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And Then We Danced (2019)
BRAVO!
Superb cinematography. Characters are realistic. Story integrates local flavor (Georgian culture) and the underground gay culture in that country.
Special mention: editing, for those dance sequences. Bravo!
Love that continuous shot after the wedding (while Merab was looking for Irakli); and then again after they talked.
That last dance sequence reminded me of FLASHDANCE.
Considering what the filmmaker had been through to make this movie, this one deserves nothing less than....
10 / 10.
Ôrudo Fasshon Kappukêki (2022)
CHERRY MAGIC WITHOUGH THE MAGIC ELEMENT
This is CHERRY MAGIC minus the magic/fantasy element. Such a breath of fresh air from all the toxic BLs around.
There are no obnoxious third wheels or sub-plots, so the focus is just on the main characters. No irritating complications.
Love the cinematography, editing, acting, everything!
But the best thing in this series is the writing. Love the lines.
9 / 10.
Plus & Minus (2022)
OKAY, BUT THEN EPISODE 10 HAPPENED
STORY. Everything was okay until Episode 10. This is when LI GONG suddenly broke up with SHOU. Nd what's the reason? He thought Shou was just being kind to him and couldn't say no. That was such a big turnoff. That forced conflict. So, although Episodes 11 and 12 were good, the damage has been done.
CAST / ACTING. SHOU (actor: MAX LIN) is more natural than LI GONG (actor: SHI CHENG HAO). LI GONG has many awkward moments and you see and feel that he's just acting. And to think, this is Max Lin's first role, not counting a 2020 series in which he had a guest role). The second couple both have awkwardness in their acting. This is YUKI's first acting job, so it's understandable. JIAN, on the other hand, has had main and support roles before. The supporting cast are all good except for Ling-Ling. I don't know, her acting is too wooden for me.
For me, MAX LIN carried the series. His bubbly, endearing personality was the saving grace of this drama. LI GONG's personality, in contrast, is somber and a little dark, so he sufferer in comparison to Max's character, Shou.
TECHNICALS. Cinematography was above average, especially the first scenes (flashback). Very impressive. Though the "magic" seemed to fade towards the end. Music is also very good, especially the opening and closing songs.
8 / 10.
Utsukushii kare (2021)
PERFECTION!
STORY AND CHARACTERS. Here lies the strength of this series. Both male leads (and Kazuki) are not absolutely good or bad. We see both sides of each character. We see Kiyoi at first as a brat, user, bully, then later we realize he also feels like he's a victim. Hira, on the other hand, despite being seen as a willing victim, is also unwittingly using Kiyoi for personal, selfish reasons. Kayoma, who seems to be the most "normal" of the three, can also do the wrong things at the wrong time.
We understand where the two MLs are coming from with the help of animated scenes showing how they grew up. This is what is missing in MR. UNLUCKY CAN ONLY KISS. That series ended leaving us with no clue where the two ML's families are.
Pacing is just right: too slow, not too fast. Also there's no irritating side stories of side couples, so the focus is just on the main leads. Attention, Thai BL producers!
Also, this is the only BL I've seen so far in which the POV switched from one character (Hira) to another (Kiyoi). This switch made us see more where our main characters are coming from.
ACTING. Superb ang acting from the entire cast. Special mention is the final confrontation. Acting on that scene was spot on. Good writing, too.
TECHNICALS. Cinematography is above average, seasoned professionals obviously are behind this. Same with editing and music, above average.
REWATCH VALUE. I'd watch this over and over again, yes!
10 / 10.
Magenta (2015)
IRRITATING SOUND AND MUSIC
The story is simple: Beck is in love with his best friend Charles. What I don't get is the director's style. It feels incoherent.
Not helping any is the sound and music. There are times there's complete silence, then comes the blaring music that sounds like it's composed for a sci-fi movie. Result? The short film looks, feels and sounds disjointed. Music that is supposed to "unite" the film ended up disrupting and segmenting it.
Also, is it believable that Beck did the dyeing on his hair alone? It looks very professionally done!
I also didn't get why this is titled such. Is there any reference or mention of the color at all? If there was, I definitely missed it.
5 / 10.
Wojia yugang ersan shi (2022)
LOVE IT BUT I HAVE 3 NAGGING QUESTIONS
I know what the producers did here: They did not make this a BL to appeal to a wider audience - BUT they also placed BL elements to titillate BL fans to reach THAT market as well. So, even though this is not a BL, they gave BL fans some bits to munch on.
It's not perfect but I'm still giving it a high score because it's a breath of fresh air from pollution in the sea of BL/bromance series. Also for the strong chemistry of the two MLs.
I was ready to give it a perfect 10, but the first half of the finale episode (rescue and escape) quite ruined it for me. It could have been better written and executed.
Three nagging questions were left unanswered:
1) Where does Longjie get money now that grandpa is gone?
2) Why does Merman know how to read?
3) When Merman got caught in the rain and grew a tail, we saw his shoes near the tail. Where did his pants go?? Haha!!
9 / 10.
Cupid's Last Wish (2022)
IT'S CRAP!
IT'S CRAP!
I like EarthMix in A TALE OF A THOUSAND STARS but... I guess I'll never know why THIS series has gotten such a high average rating. It's CRAP! This is the only BL that I had HATED a main character so much that I almost stopped watching. Well, I fast forwarded a lot from Ep 6 to the finale.
I really thought we made progress from Ep 1 to 5. I was enjoying it finally. THEN... Episode 6 happened. Win is back to his obnoxious self. We're back to Ep 1 all over again. Sheez. Five episodes wasted. The remaining 5 eps could do nothing to salvage this series.
Even Korn's character, however goody-goody, is actually a DOORMAT. Win threw his clothes and kicked him out of the house, right? If I were him, I'd swear to never go back there again. Then, from Eps 2-5, we're good again. But in Ep 6, the shouting thing happened again and Korn became a doormat once again.
The stereotype villains are also present here like we're back in the 1970s.
By Episode 9, I really wished Korn and Lin would get married. Yes, that's how the writers made Win's character so hateful and obnoxious!!
Of course the 2 MLs are our endgame. We could have skipped Eps 2-9 had Win not been an a***ole from the start.
BS line of Win to his mother: "Why did you want me to hate Korn?" Ijit!!! You did that on your own! YOU were the one who reacted like a prima donna, YOU were the one who threw Korn out of your house! What trash is this, writers??? LAUGHABLE!!! Who wants to watch the rest of the finale after that? Not me.
In the end, it seems like this is just an ad for a Thai farm. This is an overlong crap and a waste of time.
5 / 10.