Skip to main content

Be Here For You (Mandarin)

I am not sure of this is a BL series or a film. This was released as part of three season gay Chinese anthology series 'Mr X and I'. But at almost 2 hours long, this felt almost as a film to me.

The basic storyline focuses on best friends Xu Zhengxi and Tao Ye. They are best of friends and pretty much do everything together. Zhengxi has string feelings for Tao Ye but Tao has eyes for the class monitor girl. He is completely smitten with her and Zhengxi helps Tao Ye to flirt with her and make them a couple, but when the girl starts treating Zhengxi badly (since she knows that he has feelings for Tao), Zhengxi ends up telling Tao about his feelings. Initially surprised by the announcement, Tao is ok with the information and continues to treat Zhengxi as his close friend, but Tao's closeness to the girl breaks his heart and eventually his love and respect continuously reduces for Tao. Couple of years later, Tao and the girl are a couple and Zhengxi along with his best girl friend is busy making short films. A gay friend of his then introduces him to a senior from school who has always had crush on Zhengxi and now that he is single, maybe there is a chance for them to be a couple. They end up becoming good friends with the senior madly in love with Zhengxi. A year later again, Tao and Zhengxi meet at school reunion and feelings return in Zhengxi who literally begs Tao to be with him but he refuses since he is not gay. Zhengxi's new lover comes to his rescue, helps him stand back on feet and then supports him in his passion for film making for next few years. Film ends with everyone having grown up, Tao is now getting married and Zhengxi and his new man are a happy couple now.

There are not many China stories on homosexuality so this was a good change. The school scenes and interactions between friends, especially between Zhengxi and Tao Ye were really good and heartwarming. They didn't seem forced or fake like in some Thai BL series. You could see the love in eyes of Zhengxi for Tao and Tao trying hard to not let that ruin their friendship. We also get to see some aspects of how society and families treat homosexuality in Chinese culture. I could connect when Zhengxi says that you don't fall out of love suddenly and it happens over a period of time. But a few years later when he literally begs Tao to be with him, the scene felt so odd. It had been over 2 years and it was enough to move on, especially he was being given so much love, respect and attention by the new guy who literally would do anything for Zhengxi. I felt Zhengxi was unknowingly using him. There were some scenes in the film that didn't add much to the storyline and can be completely edited out. My favorite character was Zhengxi's girlfriend who was always there for him since school to finally helping him realize his passion. Acting by all principal actors was quite decent and Zhengxi and Tao shared an amazing chemistry. Having said that, I do feel that the story has flaws and could use some tighter editing.

There are a lot better BL Asian drama/series. The friendship between the leads stands out but sadly the love doesn't. (5/10)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin

One Summer Night (Korean)

I really wanted to like this film but for non native speakers, these movie leaves a lot to be understood and the way scenes were unfolding in front of me, I wasn't sure many times what was really going on. The story had potential button getting any back story on any of the characters limited my ability to empathize with any of these actors. Film starts with two North Korea military guys Yong Joon and Jae Sung having sex and they are caught red handed and they run. Three years later we see Yong Joon in Seoul leading a very mundane and poor life. He has a boyfriend Tae-Kyu, who is a weird guy. He is carefree, doesn't do any work and is completely emotional and financially dependent on Young Joon. In fact, even Yong Joon will go to any lengths to protect him , fend for him and taking care of him to the extent of even taking up prostitution. Suddenly one day Jae Sung appears in their life again. His motivation is not clear but it is obvious he wants Yong Joon back in his life, who

Ultimate masturbation: Shigoki no yama (Japanese) [The Ultimate Masturbation]

I would never know what was the point behind making this film. Was it supposed to be a comedy, cos it wasn't. It wasn't even porn. It was just a silly attempt at making something absolutely senseless and ridiculous. The story, as well as direction is equally shoddy. You could laugh for having seen something so bad, but I wouldn't call that comedy. An old man runs a camp about gay masturbation. The explanation given is that gays masturbate for pleasure unlike straight men, for whom the act is seen as shame or because they can't find a woman. One day a straight man shows up and wants to join the camp for his thesis. After discussion, he is allowed in. Rules include that you can masturbate together, you can masturbate one another, but there is no fellatio or anal sex. Some students of course breaks rule. The teacher then talks about 2 forms of masturbation which gives ultimate pleasure. He shows one without touching and then refuses to talk of the other. Somehow suddenly,