The story is somewhat slow but everything is expertly tied together with great acting by the three leads & is worth watching for the stylish cinematography alone.
Warning: BL/Gay themes. Some nudity.
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my interpretation
before i watched this film, i decided to look up the reviews and overall were mixed. this film has its flaws. yet, i don’t considered a bad film. the story to me was about someone’s personal struggles over sexuality, love, lust, & confusion. Shane, one of the main leads, he seems to be confused about his sexuality. not only that, he is in conflict with his feelings between his girlfriend and his best friend. Jonathan, Shane’s best friend, is secretly in love with Shane. He is always there for Shane and can be seen to be very valuable to Shane. I believed Jonathan played such a vital role in Shane’s life that when Shane saw himself losing Jonathan, he realized hidden feelings. I think Shane genuinely loved his girlfriend and Jonathan. he was in a battle with himself. He seemed he couldn’t make up his mind and didn’t want to lose either. Obviously, his girlfriend and Jonathan had to bring Shane to his senses and make him choose. which is where i found the biggest flaw of this film, the ending !! we get no closure or dropped hint of what comes next. we are left with such vague ending.Was this review helpful to you?
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It was fine.
This was just fine.The storyline felt really jumpy and confusing at some points, the transition between them being in high school and then being in college really through me off, I didn't really understand that that time passed. I mean I caught on eventually but it wasn't obvious. The was acting was all right, though I felt like the girl literally had no personality. I guess she really didn't need one she was there to cause conflict. The ending was not satisfying at all to me, I don't need them to love each other in the end, what I did need though was an explanation of why he slept with him. Like why would you play with your best friends heart like that?
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what even just happened
This film lacks any kind of cohesion. I was so confused about what I was so supposed to take away from this experience, this film did absolutely nothing and I genuinely don’t know what it was trying to tell me. Besides the plot, the passing of time was super weird, I’m not actually sure how long a period of time it takes place over. Also both Shane and Carrie were awful friends, going out with each other despite Carrie knowing that Jonathan, who she was supposed to be good friends with, was in love with Shane and Shane knowing that he and Carrie had dated in the past. Then Shane claims Jonathan to be his best friend and talks about how he never had anyone else, despite how terribly he treats him. I mean, the sex scene, literally why? It was so unnecessary and made no sense because ten minutes later Shane says they’re just friends, at least I’m assuming unless you’re my best friend in response to a love confession is a feelings conformation (can’t be sure with this film seeing as it seems just as confused about what story it’s trying to tell as I am). Also the scene where he randomly had sex with that older guy was weird too, it’s something I’ve seen in a couple LGBT films and I really need it to stop, it’s such a weird addition. Plus the book about trans people at the beginning? I don’t know what that was about because it had no relevance to the rest of the plot.Overall the only saving grace is the visuals, it’s shot in an old analogue camera style that gives the film a really nice aesthetic and often has this green-ish lighting that adds tremendously to the vibe of the locations. Besides that it’s abrupt, nonsensical and contains a host of subpar acting.
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PAINFUL AF!!!!!
Typical story where you fall in love with your childhood friend, then when you grow up, a girl comes into the picture.When I watched this, the only thing I thought was 'poor Jonathan'
He deserves better; not a 'friend' who had sex with him even when he's straight and had a gf. The girl's too, she's kinda annoying? Like, she tried to be kind - acting like a best friend, while she's supposed to stay back and let the men cleared things out (glad that in the end, she did it tho)
Anyway, Shane is an asshole. Maybe he's confused idk, but he didn't want to lose Jonathan as his best friend, and his girlfriend. Bruh, you can't have everything in this world. He's even making it worse by having sex with Jonathan then acted pitiful in the end. So, in conclusion: Shane is a red flag walking.
For Jonathan, I was hoping that he had a stronger character in the movie. Yes, love hurts, bae T.T I also felt bad at him because of his father demands for his future. If only Shane understood him better -.- but no, Shane only cared for Jonathan to watch his basketball so that he could act cool blablabla.
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A whole mess
First, the girl seriously pissed me off. She had many opportunities to come clean and admit what she did was wrong but nope.You knew he had feelings for his friend and you still went after said friend !!
Then Jonathan, oh my god! Instead of confessing to his friend he goes and hurts his feelings by telling him he was forced to be his friend.
Then there’s Shane suddenly kissing and sleeping with him ?? That came out of nowhere like, there’s no explanation why he did that and even after that happened he didn’t even stop to ponder wether perhaps he has feelings for Jonathan or something.
Anyways, seriously, a whole mess.
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Realistic story
I discovered this in the trending list on Netflix and just watched this movie. This 2006 Taiwanese movie gives me "Your Name Engraved Herein" vibe. The three main casts portrayed their characters very well. I first saw Ray Chang in the "We Best Love" but he was much better here. This film is not the kind of lovely dovey film but it reflects how love in reality is complicated and mess up our lives when people are in love with someone whom they can't openly confess their love for some reasons. The story is good. Music supports the film and hits the emotions. One thing, they left the ending open. I wish they could make the ending a little bit longer.Was this review helpful to you?
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Friendship is love too
This movie shows beautifully that human emotions are complex and the question "do I love this person" might not be a "yes - no" question at all. This is not a typical love triangle, where two people love the same person and the viewers wonder "who will win?" In here, all three protagonists have some sort of positive feeling for one another, and their quest is to understand those feelings, which is not as easy as might be expected. Is it infatuation? Is it love? Is it just friendship? Why "just" - maybe friendship is actually as big as love - or bigger?Was this review helpful to you?
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A mess and a half
Don't watch it please save your time ?It felt like one of those old queer movies you watched when you're a kid bcs there's no other representation out there.
The story was all over the place, it felt really out of touch, it couldn't really portray the character's feelings like i had no idea what any of them were thinking of or feeling most of the movie.
I'm not gonna blame the girlie for anything bcs she was just in an awkward situation, she's a kid she can't control who she likes but i am gonna blame whoever made the movie, her character in the movie felt like a filler and the fact that she didn't add anything to the story and it felt like they just wanted to add a girl into the Mix to make it interesting.
And the book about the trans ppl at the beginning was so confusing???? And they didn't elaborate at all like looked at the movie description again bcs i rlly thought it was gonna be a trans rep moment
This movie was just a mess, after watching your heart engraved herein i wanted to watch another angst taiwanese movie but this is the least gay feeling gay movie they could've made, it felt like they knew nothing about gay dudes.
*Spoilers*
/////and when he slept with him at the end what even was that like you're rlly not gonna explain anything about that like he rlly likes the girlie and by the looks of it he only like him as a friend then why the hell would they add that, it felt like they just wanted to show them fucking like okay if it was a ploy thing for him and he was in love w both of them then okay they should've shown that better and if it was an internalized homophobia thing then they should've also explained that better!!
And my third theory is he knew he liked him so he was just doing that for him but idk you don't kiss yr bro passionately just bcs you don't wanna lose him.
And the older gay dude approaching the young gay dude to sleep w him after his heart got broken cliche
boohoo i wanted to claw my eyes out////
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A Pretentious 'Masterpiece'
Not all films or series with a good cinematography and acting are worth it, especially when the story is trash... This is how I'll describe this film.This is very pretentious, to the point that there is no meat to the story in itself.
The actors and music were decent. Too bad that in its goal to be artsy, the rest of the aspects of a good creation was forgotten. To think that the length of the film was sufficient.
Even a problematic person would have a more decisive way of storytelling and reasoning than what the writers did to this film.
I deel bad that it looks promising but it remained to be all in the surface as nothing is inside it.
I ended watching the film with regret... regret that I even bothered to watch it.
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A masterpiece!
Why did nobody "warn" me this was a masterpiece?No BL clichés but a very sensitive portrayal of the characters' inner conflicts.
Nobody is a villain even though they often hurt each other.
You suffer with the characters but you enjoy the suffering because you experienced something similar before.
Who has not experienced a situation when you don't understand yourself, feel lost, hate your feelings and even get angry with people who arouse those feelings in you?
I have never given a 10/10 rating before (and I've seen a lot - check my watchlist) but here it is a must.
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