Bromance aiming at us....

Short, sweet, cute with loads of chemistry and perfect pacing. Added to it is Xia Zhi Yuan's irresistible smile and some nice piano background music and songs and you have the perfect, light entertainment for a Sunday evening.

A concerned father asks a young man to pretend to be his illegitimate son in order to shake his real son out of the slump. His happy go lucky attitude first encounters refusal but slowly and steadily he breaks through his fake brother's walls and manages to find the cause of his slump.

The two young men are perfect examples of opposites attract, enemies to friends (to lovers!) challenging each other out of their comfort zone and making them aim for different goals, making them more ambitious. While the first one is an orphan, who learned early to think on his feet and not to be bothered what other think about him and worry only about his own survival, the other man is a son of a rich father, pampered but also put under pressure to realize his and/or his father's dreams so much that he could not deal with it anymore and started stalling during competition.

The drama depicts well though not enough, the pressure the high achieving athletes are put under: by their families, their coaches, their competition. Having the iron clad will to win and not buckle up under provocation and bullying is paramount in this cut-throat world.

Even though the drama is short, the development of the relationship between two men is excellently paced: no stages are skipped, from the initial animosity to tentative resignation to hidden admiration and deep friendship. And of course more. Aaahhh, love that dares not speak its name in Chinese dramas....was pretty much obvious and they stopped a few times just a second before their lips touched but the feelings were overflowing. The chemistry was top notch. Even the presence of the girl visiting from France and not minding her business and therefore putting the spanner in the works of the father, though it gave additional drama it did not stop them in their bromance. We had everything here a good (b)romance requires: initial hatred, slowly getting to know each other, sleeping in the same bed (I loved those scenes: in the same bed but texting each other!), brushing teeth and eating together (nice home life), misunderstandings and jealousies, last minute break up and then reconciliation in the last episode. It was perfect!

These short dramas have become my favourites these days: not enough time for unnecessary side characters and time-wasting subplots , just a story of two people getting to know each other. And promote dental hygiene products!

This whole drama is actually an add wrapped around a BL.

Read More

And here goes another story about a magic mirror! In spite of all its flaws, it has the merit of being short and to the point: there are no pesky side characters and time-consuming second couples.

Following an umpteenth fight with his father, Aksorn moves out into a dorm room. There is a mirror left by the previous tennant in the room. The same night there is a meteor shower together with an aurora borealis which causes electrical disturbances. And suddenly Aksorn can see someone else's room in the mirror. After the initial shock has passed the boys become friends and more. But the mirror is still between them.

This is probably the best "magic mirror" drama I have seen together with the filipino Happenstance which is on a more serious side. This one is nice and fluffy! The connections and coincidences were a bit forced but since it is a short fantasy, I was not looking for reality. Moreover, they threw in a time difference trope along the parallel universe so it added extra complications to the plot which may have been a bit too much : like helping at the birth of Aksorn. But on the up side, Kyo stayed away from Aksorn until they were supposed to meet so that was a nice touch. On the other hand, they left some things unexplained: Aksorn's mother role and what actually happened to her.

The three main actors are good. Though the casting director is, as usual in thai bls, incapable of finding two actors of different ages to look a little bit alike to play the same character. But they all had good chemistry until the last episode when that chemistry turned to be extremely awkward.

I liked the cinematography and I appreciate the effort the cameraman did in framing some shots (stairs!) and filming the night skyline. The song was also sweet and I found it slightly different and better than the usual thai soundtracks.

All in all, a nice way to spend three hours and better than the majority of thai bls that were released in the last year.

Read More

Defying time

Brilliant idea but lacklustre execution, unfortunately! I was hooked after two episodes, so much so, I subscribed to Gagaoolala in order to finish it. It did not keep its promise, sadly!

There are two different time periods that suddenly due to supermoon, get in touch and two sad men start talking to each other across time! Something happens between them but of course, there are so many obstacles in their way that nothing can come out of their love story. Just more regret and sadness.
The characters are very real and I loved the Wade's mother: open, helpful, optimistic, friendly an ideal mother in short!

The cinematography is stunning. It gives the whole series an out of the world, hazy and dreamy feeling, as befitting a fantasy! Beside interesting camera angles, the two time periods are filmed differently. Wade in 2020, pandemic and isolation, is all white, overexposed and too bright. Jose Manuel in 1974 is just like the Marcos dictatorship historical period: hopeless, dark and sad. The only bright points are JM's T-shirts. Wade's T-shirts also carry a message connected to the story
.
The music is moody and ominous announcing from the first seconds that this is not going to be a happy story! The huge problem is the sound recording: very bad!

The writing is original though a bit draggy and it is not very clear at which speed the time moves. They start communicating through letters: I love that concept. Their ability to communicate is due to the full moon. But that full moon usually lasts no more than three night every four weeks. Here it seems that they talk to each other every day and that there is the full moon in the clear sky every day as well (the shots of the moon are too frequent to correspond to reality!). They talk through the mirrors but sometimes they seem to see each other and sometimes they seem to be talking to themselves in the mirror: so it is not really clear how the whole communication thing works. They can talk to each other every day but they can see each other only when it is the full moon. Maybe I missed something? Another issue I found strange is that Wade thinks of finding the contemporary JM only after he definitely looses contact with him. While they were talking to each other Wade was never curious to find him in 2020?
The writers used the legend of Sidapa and Libulan which is tale of a controversial love affaire of two male deities in precolonial Filipino myth showing how impossible can become possible if you don't give up.

But the most interesting part were the episodes' titles which are the most romantic untranslatable words from a variety of languages:

1. YUAN FEN: (mandarin) fate or chance that brings people together predestined affinity or relationship (Budd.) destiny. Being able to provide explanations in a positive way, Yuanfen has always functioned as an attribution, the psychological process of seeking reasons for particular events.
2. FORELSKET is a Danish word that means in love, enamoured, or in love with. Forelsket is also a Norwegian word for the magical state of falling in love: it is exhilarating partially because it’s so impossible to control. It’s that fluttery, heart-pounding, palms-sweating, complete bliss that you feel when you’re first falling in love.
3. SAUDADE is a Portugese word for the emotional state of melancholic or profoundly nostalgic longing for a beloved yet absent something or someone. It derives from the Latin word for solitude. It is often associated with a repressed understanding that one might never encounter the object of longing ever again. It is a recollection of feelings, experiences, places, or events, often elusive, that cause a sense of separation from the exciting, pleasant, or joyous sensations they once caused.
4. VIRAAG is a hindi word meaning the anguish you experience when you’re physically separated from the person you love. This could mean a wide range of things. Perhaps your crush is in a relationship with someone else, so you’re forced to love them from afar. Perhaps you and your partner are in a long-distance relationship counting down the days until you’re reunited. Or maybe (unfortunately) you’re enduring a breakup and struggling to cope with the idea of losing someone forever. That pain you feel? It’s viraag.
5. MAMIHLAPINATAPEI: derived from the Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego, listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the "most succinct word", and is considered one of the hardest words to translate.This word is all too familiar for those out there who are a bit on the shy side. You like someone, and you think (maybe!) (hopefully!) that they like you too. You’re sitting across from each other, hands almost touching, but not quite. Your breath catches in your throat and you’re sure they can hear your heartbeat slamming in your ears. You look shyly at them. They look shyly back. But neither of you makes the first move. This moment--one of joy and anguish, fear and excitement--is summed up by the word “mamihlapinatapei.”
6. ONSRA comes from Boro language of India and means loving for the last time; that bittersweet feeling you get when you know a love won’t last.
7. KARA SEVDE They talk about kara sevda, an untranslatable Turkish concept that literally means “black love” or blind love and alludes to how uncontrollable desire and unrequited love can render someone hopeless and broken. It also means tragic love. It used for a strong, unrelenting and unhealthy crush in tragedies and folk stories.
8. ICHIGO ICHIE "one time, one meeting" is a Japanese idiom that describes a cultural concept of treasuring the unrepeatable nature of a moment, the practice of making the most of every encounter and understanding how important the “now” is.
9. HAPPENSTANCE means something happened because of certain circumstances, although it was not planned by anyone.

There is an unsuspected depth in this story which is unfortunately bogged down with sadness and hopelessness.

Read More

Love & candles

Apparently this is based on the K drama with the same title. I have seen said drama but years ago and all I remember are the candles and the Himalayas. But I remember liking it (though when time travel is concerned, i am not picky: I adore the concept!).

A man discovers a bunch of candles that can take him back ten years so he uses them in order to save his girlfriend's life. This is the basic plot: but it is eventually really complicated, with many changes accomplished in the past which radically altered the present.

I have to give it to the writers: every time I'd see a plot hole and say "Aha! Gotcha!" , they'd find a perfectly logical explanation in accordance with the overall plot. It is practically foolproof if, of course, you accept the original ridiculous premise of time travel inducing magical candles! There is also the advantage they had going with the short format: they did not have too much time to ruin the drama with unnecessary subplots and complications.

Production value is excellent, the pacing perfect, the acting solid, music nice.

Since it is a c drama and since they are not allowed to do time travel themed series, there is an epilogue after the credits of the last episode which explains, using some incomprehensible mumbo jumbo, that the whole thing was just a coma dream. The full version (3h50 on youtube) does not feature this epilogue so you will be left wanting answers since the story is incomplete (or rather left on a cliffhanger!).

Definitely one of the best short c dramas!

Read More

It took me forever to finally watch this drama and the reason is that I can still vividly remember the webtoon I read a couple of years ago. And I can still remember disliking the main couple. And also wanting to see so much more of the second couple.

And lo and behold, this adaptation is very much faithful to the webtoon and therefore, I disliked the main couple and wanted to see more of the second couple (fortunately there are some nice webtoon side stories about them).

WJ has problems at work so he has been suspended. he goes to a tiny seaside town and meets by accident a well known pottery artist who has been hiding for the past two years. The artist is WJ's boss's favourite one so WJ sees this encounter like a possibility to earn some points and get reinstated. WJ, with his cheerful nature breaks slowly the walls around the artist. Until they actually fall in love and WJ's scheming comes to light. Now ensue a string of misunderstandings and lies which are mercifully quickly resolved! The second couple has a more interesting story: I cannot really remember whether they were real cousins or just friends but the drama lightly touches upon (mentions once!) the family homophobia: blink and you miss it!

The story is messy with a lot of inconsistencies and illogicalities. There is this particular feeling about K-BLs, and this one is no exception: they are cold and empty in spite of warm cinematography, the acting is stilted and unnatural, the kind of music featured has been heard already so many times and is extremely boring, the writing is rather superficial. The actors were mostly cute but the main couple had zero chemistry: more often than not even when they were together, they looked like they were on different planets. The webtoon characters had more sparks flying between them than these two real people. And don't start me on those fish & passionless kisses: not even kisses, more like tiny pecks on lips! Fortunately, there is character development, a slight one but a growth nevertheless: one matures and grows a backbone while the other rediscovers joys of life. While I was watching the office worker played by Gongchan, I kept thinking of Suits, the US show: he reminded me so much of young Patrick J. Adams. And once I thought of that, I could not unthink it, unfortunately! The other couple's thuggish guy reminded me of the farmer boy, loud and direct, from Love Tractor.

This is a most unremarkable drama, correctly produced but lacking soul, a spark or something which would bring it to the top.

Read More

Mistaken identity?

What to say about this little film that has not been said many times already? It is a cute high school romcom.

Every few years these movies are made for new generations of public: a story about a mousy girl who falls for the most popular guy in school (here it is through letters in a notebook). This one has an added twist since it is obviously an adaptation of the classic Cyrano. The girl thinks that the boy had fallen for her much smarter and prettier friend but since she is not interested in him, the girl decides to continue corresponding with him while pretending to be her friend.

I liked that even though this is a film made recently, there is practically not a single phone in sight: the mobile phone interactions have been brought down to a strict minimum for a change. The communication is often verbal, written and even through songs (I loved the song they used to apologize!). In today's world, where young people seem to have their fingers glued to phone screens, this film is a refreshing change, a throwback to romcoms of about 20 years ago 'complete with an accidental school radio live confession!)

This is nothing earth shatteringly new or particularly original but it is well produced and filmed. The actors are cute and portrayed their characters well, having decent chemistry. Nice watch for a Sunday evening.

Read More

Teen Ghost Whisperer

When I started watching this for my Back To The Past watch challenge, I had a terrible feeling of déjà vu: the plot and the events looked so familiar. Until I realized that this must be a japanese take on that american show The Ghost Whisperer. The plot is basically the same: a girl who can see ghosts helps them with their unfinished business, and afterwards they go into the light. It is a case of the week kind of drama, though there is the main story arc that covers the whole show. The girl is helped by a young man who needs to convince his dead ghost girlfriend that she has to go into the afterlife. While doing that they fall in love incurring the wrath of the dead girlfriend.

The whole drama makes you feel warm and giddy: the actors are all good and the chemistry is just right. The special effects are a bit clunky but it does not take anything away from the enjoyment of the drama. The stories, though mostly funny and fun, deal with important questions and feelings: friendship, family, regrets, hopes, dreams and love and grief.

I liked the whole idea behind the drama that only teens can see ghosts: once you become adult you lose that capability. What is the point of that? Helps you grow up and mature, deal with the difficult period of being a teen, dealing with not being a child any more but not quite an adult yet. The FL here shows surprising kindness, open mindedness, understanding and even maturity and I wished that the writers came up with a happy ending for her and her boyfriend even though it was clear from the get go that they could never be together forever. That said, the whole drama is happy, uplifting, sweet and funny. A great watch!

Read More

Don't stay still!

This whole web drama, even though it is well filmed, directed, acted, it should not have been a drama but two, maybe three separate short films or maybe episodes in an omnibus drama. The story follows three couples who never interact, they do not know each other, and what happens in their lives does not impact in any way the others. So I frankly fail to understand the intention behind the director's vision. Is it a social commentary? I could not notice any.

There are three couples vaguely connected by the girl in the first couple which shows up : Paki & Shane. They are enjoying their last night of lovemaking because she is getting married soon. So she decides to tell him a story about two of her friends (episode 0). But what ep.0 did not make clear is that the story she wants to tell is not about a couple but two different stories about people who do not know each other. The first couple in introduced in the first episode: Hayden and Damian, his neighbour who get to know each other through Damian's grandmother. When they meet, the sparks fly but they are both still vulnerable from their previous relationships so they decide to take it slow. When the grandma dies, Damian is depressed and with Hayden's help he manages to pull through the grieving period. The second couple we meet in a bar where Paki met Hayden for a drink. Archie is Paki's friend and he meets Kelvin, the bar owner, and his high school boyfriend for the first time after years of being abroad. They used to be in a relationship in high school but a girl liked Kelvin and wanted him for herself so she outed and shamed Archie, so much that he left. She then manipulated Kelvin into getting her pregnant and held onto him through their son. When Kelvin meets Archie and realizes his feelings for him are still the same, he decides to stop dancing to his wife's tune and to be honest about himself.

What is the point of Paki's telling these stories? One cannot stay still, immobile. You have to move on, forward, fight for your own happiness and try to be true to yourself and your feelings. I can see that but then why is she not doing it herself: she obviously has feelings for Shane but she's marrying someone else. Not everyone can be happy, not everyone can stay with the person they love? OK, I guess..

While the stories are not particularly original, the acting and production are excellent for a drama filmed on a restricted budget. The colours are all washed out, dark, sad and depressing. The stories are not: they are uplifting and hopeful. Nice contrast. The camerawork is rather interesting: obviously handheld and shaky and there are some interesting camera angle choices: all that made for an intriguing watch, never boring. Music is a bit all over the place: while there are a couple of beautiful songs we only get to hear them during credits a couple of times, otherwise it is all heavy, dramatic and serious piano music.
The actors are all amazing, very much at ease with each other which shows well in the steamy makeout scenes without a single fish kiss.

In conclusion, this is a nice bl offering from HongKong and I hope this crew makes more similarly well produced and written dramas!

Read More

The boy next door

I have not seen many dramas from Hong Kong: their cinema is world renowned but dramas...No one speaks about them here unfortunately! But what I have seen are mainly low budget web bl dramas and they are far from slick but the stories they tell are usually raw, rough and unpolished (lots of synonyms to say the same thing!) and very real: no fluff or fairy tales in sight. This one seems to be no different!

This special is the introduction episode to the longer drama, showing us how the main characters met. It starts by a woman who, after the post coital bliss, delivers bad(?) news to her lover and then offers to tell him a short story about two of her friends: Hayden and Damian. Hayden moves into a new flat and meets an old lady and her grandson Damian.

In spite of this being only 15min long they managed to make it look long and draggy. When Hayden meets the old lady, the whole sequence is far too long. Well I guess we needed to establish that Hayden is kind to elderly but that scene went on and on and on.... The same goes for Damian: he is shown to be kind to his grandmother, looking after her conscientiously. So the characters are nice people. Handsome as well. The grandmas's white hair looked too fake to be real and they could have done without it! The cinematography is grey and unappealing though the camerawork is interestingly dynamic, the apartment building is unkempt and old and the sets in general are dark and depressing. The final credits song is very nice.

And that's about it! The two men meet briefly and take a long look at each other. Promising? Wink, wink! Oh yes, the ending delivers but the story is far from finished!

Read More

All smiles, no substance...

Lucky My Love definitely deserve A for the effort and some consideration because it is one of the rare GLs out there. If we were to compare it to similar length web dramas, it keeps up with them. But, objectively speaking this is a badly written, acted and overall produced drama.

It is an office romance. Napdao is so unsuccessful in love that she goes to tarot reader to get some insight into her future. At the same time a new team manager joins the office. Their boss and the new team manager start competing for Napdao's attention. Whom shell she choose?

This short web drama does not raise any issue (family and society acceptance needed?). They are both independent women and we do not know much about them or their background. The biggest problem here are the love triangle and misunderstanding, though due to the short duration, those problems were quickly solved. And of course there is the obligatory mildly screeching trans comic relief character. The drama is shallow, quick and forgettable.

The production is a low budget one but that is not important especially where these rare dramas are concerned. They should have concentrated more on writing and acting because they are both lacking. None of the actors could deliver the lines correctly (and the subs on youtube are really bad so it is not about the substance but the intonation). The actress playing Napdao has an infectious smile, she is very cute and when she smiles she lights up the room. Literally!

The producers of Lucky My Love need encouragement to continue to make better dramas: this one was a cute little romance but with no substance. Hopefully we'll see better things in the future.

Read More

Free will or the fate

I somehow grew to like these short historical c dramas. First of all they are short so they do not have time to waste on fillers and unnecessary side plots. Second of all, they are historical i.e. costume dramas which have no relation to real history. And finally, they are pretty to watch: pretty people dressed in pretty clothes inside pretty sets accompanied by pretty music.

Fortune Writer is one of the better ones, combining seamlessly costume drama and characters-inside -a-book drama. Even though the plot gets a bit complicated and repetitive, it is certainly worthy of the watch.

The story follows Yun Qui, the daughter of the Prime Minister as she realizes that she is a character in a book, written by the fortune (or fate) writer and decides to rebel against her tragic fate by lying and manipulating other characters. I loved the FL: she is an unabashedly gray character, not entirely evil but not far either. When the drama started, I thought she was a side character molesting the usual pretty and kind princess.

The story is tightly written. The mysteries are revealed one at a time steadily. The characters are not what they seem to be , there is a depth in them which is a nice change for a short drama. The main point of the story is the duel of wits between YunQui and the Fortune Writer. She is convinced that she is the sole master of her own fate which the FW refuses to admit. The whole concept of FW is an interesting one: they come into existence when individuals have something they deeply desire so in order to obtain it they are allowed to manipulate the lives of other people. The FW invades bodies of such people. Yun Qui refuses the offer eventually, and lets everyone in her vicinity have free will. Could this be a pique to the current politics? I wonder....

The acting was solid though I found the chemistry between the leads lacking: the main actor has one expression throughout the drama. Whether he is in love or in pain, hungry or constipated, it is always the same stony face! But I loved his line: "Just keep lying to me! I don't care!" He was in love!

I needed to suspend belief a few times especially when falling off of a cliff or when arrow wounds were concerned. At one point, the FL has an arrow buried in her shoulder, pulls it out (no visible blood) and continues as if nothing happened. When a friend sees her a few minutes later, he gives her a handkerchief she uses to wipe her chin, the arrow wound has somehow magically disappeared. This made me lose concentration badly!

Another good point for this drama is that the version on youtube is mercifully free of audio problems: they found the way to air a complete drama without cutting the sound. This is the first!

Read More

Hero worshipping to love?

And again, the hype got to me and I watched this drama. And, again, because of the hype, I was more attentive to details. And because I paid attention to details, I did not like this very much. And what I did not like the most is the character of Wei Zhi Yuen: what a manipulative little cocky jerk of a person!

Here starts the rant:

Wei Qian, a lonely orphaned boy, taking care of his sister while working for the local mob, takes in a stray boy he keeps seeing sleeping in the street. He adopts him and gives him a name. Few years later, that boy, now adult, first comes out to WQ (so he is gay but the only man he was ever attracted to is WQ?!?!) and then professes his love to WQ (apparently he has been in love with him ever since he met him as a child?!?!?OK...), who shocked, sends him to school abroad. WZY comes back four years later, changed, matured but still in love with WQ and keeps attacking him until WQ surrenders.

WZY has basically two personalities: before and after going abroad. Before, he is hero worshipping WQ who saved him, gave him home and future. He imagines himself being in love. He is stubborn, has one track mind and does not take NO for an answer. When he comes back, older and wiser he manages to get what he wants by smartly manipulating WQ.

WQ has always been more of a father than a brother to his younger sister Lili and to WZY. He has a physical aversion towards women due to his mother's abuse: he gets literally sick when a women reminds him of her. So he has never been in a relationship: between trying to survive, working hard and looking after his siblings, being in a relationship was the last of his worries. He has never had any romantic feelings or even an idea of love (except as a family member) towards WZY. So when WZY comes back, WQis happy to have his brother back, he is family and he loves his family but he caves under WZY relentless bullying. Is he really in love with WZY? Allow me to doubt! They do end up happily ever after but..... During the first half of the series, WQ is the man in the house. But when WZY comes back, suddenly WQ loses all strength and every brain cell and turns from the ML into the FL while WZY takes the initiative....The change of relationship pace comes with WZY's maturity which catches an exhausted WQ off guard. WQ eventually just gives in and 5min later they are heavily breathing on the bed!

This whole love story failed to convince me.

The story about WQ's struggles to take care of his family while being a child himself was inspiring. The child actors were extraordinary. The whole cast was at the top of their game especially the main pair. The problem is the writing and messy storytelling and the editing with too many flashbacks. But this is a BL so what do we expect.? It is a romance which wants to look like real world but we all know it does not! Maudlin music, nice sets and average cinematography completes the unremarkable production values. One more thing I noticed: why did the costume designer make WQ wear those granpa jumpers in the second half: to make him look older, more experienced, wiser?

There are two exactly the same love stories developed here though the other one should have been fleshed out more. It is a parallel story between Lily, WQ's little sister and San Pang his best friend. The older boys knew them (Lili & WZY) when they were kids, so they treated them as siblings. Now adults, those siblings do not want to be considered siblings any more but lovers. The major difference between these stories is that SP did not save Lili's life, he was just a helpful big brother's friend.

There is even a mafia story somewhere in there (blink and you miss it!) and the inkling of a possible love story between the doctor and the mob boss. Now, that is the drama I would like to see: those two characters practically stole the show and they were in this 10min max!

Some people said there is incest and grooming. No not really! They are not blood relatives so no incest and when they eventually get together they are full grown independent adults. Grooming? Absolutely not! The older brother was never attracted to the younger one. it is the younger brother who relentlessly pursues the older one.

The drama is relationship trope filled: from sponge baths, feeding porridge, fastening seatbelt....think of it, it's in there! The music is all the time on: the songs end up being extremely annoying since they translated the lyrics. Every song explains the emotions felt by the main characters: loneliness ("I am lonely...."says the song), missing someone ("I miss you, I want to see you..."says the song ), flashbacks ("We met in the past, you helped me..."says the song), kissing ("I love you, I want to be with you forever..." says the song)). They are probably not exact lyrics but thereabouts, as if we could not understand what the characters are feeling. Better safe than sorry, the producers must have said. Last but not least, there seemed to be an issue with editing in episode 11: I actually quite liked it. It gave us the flashbacks of their every important moment edited with their lovemaking!

I liked these quotes at the end of every episode which correspond to events taking place:
The first-ever family that will never abandon you.
The second kind of family always leaves the light on for you
The third kind of family is the kind that always makes you want to stay
The fourth type of family member is someone who is always there for you
The fifth kind of family is too good to let go
The sixth kind of family pretends to be strong and doesn't say goodbye
The seventh kind of family is always waiting in the distance
The eighth kind of family shows care in his own way
The ninth kind of family is always there to protect you when the end comes
The tenth kind of family loves you so much that they want to leave you.
The eleventh kind of family indulges you unconditionally because they love you so much.
The twelfth kind of family stays together for life.

In conclusion, I am probably not the target audience since these kinds of dramas, half serious half fluff and nothing whole, are really tiring me.

Read More

Love knows no obstacles

Well, this was a perfect romcom for a Saturday evening!

And it is just a romcom that does not try to be anything more than that: so no dealing with lgbt issues, no history context issues, no family acceptance issues. Just a romcom! Fun, funny, sweet, butterflies inducing chemistry...what more do you need for a relaxing evening?

I have been aware of this drama but since the rating was very low and comments not good, I was never tempted to watch it. Until I discovered today that there was a movie version of it. I was actually looking for a BL to watch tonight and it was a toss up between this and Venus In The Sky. I am so happy that this film won!

The story: a man dresses up as his sister who ran away, and takes her place at her wedding. Afterwards he asks her husband to wait a few days until his sister is found. Since nobleman Ryu's mother is of fragile health, they decide to continue with the charade for a few days. But the forced proximity makes them get to know each other well and feelings start growing between them.

There is a lot of comedy, smart kind involving secondary characters: Mother heating up the room to make them undress, Ryu's friend who falls for his "wife" and sends "her" love letters even the jealous little sister pranking. There is not one single mean character, surprisingly.

The characters live in their own universe apparently: it is a costume drama but we do not know when because that is not important. Nothing exists outside this little world and I was fine with that. I was not expecting it to deal with the lgbt issues in the past: that was not the point of this film.

I have not seen the drama but this film version flows smoothly. The characters are sweet and nice. The main couple have great chemistry. The actor Han Se Jin, playing the brother dressed as a sister, is beautiful. He made me think of the japanese actor Yutaro: same kind of actor! Actually he looked better in a dress than in a hat (but anyway nobody looks well in those hats!).

This is just a regular costume romcom involving a crossdressing main character but it is amusing, well written and acted. Towards the end there is a bit of too many flashbacks, same scenes over and over again. The music is really nice and the final scene gave me butterflies....

This was a nice and light, amusing and warm, a perfect relaxing watch. I want more like this!

Read More

Love through the screen

Can close relationships survive extreme situations? Can the same extreme situation help create new relationships?

I like anthology series and this one, produced by now dead production company Nadao, is definitely one of the best. Unexpectedly, an excellent covid quarantine skype drama from Thailand when the majority of these covid dramas came from the Philippines. There are 10 stories, each dealing with a different kind of relationship.
Here they are:
1. Haunted (from) Home - two brothers pranking each other at distance.
2. Lovers On The Street - a girl finds a photo of her boyfriend with another woman on Google Street View. She enrols the help of her best friend to find who that woman is.
3. The Thuang (Talk2DaHand) - a man tries to recover some money he lent to a woman who refuses to give it back. His reply is awesome. This is the shortest, the funniest episode of all.
4. Day 10 - two neighbours meet and talk through the wall between their balconies, thus curing loneliness brought on by confinement.
5. Pumpkin Can - a fitness trainer decides to help a girl who just got dumped, to get back on her feet. Generosity in hardship.
6. Close Friend - two best friends and unrequited love. Should the friendship survive?
7. Because We Know You Still Have To Leave The House - an inventor, safely quarantined at home, comes up with protection gadgets for his frail friend who needs to go out to work every day. The inventor gets angry when the banker complains about the lack of practicality of his inventions. This one made me angry: the rich guy in safety complains to the poor guy in danger and sulks when he is not obeyed.
8. Mother - Distancing - mother daughter relationship is often a difficult one. But when they are in danger, everything else suddenly becomes unimportant. As it should!
9. The Coach - a guy trying to earn money by becoming a life coach on line. Not a good idea!
10. What Happened Last Night? - a gl.

Each relationship is shown in depth and is really ingeniously produced giving us a serious look at the young people's relationships: be it between siblings, strangers, friends or with parents.

Definitely worth the watch if you are in the mood for a short drama!

Read More

Hope in misery?

If you are looking for a nice and fluffy bl, you are at the wrong place! I understand why it has such low rating, I do not agree with it but I understand! Because it is grey: misery, unhappiness, hopelessness...mention it, it's there! But it is not all black since there is a sliver of light that appears.

It is a story of two men trying to survive, just survive the onslaught of their respective families. They have known each other a few years previously when their parents married but that marriage did not last long. Something happened between the two young men at the time, as well, that created a huge rift. We never really clearly find what it was: an unwanted, unexplained kiss? The main problem are their parents: one father is an abuser, the other a criminal but still very attractive to his ex wife using their son to finance them.

The drama is too short. It touches upon a lot of issues but it does not really have the time to delve deeper into them: mainly parents abusing of their children who are desperately wanting to free themselves from their hold. So much so that the young men are exhausted, desperate and lacking energy to do anything. We are left without explanation as to how and why that kiss (?) happened between them which ruined a friendly relationship they had when they were younger! The older one feels responsible and guilty towards the younger one. Why?

The romance comes out suddenly and is heart flutteringly beautiful, chemistry soaring sky-high but unfortunately nothing is solved by the realization. The life is too difficult to bear to do anything more than just survive. The promise of happiness is too scary to believe: when you've been beaten down by life, you lose all hope. We are left with an open ending, showing us a glimmer of hope that one of them allows himself to dare to feel.

This drama is beautifully filmed, written and acted. The cinematography alongside the animated opening credits are all in shades of grey, perfectly translating the desperation and the misery the main characters feel. The music is just as good. It has been a long time since a korean BL made me feel so many emotions: rage, pity, sadness, hope, love...

Read More