However, I don't think we'll be seeing him in acting projects outside of BL world.

Also, I totally agree on the crying in BL's. None of the actors in Thai BLs can muster tears, and just contort their faces to end up looking like grimacing monkeys. Crying in K-BL's is hit or miss. For instance, this guy can't cry, while Haeboom in Cherry Blossoms was a terrific crier. I don't get why they don't use tear sticks for guys who can't cry.

Thanks! It's legs are so short that it could never run. Heck, it can barely walk, lol.

It's fascinating isn't it? I wondered because I got so sick of people saying we "fetishize" gay men. If this were about a sexual fetish, let's face it, we'd just look at gay male porn. That's all over the place. But we want characters and stories.

As for where to find articles, plug in search words such as "BL and reasons women like it" and "psychology of BL and women." There's a good one in Savvy Tokyo by KIRSTY KAWANO, Jan 17, 2019. I subscribe to PhD dissertations but they're stuffed with academic jargon so you wouldn't want that, lol.

That dog cracks me up. It's this fat, fluffy thing with legs only 2 inches long, such that it waddles instead of walks. What breed is that?

LOL, I thought of that dream in Cherry Blossoms After Winter. That was hot stuff, and I was hoping to catch some action. Alas, we'll have to wait until next week.

It's one thing to make a grown man cry, but to make a big strong one cry! How many of you went "aww" out loud when Yul asked Ye Chan if he was crying?

i see only ep 1-6 up so far

The 2014 movie is a sequel. It's the same writer/director as the original 2011 movie, so I suggest watching these two together. The series has the same actors, but a different writer/director, and thus has a different tone and sensibility. I suggest watching this last.

Gyoten's Greatest Line:

When the old woman asks if there's an afterlife because she fears imminent death, and Gyoten replies, "There is no afterlife. But as much as possible, I will not forget you until I die. Is that okay?" She smiles and replies, "That's okay with me."

Yep, it's okay with all of us.

Funny that they don't like gay content, because if it weren't for the great BL community on MDL, I'd just leave it. I've seen MDL censor and/or ban people too many times.