Forbidden Love (2008)

Story has potential as a psychological thriller.

General spoilers at the bottom. If you want more specifics on the ending, I've added a few hidden spoiler comments to the posted review. Direct link: https://mydramalist.com/profile/Zii3/review/327061

A good stopping point for a happy and hopeful ending is at 55 minutes & 55 seconds in! Or watch until 58 min & 58 seconds AT THE LATEST, though an underlying tension that leads to the ending starts to become more apparent.

I'd say this is more an M/M story, or even a psychological thriller, than a BL. If you like BLs but are not familiar with darker Japanese dramas, you may have a very hard time enjoying this (any appreciation likely requires a bit of a masochistic mood).

I'd say only watch if you're in the mood for something weird and likely unsettling but intriguing and with some bits of sweetness. While there are sexual themes and lots of shirtlessness, there isn't much physical intimacy shown by the camera. Some things are implied, but even the kisses are head-blocked (so lips aren't seen). Which, honestly, I was thankful for as the two brother characters are under 18. Some situations were unsettling enough without actually watching through them.

The plot and it's multiple twists is interesting and clues/explanations are revealed at a slow but even pace. In that regard, I thought the film did a good job. It kept me mentally engaged.

It's not a great film but it will linger in my mind for awhile. Yet I don't feel mentally scarred by it, unlike I was by The Shortest Distance Is Round, for example. I almost wish a longer remake of this was made because the foundation of the story is strong and has a lot of potential for a gripping psychological thriller if things were fleshed-out and if the production had a higher budget so more could be done with cinematography, lighting, sound, and costumes.

GENERAL SPOILERS below.

I knew the ending was going to be disturbing because everyone says so. I even knew the basic plot point of why it ends tragically. Yet I was STILL shocked by the final minutes and the ending tableau, lol! Wow.

The ending is tragic and creepy and there are Machiavellian characters, though who exactly is the driving force and for what reasons are revealed slowly. The audience doesn't get all the puzzle pieces until the end.

The acting was better than I expected. I was rooting for the main couple and happy when they reconciled. I wasn't deeply emotionally invested though, which helped me watch through the end without being depressed about it. It did tug at my heartstrings a bit though.

I thought the screenplay and the director did a fairly good job with symbology and tying together visual repetitions. For example, Sho's favorite color is white. Ritsu held a white towel around Sho's head in the past to dry his hair. In a present scene, white cloth is held around Sho's head that Ritsu will turn into a shirt for him. Later, Ritsu holds up the shirt as he waits for Sho and we can imagine Sho's face there. The camera then shows that Sho's face is indeed surrounded by white, but someone else has subverted the sequence.

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UNUSUAL AND THANKFULLY SHORT

I enjoyed this, though I have no idea why. Interesting story at first. I'm not a big fan of older man/teenage boy relationships. That sends a creepy message. Even though Ritsu truly cares for Sho, he is his tutor and surrogate caretaker. But I guess for where this story ends up, that's the least of your worries. Once you get over that, figuring out what's troubling Sho takes longer than it should. It's a simple misunderstanding that gets cleared up with one conversation (and the flash of a chest). All the sales calls were unnecessary. Not sure what they added.

The movie lulls you into thinking it's a fairly straightforward BL story. But little by little you learn more about the relationships and then it's got a few surprises. But it's just slightly bizarre, slightly kinky, slightly taboo. So you never really know what to expect and that's what makes the choices so unsettling.

As most people have said, there's no real character development, so you're not as invested as you might be. This could have been a tear-jerker, but without fleshed out characters you wind up just going through the motions until you get to the end. The actor and director do a nice job handling the Ryou character and story, however.

I guess I applaud the film for making unusual choices. They convert familiar BL tropes into their own here so I enjoyed the novelty of it. But this could have been so much better with just a little character work. I won't watch again, but it's a quick and painless viewing if you're looking for something off-beat.

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Now, this story will shock you.

Cast - Everyone acted that perfect.
Music - Definitely fit the mood.

Lasting Impression - If you're a BL fan, I recommend watching it once. It has its sweet moments, but the movie is overall twisted. It does not really have any character development or progression of story. It's more just like 'this is the situation and this is how it ended up.'
For the reason I just mentioned, some people find this boring. There's honestly a lot going on in this movie, but the story is so weird that you could feel more frustrated than interested. If you're into Japan's weirdness or weird stuff in general.. 100% watch it.

Rewatch Value - Unless you just really like weird stuff, Nah.

Personal Opinion - I enjoyed it, but it was a disaster. Keyword: DISASTER. If it was art.. that's diffferent. Art can be weird. However art has a deeper meaning. Something that leaves you looking at the world in a different way.. This movie lacked that. It's just in your face. So it gets a 5 because I enjoyed it. If I thought it was complete trash, I wouldn't give it a 5. It just lacks substance.

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HOLY F*CK AND SPOILERS

I watched this some time ago and now i thought its the time to say something about it. The sentence that best describes what i felt when i watched it is WHAT THE ACTUAL F**CK DID I JUST WATCH?? Yes. Exactly. Trust me when i say this, i never watched something like this in my life nor did i ever hear about something like this. I watched it out of boredom and curiosity at 3am. Not the best idea i ever had. I dont usually have trouble following along a movie or a show, but this? Im surprised i was able to finish it and oh boy what an ending it had... I gave the acting 7 stars because good job to them for being able to act in this. The story? I refuse to make myself remember every little detail because i tried so hard to forget it. Long story short, if you re into some kind of weird, messed up love triangle between 1 man who left to pursue his dream, 1 who was bullied and was drowning in a deep depression after his lover left and 1 who is HIS BROTHER, this is the BL is for you. Also, if you re into a brother obssessing over his own brother and kill*ing him at the end because of jealousy (and cuddling his dead body) then sure, watch and enjoy. But if not, DONT DO IT. Take it from someone who did and then asked herself "what was i thinking?"

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For me, the film was definitely not interesting, on the contrary, because of the overall story and its ending, it was embarrassing, shocking, wtf? Little logical, skeletal character development. Other aspects of the evaluation were slightly above average. But you won't change my recommendation that all of this, even if someone can and will manage to get over Japan, despite the girls' Japanese hairstyles with landscapes, that I don't recommend the film.



Pro mě rozhodně nebyl snímek zajímavý, naopak, kvůli celkovému příběhu a jeho konci to byla trapárna, šok, wtf? Málo logické, kostrbatý vývoj postav. Ostatní aspekty hodnocení byly malinko nadprůměrné. Ty ale nezmění mé doporučení, že toto všechno, i když Japonsko někdo může a zvládne se přenést i přes ty dívčí japonské účesy s pejzy, že snímek nedoporučuji.

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Can we all just agree that the ending alone made us go "what the fuck?" Lol

I mean... It wasn't a terrible movie per say but it also wasn't something you'd really want to tell others you watched it. Lol
I'm still tripping balls over the ending. I really and truly didn't see that coming. Like I was sus about the relationship but I really thought he liked Ritsu. Holy hell was I wrong. Lol Dude though... how... how you gonna hide that? them flowers won't last forever.. I mean, I guess they will because you can tell they're fake but movie logic says they'll eventually rot..
Ya know... props to the writer. No, really. I didn't expect that and in normal cases I would be upset, I guess. Maybe sad even. But it took me by such surprise that I have no emotions except "welp. didn't see that coming"

I know I keep going on about the ending but if you've seen it, you know what I mean. LOL! Other than that even with the movie being choppy, it was interesting enough... just barely though. enough where you question if you should shut it off, then something would happen to keep ya going. Lol

The writers really said "this is getting to long and we don't want to do a second movie. Let's just end it here" LOL! I really want to know how the dad will react though... and will anyone tell Ritsu? O_O

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I was interested about finding out what ending everyone was talking about.

I was looking thru some comments on i forgot which website it was, and everyone was MOSTLY talking about the worst ending and there were spoiler comments i didnt spoil it for myselr and gave it a watch and bro. Serously. What in the world was that freaking stupidest thing ever i have watched, most stupidest ending ever and the acting was kinda cringe specially ryou's. And his character was LEGIT worst im sorry. The sound or ost whatever u call it, the instrumental was a bit good but not for a movie like THIS. never watch it if u love to spend ur time on things u love instead of wasting it in this movie. Overall it was not that bad but ryou ruins it all.

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