Light (2021)

Excellent, but too short

This is a very good 44 minute long LGBT short movie. It is well made and well written. The story is intense, concerning a young man who, after suffering sexual abuse at the hands of his stepfather, turns to selling himself to other abusive men. But the arc of the plot turns happier (and sexier) when he meets an undercover cop who falls for him.

Strong points:

-- The plot is interesting, engaging and well-conceived. It concerns some heavy topics but is not overwhelmingly depressing. (That said, it does feature a couple of incidents of rape, and people who are sensitive to sexual violence should be warned.)
-- The acting is truly excellent. Jed Chung does a good job of communicating how clueless and lost Light is. Even more, I thought Max Liu was tantastic -- thoroughly believable as Light's savior, Shuo. Liu is intense, masculine and yet soft -- the way he treated Light was perfect. (In some ways he takes the place of the father-figure Light never had). And he has a wonderful deep voice and a gorgeous body, so what's not to love? (P.S. the MDL pic of Max, above, does NOT do him justice.)
-- The cinematography is first rate, with great camera work. (I loved the opening scene, where the cam is following Light through the market as he goes to meet one of his "johns".)
-- There is not a lot of music actually in the movie, that I remember......however the film concludes with a music video (I think the name of the song is "Light") and that one is truly excellent.

Weak point:

-- The decision to make this a short movie limited the creators too much. A longer treatment could have given the audience a better understanding of the development of Shuo's affection for Light. It seems to appear out of nowhere. The lovely scene where Shuo abandons his reserve and makes love to Light would have been just wonderful if the audience had a better feeling for the tensions/mixed feelings that were afflicting Shuo.

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High potential for something longer

I was not disappointed by this short film (40mn) by Adiamond Lee.
The subject is dark and serious (prostitution, abuse) but we do not avoid the pitfall of pathos.

The good idea is to have focused only on the two main characters which allows to explore their personalities enough and don't waste time on secondary characters.

The character of Light is really interesting, we feel a lot of empathy for him. Shuo, the policeman is a little less explored but we manage to know enough about him to understand his actions (it would have been interesting to know more about his work and his missions, to give him a little more deepness).

The direction is impeccable and the very dark photography is well worked with muffled lights that give more darkness to the atmosphere. The two lead actors are good, all in sobriety in their acting.
Of course, in 40mn, it is difficult to do something very deep and the story may seem a bit fast but after all it is quite simple (just two people falling in love) and I think we are not too frustrated even if the story would have really deserved to be more in depth, especially with the themes addressed.

I recommend you to watch this short film which changes from the ordinary and will move you.

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This is a short film, and a very good one.

The cinematography is wonderful in this, dark but not obscured, creating a sense of claustrophobia and hopelessness.

The acting is really good, and the leads are gorgeous. The latter isn't necessary, but it sure doesn't hurt. The actors seriously committed to the love scenes - no rubber kisses or camera angles used to cheat, and it looked more natural instead of the cheesy romance-novel-cover poses you often see.

The editing was very tight and effective, and the writing was gritty and while not entirely realistic (are all guys that are customers in Light's profession that young and hot?), the story was character-driven and made sense.

This is dark subject matter, and there are things in here that are hard to watch, so if you're triggered by sexual violence, both voluntary and involuntary, this might not be for you. None of it is so bad that it's horrifying, but it's there, albeit restrained, and you don't see the full course of what happens, only enough to let you know it's happening.

A lot of people were upset by a conclusion Shuo jumped to, but remember what Light does for a living, and how many times Shuo told him to stop, yet he continued anyway. That does lead into my only criticism:

This needed to be about 5-10 minutes longer, and better set up the misunderstanding. The fact that so many people felt really upset at Shuo demonstrates that we needed to actually see a couple of the times Light lied to Shuo instead of just being told it happened. That would have given the moment more impetus and we could have sympathized with both characters.

Anyway, I highly recommend this, and I aslo recommend you go to the director's YouTube channel and watch these two guys do comedy, because they're really good at it, especially Jed. There is also a cute and funny interview with the actors there.

I gave this 9 stars in every category except Rewatch Value. There are two scenes I'm likely to watch many times, but otherwise probably not.

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Yes the ending was rushed but DON'T MISS THIS. please.

Yes the ending was definitely rushed but DON'T MISS THIS. Please! *spoiler-free*


[ The REVIEW ]
Although you'll find this innocent & sexy story a bit wanting, it's surely something you won't regret watching. The main flaw is that it feels like chapters of this story seem to be missing - nothing wrong with execution, characters or the immersiveness of the story here- the movie will pull you right in and keep you fully engaged till the end- it's just that by the time you come close and closer to the end, you get a clear sense that there was more to be told here - you feel it was rushed.

Q. So should you miss this?
A. No. Don't miss this one.


....Now, lets get into the nitty gritties.....

[ Theme Of SEX ]
This was a story centered around sex and it dealt with it so honestly - for the character Light, a young prostitute, sex was connection, love & all intimacy ever is - he wastes no time in wanting to go there, all he wants is someone to say "I love you" and that's enough to get intimate. Shuo, the undercover cop takes him into his home & looks after him without a second thought but what I think they were trying to show was that there was sexual attraction from the get go, - you see, Shuo has cameras in the alleyway doesn't he, and he knows what Light's been up to. Sex just underpinned so much of this story, it's what drew the characters together in spite of themselves. I liked how they made this their main pull.

And those explicit intimate scenes though- we don't get to see our BL character's being unabashedly sexual - you got some BDSM in here, the character Light is seen sniggering as he's beaten at times and some passionate & convincing scenes between the leads - I kept thinking these actors are amazing to not worry about being typecast as these characters - these are real actors in the sense of the word - go wherever the role requires - bold stuff here but it's what gave sparks to the story, giving the narrative it's high & low points, it's what moves the story forward.



[ The ENDING & Missing Chapters ]
I'm not disappointed with the ending but like everyone has said - something's up with HOW they ended this. What we got was 40 min movie, alright, with the love story reaching it's midway high point at the 30 min mark BUT then within the last 10 mins of the movie a conflict ensues and is resolved quickly- The End! - something was definitely up.

Chunks of story were scrapped and not all loose ends were tied. If you remember, Shuo's character is an undercover cop and he was clearly there to investigate some gangster/goon character - they set that situation up pretty clearly but they never deal with it EVER. My gut feeling is that his undercover cop storyline was meant intertwine with Light's storyline, like Light, being a prostitute would find a way to get caught up in all this mess - but it never happened. We never get to see Shuo in some action scenes and saving the day.

Even Shuo's character isn't really explored - the synopsis of the movie says more about him than the movie itself shows. he's supposed to be a character that "cannot love" said one description of the movie but did the movie ever go there - no. My guess is that this was supposed to be a 2 HOUR flick that was shortened due to COVID and the story was altered to accommodate the shooting limitations.


[ Final WORDS ]
Nevertheless i'm thankful for it having been made. it was worth watching. Liked the characters, the situations they were put into and how convincingly the love story progressed. This could have been a classic BL 10/10 EASILY, which is was makes me feel bad - there was stuff missing from it that's all. I genuinely think the filmmaker didn't get to tell all he wanted to tell here. Regardless they showed us enough to understand these characters & appreciate their relationship.

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Bit Off More Than it Could Chew

Overall: This is a perfect example of trying to tell too much story in too short of screen time. The result is a bunch of hanging plot threads instead of a completed story.

Content warnings: two rapes (shown) and violence (not between m/m).

What I Liked
- I thought the visuals, acting, and production were good
- at least there weren't any evil ex-girlfriends or stalker fans fetishsizing m/m relationships in public...

Room For Improvement
- too many things were not completed, what happened with the store owner, the mafia boss? Light's dad is just skipping around free as a bird for the absolutely despicable and illegal things he's done??? What about that other guy, he's also not in jail, get him in jail!!!
- the fact that the police officer didn't believe Light, I wanted to strangle the police officer... This already feeds into the idea that survivors won't be believed if they come forward.
- once again we get BDSM portrayed as non-consensual, boo

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A Survivor's First Steps to Himself

SPOILERS: As a survivor I've been thinking alot about "Light". Don't read if you haven't seen "Light". There are also a lot of triggers in the movie so take care.

The actor who played Light was brilliant in conveying his vulnerability and the hope and innocence that still exists in him. "Even if its not true, can you say that you like me."

Emotionally, Light never experienced love without pain, never received affection, however false, without suffering. He learned that the only way he could be loved or valued was through his pain. He learned he had no value to anyone except as an object.

Physically, he was conditioned to experience sexual arousal through pain. His gratification was incidental to the gratification his pain gave others.

Is Shou's feeling for LIght strong enough to help Light heal? Can he accept that LIght has a long journey and may fall occasionally?

Can Light learn that pleasure for others doesn't mean his suffering? Can he learn that sex isn't the only way to show love? Can he learn to take pleasure from a loving touch? Can he accept that he has value? Can he learn to love himself? To love another? That love comes from within and flows out?

Light did two important things to begin his own healing ~ he stopped his participation in the cycle of abuse and he stepped away from depending on another (Shou) to take care of him, he stood on his own.

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MY HEART

This was so beautiful. Some people complained that it is too short which I agree and disagree on. On one side I wish it would be longer too because damn that was so good on the other side the length of it was enough to tell the story. It wasn't to short. One could understood the story without much trouble. The actors did a good job and the scenes were beautifully shot. For me the music was the weakest link because it didn't stand out very much but that means it wasn't bad either :3
The 18+ scenes are explicit sometimes, so if you ain't someone who likes this stuff just skip then and keep in mind they happened!
I like that Shuo apologizes in the end, normally the "dominant" male leads are to incompetent to do so but he isn't which ist nice!
Light turn around was nice too! I like that he didn't get back to prostitution after he left.

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Bitter Sweet

First of all, this film is NOT for the faint heart. It may be short but it is POWERFUL! I would definitely welcome more with open arms, but I'm satisfied with what I got out of this. It has it's heartfelt and heart breaking moments. Surrounded by love and lust, throw in some family violence and it's a horribly addicting concoction that had me hooked and before I knew it, it was over!
Enjoy...

*P.S. (on a serious note, not just as part of a review) Always tell someone the full story when experiencing physical abuse, it may be hard, but sometimes it could save your life.

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Had the potential

As it is, the short movie is can be rather touching in how it portrays the plight of Light, the main character, who has been through a lot in life, including being abused by his stepfather and having to prostitute himself for money (which the same stepfather demands for). He longs for love, but will he get it from the person who shows him concern, and will it last?

Light is a character who is easy to sympathize with. There are some moments of overacting, but Jed Chung manages to convey the character's vulnerability and yearning. Unfortunately, while there are commendable attempts to be economical in fleshing out his back story, sometimes the character ends up incoherent. The way he taunts a customer and the fragility he displays as he gets beaten up, for instance, don't cohere very well without more shown about how he has changed over time as he has to deal with a life in the streets.

The gaps in the portrayal of the other main character, Shuo, are even more obvious. I could only make sense of what is going on because I had read the synopsis of the film, and a lot more needs to be shown about his struggles and his feelings towards Light. The film appears conspicuously incomplete when we see how there is obviously supposed to be a lot more about the Shuo that is somehow not filmed or not included in the 44-minute cut (more likely the former).

I was very much prepared for a tragic ending in this film, perhaps ending with Light's death under yet another person who is violent to him or Shuo's death as his job as a policeman puts him in danger (something which is hinted at). It was a pleasant surprise for me to see the film having a happy ending though the ending appears a little too hurried, like so many aspects of the film. This is a shame for we clearly have a team that is capable of doing more and exploring the nuances of emotions. For instance, when Light first initiates sex with Shuo, why did Shuo refuse to do it even though he was clearly aroused? Was he in denial or his own feelings or did he not want to treat Light as a prostitute by letting Light "repay" his kindness with his body?

This is a film one would love to be able to love more, but it feels incomplete, leaving one dissatisfied while craving for more.

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