ariel alba

Misunderstandings turned into second chances and the possibility of healing emotional wounds

Based on Moscareto's web novel of the same name, 'Business as Usual' revolves around Chae Jin Hwan (Seong Seung Ha, in his professional debut) and Kim Min Jun (Chae Jong Hyeok, 'My Dearest Nemesis' - 2025) in two different timelines.
In one, we see Min Jun, an introverted and insecure college student with self-esteem issues, communication difficulties, a tendency to overthink, jump to conclusions, and misinterpret situations, fall in love with an extroverted, popular, and naturally cheerful boy, with whom he will experience, in their first relationship, a brief, bittersweet, and self-destructive romance.
In the other, unexpectedly, eight years after a tumultuous breakup marked by insecurities, misunderstandings, and lack of communication, and without any contact with each other during that time, fate brings them together again when they unexpectedly end up working at the same publishing company, creating an atmosphere fraught with tension, both professional and personal.
Female director Min Chae Yeon, who with 'Happy Merry Ending' (2023) had ventured for the first time into LGBT+ dramas, and screenwriter Kang Rim, mix the two stages throughout the series, giving the viewer the possibility of comparing and appreciating the evolution of the relationship between the two protagonists when they met while they were university students, and how in the present day their still unresolved feelings complicate their working relationship, in a more powerful way than if they had presented the story in a normal, linear way.
In this way, the director and screenwriter better exploit the story, depicting in consecutive scenes how two lovers, for the wrong reasons, had to end their relationship in the past and were able to rekindle their love story. Jealousy, fear of abandonment, low self-esteem, insecure attachment, and early insecurities are transformed into second chances and the possibility of healing emotional wounds. The death of love and its subsequent rebirth.
The original poster for the series, which shows the two protagonists in a warm and homey setting, their faces just seconds away from a kiss. The phrase "A clumsy first love, where we were each other's 'smaller half'" informs the viewer of the complex relationship between the two and the impact of their reunion. It is striking, perhaps because we have been spoiled by countless romantic films from Hollywood (and the rest of the world, really; the structure and characters are boringly similar), the realistic and imperfect drawing of the two protagonists, who constantly make mistakes and who have very defined personalities. As the minutes go by, you get to know them as if they were two close friends.
Kim Min Jun and Chae Jin Hwan are looking for love, and they meet at the perfect moment, when the former needs someone loving and attentive to pamper him and treat him like a prince in a fairy tale. Jin Hwan is the perfect fit, a romantic waiting for the opportunity to prove his commitment in a serious relationship. Or at least that's what Min Jun thinks. And he's Seong Seung Ha at his most seductive. Kim Min Jun can't resist.
But then (from Min Jun’s perspective) comes the phone conversation in which he can’t quite hear what it’s about or if it’s about himself, the other’s hurried departure from the house because something unexpected and urgent has come up, following his steps down the street to see where he’s going, discovering who he’s meeting, seeing from a distance how his beloved hugs another man, how it seems to him to see them kiss, the jealousy that grows, the insecurity that always existed now reaches the size of a skyscraper, the conversation that should happen but never comes because he doesn’t wait for his return, because he doesn’t answer his calls, because he gets rid of his cell phone… and the relationship collapses.
Beyond the physical change—which can be interpreted in various ways (representation of the passage of time, life's hardships, the monotonous life, the 9-to-5 office job, a faded love, never having experienced love again, returning home, alone, every night...)—it's interesting how, approaching 30, Min Jun feels the weight of societal expectations to achieve more in life, yet feels trapped and dissatisfied, both in his work and his love life.
And suddenly, the man of his dreams reappears before him. He still looks as attractive, charismatic, and charming as ever, and this reminds him how different they are, while feeling like he hasn't made any progress since their breakup eight years earlier. Determined to keep his past from interfering with his work life, Min Jun tries to maintain his usual routine, keeping it strictly professional... and move on. After all, he's one of those who believes that "First loves should stay in the past; that's the point." However, Jin Hwan remains determined to rekindle their romance, responding, "I was looking for something more than friendship. I want something with real potential".
And now I wonder: Will things be different this time, or is it better to leave the past behind? Will they be able to overcome the misunderstandings of the past?
With a plot that explores the deepest emotions and the complexities of unresolved love, 'Business as Usual', less so in the reason why the two leads broke up in the past, reminds me of Lim Hyun Hee's fellow South Korean drama 'Our Dating Sim' (2023).
To work, 'Business as Usual' needed two actors fully committed to the project, dedicated to creating and developing the characters. Seong Seung Ha and Chae Jong Hyeok accepted the commitment and give their all on screen. They are formidable in both timelines; no one could have better embodied Chae Jin Hwan and Kim Min Jun.
Both draw on the strength of their characters to create memorable performances. The chemistry between the two actors is palpable. The work of Seong Seung Ha and Chae Jong Hyeok is mainly observed in the knowing glances they give each other. It is clear that there is a lot of work put into the two actors behind each scene.
I like how Min Jun's character evolves over time. Reuniting with Chae Jin Hwan makes him bolder, more open, and more confident. I have no doubt he's ready for a healthy relationship.
Min Chae Yeon worked on the script with Kang Rim for years, but when it came time to film, she asked the actors to improvise and find the most natural way for them to behave and interact with each other. In statements on social media, she has stated that she tried to finish the scenes in a single take, with the aim of capturing the spontaneity of the performances, and she also had Seong Seung Ha and Chae Jong Hyeok spend time together before filming, so they would be more believable as a couple and rehearse ways to start and continue conversations, especially moments of intimacy. These series of decisions are risky; it is safer to stick to the script and plan every detail, but with luck and talent, the result is worth it.
The work of the protagonists is joined by a supporting cast, The work of the protagonists is joined by a supporting cast, made up of, among other actors and actresses,Jung Do Myung as Chae U Hyeok (college classmate), Lee Sang Won as AR Publication director, and Lee Ui Seop as Kim Geon Ju, the college classmate, is also a strong presence in the BL world after starring in the dramas "Summer Indigo" (2025) and "Taming the Bad Boy" (2024), and the film "My Idol" (2024).
Great photography, cool colors, and a pleasant soundtrack add a lot of depth to the story.

Read More

Does the fact that an idol lives a romance mean that he loves his followers and fans less?

Who hasn't had the fantasy of a musical idol falling in love with you? What would happen if you fell in love with the fashionable youth idol when you are tasked with documenting his latest concert as part of a boy group? What would happen if in the midst of the band's dissolution you became its leader's closest confidant?
'ThamePo Heart That Skips a Beat', the Thai romantic drama directed by Mui Aticha Tanthanawigrai ('The Shipper', 2020), tells the story of Po (Est Supha Sangaworawong, 'Love by Chance Season 2: A Chance to Love', 2020), a young filmmaker who finds work in an entertainment company as director of a documentary that will record the latest performance of the popular boy group Mars, and is bewitched by the charms of Thame (William Jakrapatr Kaewpanpong), the band's singer and dancer, as well as his heart and soul.
And it's art that unites Thame and Po, in a way. Each one from their own line (Thame in the musical area, Po in the cinematographic arts), and they come together at a middle point that leads them to love, while one is about to leave the band to debut solo in South Korea due to a misunderstanding with the other members of the group, and the other must capture the group's final concert in images and sounds.
Both the work behind the script and Est's inspirational and empowered performance add to the narrative of the series substantially. The fact that the protagonist is a young man who has left his happiness and future on hold during the time he was dating someone who led him to be in the background in the relationship, turns a premise disconnected from reality into a very more earthly and empathetic. One that allows the viewer to understand more about the phenomenon of invisibility that some people suffer when they are part of the lives of public figures, such as artists. But if Po, his character, is leaving one of these relationships, he runs the risk of falling into another, when his path crosses that of Thame.
They are both heartbroken and need to heal. Will they find comfort in each other? Can they share their loneliness and sadness? In addition to their passions for music and directing work, will love be what heals them? Will the band's fate be to disband once Thame becomes a solo artist, leaving his bandmates behind? Is this Thame's dream or is it an action undertaken by internal conflicts that can be overcome? Will Po manage to overcome the trauma of having been a "shadow" in her relationship with her ex-boyfriend? Will Po be able to prevent the group from dissolving? I ask myself these and other questions, and I hope to have answers in the final episode.
Against all logic, the series does not raise the curtain on the meticulous process of creating a global musical sensation, but on the imminent separation of the iconic world-class boy band, made up, in addition to Thame, of Dylan (Hong Pichetpong Chiradatesakunvong), Nano (Lego Rapeepong Supatineekitdecha), Jun (Nut Thanat Danjesda) and Peeper (Tui Chayatorn Trairattanapradit).
The series does not raise the curtain on the meticulous process of creating a global musical sensation, but on the imminent separation of the iconic world-class boy band, made up, in addition to Thame, of Dylan (Hong Pichetpong Chiradatesakunvong), Nano (Lego Rapeepong Supatineekitdecha ), Jun (Nut Thanat Danjesda) and Peeper (Tui Chayatorn Trairattanapradit).
With a script by PingPong Suwanun Pohgudsai ('Cherry Magic', 2023-2024), Kannika Tovaranonte ('Gen Y', 2021), and the director himself, the series is a GMMTV production aimed at showcasing the five members of the group LYKN boys, winners of the Best New Artist award at the Komchadluek Awards 2024, who on screen show their skills as singers and dancers.
Combining their talent and charisma with exemplary physical discipline, William, Hong, Lego, Nut and Tui drive the viewer crazy with their songs, dances and stage movements. After starring in the short film 'No Worries', in 2023, and the documentary 'LYKN Day1 to Debut', the five members of LYKN more than reaffirm their acting and musical abilities.
From the first frame in which he appears, William is not only able to fill the screen, but he also manages to perfectly convey the energy of his character and the very particular circumstances in which he finds himself. Something that really manages to captivate the viewer and make the journey that the character goes through much more transcendental for them.
The series not only tells a romance between Po and Thame, or the story of the idol band, but also reflects on the price of success, the importance of friendship and the need to balance notoriety and privacy in a relationship couple. With convincing performances, this series promises to be an unmissable event for lovers of BL and music in general.
Est manages to portray the young film director who must carry out the mission of filming the documentary of the Mars farewell concert, while deals with the recent breakup with his ex-boyfriend Earn (Pepper Phanuroj Chalermkijporntavee), the trauma left in him by a toxic relationship in which, after helping or achieving success, he was despised by the person he he loved, and the feelings that Thame, the handsome and seductive leader of the band, awakens in him.
But the series explores other topics in depth: Why can't trainees and stars have romantic relationships during the first five (or three) years after their debut? Can idols have a private life? Does the fact that an idol has a romantic relationship mean that he loves his followers and fans less? Why, in the face of harassment campaigns, must pop stars publish humiliating apologies, often handwritten, in front of television cameras and on social networks, after being accused of "betraying" their fans? Why are idols subjected to strict behavioral controls and standards that are impossible to meet so that record companies can sell the idea of ​​a perfect idol to the public?
Why aside from verbal warnings, will there also be a "no love" clause in their management contracts? What would happen to violators of this rule? Shouldn't they pay a fine for breach of contract, and in more serious cases, they could even be fired? Aren't these bans primarily related to companies' interest in protecting stock prices and revenues? When rookie idols prepare or have just debuted, aren't they subjected to rigorous checks of their mobile phones, including conversation logs and information? Isn't it a reality that even to call your own parents, you have to get consent from the agency? Can an idol maintain a romantic relationship with someone of the same gender?
Through the love relationship of the two protagonists (and some other members of their group) the series explores how in the rigorous and meticulous world of entertainment, where the culture of entertainment demands perfection and prudence, how for the competitive entertainment industry the main thing is its income through popular groups. Loyal fans will spend money on albums, related goods, and concerts. For this reason, talent agencies often remind idols that they "should not be in a romantic relationship," as the loss of fan support can have a significant negative impact on the company and the idols.
Through the public's reaction, the series exposes how fans often project their personal feelings onto the idols they like, treating these idols as their "boyfriends or girlfriends," which can cause confusion between reality and fantasy.
The audiovisual also portrays how fans consider their idols as the center of their lives, how they follow their idols, in whom they invest a large amount of time and money, since they make their debut, and how they feel a deep "sense of betrayal" if they were to find out that their favorite artist "starts dating someone."
Without a doubt, music is the other main protagonist. In addition to "All I Need", by LYKN, other musical themes by a real band created for the series are played, such as "I Remember", in the voice of Victor Lundberg, and "Destined", a song performed by Tui Chayatorn, among others.
The lyrics of the songs turn out to be a decent summary of the series: "How could we fall so quickly and let ourselves go? It's time to give up. Now that it's over, there's nothing to say 'cause, I guess we've said it all," we signals the breakdown of Po and Earn's relationship, but then, like a pleasant foreshadowing, we will hear: "You stole my heart in the blink of an eye. I've been yours since the first time we met. All I need is you!" ", as a sign of the birth of a new romance, while the audience claps their hands and sings the song.
Likewise, Thame performs a song with the other members of the band, and then acts alone on stage, and sings a song in which he expresses: "...although all the dreams we had did not turn out as planned," and Dylan, Nano, Jun and Peeper retire, leaving only the leader of the group on the stage, it is a prediction of what the viewer could expect in the series if they do not solve the group's internal problems.
In my opinion, the creators have sought to make the story seem as authentic as possible and ensure that the actors who are members of LYKN were integrated into the plot in a real way. The five boys have this type of integrity, which must be of great help, since in the progression of the series in general, they are in charge of writing, performing and dancing the songs that we hear intertwined with the love story between Thame and Po.
I am convinced by the romance of this couple. Yes, they are diametrically opposed in some aspects but at the same time very similar in others. The fact that their relationship makes them grow individually enriches the plot. Examples? We can see it when Thame tries to better understand Po's passion for art. Likewise, when Po tries to look at Thame as the man he is and not the famous singer.
In this sense, how I would like them both to learn a lot about themselves and their sexuality through their relationship with each other, that they both make the other better on a personal level, and that together they can keep the band together.

Read More

The thaumaturgic power of rain and electronic messages

The tetrad made up of a man who lives a life without intimacy with his girlfriend, a man unilaterally in love with his childhood friend, the development of a romance through words and rain as a symbol of renewal and growth is totally for me new in the film and television world.
Such a simple premise is served in 'Futtara Doshaburi' ('When It Rains It Pours') by Japanese directors Takahashi Natsuki, Tomita Miki and the team behind 'Jack O' Frost', 'My Personal Weatherman' and 'Takara no Vidro', with enormous tranquility and serenity, taking its time, simmering a dramatic crescendo that does not squeak in a single moment, to tell a complicated story that explores the complexities of unrequited love, stagnant relationships, and adult sexuality.
Based on the novel of the same name by Michiho Michi and scripted by Hiraki Mari, the starting point is stated by Hagiwara Kazuaki in the first minutes of the pilot episode, when he tells his girlfriend Mizutani Kaori (Akita Shiori): "I sent an email restaurant list for the coworkers meeting. I was going to email it to myself, but I sent it to the wrong email address".
The plot immediately introduces us to the personal history of each protagonist: Hagiwara Kazuaki has a two-year relationship with his girlfriend, but they have grown apart. The magic disappeared long ago and commitment has replaced love. He wants to have sex with her, but she subtly rejects him without saying a single word. It looks like a marriage headed for divorce. First separate beds, then separate rooms.
If Hagiwara Kazuaki and his girlfriend's relationship died a long time ago, why haven't they done anything about it, when they are both painfully aware of it? Haven't they broken up for good because they both know they can't fix it anymore, but they also don't want to move on and break up? Do they choose to stay tied in a relationship that is no longer working for either of them because they are afraid of being alone afterwards and afraid of starting over with someone else? Are they waiting for a push to break up? These are questions that run through my head.
Sei, the person who mistakenly receives the email, shares a flat with his platonic love Fujisawa Kazuaki (Matsumoto Hiroki), who, despite knowing that his roommate is in love with him, ignores his intentions and has declared that he will always be there for him his side to take care of him, but despising a romantic relationship.
Is Fujisawa Kazuaki asexual and aromantic? Is he in love with Sei but not able to admit it, or does the deal he proposed somehow work for him while not satisfying Sei, who wants a real connection and needs to feel physically loved to be happy? Isn't his accepting such an agreement a sign of how much Fujisawa Kazuaki means to him and how much he should love himself more? These and other questions I ask myself as the images pass before my eyes.
Despite working in the same company, Hagiwara Kazuaki and Nakarai Sei are two strangers who regularly have a conversation at their workplace about work issues.
Since the mistake with the email, both continue to have a strange relationship in which they confide their concerns by email, without knowing the other's true identities. At first, the two meet secretly in that dangerous and romantic place, such as an electronic message, to get to know each other better, but without intentions of any kind.
The friendship between both protagonists is built little by little. They match at a work party where the two drink alcohol and chat pleasantly, and then share an umbrella in the rain. Finally, they visit a museum where they observe, ecstatic, a female statue, seeing it reminds them of their own lives, realizing that people can never escape sexual frustration.
And what begins as a simple message quickly becomes an open and liberating connection between two people who want love, sex and living a passion. A passion of two people wondering if it is okay to continue with one of them with their partner and the other tied to their platonic love, or to let themselves be carried away by what they feel for each other.
The first thing that strikes you when watching 'Futtara Doshaburi' is its complete lack of pretensions. The directors have a great asset in their leading couple, the immense Muto Jun, known for being a member of Genin wa Jibun ni Aru and for participating in the series 'Given', and Ito Asahi, popular among lovers of the genre for giving life to Kikuchi in 'Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai VS Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko'), as Hagiwara Kazuaki and Sei, respectively, who as great actors, set aside all the possible divism, appearing on screen as what they really intend: two characters faced with the great doubt of their lives.
Over time, their relationship becomes a romantic love story that will take them away from their routine lives and end up forcing them to make the decision to stop seeing each other or break up, one with his girlfriend and the other with the boy he has been in love with for some time.
The simplicity - a term that fits the series perfectly - with which both performers bring their characters to life is perfectly combined with the staging of Takahashi Natsuki and Tomita Miki, who use many extremely subtle resources to tell a story outlined to showcase the two charismatic and popular actors, and also demonstrate on screen the enormous rapport they have.
The respective personal lives of the protagonists with the person they have tied to their side are shown, at first, with each of the couples within two different planes. However, after the first approach between the two, the directors show you again in their lives, and separate them from their partners, with a simple cut to the shot. Subtle and clear way to show the beginning of the breakdown of relationships.
Ito Asahi and Muto Jun achieve such a degree of chemistry and complicity in the series that it is impossible not to see the love that exists between them. Both create a couple of ordinary human beings in all the complexity of their character, without us viewers knowing, even in general terms, significant details of their pasts.
It is in the way they listen to each other, speak, laugh, move, look at each other, and surprise each other when they discover each other as the person with whom they have been having a relationship by email when they send each other a message while both are close, where we see the whole person and the conflicts they face, which are something as close as what to do when love appears in a life established in the comfortable routine, and how to deal with feelings once they have altered our existence.
Matching the lives of the two protagonists, the series talks about clouds (Kumo, 雲), which in Japan symbolize the impermanence and transience of life, reflecting the Buddhist concept that everything changes constantly, and rain does not change only as a symbol, but also for its ritual and acting character.
The creators have taken a very Japanese concept about the power of rain to capture it in the series: the two main characters need to renew their worn-out relationships, green their meaningless lives.
And rain, due to its incessant repetition, has a purifying effect that washes away human miseries.
'Futtara Doshaburi' is a perfect example of portraying a story about loving relationships in which social conventions—one of the great enemies of what we call love—are ruthlessly questioned.
The series talks about how great love is when it comes, at the least expected moment, into the lives of two people. The Japanese directors idealize the feeling, almost in a transcendental way, as the greatest thing that the two characters experience in their routine lives.
Knowing that these two will end up in a romance, I would only like to ask for true peace of mind when the two previous relationships end, without going into unnecessary moral or ethical pamphlets. If things ended differently than Hagiwara Kazuaki and Nakarai Sei initially planned, it is because they were both not just looking for sex, but also love, connection, validation and acceptance.
It is well known that love does not understand ages, marital statuses or social conventions and everything seems to indicate that 'Futtara Doshaburi' corroborates this for the umpteenth time.
An excellent romantic series in which the thaumaturgic power of rain and electronic messages contributes to two people with their respective responsibilities within a failed relationship, one, and the other without even starting, ending up madly in love with each other and facing the eternal dilemma of deciding whether to end their courtship or their platonic relationship, because third ways are usually deeply unsatisfactory.

Read More

Many of us have been amazed by the latest project by the Japanese director, screenwriter, actress and casting director Sawada Ikuko for her point of view, for several of the ideas that are dropped, for the aesthetics that accompanies the story, for the strength of the performance of a luxury cast, for the splendid soundtrack that accompanies us.
We are in the 90s of the last century. We are in a quiet rural town during the Heisei era. We are facing a story of acceptance and self-discovery during adolescence, but far from the romanticism of most of the series based on manga that I usually review here, telling us a hard, stark and bittersweet story. This is a coming-of-age drama that explores the pressures to conform and the power of friendship.
The beginning of 'Smells Like Green Spirit', the LGBT+ themed drama series, is engaging. We are introduced to a high school student being chased by several of his schoolmates.
Mishima, an androgynous teenager who defies social norms of sexuality, with his very long hair, delicate beauty and marked feminine features, lives in two different worlds: while the Sun shines in the sky, his classmates give free rein to their homophobia and is systematically tortured for "appearing to be gay." At night, in the silence of his house, once his mother goes to bed, we can distinguish a boy who is clear that he likes boys, something he hides and, faced with the economic impossibility of buying other cosmetic products, he only applies lipstick taken from his mother's bag, while he enjoys dressing the clothes of the woman who sleeps a few meters away from him.
His colleagues harass and physically and psychologically attack him because of his femininity, calling him in the most derogatory ways alluding to his sexuality. But he doesn't care, he's happy being the way he is.
All this reveals two of the pillars of the work. But be careful, this is not a more or less classic story that revolves around transsexuality.
But that bittersweet existence takes a radical turn when he discovers by accident that the hatred that Makoto Kirino, one of his staunchest harassers, professes towards him, is not only the result of the education received by a heteronormative family or from living in a society that does not accept diversity and that makes someone who is different hate themselves for not fitting into a supposed canon of "normality", but that they have much more in common than what appears at first glance and that this hatred is actually a desire to have the freedom to be like him.
In this way, the fatherless young boy will discover that, like him, Kirino is gay and likes to cross-dress, but he has hidden this side of him due to his conservative mother, who cannot accept he son's true nature. In this sense, since his childhood, in his environment, Kirino has been raised listening to prejudices and stereotypes of rejection or hatred towards LGTB+ people. Having integrated these values into your system, the construction of your identity has been marked by those beliefs. For this reason, he considers that a part of him is not worthy of acceptance and recognition, so he must hide, compensate, repair... his sexuality.
This is how the series borders on that controversial stereotype that behind every homophobe there is someone repressing their authentic sexuality. However, Kirino's story is so well done that it is difficult not to empathize and feel sorry for him, and even understand the pain that not accepting oneself can lead to something terrible. Kirino is ultimately, unlike Mishima, a poor confused teenager with his head in a mess.
Although it is true that this stereotype also comes into play with another character with whom one does enter into more delicate terrain that is much more controversial, and I will not go into detail about it so as not to give away spoilers.
Once the moment of initial terror of being discovered has passed, Kirino experiences the relief of being able to show himself as he is to another person who does not judge him and understands him. Being able to talk and share their problems without having to hide will be the first step for the two to begin to weave a beautiful friendship based on the secrets they hide from the world. And in this way we discover the other pillar on which the series is based.
These two teenagers must face a hostile social environment, allies who are wolves in sheep's clothing, and, what's worse, the possibility of frustrating their families' expectations. They must not only hide from others, but also hide from themselves.
All this, while we are presented with a Japan far from the typical view and the images of cities of futuristic technology mixed with ancient traditions. A much "dirtier and darker" Japan, for a story that usually appears darker than what we get from there, where the main character suffers daily harassment by teenagers like him, while others are forced to hide who they are out of fear to receive the same bullying that Mishima suffers.
While Mishima benefits from having a loving and understanding mother, Kirino struggles to reconcile her sexuality with her oppressive and patriarchal upbringing.
Kirino quickly opens up to Mishima, when they both meet during free hours on the school roof and outside the educational grounds, and can be who he really is without having to hide, although in front of his classmates he has to continue pretending contrary. However, he slowly begins to change the way he treats Mishima in front of others as he begins to accept himself.
It is surprising that Mishima does not feel or express any type of resentment towards his harassers and that he quickly finds in Kirino a being similar to the one who forgives all the bad times he put him through.
Thanks to the friendship with Mishima, Kirino's character transforms into a totally different person. If it is true that his attitude at the beginning is inexcusable and unjustifiable, as you begin to interact more with Mishima you discover his past and who he really is, making it easier to connect with him.
Through Mishima we observe the story and see how Tarō Yumeno, another of his bullies, a classmate and one of the main players in the school basketball club, is actually a boy who hides behind the façade of the bully, and who always makes fun of Mishima, to hide his true feelings.
Falling in love with Mishima is easy; He is so tender, so close, that you can't help but love him, sympathize with his character, let yourself be carried away by his antics, identify with a being that is certain of knowing who he is, even if he has to hide it.
And as these three young people begin to discover who they are, struggling to define themselves, they will make difficult decisions that will shape the rest of their lives.
'Smells Like Green Spirit' presents a heartbreaking character study anchored by a confident and convincing performance by Araki Towa, Sono Shunta and Fujimoto Kodai, actors who play Mishima Futoshi, Kirino Makoto and Yumeno Taro, respectively.
Araki Towa shines in her role, which she plays with delicacy and melancholy.
It is interesting how the story mixes comic situations that will brighten your day with other moments of extreme drama that will break your heart, while telling a story whose characters explore different ways of living sexuality and gender identity. Without a doubt, they are characters that anyone can empathize with.
Screenwriter Arai Yuuka takes the cake by adapting the manga of the same name written and illustrated by Saburō Nagai, serialized in Fusion Product's Comic Be between 2011 and 2013, collected in two tankōbon volumes, which allows the viewer to take a look at how complicated it is. a time that is complex in itself like adolescence, when one also does not fit into what is considered normal. As in the original work, the narrative text not only allows a very honest story to be translated into moving images, but also skips many stereotypes associated with BL manga.
The series addresses topics such as transvestism, while emphasizing that being a transvestite does not mean being transsexual, and that, in turn, this is not linked to sexual orientation.
Linking family history makes it feel even more intimate and personal, especially when one of them's mother is a widow and the other is single, and they have raised their children with so much love that their descendants want to care for them in the same way.
Sawada Ikuko addresses all these complex issues with commendable delicacy and lucidity. He raises the questions but does not decide, does not judge, does not take sides.
It is also true that with a cast like this it makes it very easy for the viewer. In addition to the aforementioned actors, Abe Aran joins as Professor Yanagida, Sakai Miyuki as Futoshi's mother, Kanai Miki as Sawada Ayako, Kaji Masaki as Edokawa Toshihiko, Katada Hiyori as Fujii Rinka, among others. That is to say, the stellar performances of the entire cast, especially the young people who turn from rivals to friends, anchor the story.
With an outstanding soundtrack, whose musical themes are inserted in such a way that they become the perfect complement to the story, the Japanese director succeeds in maintaining her closeness with his main character at all times, especially in that climactic moment when Mishima and Kirino They look into each other's eyes for the first time and scrutinize their souls.
There are some clichés often found in LGBT+ stories, but for the most part, Sawada Ikuko creates a totally original drama that is worth watching. Bearing the weight of emotional trauma and gay shame, the three boys need more than a hug to get them through. But there is a hopeful message, tinged with painful sadness. 'Smells Like Green Spirit' teaches an important lesson that will reach many young people who struggle with their sexual preferences, especially those who live among family members who are intolerant towards LGBT+ people.
As a result, the series doesn't flinch from contemplating the unfortunate reality of hate and intolerance, but also reflects and celebrates the other side of humanity.
This is a bittersweet series that reinforces the idea that there are good people who will love and accept you no matter who you are. The audiovisual demonstrates great empathy for those who have to hide who they are throughout their lives, or part of it, even if that eventually turns them into melancholic beings.
It is a deeply personal story, which speaks of young queer people who have the luxury of searching for their identity and discovering who they are from an early age, and those who must keep part of their identity hidden for fear of losing their family or receiving hate from the community.
There are moments in this queer story that are truly terrifying and other moments are tender and pure.
For all that has been said, the series stays with the viewer after the final credits of the first three episodes of the 9 that the MBS and TVK audiovisual have.
A splendid and bittersweet story as well as a tough love story. Yes, of love, because self-acceptance can only be fulfilled with a lot of love.

Read More

Of loves between men and forbidden romances in the Forbidden City

'A Frozen Flower' (Ssang-hwa-jeom) is a historical drama set in the 14th century, in a time of war for power and palace intrigues in which the need to produce an heir forces Gong Min, the king of Goryeo , to make a decision that will have dramatic and unexpected consequences on himself and everyone around him.
Faced with the discovery of a plot to assassinate him and seize the throne, the king must secure an heir, but here the conflict arises: the monarch has no pleasure in women and loves Hong Lim, his faithful general, the only person he accepts in his litter.
Given the circumstances, she decides that her lover takes his place in the queen's bed and fertilizes her, all under the greatest secrecy and discretion. And there the next problem arises: Hong Lim falls in love with No Guk, the queen, a role played by Song Ji Hyo ('The Witch's Diner'), despite being reluctant at first because he has never slept with a woman, but no. can disobey the king.
The grand historical setting and political plots are clearly overshadowed by the central story.
We are faced with a story of a king in love with his chief of the imperial guard, who has been instilled since childhood that one must please the king in every way. For that reason, he is shocked when he receives the king's order.
Neither the queen nor Hong Lim have a choice. They are puppets of royal power, so they obey without any other alternative. As in a kind of sacrifice, the queen has to have sex with a stranger. But here is precisely the key to the story: if she has never had sex, he doesn't know what it's like to have sex with someone of the opposite gender to his.
After the initial impact, both discover an unknown, unexplored sensual side. What at first is a repugnant obligation soon becomes a discovery of the senses that leaves the three completely perplexed.
A passionate and irresistible desire will push the queen and Hong Lim to face great risks, endangering both their loyalty to the king and their own lives in a story that grows in tension with each scene. And the king will not sit idly by and will explode in anger and seek revenge, because there is nothing that hurts a lover more than having what he considers his own taken from him, and even more so if you are the one in power.
Hong Lim is caught between his desire for the queen and his loyalty to the king. A simple misstep could be considered treason. And they both run this danger.
In my opinion, the female character is the one who bears the brunt, since in the end she loses the two men in her life who, although they never loved her, only used her. His only consolation, besides having loved, is the son he fathered.
Ranked 44th among the best South Korean films of all time, according to the FA rankings, the viewer will be struck by the explicit and realistic sexual scenes, whether between Jo In Sung in his role as Hong Lim, whom we remember for his tender and sweet image in the series 'Shoot for the Stars', with Joo Jin Mo ('Empress Ki'), an actor who plays the king, or between his lover and the queen. And in 2008, at the time of filming, all the romantic scenes in South Korean series and films had the characteristics of being very modest and subtle, more of suggesting than showing. Even today they are not free from this peculiarity, much less if it involves sex between men.
The topic of homosexuality and the love relationship between a king and a member of his imperial guard is not something new or unreal. Historical documents prove it. What is interesting about the film is the decisions that the lovers make and how these lead them to a tragic destiny. This is how the film explores other themes, such as the importance of decisions, the weight of carrying their consequences and regret (or not).
With three nominations for the Blue Dragon Film Awards (South Korea) in 2009, the director does an excellent job of obtaining facial and body expressions from the actors between the feminine and the masculine with total naturalness. The face of Jo In Sung will remain in cinema history as the king scorned and wounded in his self-love for the person he loves madly.
Based on a film text by the director himself, the South Korean filmmaker Yoo Ha, known for his work in films such as 'Gangnam 1970', 'Once Upon a Time in High School' and 'A Dirty Carnival', among others, the feature film recreates a love triangle between the king, his subject and lover, and the queen, or more precisely, a forbidden romance in the Forbidden City.
The film will soon make the viewer understand the complex situation that involves the three protagonists, and how it escapes the hands of the young couple involved, since, when she also falls in love with the head of the imperial guard, they will begin to have dates clandestinely behind the king's back, who, upon learning of the events, must intervene drastically, venting his fury like any jilted lover.
The king, in the end, lets himself be carried away by his obsessive love. Frustrated, more than by his inability to procreate a child, by having to share the body and heart of his lover, making him the villain, since Hong Lim will blame him for everything that happened.
In addition to the solid performances, the impeccable script and the magnificent direction, we must highlight the love story, the plot tension, the dazzling display of costumes, makeup, hair, very consistent with the time, and a full-blown art direction, in addition to a photograph, in the hands of Choi Hyun-gi, clear, luminous, even in closed and dark spaces, such as the lovers' darkened bedrooms, and perfect camera framing, all in order to embellish this historical fiction.
Kim Jun-seok's exquisite music, including diegetic music, that is, that performed by the protagonists themselves or the rest of the cast in public and private royal festivities and celebrations, introduces the viewer to that oriental world in which there is no shortage of combat with swords and other bladed weapons and martial arts fights.
'A Frozen Flower' is, in short, a film whose main theme is simply love.

Read More

Tawan (Key Patiphan Namsamut) and Tunn are a young couple who, from the moment they met, had a great connection, but over time their relationship changes and experiences stages that bring out the true being of each one.
Tunn is the "perfect" man for Tawan with whom he shared beautiful moments of his life. However, as time goes by, he begins to discover a new side of Tunn, who enters a circle of abusive and violent attitudes to the point of chaining him to the bed, making communication with others impossible and preventing him from going outside, even to go to work or university.
With this plot pretext, the director of the Thai medium-length film 'Limerence' manages to crudely teach us that we should not ignore the red flags in a relationship, and that at the first blow or violent attitude, we have to report it and get out of there; Although saying it seems easy and not many can make the decision, it is important to see and analyze the message it offers us in its little less than 60 minutes.
Love, "true" love, is not exempt from bringing tears and jealousy, but the truth is that it should give us peace and not suffering.
The film teaches us to understand that when it comes to interpersonal relationships, we cannot force the other to love us the same because at the end of the day, love is organic and born alone, so no matter how much we love someone, that person does not is obliged to respond to us in the same way (even if we have given our best).
Getting out of a toxic attitude is understanding the previous point, having the empathy to accept that the other loves us with what they have, and if we do not receive what we expect and according to what we give, the best thing is to leave their life without burdening them blame the other.
The importance of the film, far from showing a toxic relationship, is to tell the viewer what we should not fall for the person with whom we share a life.
Tawan held on for a long time until he decides to escape the relationship, however, will this way be the right way?
Also, wouldn't the story be different if behind the cameras, the harassed person is the harasser? What if after the lights are turned off and the filming equipment is removed, the perpetrator is the victim and the tortured person is actually the executioner?

Read More

What news will the creators provide to keep the public's interest alive?

Since its announcement, the public was divided between those who wanted or expected an additional chapter that would delve into the story of all the couples in the series, especially that of Khemthis (Shogun Paramee Thesdaroon) and Wela (First Piyangkul Saohin), and between those who look for unpublished behind-the-scenes images and other elements that serve to enhance the drama.
That is, the fans of 'Deep Night' showed their interests and doubts in: whether the content of the special episode would simply collect unpublished conversations from the actors and the filming and post-production team or would also reveal details that were not revealed in the series.
However, 'Deep Night Special Episode' does not satisfy either of them.
"Special" only has the name and a few minutes in which we can see, quickly, and without much depth, the evolution of the main couple a year after the events narrated in the series.
Then, the audience will once again witness more or less memorable scenes from the 8 official episodes of the series, recreated in the voice of Wela, and the incorporation of some new scene that does not contribute to complementing the story, infusing it with expressionism and affecting the viewer.
Due to some of Khemthis's actions in the first minutes, such as preparing breakfast and going to wake up Wela so that they can both enjoy that moment of everyday life at home, the audience might think that the story would be told from the vision of the character played by Shogun (which would be very significant), but we will quickly understand that it is not going that way.
The public will not find on this occasion an episode that reveals interesting behind-the-scenes images that have never been revealed, in which we could see the main couple and the rest of the cast having fun and being close on the set, or playing scenes that make them laugh, cry or express your love, friendship or work relationship at the club.
Nor will we be able to appreciate the long-awaited recordings of the cast's memories before and behind the camera, the answers to fans' questions or the expressions of gratitude from the actors and actresses to the technical and post-production team, which help the audience to have a clearer view of the making of 'Deep Night' and the efforts of the filmmaking team.
The special episode previously sparked interest in the public, eager to appreciate a series of passionate kissing scenes between Shogun and First that have never been broadcast, as well as many other romantic moments that did not officially appear in the series when it aired, but we will have We have to be content with the imagination.
Nor does the special episode please those viewers who think that adding too many kissing scenes is unnecessary, as they consider that this can "overwhelm" the audience, and expect, instead, more of the actors' honest exchange.
Likewise, fans interested in witnessing the cast and producers thank the audience for their love and attention to 'Deep Nigh' and promises to deliver better quality hybrid products in the future will also be left wanting.
Will this special episode mark the definitive and official end of the series?
On May 9, 2024, the day before the premiere of 'Deep Night Special Episode', another LGBTIQ+ themed series premiered a product with the same objective. In 'You Are Mine Special', its creators present an incredible closing to the Taiwanese drama 'You are Mine', from 2023, which pleases its viewers, as it delves into the progress of the relationship between Yao Shun Yu (Hsiao Hung) and Xia Shang Zhou (Parker Mao).
The public's reaction was immediate, and, despite recognizing that it is the perfect ending to the love story between the company's manager Xia and the company's new employee, viewers ask for more.
This explains, without a doubt, that while 'You Are Mine Special' reaches a rating of 8.1 points on MDL and other platforms, 'Deep Night Special Episode' only reaches 6.9 points.
When the magic of discovering new faces in the world of entertainment in general and Thai BL in particular, such as Shogun Paramee Thesdaroon, or being able to examine the latest work performed by already known actors, such as Seagames Teerapat Angkanit or Tanya Tanyares Engtrakul, they are no longer sufficient; chen the expectations of explaining to the audience about the work of the hosts when they are auctioned to entertain the clients who demand escort services with sexual content at the Deep Night Club have not been met, what is left to say to this series? What news will the creators provide to keep the public's interest in Thai drama alive?

Read More

A tribute to a pioneering figure in Taiwan's LGBTQ+ community

When they go to visit Mickey, their terminally ill former English teacher, two men and a woman remember their youth, when they began their friendship during their high school years.
After saying goodbye to the sick man, they return to the old intensive school to remember their years of study and their rebellious youth. Suddenly, quickly, colorfully and festively, the story goes back in time, to 1994.
At this point in the footage we have been identifying the main characters of the Taiwanese youth romantic drama 'After School', from 2023, by director and screenwriter Blue Lan, about coming of age.
Cheng Heng, the main narrator, is a teenager and only child who aspires to be a filmmaker, although his father insists that he study mathematics to become a teacher. Enrolled in Success Cram School, he takes remedial lessons to help improve his grades. However, instead of paying attention to his studies, he spends most of the day interrupting lessons and playing pranks, such as calling the school secretary, using his voice to make sexual advances, or setting fire to the school and provoking a fire with the consequent evacuation of students, teachers and administrators.
Cheng Hsiang is Cheng Heng's friend and also a troublemaker. He is the typical cute boy in the class, and many of his classmates dream of being his boyfriend, with the exception of the class beauty, Chen Sih, whom Cheng Heng has a crush on.
In addition to games and studies, the two boys share a bed in Cheng Heng's house, since his parents have taken him in, knowing of his poverty. They practically do everything together, from sharing a toothbrush to joking about their dirty, semen-stained underwear.
Ho Shang, an obedient and rule-abiding student, is the third in the company, known as the three musketeers of success, although not always of his own free will. Son of Wang, the director of the intensive school, is dragged by the two best friends in their misdeeds. We will soon learn the reason: when the exasperated principal wants to expel Cheng Heng and Cheng Hsiang, his wife will remind him how Ho Shang, in elementary school, was bullied by the older students, and the duo always protected him.
As we anticipated, Cheng Heng believes that studying at school will allow her to be close to Chen Sih, a girl with a strong character who defends herself. However, Cheng Heng is too nervous to ask her out.
With a main arc in the usual teen romantic comedy style, we follow the friends in their teenage pranks, falling in love and family relationships, used mainly for laughs, in an approach that takes up most of the film's 124-minute running time. .
Based on true events, when Mickey, a new substitute teacher with progressive ideas about teaching and society in general, takes over the classroom, the two young people discover a mentor who finally offers them proper guidance about their lives, by talking to them about romantic relationships and sexuality and teaching them to understand homosexuals and themselves.
Mickey openly addresses issues of sexuality education in the classroom and beyond, and encourages his students to think freely. Upon learning that he also dreams of being a filmmaker, Cheng Heng will admire the professor even more and will have him as a role model, interested in adopting his rich philosophy of life.
An embarrassing home accident causes Cheng Heng to suffer a burn in his groin. This will be the reason why students begin to speculate that Cheng Heng and Cheng Hsiang may have a romantic relationship.
However, this same event will also serve as a pretext for Mickey, aware of the rumors, to offer advice and guidance to a student who is currently going through a period of doubts and insecurities regarding his sexuality.
Meanwhile, Chen Sih begins dating the trio, Ho Shang fights with his parents over his two friends, Cheng Hsiang experiences a homosensual awakening, and Cheng Heng becomes more open to sexuality under Mickey's positive influence.
Michael's appearance permeates an atmosphere of freedom and fun. In truth, his dream is other than working as a teacher. The "awakening" he will generate in the students, in completely different directions, that eventually occurs due to his influence, takes the narrative down a completely new path. The story unfolds in a surprising way, this being one of the best aspects of the entire film, which should definitely be attributed to the way Blue Lan handles the twists.
At this point, the comedy transforms into drama, which reaches greater intensity as the story progresses, to the point that the last part, which also returns to the opening scene, borders on the melodramatic. Although this last aspect does not always work well, the truth is that 'After School' never abandons its intention to entertain.
At this point, multiple LGBTQ+ characters and stories are introduced into the story. The film puts homosexuality in the spotlight. However, despite exploring many relevant topics with the goal of educating and raising awareness among viewers, the stories barely scratch the surface instead of highlighting complex experiences. On the other hand, for the moment they perpetuate superficial stereotypes.
There is an excessive abuse of melodramatic scenes, especially when Cheng Heng's parents catch their son watching a gay porn video (which causes the incident noted above) and then catch him in a pose that suggests he is kissing his friend, for example. which his parents overreact while crying, lashing out at the two boys, condemning their son and expelling Cheng Hsiang from the house where they took him in.
The director, Blue Lan, seems well-intentioned. He dedicates his autobiographical film to Mickey Chen, his real-life mentor, an esteemed figure and pioneer in Taiwan's LGBTQ+ community. 'After School' pays tribute to someone who was instrumental in producing documentaries focused on queer and gender issues, actively participating in street protests advocating for equal rights for gays and lesbians.
Kipo Lin's editing results in a fast and fairly adequate narrative, although the extensive flashbacks to scenes already presented could have been avoided.
Comments on LGBT rights in the country of the time are quite frequent, without ignoring the simplicity of the messages and not describing gay issues with sufficient nuances. Even so, they address problems such as the pressure that adolescents felt in the 90s of the last century from their parents (they still suffer today) to succeed on the "correct" path, that is, the heterosexual one, the heteronormative, interpreted as studying in a good school, being able to enroll in the best university, getting an excellent job after graduating and getting married and having a magnificent family, especially with many children.
In that conservative and heteronormative society, concepts like homosexuality definitely have no place. Much less homosexual marriage, recognized only in the country 25 years after the events narrated in the film.
This approach adds depth to the story and reinforces the film's positive intentions, although the overall attitude here remains "light" to the point of becoming idyllic at times. In general, Blue Lan does not significantly lose its sense of measure.
The performances fit perfectly with the narrative style of the story. While the character played by Zhan Huai Yun exhibits impressive chemistry with Chiu Yi Tai's Cheng Hsiang, who is equally good, also in the way he handles his coming of age, even though the former's role is reduced to that of best friend.
Charlize Lamb as Chen Sih provides the necessary female element in the story as a bone of contention who eventually shapes the lives of the young people as well, in another quite attractive presence in the film.
Blue Lan himself plays Cheng Heng quite convincingly, both in the humorous and dramatic moments.
While Hou Yan Xi as Mickey is excellent in the role of the progressive teacher/mentor, Chien He Wu as Ho Shang promises a meatier journey, stealing the show at times, particularly after his transformation, when he finally spreads his wings. and he dares to fly without caring about his father's prejudices, but there is not enough development of his character and his conflicts.
On the other hand, the convincing bromance between Cheng Heng and Cheng Hsiang delves into romantic territory when they share a moment of intimacy, but the result does not meet the audience's expectations, failing to delve into feelings or portray the romantic nuances of the relationship. Despite addressing LGBT+ themes, the film avoids telling a homosexual love story. The cinematography follows brilliant paths, in an approach that coherently adapts to the narrative.
'After School' lacks a good script. Its poor writing reiterates all the predictable tropes. Sentimental messages fail to strike the viewer's nerve. We have seen this film about rebellious young people and mentors who guide their students on other occasions with better results.
The film highlights the importance of finding a mentor in life, a guide and educator that young people can look up to.
Mickey's arrival in the classrooms also eventually moves in the same direction of providing moments of reflection, but also of fun, adding to the narrative of the film, but the "awakening" of the young people, in completely different directions, which eventually occurs With the teacher's help, he takes the narrative down a completely new path. Frankly, the way the story unfolds is as surprising as it gets, in one of the best aspects of the entire movie, which should definitely be attributed to the way Blue Lan handles the twists.
Despite being cliched and cheesy at times, 'After School' is still a very entertaining film that manages to present its commentary eloquently, although its greatest feature comes from the fact that it will repeatedly leave the viewer with a smile on their face.

Read More

Singing an out of tune 'Beautiful'

There are relationships that are not worth fighting for. There are others whose members may not have said goodbye forever. But there are other broken relationships that still have a solution.
Sometimes you do everything right in a relationship, and yet love can abandon you, leaving only paralyzing pain and a ton of questions behind. Among these the "why?" It will drag you to the bottom of the abyss.
In this case, when he (or she) is gone, you can follow him or her. You can still convince him that you love each other, that you are perfect for each other, sing him an out-of-tune 'Beautiful', by Baekhyun, and make sure he doesn't get on the plane at the last minute and leave forever. You can also crash their wedding just before they say "I do", so they run away with you to the astonishment of each other's families, while mutual friends scream with joy. Or get into your car with a trailer caravan where you will live you don't know how many days, months or years, travel the distance that separates you from your loved one, stand conveniently under his window, a few meters from his bed, waiting for him to At some point I will allow you to enter it.
Or in the face of a cold and disconsolate response, you could very well be a regular at their restaurant with a name that hurts the insides and you, because you are clueless, because you don't know the reason why they abandoned you, you don't know its meaning.
What if you decided to collaborate in making the menu of said restaurant, become friends with the villagers, help clear up misunderstandings that involve your loved one's family, which is why he is not popular among the locals and why his humble business is going down the drain, and, between filming sessions and road trips, will you adapt and integrate into the quiet and simple life of the person you want to win back?
I would suggest that after reading the vague farewell note and discovering that your lover has packed his bags and left the apartment you have shared, you put strong pressure on your agency, and tell your representative and his subordinate that you will jump out of the car as soon as possible. leave if they don't locate him.
Or when you can't explain to yourself what you did wrong and you can't find answers to the cause of the breakup, you choose to win the affection of the best friend of the person who has put your life in check and her small and precocious daughter, knowing that every step In this sense, it will allow you to create new opportunities to reconnect with your ex.
Precisely the latter was what Seo Joon (Son Woo Hyun) did when Ji Woo (Kim Kang Min) broke his heart in 'To My Star 2: Our Untold Stories The Movie', a compilation of the BL Korean drama of the same name, with some scenes added and others deleted or moved from their original place in the new montage. Yes, I am referring to those two young people, one of them a famous celebrity and the other an ordinary chef, from two different worlds, with little in common, whose lives were shaken when they met and fell in love.
Well, it seemed like both boys would be together forever, but fate had other plans. After giving us some of the most romantic moments in Korean BL, they also filled us with sadness. But there the actor goes in search of his chef to continue enjoying, among other things, his delicious food.
And Hwang Da Seul, the director, took very seriously that no one is saved from death and a broken heart and that we must all face, throughout our lives, several different types of goodbyes. Knowing that every breakup has its reasons, its consequences and its bitter, and sometimes bloody, extensions, that life is not always laughter, love and joy, he summoned screenwriter Park Young to take up the story and develop a second season to imitate , very well filmically speaking, the breakdown of the relationship of that couple so loved by fans of the genre, and then reconciling them, because otherwise it could not be, since, otherwise, as an audience, we would not forgive them.
I imagine Da Seul digging through the films and television series of yesteryear and today to revisit those that deal with breakups and narratives that address every cliché about love and its components, always with a similar structure and, above all, with a happy ending, a sung ending, that is, "from a movie". And all in order to promote significant topics, such as the couple's commitment and communication.
And it does so with incredible bravery, taking the flaws of the first season, especially that of a pleasant but substanceless original story, to make a sequel with greater development of the characters, expanding the dynamics of their relationships and amplifying the emotions.
While it is true that it suffers from a saturated melodrama at times, with artificial conflicts that could have been polished or not incorporated, what is also real is the achievement of the elegant arcs of the characters, which highlight growth, maturity and redemption .
I know that many BL fans will not like what is related to the breakup and the subsequent suffering of the members of their favorite ships, but a work that shows deep conflicts and characters with greater psychological complexities is appreciated.
Without giving any type of spoiler, I will ask you the same question that comes into play during the first minutes of the story: what is the reason for Jin Woo and Seo Joon's breakup?
With this fuse that is lit at the beginning of the film, the characters develop in a narrative with which they will manage to improve the original series, with richer backstories, more character development and complex relationship dynamics, allowing 'To My Star matures, comes of age and becomes a sophisticated BL drama that unfolds in a fascinating journey, seeking and fulfilling the objectives of unraveling a failed relationship, while the protagonists and the audience wonder if they would have a second one. opportunity to reconnect and be happy.
What BL lover wouldn't be surprised by the breakup of their idealized perfect lovers? Seo Joon experiences the same anxiety when faced with Ji Woo's inexplicable departure after leaving a vague message containing a single word: "Let's leave him."
So, the film aims to explore why the breakup and, as I said, reconciliation. But now everything will happen far from the big city, as the cameras will focus on a small town several hours from Seoul, in Ji Woo's hometown and where he went after the breakup, and while he struggles to move his business forward in an Italian restaurant, Seo Joo continues to face problems in his acting career.
And if the proposal alone still doesn't catch your attention, I'll give you another colorful fact: through the experience of the two protagonists, the sequel explores the moving breakup of a couple with intrigue, intimacy and intense emotions. But it doesn't do so by adding a dramatic twist behind the breakup or an infamous evil destroyer of loves and homes.
No, the creators will pleasantly surprise us by letting us know that the reason for the discord is much more personal, simple but complex at the same time: Ji Woo has always preferred to repress his feelings and alienate those who care about him. Yes, it is not easy to live with him, and the series, through flashbacks, will make us understand why he is the way he is. In his case, he is not the typical individual that we see in other audiovisuals that explain his misunderstood actions, such as abandoning a person he loves and from whom he receives love, using the handy excuse of "suffering from childhood trauma." Ji Woo doesn't do anything wrong, he just stays away from Seo Joon and other people in his life to avoid being hurt.
Woo Hyun continues to show the same charm as his persistent Seo Joon. He continually and without hesitation expresses his feelings, says what he thinks and leaves no room for misunderstandings. He goes for it.
For his part, Kang Min continues to play his role as the grumpy but cute Ji Woo, but towards the end you will see him grow wings, all thanks to the persistence and love of Seo Joon.
If many BL sequels have disappointed for various reasons, 'To My Star 2' does the opposite, transforming a simple love story, but without much substance, into a moving saga of breakup and reconciliation. The maturity in the team, both acting and technical, is evident to deliver an ambitious product, the result of hard work and experience.
At this point in the note, you can already imagine what happens with Ji Woo and Seo Joon... But in case you weren't paying much attention, I can confirm that yes, they fight! However, in this case, new characters and new conflicts are added to the dynamic. With a duration of more than four hours that exceeds the slightly more than 2 hours of 'To My Star', with diversification of filming scenarios and an increased secondary cast, with their plots, traumas and life stories, events and characters were developed complexes that will enrich the main story through a compelling narrative.
And I leave for last, precisely because of its importance, an issue that is striking to me: it seems very light that in a country as conservative as South Korea where discrimination against members of the LGBT+ community still persists, marriage between people of the same sex, and homosexuals have difficulty fitting into society, since coming out is not welcomed in most families who consider homosexuality as something similar to a crime, show a rural community, generally defenders of patriarchal and heteronormative traditions, without its inhabitants ever questioning the "friendship" of the two protagonists when the type of relationship they maintain is evident and even trying to influence it so that it is fostered.

Read More

Saunas to hide gay sex from public view in Taiwan, despite having gay marriage recognized?

If you type "gay massage" in one of the internet search engines, you may be surprised by the numerous private spas in Taiwan that offer gay-friendly professional masseuse services in the field of physical and tantric massage.
There are not a few customers, of all races, ages and body types, as the managers of these establishments assure in online promotional advertisements and on printed posters placed in public places, who go daily to these centers where they can Select to your liking, among the handsome male masseuses, from which of them you want to receive first-class sensual massages. They even "marry" this sex worker, and every time they visit the sauna they will request the services of their favorite masseuse.
Cinema has told stories about the world of massages in the gay environment. The 2005 Filipino film 'Masahista' ('The Masseur'), ​​by Brillante Mendoza and with a script co-written with Boots Agbayani Pastor, paves the way to present stories about boys who work as masseuses in a sauna with homosexual clientele.
This film was followed by others such as "Spa Night", a 2016 American independent drama film, written and directed by Andrew Ahn, and set in Los Angeles, California, which follows the story of a closeted Korean-American gay teenager who accepts a He works at a Korean spa to help his struggling family and discovers an underground world of gay spa sex that both scares and excites him.
'The Younger', the 2014 Taiwanese medium-length film, presents the story of Chen Hao (Chen Hao-Chin), about twenty years old, poor and without financial resources, who is forced by circumstances to work as a masseuse in a local restaurant. sauna type in the Sanchong district, where homosexual people go.
Unintentionally, the young man enters a prostitution ring that uses a massage parlor as a cover. In it he discovers that the 'extra services' offer large sums of money. He makes the decision to work after not receiving a response to his request to the Taiwanese government for assistance for low-income people. In addition to not finding a suitable job, his grandmother, Chen Hao Zhi, suffers from Alzheimer's, and the young man cannot pay the high medical bills, food for her, or his own support.
Initially, the attractive young man accepts a job at the spa, but discovers that his colleagues, instigated by the owner of the establishment, offer special services that are not included in the massage program.
At this point it would be good to ask ourselves: Why do these saunas continue to exist today in which Taiwanese homosexuals seek sex hidden from public view, when, since 2019, the legislation of that island recognizes marriage for same-sex couples?
The objective of today's gay spas on Taiwanese soil are the same as in 2014, when 'The Younger' was filmed: in addition to offering a means of subsistence to their sex workers while they "entertain" the clientele, these centers serve as a more liberal and tolerant universe to hide the transgression of traditional Taiwanese values ​​by its homosexual clients in a society that, even today, after homosexuality and gay marriage have been legalized, coming out is still not well received in most conservative Taiwanese families, who reject the homosexuality of their children.
Even though equal marriage and same-sex sexual relations are legal; LGBT+ people and households headed by LGBT+ couples are not yet eligible for the legal protections available to opposite-sex couples. That is to say, despite the evident achievements in the matter, discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transsexuals and other members of the community continues in Taiwan.
Chen Hao will face a moral dilemma for doing what he does. In that fight, who will be the winner? Ethics, his status as a kind and hard-working young man, or the need to get ahead? How many examples like this are there in real life both in Taiwan and the rest of the world? Isn't it the function of cinema, and art in general, to entertain, but also to show our realities, no matter how hard they are?
Initially, the boy refuses to offer these services requested by the regulars, but if he seeks to receive more generous tips to be able to get ahead with his life and that of his grandmother, he understands that he cannot limit himself to normal massages, but has to contribute the "extra" that his clients and, especially, his boss demand from him. This is how he gives in and earns illegal money, "on the outside", through unspecified erotic services.
However, his work makes him discover that he has an instinctive desire for the male body, so he begins to enter into relationships, bringing chaos and complications to his life.
Or would it be correct to say two lives? Yes, the young man lives two parallel lives: an exemplary grandson with economic problems who seeks to empower himself with a decent job, and a gay prostitute immersed in a world of saunas that offer homosexual services.
However, the creators of the medium-length film will not leave the boy to his fate and will not allow him to go down the drain into a much colder and darker hell, and throughout the dramatic changes he will experience, they will ensure that Let us be aware, as viewers, of Chen Hao's difficult situation by maintaining unconditional empathy with the character, whom they will seek to save despite his mistakes and bad decisions.
The boy falls in love with one of the clients, who also seems to have feelings for him, with whom he experiences, in one of the massage sessions, a brief, but first, warm and tender sexual experience. When the owner of the establishment discovers what happened, pressure increases for the young man, already open to having sex with men, to provide the same sexual service to other clients.
With images of explicit sex, the colors in dark tones, sepia and yellow, serve to define the narrative, identify the mood of the characters, and even manipulate the viewer's attention, to expose the grandmother's illness and the insecurities and the naivety of the young man, while he has sexual encounters with several men who come to the sauna looking specifically for him, keeping his life and his work in an erotic limbo from which he wants to get out, but which sucks him back to the bottom.
In this microcosm, the film wants to show us the drive of a young man who would do anything to keep his grandmother healthy, and how in the process he discovers his sexual orientation.
The obsession with the beloved client, the idea of ​​the need to escape due to his rejection of the work he does, the desert sensation, of aridity, that surrounds the life of the protagonist, and the representation of otherness, are represented in a strong symbolic load. behind the yellowish walls used in the film.
In this journey about life, the discovery and acceptance of sexual identity, the film intersperses two parts: one in which the protagonist boy takes care of his beloved grandmother, the only relative with whom he lives, and another that is his I work as a masseuse.
In this kind of tribute to saunas, those places so frequently associated with the homosexual world and where very diverse things happen, Chen Hao embarks on a journey of discovery, facing the pain of being powerless to guarantee the health and life of his loved one, but above all to questions about love, life and survival.

Read More

'This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans' is a series set in a famous restaurant in Bangkok, owned by chef Oab, which seeks to entertain and also take the viewer on a journey full of love, friendship, self-discovery, acceptance, rivalry between competitors of a cooking contest and rich aroma of sautéed basil.
It is a story in the tone of a romantic comedy that unfolds through the eyes of Plawan, a young man eager to find his place in the world, influencer in financial trouble and model lover of pad kaprao, a typical Thai dish, which, for one high sum of money, he must fulfill the secret mission of infiltrating the competitors of a cooking contest to become the successor of the restaurant owner, a serious and severe-looking chef, with great culinary skills, who will make the protagonist go crazy with love when he smells the aroma of sautéed basil that permeates his clothes and his body.
On his journey, Plawan will discover his first love, while exposing himself to harsh criticism from the chef for not having culinary skills, and tries to pretend to be the person he is not to fulfill a hidden agenda: win the contest and then give the restaurant to Methas (Benz Atthanin Thaninpanuvivat), a rich businessman who dreams of destroying the premises and turning the place into a shopping center area.
Meeting the chef will shake up the life of this young man who discovers, among plates, pans, stoves and a basil patch on the restaurant's roof, a melting pot of unique and diverse characters, who will become part of his chosen family.
For its part, the rigid and perfect world of the perfectionist Oab, a strict chef and not prone to banality and nonsense, is turned upside down from the moment Plawan bursts into his life. This is how you will also find out your true sexual preferences.
This is a solid project, since on the one hand there is the web novel "No Beans and Love Me More", by Ninepinta, which I think tells a beautiful love story, and on the other hand there is the direction of Nui Suttasit, a great director who has participated in several LGBT+ projects, such as the famous anthology 'Club Friday', since his debut behind the camera in 2012, precisely with the film of the same name.
In 'This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans', Nui Suttasit preserves several of the distinctive features of her authorial work, while constructing a story worthy of her legacy. The series resembles other works in the career of prolific creators, while presenting echoes of their previous filmography.
Perhaps the most pronounced similarity is with 'Bangkok Love Stories 2: Innocence', his most popular and well-known series in the West, due to the dramatic structure and the movement towards a fantasy and dream world starring homosexual or presumably heterosexual characters who discover their true nature. sexuality.
However, the reverberations are not limited to this, and the director's usual concerns are added to the series' discourse, such as self-discovery, acceptance, coming out, multiple partners, friendship, family, best friend relationships, love triangles, work environment, workplace romance, heir male protagonists, social networks, cooking, multiple courses of food, the clash between tradition and modernity, usually from the adaptation of novels, another distinctive feature of his work.
All added to the unmistakable sound of the soundtrack composed by Chachamon Thunyaon, and which includes titles such as "Stop", "You Fill My Heart" and "Let Me Say".
The director, who throughout his career has had very diverse characters, in the case of the series wanted to approach it with respect and a gender perspective, with a lot of love and without caricaturing. Knowing that each work has part of its creator, and that it is a famous novel that he would adapt, he foresaw at all times needing the series to appeal to a large audience, which is why it is filmed in an attractive way and with a lot of music and excellent photography to show an attractive story for the characters.
The screenwriters have extensive experience in the BL universe, writing scripts that would later be brought to the screen. 'Pit Babe' is one of the series written by Kanokphan Ornrattanasakul ('Catch Me Baby', 'Dead Friend Forever – DFF''); Issaraporn Kuntisuk (Dead Friend Forever – DFF', 'Be My Favorite'), and Fleur Irene Insot, who now join forces again not only to design the characters, build conflicts and a dramatic progression of the series 'This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans', but also to return to the public some of the members of that 2023 drama starring Pavel Naret Promphaopun and Pooh Krittin Kitjaruwannakul.
The way of playing with the nostalgia and tenderness of first love is a success in the narrative line that is created, showing adequate doses of realism and viscerality. The director is correct in the construction of the script and complies with what was planned, an element that could end up attracting the public after viewing it.
The cast is made up of talented actors and actresses, several of them already with experience playing LGBT+ characters.
Pon Thanapon Aiemkumchai stars in the series as Plawan, one of the actors who already have experience in productions of this theme and genre. The actor made his acting debut playing Bay, the main character of the BL series 'The Moment', in 2020, which was followed by its second part: 'The Moment Since'. He would then participate in the two seasons of 'Gen Y', in 'Make a Wish', and in the drama 'Pit Babe', in 2023.
There, his character, Jeff, explores his sexuality alongside Alan, the owner of the race track and sports car repair shop, a character played by Sailub Hemmawich Kwanamphaiphan, an actor who in 'This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans' assumes the role of Oab. This actor is natural in front of the camera, which creates a hypnotic effect on the viewer. Furthermore, he knows how to perfectly use the intensity of expressiveness, which makes him one of the best performances in Thai drama.
Thanapon Aiemkumchai draws a protagonist in whom an interesting emotional web is woven once he discovers his sexuality. His role in the series is fundamental, since the greatest dramatic burden falls on him. In this way, the actor takes advantage of non-verbal expressiveness, showing the chiaroscuros that run through the nature of his character.
In addition, he has that sordid touch for having agreed to compete in a contest for money, knowing in advance that Oab expels from the event anyone committed to whom he wishes to use the restaurant grounds for something so foreign to his dreams. This gives his character some edges, which are highlighted and developed in the script.
In a way, his character can remember other performances he has given throughout his career, which is why it gives a remarkable result.
In the midst of their personal experiences, Auto (Lee Asre Watthanayakul), Pansib (Tiger Tanawat Hudchaleelaha), and Kluea (Aon Kasama Khamtanit), the other three finalist competitors, experience the friendship and love of the protagonists. The youthful cast offers freshness and vitality to the series.
Nubnueng (Michael Kiettisak Vatanavitsakul), Oab's friend, will always be at his side with the most accurate advice, while Khaosuay (Belle Jiratchaya Kittavornsakul), the chef's ex-girlfriend, will return from abroad and test the budding romance between Plawan and Oab.
Separate paragraph for two attractive actors with great potential: Garfield Pantach Kankham, who takes on the role of JJ, a young physiotherapist friend of Plawan, and Benz Atthanin Thaninpanuvivat, the actor who plays Methas. Both will make up a beautiful couple in the process of being built when the first has to go to treat a sprained ankle suffered by the rich businessman. Both are ready to become a ship that stars in numerous BL series.
Garfield, who in 'Pit Babe' takes on the role of Kenta, is remembered for his debut as a protagonist in the 2017 series 'D'Cup', also with an LGBT+ theme, as well as his role as Top in 'Dew the Movie', from 2019, a feature film in which he plays Lew's boyfriend. Fans of this actor remember him for his work in the acclaimed series 'I Promised You the Moon'.
For his part, Benz Atthanin Thaninpanuvivat, who played Kim in 'Pit Babe', is followed by a large audience after his leading role as Praram (Pralak) in the BL drama 'En of Love: This Is Love Story' , from 2020, without forgetting that his acting debut takes place in another series of this genre, 'Theory of Love', the popular audiovisual of 2019, starring Gun Atthaphan Phunsawat and Off Jumpol Adulkittiporn.
Ingenious, elegant, the series shows great care in each scene, allowing us to easily forget some of its inevitable clichés.
The technical realization follows the patterns of the BL genre series, but from a dynamic that has no intention of innovating, but rather of offering a visually attractive product. The photographic direction does not make any mistakes and there is creativity and visual quality in this section. The artistic direction stands out for its successes.
Another audiovisual parameter that stands out is the use of color. A sensitivity can be seen in the choice of the visual palette and what it conveys to the public. On the other hand, the editing of the series follows a conventional system, supported by flashbacks, which has a remarkable finish.
In summary, 'This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans' is a series that starts from an interesting base with potential, and gains in intensity as the episodes go by and delves deeper into the narrative construction of its story.

Read More

I turn on my computer thinking that Li Xi, the young film director and producer from mainland China, at 27 years old, seven of them dedicated to her profession after enrolling in a degree in Directing at the Beijing Film Academy in 2017, already has his name written within the Chinese and global film universe after creating works such as the short film with a theme of young love "When the fish meet the sea", nominated in 2022 for the Sixth Pingyao Film Festival "A corner of Pingyao".
While I explore the internet to locate the LGBT+ themed series directed by Li Xi that I want to see, I remember that it also won other awards, such as Best Actress and Best Film at the + MADRAS + International Film Festival, Best Film at the Festival Sunbender International Film Festival and Best Film at the Diamond Bell International Film Festival. And even more recent, the success of his original children's dramatic short "The First Grade Under the Lens", from 2023.
I start downloading the first episode of the web series, original, like the rest of his work. "Passing Through the Blue of My Youth", that's what it's called and that's how I like it: download the file to view it when and how many times I want.
"It seems that Li Xi has joined so many other renowned Chinese filmmakers and television directors who have portrayed homosexuality in their films, series and short films, with works such as 'River Knows Fish Heart', 'East Palace, West Palace', 'Spring Fever', 'For Love, We Can', 'Looking for Rohmer', 'Wu Yan – Speechless', 'Shangai Panic', 'Kinematic Theory', 'The Ambiguous Focus', Boss, I Love You, Find You in the Crowd 2, Find You in the Crowd, Find You in the Dream', and many others", they had told me hours before in the Editorial Board, and I wanted to confirm it.
I sit in front of the computer with a steaming cup of coffee and prepare to watch the first four episodes. "Chinese national beauty! Tanmei! Two male protagonists! Two couples of boys in love! The passion and visual talent of the Chinese director were ideal to bring the series to fruition," I jumped for joy in my seat.
There's another reason I'm drawn to 'Blue Canvas of Youthful Days', I think, as I sip a sip of the fiery black liquid: it's one of those Chinese homosexual dramas that have become something more, a sociological phenomenon.
I remember the precedent of 'The Raccoon', the gay film by Tang Shi, starring Weng Hai Bin and Wu Di in 2015, about two young Chinese university students who live in the same student residence and meet through a mistake with a blanket, and after being declared enemies or adversaries they gradually discover a deeper connection that transcends the initial animosity.
Well, I have already settled into my seat, and the images begin to flow. Each episode is more than 27 minutes long, and Xi Li is not in such a hurry as I imagined, she takes her time, from the first scene to the last.
'Blue Canvas of Youthful Days' also evokes in me the Chinese drama film of the romance and yaoi genre 'Nan She Nan Fen' ('Hard to Give Up'), filmed in 2016 by Hisa Ho, an adaptation of the famous novel 'Men's Men's Points'. There is also a painter, Su He, about 30 years old, who is having an affair with the young Er Meng, his model for drawing artistic nudes, while he prepares for an important exhibition in Japan and another in China, with a collection of works with the title "Difficult to abandon" or "Difficult to give up."
He tells me about the romantic relationship that arises between Qi Lu and Qin Xiao. The first is a talented 18-year-old painter in his last year of high school, who comes from a rich family of artists, who is forced to learn to paint since childhood under the controlling influence of his father. The second is Qin Xiao, a village boy, two years older, living in the city and equally an artistic prodigy with paintbrush in hand. He did not enroll in a university degree at the time because he was burdened by family responsibilities and financial difficulties from an early age. Now he is determined to enter a house of higher education.
Despite his poverty, Qin Xiao is cheerful, brave, and optimistic, while Qi Lu is the reserved, quiet, and pessimistic type, due to his mother's absence and his father's abuse. However, there is a transformation in the character since he joins his life with that of Qin Xiao.
The crucial moment of the meeting of the two protagonists occurs around the first 20 minutes of the first episode, which is not much time for what really happens. However, Li Xi manages to make the time barely noticeable, thanks to the use of a beautiful city landscape, intelligent editing and a very effective use of my expectations, that I know what is going to happen but not when. This entire first act is used to introduce me to the two protagonists, but also to tell me where and how the fall in love between them occurs.
With great changes and unexpected turns, I come to know that by rebelling against strict education and a father who beats him, Qi Lu decides to secretly attend Bo Xa Art Studio, to complete his preparation before entering University. There, in the classrooms of the young master painter Liu Ming Yang (Yao Xing Hao), he meets Qin Xiao. Despite starting out as archenemies, the two quickly break the ice and form a bond.
The episodes go by and the series captivates me even more. In a plot twist, I witness that to Qi Lu's surprise, Qin Xiao turns out to be the online artist "Lan" (Blue) that he has been looking for. Feeling unintentionally responsible for a punishment imposed on Qin Xiao, Qi Lu struggles to muster the courage to confess that he has discovered his secret, but does not wish to upset the seemingly irritable Qin Xiao, whose personality seems to be totally different from that of the artist he admire.
Therefore, he chooses to approach Qin Xiao in the hope of becoming friends. As they break the ice and grow closer, Qi Lu and Qin Xiao weave an indestructible bond.
I find it very beautiful that while Qi Lu admits to being in love with Qin Xiao, this boy experiences the process of self-acceptance. So we will see him suffer, walk anguished, as if he had no direction in life and was stumbling, while exploring his feelings and emotions. It seems like he wants to hug and kiss Qi Lu, especially when he realizes that he suffers from physical and psychological abuse from his father, but an invisible power holds him back. Until when? Will the time come when he will spread his wings and fly free?
Music, especially the theme song "We" (我們), by Chinese arranger and composer Yan Er, helps to enhance and recreate this process that can be long, difficult and terrifying when a young person tries to keep their true self hidden from both others. others as well as himself.
Producers Wang Wen Yin and Li Jue Xuan ('Hi! My Mr. Right', 2023), also an actress who plays Sun Xiaorui, the only member of the young cast with experience in front of the cameras, pleasantly surprise me with the excellent music, perfectly combined with the canvases and the laughter of the two boys that I soon begin to hear.
Despite the appearance of various characters throughout the series, Qin Xiao, a role played by Zhang Xuan Yu, and Qi Lu, played by Guo Jia Le, are discovered as full protagonists who symbolize something much more allegorical such as affection, the warmth, the physical attraction of two young people who without realizing it discover their homosexuality.
Both actors get into the skin of their characters and do what only real actors can do: bring a fictional character to life.
The director's skill lies in the fact that she focuses the main plot on the narrative act of the protagonists' discovery and acceptance of their sexual orientation, while they intertwine a beautiful story of friendship in which painting plays a transcendental role. Xi Lin moves me by transmitting the joy and love that the protagonists feel, through subtle resources that are gradually exposed.
I enjoy a feeling of placidity and tenderness through the images, images where the protagonists themselves discover themselves visually small before the greatness of love and pictorial art that surround them.
One of the keys to this transmission of love towards the person who has burst into his life is achieved through the essential performance of Zhang Xuan Yu: saying with his eyes, with his gestures, with his silences, much more than what his express mouth. The actor builds a well-rounded character, full of security expressed through small doses of aggressiveness and tons of tenderness that the character carries in his chest; of a body language that is both rough and tender, very elaborate. He has suffered, but he also knows the love of his grandfather and his friend Tan Yin (Xiao Zi Zhuo), and the kindness of painting teacher.
This actor's role manages to captivate and excite me. The actor manages to give real life to the character by creating a character and personality of his own, something that not many actors achieve. The series has great moments, all of them loaded with moving drama, scenes such as when the character vents his pain against a brick wall at the possibility that his grandfather, with Alzheimer's, has suffered an accident, or when he cannot contain his tears when seeing him safely back after getting lost when leaving home to watch a game of street chess in a nearby park, or how symbolic a photograph taken on a day visiting the zoo can be, great moments starring Zhang Xuan Yu.
Against this, Guo Jia Le plays the role of someone more extroverted and sensitive. I see how he rebels against his father in the television interview after winning an important prize in a painting contest, or when he flees from abuse and finds not only refuge and a place for artistic creation in the classrooms where Qin Xiao studies.
However, although on the surface they are opposites, both have deep inside a great desire for freedom, self-improvement and love that each one is capable of transmitting through their perfect interpretations.
"How is it possible for these rookies to achieve such magnificent and memorable performances?", I ask myself as I pour myself some more coffee from the container in which it is still warm.
"And this other character, Wei Jiayu (Hu Ze Ming), who I thought was the typical abusive and problematic student and then turns out to be a good guy, while he joins forces with the protagonists and falls in love with the also haughty painting student Sun Xiaorui”?, this question arises in my head.
The series, as a corpus, is capable of germinating warm fragments of humanity, in which I discover the most vivid features of the human condition of LGBT+ people.
Its plot, populated by areas of light and shadows, with climate, nerve and dramatic meat, places its emotional core in everyday situations inhabited by real human beings - in all the extension and connotations of the term - who expose their intimate dramas in a very realistic, very natural tessitura, without forcing emotions or managing empathy at all costs through melodramatic underlinings or cheap script blows.
The series, although at a certain point it is not complete and still requires much more rigor in certain areas, deserves all my admiration. There is too much creative talent, dreams, and desire to do involved in its existence, to avoid or undermine it.
To the good character study of 'Blue Canvas of Youthful Days', add its fortunate acting defense. Its story progresses, in part, thanks to the reflections of its creators on very recognizable human conflicts in today's world, and thanks to its performers (it is impossible not to make a special mention here of the histrionic competence of Xiao Zi Zhuo, the actor who plays Qin Xiao's hearing-impaired friend and tenant, and who takes care of Qin Xiao's grandfather when he is in the classrooms at Bo Xa Art Studio, and Yao Xing Hao, who plays painting teacher Liu Ming Yang. These two characters will make up a second couple.
'Blue Canvas of Youthful Days' breathes art from all sides in a literal way. That is why its presentation and farewell cannot be any other way than through the application of the pictorial and photographic universe to cinematographic language in terms of color and shape, sharing a common grammar, fulfilling the requirement of imitating pictorial and iconographic values. to get closer to the artistic.
I turn off the computer thinking about Qin Xiao and Qi Lu. There is both love and pain in her story; It is as tender as it is sad and addictive, as happy as it is heartbreaking and romantic, that I think I will never be able to forget it.
I turn off the computer and my Internet connection. I look forward to the next episodes.
The leftover, untasted coffee has cooled in my hands.

Read More

Nam Yi and Jae Min's love and happiness can only be defeated by a single monster

Memorable performances, a perfect script and direction, a beautiful soundtrack, to which are added addictive kisses and a palpable chemistry that transcends the screen, are the main characteristics of the South Korean miniseries 'Blue Boys' (블루보이즈/Beulru Boijeu), also known as 'The Guy Inside Me', a demonstration that you don't need a big budget or long and numerous episodes to tell a moving story.
In just four chapters each lasting about 10 minutes on average, the miniseries, starring Lee Hoo Rim in the role of Kim Nam Yi, and Choi Seung in the role of Choi Jae Min, addresses topics such as the process of finding the true love, communication, understanding through experiences, homophobia, social class differences, friendship, job search, meeting friends, among others.
Lovers of LGBTIQ+ themed stories will feel at ease with the interactions of the two actors, who very well enhance the value of the entire story with their tender and captivating chemistry.
After a one-night stand, the outgoing and self-confident Nam Yi and the shy and insecure Jae Min, two former high school classmates who meet again three years after graduation, have developed feelings for each other and dream with a life together.
More open to demonstrations of affection and love in public, Nam Yi is not afraid to take Jae Min's hand and kiss him in the streets, but the latter boy will resist, as he fears the rejection of a conservative society, like that of Korea from the South, with strong patriarchal and heteronormative traditions, where homosexuals have difficulties fitting in.
After overcoming conflicts and misunderstandings, the love and happiness of Nam Yi and Jae Min can only be defeated by a single monster: the fear that South Koreans experience of being exposed as homosexuals, the fear of being excluded and discriminated against.
So Ri (Lee Soo Ha), a girl jealous of Jae Min for not having been able to conquer Nam Yi, will be in charge of inoculating Jae Min with the poison: "If a man dates another man and there are rumors about it, can you continue working in the company as if nothing had happened?" Nam Yi wouldn't have these problems because he comes from a wealthy family, but..."what would happen to you?", Ri will remind him.
In this way, the happy ending everyone expected does not come. Reality prevails.
And so the viewers will understand the true objective of 'Blue Boys', which is none other than to make a criticism, very intelligent, very subtle, of the discrimination that exists in South Korea against LGBTIQ+ people, since the members of said community face legal challenges and discrimination not experienced by the rest of South Koreans.
Gay sexual activity is legal as long as it takes place indoors, but Gay Marriage or Equal Marriage or other forms of legal partnership are not available to same-sex couples.
I allow myself spoilers to explain my point of view.

Read More

The ending of 'Lost in the Wood' isn't the problem. Your need for a happy ending is.

This is one of those series that usually generates consensus: a masterpiece, even though the two protagonists don't end up together: a boy who loves deeply, and is loved in return, and yet decides to leave in pursuit of his dreams. A choice shaped by his personal history, duty, desire... and by everything that comes with being a young man who, from a very early age, has been preparing to obtain a scholarship and go to Japan to train as a professional. I'd like to show the layers I find beneath that final decision. Because love doesn't always win. Nor does it need to.
It's clear that many viewers are upset that the series doesn't have a happy ending. And not just any ending, but the happy ending we all "want to see". That Fifa, the cheerful and outgoing 18-year-old, gives up his dreams of studying Art and Creative Design in Japan and decides to stay at Hem's cabin, hopping on his motorcycle to watch the sunsets together, and continue delivering food to the locals. But no. He doesn't. And that, for many, seems unforgivable.
I understand that the obsession with the "happy ending" goes way back. It's instilled in us from childhood with stories, movies, songs. And yes, it's comforting. But TV shows, when they get serious, sometimes remind us that life doesn't always end well, that there are choices that hurt, loves that can't be, and goodbyes that don't always bring us back together. And that, precisely, is what the ending of 'Lost in the Wood' does: it grabs you inside, squeezes your heart, and leaves you thinking. Not about what happens, but about what doesn't happen. Sad endings serve that purpose: to make us look at the world without sugarcoating.
Some people claim that "happy endings are unfinished stories", but it's true that there's a certain honesty in those outcomes that don't try to sugarcoat reality. We'd all prefer to remember the image of Sarawat and Tine in '2gether' or that of Doctor Bun and Tutor Tan in 'Manner of Death', but there's no denying that Wang and Intawut's final image in '180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us' has a lot of truth, at least a plausible truth. In this latest series, as in 'Lost in the Wood', greatness lies in surrender, realism lies in not consummating. In letting love hang suspended, untouched, like a photograph left untouched lest it spoil.
In 'Lost in the Wood,' the story is over. Not as we would like, but perhaps as it should have been. Fifa —the character who has the power to bring back memories of a GelBoys with his black nail polish and muddy white sneakers— ends up saying goodbye to the family-owned elephant farm and sanctuary, where he agreed to go for three months, seeing it as a good opportunity to prove he's ready for college dorm life in a distant country. He says goodbye to the elephants and the people he's grown to love in such a short time, because he knows what that entails. Because he doesn't live in a fantasy. Because his world wouldn't be complete if he didn't make his dreams come true.
However, seeing Fifa's decision as pure resignation is, to say the least, reductionist. We're not dealing with a superhero driven by duty, but with a boy who chooses to leave. And that's the point.
One of the keys lies in the idea of preserving the memory. Fifa knows that the time he shared with Hem in the shade of the forest is unforgettable. That it was probably the most luminous thing that has ever happened to he. But he also knows that if he stays with him, that perfect love could be corrupted. Turn into another routine. Another disappointment. He'll constantly wonder about her shattered dreams, about what would have happened «if I...». So he decides to freeze it in time. Make it eternal. Keep it like a secret gem.
For his part, Hem is not indifferent to the harm he would cause if he declared his love, if he demanded that Fifa stay by his side. Therefore, although it pains us, his decision does not imply cowardice. It is not an absence of love. It is a consciousness.
Jeab Napassarin Prompila, the director, shows this with elegance: the shots focused on Fifa's face, he broken gaze, the tension in him hands as he grabs the guitar and throws it over the shoulder before closing the door behind he, the tears streaming down he face as he leaves Hem the mask as a souvenir, the psychological torture he suffers when, in an act of farewell and, why not, a declaration of love, he brings he lips close to Hem's to offer him a kiss, the only kiss they will both experience, while he lover pretends to sleep... everything points to a brutal internal struggle.
There is no one forcing him to leave. There is no blackmail from any of his family members. There are unspoken words, unspoken declarations... There is a silence full of meaning. And a decision that hurts.
I insist, we may disagree with Fifa, we may think he should stay in Hem's arms, we may yell at him for abandoning his idea of traveling to Japan to follow his dreams, we may even, why not, get angry at him; but the series never says that this is the right decision; it only says that it's the one our main character made.
And, of course, we can't ask Hem to run after him, to take the next flight to Tokyo, to renounce the respect and admiration he earned in his work. That would be disrespecting the decision of a young man torn between two loves: romantic and professional, and choosing, however he can. The series doesn't judge him or absolve him. It simply follows his steps. And that makes it more real. Because there's no clear lesson.
What 'Lost in the Wood' does stealthily, but effectively, is blowing up the rules of the romance game on television. Because yes, we're dealing with a story of obvious love, even if it's not declared... but there's no happy ending, no kiss in the rain, no two boys watching the rainbow every rainy sunset in the mountains, no promise of "we'll see each other again". What there is is a renunciation. And not for lack of love.
BL is a genre that usually prizes passion above all else. This story opts for the exact opposite: containment... containment and tension, maintaining it all until the end credits. And that, in itself, is transgressive. Because there's nothing rarer in Boys' Love stories than a young man in love who decides not to act in the name of desire, in the name of love.
And the best part is that the series doesn't do it with a trick. There's no surprising plot twist or tear-jerking final speech. The transgression lies in its simplicity: two people who meet, transform... and separate. Because life is like that. Because not everything is rosy. Because there isn't always a second chance.
Instead of offering an escapist fantasy, 'Lost in the Wood' settles into an uncomfortable reality. A relationship where one of the boys decides to reject his dreams and the other demands that he do so in the name of love isn't always possible, and where passion would have to confront every day the eternal doubt of what would have happened to their lives if FIFA had stayed, if he hadn't set out to make his dreams come true, if Hem had urged him to give up everything he'd achieved with effort and talent. Subversion doesn't come in the form of a dramatic breakup, but rather a painful acceptance.
'Lost in the Wood' doesn't need sermons or morals. What it offers is something more uncomfortable and, for that very reason, more valuable: a love story that never comes to fruition, a boy who loves deeply but decides to pursue his dream, while the other respects and accepts his decision.
I believe that, even with minimally serious analysis, we can't criticize series simply because they don't end the way we want them to. It's one thing to question the decisions of directors, producers, and screenwriters —that editing that ends up confusing the audience, that script that fails to develop the characters, that pacing that doesn't fit with the narrative, that music so loud it prevents us from hearing the dialogue— and quite another to reproach them for not following the path "you" wanted them to follow.
I'm one of those who oppose telegraphed series, chewed over and explained to the point of exhaustion. I wish that as viewers, we would make an effort to see all the nuances and layers that complex series have. It's easy to analyze the mechanism, but harder to explain why this series is so deeply moving: why Ton Tonhon Tantivejakul and Arm Varot Makaduangkeo have turned it into a wonderful television love story, playing Fifa and Hem, respectively.
The emotional high point of 'Lost in the Wood' is the relinquishment, when Fifa comes down the stairs of the treehouse where she's lived with Hem and, with tears in her eyes, acknowledges that saying goodbye to the people she cares about isn't among her virtues. This moment, and not the moment when the characters first look into each other's eyes and discover their inner selves, is the passionate climax of the series.
'Lost in the Wood' isn't about love, but about an idea. The series begins with the information that two boys met and fell in love, but decided not to spend the rest of their lives together. The implication is: had they acted on their desire, they wouldn't have deserved such love.
Almost everyone knows the story by now. The novel of the same name, written by theneoclassic, adapted by Kesiny Pontam, has been a huge bestseller both in Thailand and around the world. Its captivating story offers the fantasy of a "lost bunny" who believes his perfect life is ruined when he has to fulfill family obligations. While waiting for the 129,600 minutes of his life away from his routine in the big city to end, and waiting for confirmation of whether or not he has won a scholarship, he witnesses how a "ferocious lion", or rather a virile stranger with a mustache that gives him a certain air of class, wisdom, authority, maturity, and power, waits for him with open arms at the foot of a tree to prevent him from falling, while he tries to get an internet connection to send an urgent message.

SLOW-SMOTHERED LOVE

Fifa and Hem's relationship isn't one of perfect beginnings or lightning-fast love at first sight; it's not one of hasty declarations or one in which an exchange of glances marks the beginning of a romance as frenetic as the world we inhabit, where there's no time for stumbles, doubts, or reflection, and where "I love yous" are thrown around with absolute ease, like sentimental confetti.
The protagonists' love is one of those that simmer over a slow fire, where emotional intimacy is based on building a genuine emotional connection that begins in friendship, in which both come to feel seen, heard, and understood.
It's as if the two have agreed on the rhythm of the relationship, where shared moments (even some of them filled with animosity and arguments), deep conversations, and challenges that they overcome together prevail. And it couldn't be any other way.
First, both partners are aware of the age difference, that one has a certain emotional maturity and life experiences, while the other lacks.
Therefore, the success of the relationship will depend on the extent to which the two share similar values, beliefs, and goals; support each other in achieving personal goals; foster commitment, trust, and intimacy in the relationship; and resolve problems constructively.
Secondly, both are aware of the culture shock they face. One is so rural, the other so urban. One is accustomed to the rigors of work and life in a rural area, without electricity or internet access, and the other, with a supermarket five minutes from home, now needing to change their lifestyle and cultural context for extremely different ones.
Thirdly, both are aware that Fifa is only planning to be there for three months, so it would be difficult for them to accept the idea of establishing a lasting relationship.
And finally, both are aware that they have so little in common that they never feel lonelier than when they are together.
How then can a couple make it work, when they have different lifestyles, unequal hobbies, incompatible life plans, such disparate ideas about love and the type of relationship they want...

IN CONCLUSION

Four key points to summarize this very funny, beautiful, and hopeful series: counting time, as Fifa usually does, 322 minutes of love under the treetops in the middle of summer, and two leading stars who bring great chemistry to the series. And a fifth, Nammon's farewell as a supporting actor, before we can see him as the lead in the highly anticipated "Pass to Your Voice" and "Restart," expected to be released in 2025.
I conclude this review, convinced that, like FIFA, once you enter the forest, you'll never be the same when you return...

Read More

BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION

In 2023, a story about a young man who spies on his company president's favorite reclusive artist to get his job back, captured the hearts of Korean series enthusiasts in general and lovers of boy love stories in particular.
TVING's original drama 'Unintentional Love Story', based on the manhwa and webtoon of the same name, written by Phoebe, starring Cha Seo Won as Yoon Tae Joon, and Gong Chan as Ji Won Young, showed us a second couple, played by actors Woo Tae Min ('You Make Me Dance', 2021), and Han Do Woo ('Love Playlist: Season 5' (2021), the former playing Go Ho Tae, and the latter playing Kim Dong Hee.
Loved by fans and the cause of the so-called "sub-disease" or love for the protagonists of the stories attached to the main one, at the end of the series complaints rained down requesting that the story of Ho Tae and Dong Hee be resumed to tell the exciting previous relationship between these two young people that was not included in the series, especially one that reflected their exciting school days.
Ultimately, the request was to represent in another work the vague narrative and interesting relationship of the couple made up of Go Ho Tae and Kim Dong Hee; but equally, that the future main couple was assumed by the same actors, with the same character names.
Thus came the idea of ​​filming a spin-off to tell a sad, but at the same time beautiful and tender story of two children who grew up together and discovered mutual love.
Directed by Yang Kyung Hee, a renowned director who has filmed several BL stories, such as 'A Tractor Loaded with Love' and 'The Director Who Buys Me Dinner', both from 2023, or 'I Wanna Bite It' ('Kissable Lips' ), from 2022, and 'Florida Banjeom', from 2021, and with the script masterfully crafted by Shin Yoo ('Where Your Eyes Linger', 2020), the film 'The Time of Fever' ('When your temperature touches my fingers' '), introduces the viewer to an immersive narrative journey.
At the forefront, Won Tae Min shines as a straight swimmer who one day discovers he's in love with his best friend, along with Han Do Woo's nuanced portrayal of the character he plays, and the support of a talented cast who bring depth to their respective roles.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR AND HIS WORK

In the film, its director approaches the issue of homosexuality with an intimate and personal approach, a topic that, as has already been said, he has addressed on previous occasions.
Yang Kyung Hee's work is marked by a display of sexual and emotional discovery, a theme that is addressed in a very suggestive way in 'The Time of Fever'. Far from reaching that need to search for personal identity from the beginning, with this film, the South Korean director takes up a love story not told in depth in an original story already brought to the small screen.
Therefore, from the perspective of the journey to the roots, a reunion between two old friends ends up becoming a labyrinth of passions. What stands out about the script is that it gets rid of superficial flourishes or moral dilemmas about the conception of masculinity. Although at certain moments he highlights the clichés surrounding homosexuality, he then puts them aside to reveal an internal story. Thanks to this, it gives the public a love story without consuming, where the fact that they are men becomes something circumstantial, but necessary.
In this way, the film talks about feelings and the attractiveness of emotion, where the physical becomes the result of an intimacy that occurs prior to sexual relations. It cannot be denied that that depth about what it means to love, desire or suffer is what makes the difference. Although the story follows a structure that has already been seen previously in other films, also with LGBT+ themes, perhaps, that naturalness of the unexpected love between two people with a common past makes it become a different film.

THE HISTORY

Produced by Number Three Pictures Co., Ltd., the film tells us that Ho Tae and Dong Hee have grown up as brothers since childhood. Ho Tae, who was born in Gangneung and moved to Seoul the year he graduated from primary school due to problems with his father's business, was never particularly interested in studying. For this reason, he started swimming at the school he transferred to in the South Korean capital.
Owner of enough talent to occupy a high position on the swimming team, he is forced to return to his hometown after his father's funeral, because his mother decided that they would return to start a business.
Upon returning home, Ho Tae, now 17 years old, discovered that Dong Hee, who is two years older than him, had filled the space that had been empty for a long time. Dong Hee, who had been expelled from his father's house after admitting to his family that he is homosexual, found a roof over his head in Ho Tae's uninhabited house.
Born as sons of friendly mothers, both, without any full siblings, grew up together as older and younger neighborhood brothers.
In the summer of Dong Hee's third year at High School, Ho Tae returned. The two meet again and end up living together under the same roof.
Despite their close brotherly bond, Dong Hee, who has hidden his homosexuality after being beaten by his father, who also called him "mentally ill" for this reason, cannot help but feel emotional when he sees Ho Tae, who is like a real brother to him, but he is also his first love, and he tries to repress his feelings. But it's not easy to bury these feelings.
Similarly, Ho Tae, who sees his friend as a kind young man who likes to smile, confronted with Dong Hee's presence, also develops feelings for the boy whom he has not seen in a long time, but is confused by those feelings sensations stirring inside him that he had never experienced before.
In an effort to escape his confusing emotions, Ho Tae begins dating girls in superficial relationships, which inadvertently causes pain to the previously independent Student Council president and valedictorian of his school.
As their dynamic changes after an unforeseen event, the delicate balance of their relationship hangs in the balance.

OF ACTORS AND CHARACTERS

Having a cast with few performers allows the acting direction to be focused and give greater impact to those who participate. In this way, in 'The Time of Fever' the protagonist duo is exploited above all. On the one hand, Woo Tae Min offers a metamorphosis in his character that gives him the ability to shine at an acting level. Along with this, you can see that he has a connection with the camera, giving realism and naturalness to his character at all times. Furthermore, the mischief with which he balances the most subjective effect contrasts with the sensitivity that he lets emerge at every step. It should also be noted that he is generous with his co-star, given that they form a team with great chemistry, where the tension necessary for this type of narrative is perceived.
On the other hand, Han Do Woo uses that connection with his co-star to his advantage, given that what begins as a performance in the background ends up exploiting his quality as an actor. On the one hand, it has that exquisite familiarity, which combines perfectly with the tone of the film and, then, it knows how to perfectly convey that whirlwind of sensations that lives inside. Likewise, it would be important to highlight the difficulty of being on a more restrained level, in the face of a reaction that follows that slower line, but letting out all the emotional tear that it suffers, with gestures and physical expression, something that it achieves perfectly.
With solid performances from both actors, I would highlight actor Do Woo's deeply repressed emotional performance. Won Tae Min's acting, which was childish but serious, is also very good.
They both express their feelings and emotions well. Both powerfully show the vision of two people leaning on each other's shoulders and seeming lost in deep thought.
Personally, I can perfectly empathize with the feelings and circumstances of the two characters.

SOME THOUGHTS

Korean LGBT+ films and series have gained significant popularity in recent years, captivating audiences with their heartfelt narratives and compelling characters. This lineup is joined by the spin-off of 'Unintentional Love Story'.
From the trailer, I anticipated that the reunion between the two old friends would provoke a complex mix of emotions, particularly for Dong Hee, whose affection for Ho Tae runs deeper than brotherly love. Upon learning that 'The Time of Fever' was in the process of filming, I was deeply curious to witness the synergy between these two young actors, and I must admit that they did not disappoint me.
This is one of the Korean LGBT+ film productions that delve into themes of love, friendship and self-discovery within the context of same-sex relationships. Through its delicate depiction of emotions and nuanced storytelling, this film offers viewers a unique combination of romance and drama, providing insight into the complexities of love and identity in contemporary Korean society.
The temporal background of the work is from the fall of 2013 to the spring of 2014, and from there it jumps, in its final scenes, to the present, to make it coincide with the story told in 'Unintentional Love Story', in which It tells the reunion of Dong Hee with Ho Tae, when the former returns to his hometown after studying in Seoul, while the latter runs a business with his mother.
As was the case with the OST sung by actress Cha Seo Won in 'Unintentional Love Story', the OST sung by Won Tae Min in 'The Time of Fever' is one of the many notable aspects of the film.
In addition to "You Call My Name", by B1A4, used as the final song, we will hear in the soft and emotional voice of the actor who plays Ho Tae the song "What If (원태민), composed by Kwak Jeong Im, which captures the deep emotions of the film, and "Someday Again" (언젠가 또 다시), by Masa (도우).
The viewer will feel as if the lyrics of the songs and the content of the film are intertwined, further increasing the emotions.
And the kiss scenes, especially the first one... still shake me because of their tension and the tremor of that moment.
The cameo of Gong Chan, who played Ji Won Young in 'Unintentional Love Story', is a special and long-awaited appearance.
The cinematography is exquisite. The day and night views of Donghae-si, Samcheok-si and Gangwon-do, Samcheok Meister High School and Mangsang Beach, where the film was shot, are beautiful.
Even knowing that the ending would not be happy, in order to connect the story with that told in 'Unintentional Love Story', the exploration that 'The Time of Fever' makes about sexuality is one of the most attractive that South Korean cinema has given. in a long time, with maturity, without resentments and with much more reality than fantasy. A story that will break our own internal and external limits, as it will make us cry, it will tear our hearts, but we will always keep in mind that the story of Ho Tae and Dong Hee does not end here.
Despite the lack of sincerity of the two in not expressly acknowledging their feelings, the rapprochement between both characters, very well carried out by Woo Tae Min and Han Do Woo, is honest and credible, a teenage friendship that is slowly growing. They are the story and it is the chemistry between them that allows the film to be beautiful, at the same time sad and heartbreaking.

Read More