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This review may contain spoilers
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?
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This review may contain spoilers
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?
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While Kai asks Jie not to travel to another country as this would mean an immense distance between the two, Jie points out that if Kai becomes a pastor the relationship would also be compromised due to the Catholic Church's opposition to homosexual relationships.
'Icarus' (伊卡洛斯的翅膀 / 'Yi Ka Luo Si De Chi Bang' is a 2017 LGBT+ themed romantic drama, written, directed and edited by filmmaker Alan Chen, which tells us through the characters and their conflicts an authentic myth of our times: that of Icarus, one of the shortest and, at the same time, most complex classical myths.
Produced by Shao-Han Wen and with photography by Meng Chen Hung, the short film tells us that Kai lives trapped with his father, a pastor played by actor Chin-Liang Liao, not on the island of Crete, but in a Taiwanese church. But when he falls in love, Jie is the sun that illuminates his life. However, the more he wants to reach out to his boyfriend, the more he falls into the embrace of the heat.
After Kai learns of his lover's plans, his first reaction is to paint Icarus falling because his wax-glued wings cannot withstand the heat of the sun. When Jie asks him "What did you think about when you drew this?" Kai responds with two questions: "When are you going abroad?" I mean, will our feelings for each other disappear?" It is evident that Kai has come to the conclusion that the path Jie has chosen may result in the end of the existing relationship between the two. But doesn't Kai's decision have the same destructive power?
However, like the story of the myth, the short film leaves us with a variety of interpretations and meanings. These include the one about young people who do not control their impulses and crash immediately, or the one that tells us about an ingenious father and his unfortunate son, both victims of their own ambition.
With Daedalus unable to save his son, many see the story of Icarus as a warning about the dangers of ambition or lack of moderation. Some interpret the story from a more positive perspective, emphasizing the importance of living life fully, even when there are consequences.
Having the Taiwanese Catholic Church as a background, some could assume the film text as a metaphor for what can happen to people when they stray from the path of righteousness, assuming that the Church represents this, since 'Icarus' was filmed two years before the approval of Equal Marriage in Taiwan. At that time (also today) both the Taiwanese Catholic and Protestant Churches were campaigning to prevent this law from being approved, while supporters of same-sex marriage supported its approval and signing. This reflected the divisions of a society with deeply held traditional family values.
The film makes common cause with supporters of equal marriage, bringing a homosexual couple into a church, in fact, one of the boys the son of the pastor or priest, and the other an active participant in it.
Others see Icarus as a symbol of punished youthful recklessness, or the symbol of the rebellion of young people with respect to their parents, but also as a symbol of the innate curiosity of youth, the attraction of risk, the pleasure of adventure, of the interest in learning, of the fever to rise to the top.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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This review may contain spoilers
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.
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In the things that pass, for those that stay
Kim Dong Ah is a teenager who seems to have been born frozen in the cold winter, and becomes obsessed with things that have not changed and are static, as if frozen, after his parents' divorce. His mother's love, which he thought would last forever, changed, and that change had a great impact not only on Dong Ah's family but also on his own life. With his mother gone, his father, wounded, became violent.In order not to hurt himself and to avoid hurting others, Dong Ah thought that it was best not to change and not let anyone into his life, for fear that one day this person would decide, like his mother, to abandon him.
With his large round eyes, poorly defined face and dark, bushy eyebrows, he has a deep voice and a dry expression and humor. He has had to leave school.
But suddenly, Song Yeon Woo comes into his life, a young man, also 18 years old, with a very warm character, who finds it natural to smile and is friendly towards others. Yeon Woo always approaches Dong Ah with a smile, and little by little he breaks the wall of sadness and coldness that he has built around him. Who is this person who seems to show everything about himself without hiding anything, but whose true feelings Dong Ah is unaware of? How is it possible that this boy, so different from him and as warm as spring, can make him feel unknown emotions? Is Yeon Woo a figment of Dong Ah's imagination?
With this interesting and intensely powerful story, Kim Yeo-rim, the writer and director of the short film 'The Winter Child', exposes how people, emotions and relationships pass over time. Time melts the frozen and freezes the melted. But there are things that human beings need to hold on to so that they do not escape.
In the director's own words, the film sends a message of comfort to those who are suffering in the midst of numerous changes, to those who hold on to something that may be painful: it is okay to let go and move on. It is necessary that painful things pass by, so that those that give us happiness and warmth remain forever, like the fire at the end of the short, in contrast to the ice/winter motifs that are maintained in most of the audiovisual.
Starring Hyun Woo Ahn and Woo Joo Hwang in the leading roles, and the cinematography by Gyu-ri Lee and Park Jeong-hyeon, the short film captivates the viewer.
'The Winter Child' seems to generate a lot of opinions among contributors to this forum. Of course, this is a film in which there is no promise of a vision of gay life, as most viewers expect when reading the labels "Gay Male Lead" and then "LGBT+." The film takes an introspective view of the soul of a young man. The movie has a way of staying with us even when it's over.
Kim Yeo-rim makes Dong Ah one of the most complex characters in recent films. This is a young man who is difficult to understand on a simple level.
The image of Yeon Woo melting Dong Ah's icy exterior and her ironclad belief that she can't change anything in her life will haunt me forever. Yeon Woo is the person who comes into his life to help him come out of his shell.
However, the ending may leave many viewers with more questions than answers: Is returning to the same beginning a good change? Is it preferable to stay in one place or seek changes that allow us to free ourselves from what causes us pain? Or instead, is it preferable to change by killing your previous self? Could Yeon Woo be a figment of Dong Ah's imagination? Could it be your inner voice that refuses to remain still, unchanging, unchanged?
Although 'The Winter Child' will divide opinions, the film deserves to be seen due to the complexity and care that the director puts into the story, and the excellent performances of its protagonists.
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Yes, we already saw him lead the cast of 'Love in The Air' (2022), but there they were the secondary couple, while in 'Wedding Plan' (2023) they played roles of little weight in the story and little presentation on screen. On both occasions they left us wanting more.
The opportunity to show off their acting skills, their beautiful faces and physical attributes comes from Ne Neti Suwanjinda, the director who has always chosen them to put them in front of the camera since the entertainment industry, very intelligently and correctly, paired them, to tell us the love story between Tongrak, a writer looking for inspiration for his most recent novel, and Mahasamut, a resident of an island in the south of Thailand who was tasked with taking care of the visitor.
In the first two episodes of the series (those that have been viewed for this review), the protagonists will find themselves trapped in a stormy, fiery and sensual relationship full of sex and endless days and nights, where love will set the course of their lives new lives while both fight to achieve their respective dreams.
'Love Sea' is a new-adult dramatic and romantic series with an aspirational LGBTIQ+ theme narrated in a dynamic, vibrant way and with a realistic treatment of the most current youth conflicts, all accompanied by beautiful and cheerful music and exquisite cinematography.
Based on the novel of the same name by prolific BL MAME screenwriter and director Orawan Vichayawannakul, whom Net called on now as on other occasions, the series tells the spectacular and improbable story of Tongrak (played by Peat) and Mut (role assumed by Fort), two young dreamers with nothing in common, whose destinies cross unexpectedly.
Tongrak has it all, a good financial position and enjoys success after publishing several novels, some of them brought to television as BL series. But despite this, he lives in a state of constant frustration caused by several unresolved problems in his life and by currently suffering from writer's block. Furthermore, he does not believe in love, considering that it only lives in the imagination.
The journey of Peat's character is the most interesting one made, since in his contact with Mut we can see his reproach for being ashamed of his past and the wounds of his soul that have yet to heal. Thus, the creation of Tongrak and its motivations are very interesting and gain the public's favor.
For his part, Mut is a humble young man, who carries the trauma caused by having been expelled from home by his father at the age of 15 and, despite having to resort to pretending about himself to others in order to make his way in life and get a roof over his head and a plate of food, he has become a leader of the locals and the force behind the local people.
Each one, in their own way, faces an existential crisis that can lead them to failure, to lose what they have achieved so far, so they have no choice but to join forces and embark on the same path that will lead them to know each other better and perhaps...
United by destiny, when their lives intersect, they embark on a transformative journey together that represents both an escape from their complicated presents and traumatic pasts and a search for love, happiness and their place in the world. These are questions that almost all of us have experienced, or on which almost all of us have reflected, at some point in our lives. Especially in our twenties, which is the age that Mut and Tongrak are around, and the time when doubts about our present and our future are most crowded.
For her part, MAME cannot hide her happiness. Although at first his style left us with some red flags, such as 'Love By Chance' or 'TharnType', today he seems to have found his voice by giving an evolution to his stories to keep fans of the genre happy, especially with that HOT touch that all BL fans love.
The ForthPeak junction, a visual and spiritual gift for so many viewers around the world, would give good returns to the creators of the series, especially through a drama that has its main strength in the clarity with which this story is conceived on paper, the pulse with which the direction channels them through the setting on screen, and the way the two actors defend it, in characters with characterological richness and infinite nuances that only they know how to add in their assumption.
One of the great things about 'Love Sea', and one that the production team cared a lot about, was showing the paradisiacal environment and the natural settings that serve as the setting for the erotic-existential journey of two young people in love and that provide truth and essence, because if there is a place that wins by a landslide, it is that southern Thai island, the meeting place of the protagonists and where their romance takes place. Having been able to record in that place is one of the great achievements of the drama, since it is integrated in an outstanding way into its DNA.
'Love Sea' effectively combines the conventions of the romantic genre and a fresh visuality by placing the narrative heroes in a natural and paradisiacal environment, which also takes center stage, to which is added the bill of the presentation and farewell, and the curtains of Transition.
So far, the performance of actresses and actors has been, in general, high, and the combination of young figures with other already established ones was among the most successful. It was especially appreciated to once again enjoy Forth Kashane Pichetsopon, Ja Phachara Suansri, Boss Chaikamon Sermsongwittaya, Noeul Nuttarat Tangwai, An Oliver Poupart, Jinjuta Rujirakumthonchai Liu, Ivy Phattaree Tassananakajit and Chanya Amarit Duval. Kevin Tray will provide his voice as Conner.
The best thing about the MAME-Net binomial's staging lies in its way of capturing the love and physical contact between Mut and Tongrak, materialized in the hugs, kisses and sex they share in different situations: at the bottom of the ocean , on board a moving yacht or during their sexual encounters both on the sand of the beach and in the resort room, where the eyes, lips, hands... the entire body of one travels over the body of the other and vice versa. The latent desire between them is subtly filmed through gestures and glances, which communicate everything that is not expressed verbally. But how much is there left to express when in one way or another everything has been said... or almost everything?
The direction knows how to give credibility to the sex scenes and the dialogues exhibit enough youthful nihilism and naturally.
Fort and Peat consolidate themselves as a ship with great aspirations to continue being one of the most anticipated by the public, and as two actors with attitudes in abundance after 'Wedding Plan' or especially 'Love in the Air'. Their respective Mut and Tongrak work from the beginning because of their talent and also because their characters' status as people called to surpass themselves gives them the strength to stand out dramatically.
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New trend: forming a main couple with star actors in JDramas?
When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. And when life finally offers insecure and hesitant rookie actor Yuki Shirasaki (Taisuke Niihara) an important role in a television drama in which he must portray a homosexual character in a relationship with popular actor Asami Hayama (Komagine Kiita) as co-star , and given his inexperience in love, he decides to make the best of the situation... looking for a real experience.This is how he goes to a gay bar with the aim of finding someone to sleep with to experience a full-fledged apprenticeship and to be able to incorporate the emotions acquired into the character to embody. There, he meets Hayama, his co-star in the television series, a superstar in the world of entertainment and modeling, who in college shared the same film study club with him.
How will Shirasaki react when Hayama offers him his body? What will happen between the kōhai and inexperienced in matters of love Shirasaki when the senpai Hayama proposes to form a "romantic relationship for the sake of character development" until filming concludes? What will happen between these two very different people when filming ends?
And, while Shirasaki gets to go through a lot of fake "official first moments" with Hayama—her first real kiss, her first real date, her first sexual encounter, her first role in a television series, her first leading role in a non-theatrical play or his "first coming out", he is surprised that among the lies, emotions flourish, feelings grow and they fall in love. In other words: what seems like a solid plan soon turns into emotional chaos that will lead them to…
The series raises questions about the nature of falling in love (is it a pure matter of instant chemistry or a difficult process of adaptation to the other?), the transition to adulthood and the acceptance of sexual identity.
Based on the manga series "25:00, in Akasaka" by Natsuno Hiroko ('25ji, Akasaka de' / 25時、赤坂で), first published on November 24, 2018 by Shodensha, the action adaptation real with the same name, is directed by Horie Takahiro ('Death Kyun Loop Wa Tomaranai!) and Kawasaki Ryo ('Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2' and 'My Strawberry Film').
Based on a script written by Aso Kumiko, known for writing the script for 'Inochi Aru Kagiri Tataka e, So Shite Iki Nukunda', throughout the plot and the false courtship, the characters discover that love can arise even in the terrain of deception. The viewer might think that this is a classic tender story framed in a romantic comedy-drama, but in reality, it is full of script twists that exceed any expectations.
From the TV Tokyo channel, the series seeks to capture the audience with a formula that combines humor, drama and love through a pseudo-romantic relationship that off-screen leads to a touching and beautifully crafted love story that explores the complexities of relationships within the entertainment industry and between actors.
The cast is reinforced by renowned figures from Japanese cinema and television such as Takuma Usa, a figure known for his participation in other romantic dramas such as 'Kiss x Kiss x Kiss: Love ii Shower', 'Kiss × Kiss × Kiss: Melting Night' and 'Cool Doji Danshi'. Accompanying Usa in supporting roles is Shoma Nagumo, from 'Kiss x Kiss x Kiss: Love ii Shower' and 'Minato Shouji Coin Laundry'. The cast is completed with Atsushi Hashimoto, who began his acting career in 2004 in the film 'Water Boys 2'; Moemi Katayama, actress who in 2019 played the character of Kohiruimaki Himeko in the romantic series 'Ossan's Love: In the Sky', and Shinohara Yushin, known for his intervention in the film 'We Couldn't Become Adults', who together contribute memorable performances. It is, truly, a luxury cast.
I wonder: Will there come a time when they stop pretending that they are a couple and make it known that they ARE a couple? Will the student be a good apprentice to the sensei?
If someone asked me: What is so special about the series?, I would answer:
- Shows the non-stereotypical or stigmatized image of the homosexual man and same-sex relationships with the purpose of achieving significant changes in the conservative, patriarchal and heteronormative Japanese society.
- The right decision to make the main couple with two acting stars, since Japanese romantic dramas of the LGBT+ genre usually pair a popular, experienced actor with one less known to the public. Apparently, producers and creators of the genre are seeking to implement a new trend, if we take into account that in the recently concluded 'Sukiyanen Kedo Dou Yaro ka' (2024) they also paired two experienced actors who enjoy great popularity, such as Kan Hideyoshi and Nishiyama Jun.
- The use of monologue through which the characters define their traits and the audience can get to know their most intimate thoughts without the need for a narrator to intervene.
- The respect, passion and sincerity of the members of the artistic-technical teams to the original work.
- The forced plot does not take away from the magic of a leading couple that brims with chemistry and dialogues that manage to convey more than one substantial reflection.
- The two protagonists are very funny in this drama with characters that one represents maturity and experience and the other "first-time" naivety in all areas, both in love and sexual matters to those concerning his work as a novice actor.
- Although the script presents the same tricks as many other series of the genre, the truth is that '25ji, Akasaka de' has shares of originality in the evolution and outcome of the plot.
- The value of friendship, of the camaraderie of coworkers and students to help the two protagonists manage the complex emotions that will accompany them throughout the plot, focused on building the love relationship of Shirasaki and Hayama , their successful participation in a television series, and that both discover their authentic selves.
- Taisuke Niihara and Komagine Kiita play a seemingly impossible couple who will have to force themselves to have an initially non-existent chemistry, because they are unknown people chosen in a casting to play two protagonists of a television drama.
- The disturbing innocence of the entire approach.
- The purity of characters who grow without "corrupting", clinging to their first loves and unusual experiences on a film set.
- Its light narrative and good performances hook you from the first frame, making it a fun series.
- A series with a concept developed and outlined as a drama and not as a comedy.
- '25ji, Akasaka de' shows a series of circumstances that could hardly happen to its characters, always maintaining the premise that dramatic moments in real life are usually interspersed with humorous moments.
- The creators wanted there to be a certain honesty in the script and that the actors did not have to react intentionally to the planned moments of humor.
- With the dosage of humor and a choreography of gestures that also extends to intelligent and elegant compositions of shots, those responsible for the series achieve the very complicated task of getting each of the decisions made right.
- The music, the smoothness of the camera movements, the ease of provoking different emotions in the viewer and the palpable complicity of a well-rounded cast make the experience of the episodes something special.
- A series that from the pilot episode captivates the viewer and the illusion that the balance is not lost and those responsible are overcome in the following chapters full of disparate occurrences and interesting situations.
- The idea of a closing with a delicate and tender musical sweep.
- Having two directors with extensive experience in the world of entertainment, whose experiences also as writers combined with the skill and vast writing craft of the accredited screenwriter could perfectly outline both the narrative discourse and the staging or production.
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When homophobia wins the game
'The Best Story' (Thai: ครั้งหนึ่งที่รัก) is a Thai BL and LGBT-themed television series broadcast between July 9 and 23, 2021. Played in its lead roles by Wanarat Ratsameerat (War) as Best, and Anan Wong (Yin) as Dew, the series depicts a romance between two young high school students.Directed by Ratthapon Keawmeesri (Heavy), the central thread of the three-episode series is the way in which both boys begin to forge an emotional relationship and the obstacles they must face. Four other teenagers also appear: Brigght (Prat Itthichaicharoen) and Ray (Thanakom Minthananan (Win), Best's best friends; and Dave (Nadol Lamprasert - Bonz) and Tar (Patsapon Jansuppakitkun - Bever), Dew's inseparable comrades.
From the Line TV network, 'The Best Story' addresses topics such as romance, homosexuality, emotional diversity, secondary education, friendship, homophobia, youth and its way of relating, or personal evolution.
I don't intend to give much spoilers beyond what I have to say due to the focus of the review.
We are faced with a sweet, tender and brief love story, both for the length of time it lasts and for the brevity of the series, which follows the code of the best Thai BL: the main character, usually a high school or university student, He secretly falls in love with a fellow student, but does not dare to confess his feelings. Both boys will deepen their friendly relationship in the hope of declaring their love for each other. But this moment, expected by everyone, never comes.
While the shy Best does not confess because he believes that Dew loves a girl and, therefore, his feelings are not reciprocated, Dew does not confess his feelings for Best either, first also due to his shyness, and then to passivity, hopelessness and the fear of his mother's homophobia.
This light but realistic teenage romantic drama stands out for its evocative music and the good acting of the two protagonists, whose on-screen chemistry shows emotional physical interactions full of naturalness, warmth and positivity.
The romance is palpable in the small everyday moments that manage to convey the affectionate relationship of the characters played by War and Yin, whom we have previously seen starring in the 2020 Thai BL drama 'En of Love: Love Mechanics', where they also play a romantic couple. This same series also features the participation of the actors who play Ray, Bright and Tar in supporting roles.
An aside to talk about the magnificent cinematography. Despite having few settings, such as the classrooms, the school hallways and courtyards, Best's bedroom or the kitchen-dining room of Dew's house, the camera work is indisputable to make the viewer feel the emotions of his characters. characters with immense closeness and authenticity, with memorable intimate frontal and side shots with the characters looking into the lens or walking in front of it.
But Heavy's work is not only good in its colorimetry; It is also outstanding in terms of planning and use of the frame, bringing together the vast majority of the attention centers of the shots at the same point to ensure that the subsequent assembly of the series is legible at all times.
But, as I said from the title of the review, this focuses on homophobia and intolerance, and not only for being present in the series, but for coming out victorious over love.
Although everything seemed to indicate that the main couple would have a happy ending, related to the confession of love by one of the two boys, presumably Best because he was the one we knew from the beginning is in love with Dew, the truth is that later We know that this also corresponds to your feelings.
However, the romance is spoiled by the actions of the only two female characters in the series: Fern (Masa Marisa Kittelberger), the girl in love with Dew and not reciprocated by him, and Dew's mother.
Dew nobly rejects Fern, his friend and fellow student, who has been secretly in love with him for some time. Once again, Dew is honest with her, and confesses to being in love with a boy. Everything indicates, after the pleasant and confidential conversation held by the two, that Fern would respect Dew's sexuality and support him in his relationship with Best.
However, Fern betrays the friendship and trust placed in her by Dew by confessing her most intimate feelings, and full of hatred, homophobia, jealousy and meanness, she goes to Dew's homophobic and also intolerant mother to "save her son." of the influence of the homosexual Best". Is he doing it out of spite? So that Dew won't be happy with the person he loves? Why does she think that abruptly outing him will make the boy love her? Did he have the right to reveal Dew's sexuality?
If we do not know the answers to the first questions, it is true that, in relation to the last question, no one would ever act ethically; That is to say, it is not right or fair to violate someone's privacy, to remove them from the drawer, especially when it is motivated by petty and selfish interests.
Why does Dew's mother react so cruelly to the rumor that her son might be gay? Will you listen to your son? Will he also oppose any homosexual relationship of his son in the future, when Dew is of age? Will he continue to throw him out of the house with each new gay relationship? Will he ever accept his son? Will she be willing to prevent his happiness for life?
And Dew? Why don't you defend your love? Why accept your parent's decisions, which lead to the loss of your future and happiness?
If until that moment, the story was tender and cute, from this moment on, already in the final moments, homophobia prevents the two boys, who admit that they love each other, from being able to have their happy ending. The romance between Best and Dew can't even begin.
Dew, practically expelled from his home by his mother, will only be left to write partial sentences on social networks that say: "I like-", but without daring to complete the phrase with a "I like you", much less place the name of who they are addressed to.
What is the intention of the creators in giving this ending to the series? Will it be a denunciation of the reality suffered by the Thai LGBT+ community, and in which society and the family, especially parents, have a great responsibility? Or to promote the viewer's debate and reflection on such cruel and real topics as homophobia and intolerance, or jealousy and betrayal? Only if these were the reasons, the outcome of the series seems good to me.
While it is true that Thai BL series have contributed to the Southeast Asian nation being seen as a welcoming place for homosexuals, it does not mean that its laws are egalitarian or that it is truly respectful of the rights of members of the LGBT+ community. . As a general rule, Thai society in general and parents in particular do not accept the homosexuality of their children, and in some cases they even expel them from home.
The harsh reality is that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Thailand may face legal situations not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex sexual activity is legal, but such couples and households headed by same-sex couples do not have the same legal protections as heterosexual couples. It is estimated that around eight percent of the Thai population, five million people, are part of the LGBT demographic.
In 2013, the Bangkok Post states that "while Thailand is seen as a tourist haven for same-sex couples, the reality for locals is that the law, and often public sentiment, is not so liberal."
For its part, a 2014 report from the United States Agency for International Development and the United Nations Development Program notes that LGBT people "still face discrimination that affects their social rights and employment opportunities," and "They face difficulties in gaining acceptance of non-traditional sexuality, although the tourism authority has been promoting Thailand as a gay country."
A decade later nothing has changed. There is still constant and systematic discrimination against Thai minorities, including the LGBTI community. Despite the country having a law against discrimination against sexual minorities, there are legal gaps that still allow the stigmatization of said human group.
As I point out in the title, homophobia may have won the game, depending on the series, but it will not win the fight for human rights. Hate may win some battles, but the final victory will be love's.
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The end of the trilogy: reasons for debate and controversy
The trilogy by Korean director Leesong Hee-il, known as 'One Night, Two Days', (백야), began with the short film 'One Night, later expanded to a 75-minute film entitled 'Baekya' ('지난여름, 갑자기 '/'White Night' and followed by the short 'Suddenly Last Summer' (지난 여름, 갑자기/'Jinanyeoreum, gapjagi'), concludes with the medium-length film 'Namjjokeuro Ganda' ('Going South' /남쪽으로 간다), all from 2012, and narrating three unconnected gay-themed stories together.The strength of Leesong Hee-Il's cinematography, by itself, and continually, finds an audience for his works. Not only because of the naturalness and simplicity, at the same time as the complex way of exposing homosexuality and human relationships and conflicts, which allows us to reinterpret the essence of the South Korean LGBT+ collective (equally global), from the perspective of some of its representatives, but also in the elegance of the language, the cinematographic resources, the intelligence of the film narrative and the intellectual and human wisdom that flows with astonishing clarity and directness.
It is, furthermore, and above all, the director's ability to build powerful stories due to their humanism, which penetrate the personal imagination, especially of the members of said community, never to abandon it again.
Who who has seen the trilogy does not suffer as their own the desperation and anguish of a gay person who drags, like a heavy burden, the emotional and spiritual suffering, more than physical, caused by a homophobic attack and today, after years , returns to the scene of the events to continue judging the society that did nothing to condemn barbarism, only for the fact that the victim is a homosexual? Who has not wanted to be the companion of said person in the search not only for love, but also, and above all, for the necessary spiritual peace and answers that give meaning to their life, during a long, cold night in Seoul?
Who was not on the cruise ship that crosses the Han River while a boy, a minor, blackmails his teacher, 17 years older, whom he threatens to get out of the closet if he does not give in to his demands to spend a few hours on a hot day in his side? Who has not understood the dilemma in which the teacher struggles, caught between desire and responsibility, between desire and ethics, between good and evil? Who has not forgiven the student for blackmailing the teacher, after seeing him suffer and at the same time shout his love and happiness, while, excited, he talks to the fish or makes the teacher listen to his favorite music after placing the headphones over his ears? ears? Who has not made their own the suffering, pain and anguish, but also the joy and the touch of happiness, of each and every one of the characters that inhabit their stories?
'Going South' follows two men on a journey that, despite the short's title, has no defined direction or destination. Gi-Tae (Kim Jae-Heung) and Jun-Young (Chun Shin-Hwan) met during their mandatory two-year stint in the Korean army. From the first seconds, the existence of a secret to be revealed around these two people and their respective internal struggles becomes evident.
Its director once again exposes a constant dichotomy in the relationships of its protagonists, but now elevates it to a higher plane by placing its narrative heroes involved in the South Korean army. Shocking are the deeply subtle, uncomfortable, and highly problematic questions it raises about homosexual relationships, military service in particular, and that nation's society as a whole.
While Jun-Young, now demobilized, hides or completely denies his homosexuality, Gi-Tae, who still has some time left to graduate, is not afraid to acknowledge it and even enjoys celebrating it, despite completing his military service in a nation where, according to article 92 of its Military Penal Code, it considers sexual relations between members of the same sex as "sexual harassment", punishable by a maximum of one year in prison.
Jun-Young is taking Gi-Tae back to base after his last leave. The atmosphere around them is overloaded by the demands of one and the refusal of the other to give in. Jun-Young is quite harsh on his friend during the ride.
The characters in the medium-length film inhabit a space where they meet somewhere in the middle. It is at this moment that the director uses the camera lens to "steal" the characters' emotions and show human complexities.
One having realized that he does not want to continue the sexual relationship with his friend and asks him not to contact him again, the other is not willing to let him go, and clings to him. Inadvertently, the soldier takes the opportunity to put sleeping pills in Jun-Young's coffee. As soon as the drugs take effect, he takes the wheel and heads south, or nowhere in particular.
When Jun-Young finally wakes up, he is furious, but also furious is Gi-Tae, who confronts his former lover/friend about his broken promises.
The fight, both emotional and physical, reveals two aspects to consider: on the one hand, Jun-Young completely denies not only his former feelings for Gi-Tae, but also his homosexuality. Jun-Young dismisses his previous relationship, alleging that he had sexual encounters with his friend out of the need to fill the void of soldier's loneliness, something common for soldiers while doing military service.
And secondly, Gi-Tae is clearly losing control and has crossed the line. His erratic, illegal behavior is not justifiable, and yet we sympathize with him more than with Jun-Young, because his pain is so tangible.
Initially calm and serene, Gi-Tae's feelings are increasingly expressed through physical things, such as photographing Jun-Young in the middle of making love for the last time, not to blackmail him but to materially record the feelings that his lover does not want to admit with words. He subsequently gets into a wild mud fight with Jun-Young that nearly ends in blood and he drinks bottle of beer after bottle. His state of increasing intoxication leads him to dance alone like a lunatic in a dark highway tunnel, while music blares from the car speakers.
You can't blame Jun-Young for wanting to distance himself from Gi-Tae, who has major emotional issues that may run deeper than this particular rejection. And yet, one must ask: how desperate must one be to go AWOL from one's military base and nearly kidnap another person, acts that can only have serious repercussions?
Open-ended like all parts of Leesong Hee-ill's trilogy, 'Going South' feels more gloomy and suffocating than the two previous films, denying the viewer a journey towards the spiritual peace and happiness they dreamed of, at least from one of the characters.
As in the rest of the three pieces, the film tells a story of great visual and auditory beauty, but perhaps the most important thing is the emotional depth. The raw honesty of the film's narrative – centered on the often deeply problematic feelings of its characters, all asking difficult but very real questions – is commendable.
The finished compositional gear, the composition between musical form and film text brought to the screen, the treatment of time and changes in point of view, are formal innovations that demonstrate the filmmaker's vocation to always renew himself, supporting the three pieces that make up the trilogy, which reflect on the human condition, the complexities of the human being, the responsibilities and ethics of the gay man of our days, the homophobic ambushes that stalk him at every step, the feeling of emptiness caused by the so-called epidemic of loneliness gay, the emotional and mood disorders of homosexual men, the constant search for happiness, which implies, in turn, the fight for their human rights, and the encounters between the individual and the collective.
Note: The reviews of the remaining pieces of the trilogy, in MDL, can be found on the page dedicated by the virtual platform to each of them.
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Unrequited affection, transformative friendship, the mystery of hidden love
Adolescence is fertile ground for fiction. It's that time in our lives when emotions run high. Every obstacle is the end of the world. Every sexual or romantic attraction leads to hours and hours of thinking in bed. Every photo or comment on social media saves us or plunges us into the abyss of life. Insecurities bring out the worst in us. Waking up in the morning means facing the existential crisis of understanding one's place in the world. And, at the same time, anything is possible.If we consider that it is scientifically proven that childhood is that key stage for every person, where the intellectual and emotional foundations on which their success or failure as an adult depend are formed, it is clear that Lee Hee Su, the young protagonist of 'Hee Su in Class 2', has all the makings of a rather happy future.
Someone who is aware that, as small, fleeting beings in a universe we don't understand and will probably never understand, we will also be unable to know what the future holds, tells us that we are in the presence of an awake, curious, and thoughtful teenager who seems to have his ideas very clear.
Offering sound love advice to his classmates, even though he doesn't dare apply it to his own love life; talking about crushes when he doesn't even know what to do with his own; being part of an almost utopian universe (that of youth and school) where those who had never paid attention to him begin to seek him out for love advice, where Hee Su himself is the first to be surprised when he realizes that "his special talent" can solve relationship problems, and where love entails not knowing that we won't find love with the person we think we love, but with someone we would never have imagined, this was the best thing that could happen to a boy who keeps the secret of being in love with Joo Chan Young, his best friend. If we add to this the fact that his heterosexual crush, unaware of the feelings he awakens in Hee Su, takes every opportunity to talk to him about girls, including Ji Yu (Park Yoo Hyun), his favorite singer and schoolmate whom he likes so much, it could very well be a trigger for the deepening frustration of having to hide his crush.
And although at times it seems as if his world could collapse with a complex family environment, with absent parents and three single sisters, one of them suffering from heartbreak, everything will change when an unexpected person enters his life.
South Korean female director Park Kyung Min makes her television debut with a coming-of-age story, a youth drama that raises questions about unrequited affection, transformative friendship, the mystery of hidden love, self-discovery, unexpected relationships, and the search for acceptance in a school environment with the freshness of student life.
Far from being just another of the hundreds of LGBT+-themed productions that are increasingly appearing on television channels and digital media, 'Heesu in Class 2' surprises with a complexity and attention to detail that transcends its genre, with its fresh and emotional take on what it means to find one's own path in the midst of adolescence. Ahn Ji Ho, after winning critical and popular acclaim for his roles in the series "Nobody Knows" (2020), "Night Has Come" (2023), and "Begins Youth" (2024), and the films "Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days" (2018) and "Rebound" (2023), once again showcases his artistic talent in his portrayal of Hee Su, a dreamy, clever, but socially awkward young man whose identity at school has been reduced to being "Chan Young's friend". Kim Seung Won is a destabilizing element in his life. Unlike Chan Young, the neighbor and class president is reserved, shy, studious, and somewhat clumsy, especially around the main character.
Lee Sang Jun, known for his performance as a soldier in the second season of 'Squid Game' (2024) and his appearance in television productions such as 'Beauty and Mr. Romantic' (2024) and 'Blue Birthday' (2021), plays a character whose serious demeanor and intense glances, interpreted as signs of rejection, initially confuse Hee Su. However, he manages to draw him out of Chan Young's shadow when the two meet in the School Guidance Club and begin to interact more. In addition to sharing activities at school, Hee Su discovers that Seung Won is her neighbor, and on more than one occasion, they end up talking through their bedroom windows. This unexpected bond brings them closer, showing Hee Su a different perspective on affection and companionship, something she had never considered outside of her devotion to Chan Young.
The series, which at times reminds me of 'Sex Education' (Laurie Nunn), becomes a kind of healing sanctuary and an unprejudiced adolescent audiovisual. While in the 2019 Netflix series, Otis (Asa Butterfield) decides to use the sexual knowledge acquired through his mother, a renowned sex therapist, to help students and transform their environment, here Lee Hee Su achieves the same results, but resorts to repeating some of the love clichés contributed by her sister, who has also failed to find happiness in love.
This approach is simple and daring, but it results in a series with a completely natural tone, very funny, very well developed, and unfolding quite realistically. It's a reflection of life that normalizes the normalization of certain topics, discussing human and adolescent psychology, and often drawing on the main character's knowledge of astronomy and the cosmic universe.
I have to admit it. I've rarely seen two actors like Ahn Ji Ho and Lee Sang Jun so accurately portray the emotions, awkwardness, and emotional intensity of those first loves and relationships.
Their performances are very genuine in capturing personal growth and self-discovery. As the characters get to know each other, a maturation process occurs through their romantic experiences, centered more on silences, secrets, glances, restrained gestures, unspoken words...
The series beautifully portrays the school as a social center. The school environment created is the perfect setting for adding drama and tension to the characters' romantic adventures. It's also beautiful in depicting the drama of friendship, how friends influence romantic decisions and add complexity to the story with loyalty, jealousy, and support.
Another element we shouldn't overlook is the family dynamic. Lee Hee Su lives with three sisters. Much of the action takes place in their home, while these four characters share experiences and conversations. The series is exquisite in showing how family influence can influence the way the characters approach love. The relationships between Hee Su and her sisters, Lee Hui Jae (Park Kyung Hye), Lee Hui Jeong (Kim Han Na), and Lee Hui Sin (Jung Ye Nok), generate tension and push the protagonist to make important decisions. Other issues we shouldn't forget are how conflicts and dramas inform the romantic stories of Hee Su and Kim Seung Won, on the one hand, and Joo Chan Young and Choi Ji Yu (Kim Do Yeon), on the other. Love triangles, misunderstandings, rivalries, and breakups keep these two stories captivating and full of emotional twists and turns.
Shin Ho Sik (Jeon Yeong In), Hee Su's friend and classmate, is another character audiences will enjoy, as they empathize with a boy who discovers love in a classmate after the girl he's been in love with rejects him.
Ahn Ji Ho's performance is superb. His character struggles with his insecurities, his sexual identity, self-esteem issues, and emotional ups and downs (whether joy, heartbreak, or confusion) as he tries to figure out who he is. Through his insecurities, viewers can understand how this boy deals with love and relationships with everyone around him.
Some vilify the series for not being faithful to the original. I haven't read the eponymous webtoon by Lily Zuzu, published in 2018 by Lezhin Comics, on which it is based, so I can't speak to its virtues or defects as an adaptation, but the creators have the freedom to discard the so-called Literal Adaptation and Condensed Adaptation, to avail themselves of the Interpretive Adaptation, which allows greater creative freedom when adapting the original work.
The truth is, I have no doubt that those who can't do anything, teach. And those who have never experienced love begin to give advice about love. That's the essential premise of the series.
A work with a wonderful rhythm, with perfect and magnificent performances, with a well-written plot that works to create a dynamic that moves the work forward with enormous doses of fun, profound discourses, and brilliant acting. It takes advantage of its themes and has a refreshing perspective on the world and art, with wholesome messages and great naturalness, but above all, it is a very funny series with 45-minute episodes, something unusual in South Korean BL series, which amaze us and make us enjoy the entire length of the series, without the typical filler. A work that gets to the point with what it wants to show and how it wants to entertain us for a few hours.
Along the way, Hee Su resolves the sentimental doubts of both his schoolmates and himself. 'Hee Su in Class 2' has managed to break the prevailing heteronormativity, allowing the visibility of sexual orientations and their expression in young characters, which represents a breakthrough in a country as conservative and patriarchal as South Korea. It offers one of the best scenes of support between a queer character and another queer character ever on television: the moment when Hee Su overhears a girl talk about her feelings for another woman. And, while it vindicates friendship in all its forms (between boys and girls, between gays and straights, from equality and difference), it offers a valuable deconstruction of toxic masculinity. This, I would say, is its most stimulating legacy.
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