any_anka

Apparently the organizers are now considering online live streaming as well...

Oh, people complain about the finale? I'm surprised, I thought it was very well executed...

In fact I really enjoyed how one could feel the story going a symbolic full circle, not just with them visiting their hometown, but also e.g. with how they were now waiting on a train together and boarding it together as well (as opposed to what happened in the past).

It all really gave off the feeling like the writers knew what they wanted to tell the audience and how they wanted to do it, from beginning to an end. That ending just felt so... complete. This drama to me really felt like a complete, well thought-out body of work. And I appreciated it a lot.

Just scrolling down in here you will notice the opinions about whether this is a BL, a bromance or yet something else are quite divided.

I'm not sure what do you mean by "is there someone between the guys who likes the other guy?". Do you mean like a triangle? No, there's no love triangle in here.

P.S. To me it's quite evident both men develop feelings for each other.

Yeah, I feel you. I wanna vent, too. Even if, admittedly, I am not someone who really gets the allure of fan meetings. I'm definitely the type of audience who's perfectly fine just watching the actors on screen (or listening to singers sing etc.). I don't really need the whole para-social aspect to enjoy the artwork and someone's skill. If I like an actor, I will just hype them up, recommend them to others etc., but I never even feel like I'd have anything of value to tell them, so I feel no need to meet them 😋 Maybe I'm too old and too much of a buzz-kill for that 🙃

But still, I acknowledge FMs are a standard nowadays, especially in Asia, and seeing how so many entertainers have their own fan meets that are successful, it really sucks these two extremely talented actors who starred in this beautiful drama (that quality-wise really outdid most of everything else within the same genre) struggle to fill a venue. I mean, it's not like the capacity is 5 thousand people, it's 5 hundred... I don't know. It is super sad.

On the other hand, from what I hear, the organizers didn't really help the situation. From what I read, first international fans had problems acquiring tickets, the sales got paused, then the problem got fixed with a new platform for international fans, but the price is like 15% higher than if bought via Chinese platform. I read some people already got discouraged, even if they were planning on going originally...

Maybe, just maybe, this was supposed to be a movie about an unfulfilled love between two men. The love that just started, but had no chance to really blossom yet? They make "straight movies" based on such premise all the time, I'm sure they do 🤨

And even if Balloon's Landing was a movie about unrequited love (which I actually disagree with), if that's the case - then why it's no longer a BL? Are gay characters allowed to be portrayed only in a certain way and in a certain context? So there's no way they could develop feelings for each other slowly or suffer from unrequited love?

This reminds me of this Japanese coming of age drama My Strawberry Film that had so many people complain on Viki how it wasn't a BL (to the point the genre was changed). The thing is, it actually featured a gay boy who's had a very serious crush on his best friend and was very aware of his feelings. He actually even confesses in the end. So the "gay experience" is there. But I guess it's no longer worthy of a BL label if it's one-sided? How to categorize such work then? It's not a bromance, if one person wants something more, or is it?

Not that I think Balloon's Landing is even a story of unrequited love. I've seen this mentioned in some other comment as well, so you're not alone in that assessment - maybe there is something to it. I just don't understand where it comes from - can you tell me who is supposed to be the one in love, then? And why do you think it's unrequited? Unfulfilled, sure, I can get behind that - but unrequited?

I'm asking unironically and am genuinely curious.

Also, I just want to add that H2: Crossing the Line was released in 2018. Since then Fandy portrayed many different characters, from a boy with terminal leukemia in More than Blue to a criminal with a disturbing past in Copycat Killer (and doing a great job at both of these performances, may I add). But I guess he can't play a role in a movie next to another male protagonist without audience having *expectations* of them kissing etc. 🙄 Terrance Lau, on the other hand, is a brilliant actor with many awards under his belt. But I guess these facts were not good enough to promote the movie, huh.

Well, if that was truly the case, then the marketing team did this movie a disfavour because it got accused of (in my opinion undeservedly) queerbaiting etc. and review-bombed even here on MDL, where its rating was still around 5 some not long ago (it improved since the movie got released on Netflix and people actually started watching it).

Frankly, I fail to understand why would a Taiwanese movie even beat around the bush and sell a non BL as a BL, if they can just openly make a BL. I mean "Your Name Engraved Herein" was a commercial and critical success, wasn't it? Not to mention multiple BL dramas released in Taiwan every year plus other dramas that aren't even strictly BL that feature a gay or a lesbian couple, which are pretty common as well.

To me it really looks like the audience, for whatever reason, can't accept a movie about romantic love between two men, if it doesn't check the typical BL tropes boxes.

It's doing quite poorly. There is this account on X, I think the owner is from HK, and they're following this thing pretty closely. According to what they reported, it seem like the sales are pretty much stuck, I don't think they even sold half of the available tickets...

Perhaps... I can't really counter anything you said with a definite "you're wrong", because you are referring to the very specific events from the story. However, I just can't help to see their relationship differently.

But as for Go Young wanting Yongsoo to meet his mom, I think it was more GY deciding on coming out to his mom than anything else and that decision was prompted by Yongsoo's closeted behaviour more than anything else, so I didn't see it as a particularly strong indicator of how strong was their relationship... More a sign of frustration.

What you're referring to their "little world" to me was a result of Yongsoo not wanting to partake in activities Go Young wanted to share with him (lest someone sees them and puts two and two together and figures out that they're dating), so it was no sweeter than a cheating couple meeting secretly in a motel room.

But as I said, that is how I see their relationship, maybe I'm too cynical to see the beauty of it that you clearly saw :)

That's ok, I didn't really feel offended. I assumed I wrote is not particularly clearly 😋

Sadly, that's not the case. They have the script ready, but haven't started filming yet (and if it was decided on, the news was not communicated officially anywhere).

What we have is director Patrick Liu alluding to season 2 every now and then (but he's testing my poor nerves, because he'd say sth sounding super optimistic and then mention sth else that makes me feel there's no way season 2 will ever happen, so here's where I am on everything he says 😋).

So far the most recent glimmer of hope I'm clinging to is Liu Dong Qin (Sheng Wang) saying "See you in season 2" to the fans watching his most recent live. But that's still nothing official.

Not exactly :) Fandy is the guy from Crossing the Line. The other dude is an actor from Hong Kong called Terrance Lau. I don't think he ever played a gay part before, as far as I know (but he is a really really good actor, one of my top faves).

This is on a totally different note and I might be wrong, but I think you might like this:
https://kisskh.at/764539-wo-tsai-che-li-teng-ni

I think them choosing Macau was one way to try and cater to international audiences as well, since it's easier to get there visa-wise plus it's fairly close from there to e.g. Vietnam...
But in the end maybe they overestimated the interest, who knows. Regardless whether we get season 2 or not, I'd feel sad for actors if the fan meet flops.

I'm curious if sales went up after the issues with ticket platforms were fixed.. .

Don't worry, no terminal illnesses, sudden deaths or anything of that sort. Just regular heart-break over beloved characters being hurt 🙃

I think after you click on the actor's name you go into "Edit Biography", then click on the "Cover Image" and there you go to "Choose File". I've never edited anything myself on MDL, but seems like the way to do it (?)

Yesss, you are right. I didn't even think of Tian Yu's reaction after waking up, but now when I read your comments - spot on!

With everything summed up in one place, I think it's pretty clear and I agree that if it was two people of different genders interacting in the same way, most people wouldn't even question their romantic feelings - if anything, they'd be crying how tragic it was that they didn't even get a chance to confess 🙃

I feel there is also one thing that those who complain abt lack of physical intimacy miss. Let's not forget Tian Yu is literally on a journey to end his life. The only reason why he comes to Taiwan is because he wants to go to that mystical place, where one can find paradise and do it there. Otherwise, he'd do the "deed" while still being in HK, we see him almost go there...

So, I think it's a fairly natural development that neither Tian Yu, who is suicidal at the moment, nor A Xiang, who is focused on doing everything to stop him from dying, don't immediately jump each other's bones. I mean, there's something called mood? 😋

So, basically what happens is: Sheng Wang is slowly realising his feelings for Jiang Tian are more than just brotherly love/good friends type of a thing. It's becoming quite evident to him arnd ep 10 and he gets an epiphany in ep 11, when he no longer can deny his feelings.

There is a bit of a phase when he is thirsting over JT etc. and this part is really fun ;) You can stop watching here, to spare yourself the pain that comes after...

Which is:

SW wants to control what he's feeling desperately bcs he think it's unrequited (plus they're "brothers"), so he sabotages himself on a big test in order to - according to new school rules - move classes in an attempt to put some distance between JT and himself. He also lies to JT that he didn't do it on purpose.

Now, there was some debate between people who thought that what happened wasn't a big deal, and those like me, who thought it was a big deal, because of what his actions entailed...

I will not be giving you my interpretation before you even watch it, though ;) So as not to suggest how you should feel :>

I don't know how much spoilers you are ready for 😋

Well, first of, yes, it is possible to read the novel after finishing the drama from the point onward where the drama ended (I think it's arnd chapter 60). I've seen quite a lot of people in the comments here (or reddit/YouTube etc.) doing exactly that. Some decided to read from the very beginning - there are slight differences, but not that many. Those who decided to just continue had no problem following the story. I personally read just bits of the book, because in the end I decided I prefer to wait for season 2 and didn't wanna spoil myself too much.

Now, for spoilers... I will include them in the next post below - you still have a chance to decide not to read ;)

"But since it's two men, heterosexuality is assumed to be the default and the rest is just 'queerbaiting.'" - this! I wish people who accused this movie of queerbaiting realised what their outrage was really based upon...

Also, yes to the mutual nature of the protagonists' feelings. I'm confused seeing some comments saying the interest is unrequited (?). I think both men's reactions to the accidental-almost-kiss, Tian Yu inviting A Xiang to watch fireworks together (basically, what would've been their first date 😎) when earlier he didn't wanna be a third-wheel to A Xiang and Xia Xia, or even more so A Xiang's behaviour right before that date when he was about to approach Tian Yu quite strongly indicate their shared attraction. I mean... who the hell checks if they smell nice upon walking up to their bro and proceeds to look longingly at that bro in question if they're not romantically/sexually interested in them?

Fandy Fan outdid his performance in Copycat Killer with this one. For me, it's his best yet. It's so interesting to see this guy's constant improvement since the days of History 2: Crossing The Line.
Terrance Lau is so effortlessly good... but I didn't expect anything less from him.
This is so well acted and beautifully filmed, with a tint of magical realism to it. I'm happy reasonable people are starting to watch it ;)

Captain > Commander >>>> Leader (meh)