Inn Love (2021)

Not Great. But not awful either.

This is a light and whimsical comedy-romance. There is no huge drama, and the happy ending is sappy enough to please even the most committed lovers of BL "happy ever aftering."

Pros:

-- The lead actors created quite believable characters. Until they found each other, Gino was unsure and nervous and had no idea what he really wanted. Alex was moody and lost in his past. I just wish the blossoming of their love had been a bit more gradual/subtle.

-- Oh, and yes, Migo de Vera has a world-class, A-No 1 body, and doesn't mind showing it off. They left me gasping in the final ep. when the scene changed to him mostly naked in the bed. Such perfection is rare indeed. (Not that anybody noticed, but he also has very attractive eyes.....)

-- The music was very enjoyable. It was light and very catchy -- it perfectly suited the mood for the series.

-- The messaging was good. Alex's little soliloquy at the end about "love is love" was really quite meaningful. And I like the very Pinoy framing of some of the discussions which situated gay love securely in a context of divine benevolence. That alone is a lovely and very explicit rebuttal to the homophobia espoused by many organized religions, and it left me cheering. But the messaging was a mixed bag......see below.

Cons: The messaging got to be too heavy at some points. Especially in the wedding scene. Overkill.

-- The plot was weak. You never got a good feel for how Alex suddenly started having feelings for Gino. Several of the episodes in the middle were just aimless wandering around the resort. And then the end......just toooo unbelievable that after GinEx had been together for precisely 3 months they were prepared to have a big, emotion-filled wedding ceremony......but they knew nothing about it!! I have to say that the concept of a having a surprise wedding (a surprise to you!) thrown by your friends is something totally new. I hope it doesn't catch on in real life.....I can see that sort of thing ending a lot of relationships.

-- The minor characters were not effectively developed. A couple of them (Kelly the room-maid) were almost offensively stupid. Others were kind of intriguing, but you never got to know them at all. And who was the middle-aged guy, anyway, who stimulated Alex's sudden realizations about the nature of life? Talk about the Deus Ex Machina who solves all the problems.

-- Production values were dodgy. There were sound and light issues at several points.

All in all, I think this is worth watching, but probably not a top priority. The last two episodes are key....so if you want to do some skipping, just watch the first two and the last two episodes. The ones in the middle don't add much.

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Truly Awful

I usually try to be tolerant of low-budget productions, especially when they have heart. This doesn't.

The story is boring, the acting poor. The main character has no charm or charisma, and the main pair has no chemistry at all. In their kiss scene they somehow managed to look like they were sexually harassing each other.

There is one bar of music, and it's played over and over until you want to poke out your own eardrums.

The female characters are just excruciating. There's a woman on the staff of the resort that, and I hesitate to use words like this, behaves like a shameless slut in heat. Whenever she's in Migo's presence, her tongue is hangling out, she writhes all over the doorframes and walls, rapes him with her eyes, and is so completetly inappropriate that any guest with any self-respect would have left the resort immediately, and probably called a mental institution to come collect her. Or maybe a vet to put her down. Later, when the mains get together, she shoots them such OTT evil-eye, right there in public when she's at work and people are trying to eat, that you have to ask why someone doesn't punch her out. Or tie her in a sack and toss her in the well. It sounds like I'm exaggerating, but it's really impossible to overstate how revolting this character is.

There are series that frustrate me, disappoint me, or bore me. This one somehow managed to do all three and make me angry as well. This could possibly be the worst BL ever. There are BLs that are of lower-quality production, there are BLs that are naked cash-grabs, and there are BLs that are so bad that they're good - but this one is somehow aggressively awful in a way I don't think I've seen before.

It's a struggle to find nice things to say, but I feel I should. So: the main character, while unappealing in almost every way, looks surprisingly good shirtless. Also, Migo de Vera has a beautiful body and you see a LOT of it - including butt shots, a rarity in BL. That's all I can think of.

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Although the story in this newly completed series is not sky high and it has its pinoy "flies", overall I am satisfied. At first I doubted the ordinary looking Gino why the makers chose VJ Mendoza. In the end, I came to terms with Potova (I believed him at the end of the last part). He was already quite a grown-up domestic puppet who was afraid not only to admit to his mother that he probably doesn't like girls very much... A simple plot and slight imperfections such as the fact that the resort somehow lacked guests in the first parts and, conversely, the staff like flies. Everything was overshadowed for me by Migo De Vera, whom I already know from the mystical series Cheat mentioned here (Cheat 2 is being prepared), with his character Alex. Not only does Migo look absolutely amazing, and in fact the whole series was partially based on him, but I also appreciate his personality in the fact that he himself is not only defined by perfect beauty (winner of the international competition Mister Friendship International 2021), but also by intelligence, which does not often marry (graduated engineer). Music excellent, as in some other Pinoy projects (not all). The processing is above average pinoy production and the kissing scene very solid (not the shielding Thai meringue).



I když příběh v tomto čerstvě dokončeném seriálu nesahá do nebes a má to své pinoy "mouchy", celkově jsem spokojen. Nejdříve jsem pochyboval o všedně vypadajícím Ginovi, proč tvůrci vybrali VJ Mendozu. Nakonec jsem se s potavou sžil (závěr posledního dílu jsem mu věřil). Byl to už značně odrostlý domácí mazánek, který se bál nejen mamince přiznat, že se mu asi moc nelíbí dívky ... Jednoduchý děj a mírné nedokonalosti typu, že v letovisku jaksi první díly chyběli hosté a naopak personálu jako much. Vše zastínil pro mě Migo De Vera, kterého znám už ze zde uvedeného mystického seriálu Cheat (připravuje se Cheat 2), svou postavou Alexe. Nejen to, že Migo naprosto úžasně vypadá a vlastně celý seriál byl stavěný částečně na něm, ale cením si jeho osobnosti i v tom, že on sám není definován jen dokonalou krásou (vítěz mezinárodní soutěže Mister Friendship International 2021), ale i inteligencí, což se často nesnoubí (vystudovaný inženýr). Hudba vynikající, jako i v některých jiných pinoy projektech (ne ve všech). Zpracování nad průměrem pinoy produkce a líbací scény velmi solidní (ne štítivé thajské pusinky).

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I've seen worse

The production staff on this series knew what their target audience wanted....and they delivered it. There's buff, ripped, hot male bodies on display everywhere. I really felt sorry for Gino when he was greeted at the resort by the shirtless yoga class....I wouldn't know where to put my eyes either!

This got really ragged on in the comments and reviews, and I can't say the criticism isn't earned, but I liked this for the short, sweet and fluffy series it was meant to be. I appreciated the fact that everyone seemed generally positive about gay relationships and there wasn't any homophobia.

Some of the dialogue got a little preachy,, especially in the last two episodes.

The series is only eight episodes and the episodes are only about 20 mins each, so the plot isn't complicated and the character development is a little rushed, but it's there. Alex liking Gino didn't come out of the blue, which I've seen happen in BL before.

The actor who plays Gino is not conventionally attractive. He's not unattractive, by any means, but he isn't what we've come to expect in a BL. He's got a slight tummy, his skin isn't flawless, his hair isn't always perfectly groomed and he's not tan.

And, honestly? I find that so refreshing. I don't think it's unrealistic for hot guy like Alex to fall for an ordinary bloke like Gino, and I appreciate that's what happens.

The actor who plays Alex seems to have no body issues whatsoever as every opportunity is taken for him to be shirtless. In the very last episode, we even see him fully naked (albeit when he's lying facedown) and that's something I haven't seen outside of porn.

Is this on the same level as, say,, Gameboys? Nope, definitely not. It's not even on the same level as 'My Day'. It's better than people make it out to be, though, and I'm all for encouraging productions companies to make these series - because practice does help and who knows what we may get to see in the years to come?

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Eu gostei muito de ter assistido essa série! Foi ótima do começo ao fim, com um pouco mais de orçamento e investimento com certeza entraria no top das melhores séries desse ano. Eu não acompanhei ela por um descuido mas foi impossível parar de assistir e com certeza voltarei pra assistir outras vezes, a soundtrack é muito boa, os atores são muito bons! São versáteis e apresentaram um trabalho ótimo. A história é legal não tenho muita crítica em relação a isso. No geral é uma série maravilhosa, espero ver mais no futuro e com bastante investimento,

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Baixo orçamento, mas não é das piores

As Filipinas depois que entraram no mundo BL, infelizmente estão ficando conhecidas como um país de baixas produções. Desde o ano de 2020, quando foi lançada a série Sakristan no início da pandemia, o país mostrou que tem potencial. Foi um dos poucos países que emplacou grandes sucessos durante o período de Lockdonw, e inovou com um tipo de série que se passava com os protagonistas separados fisicamente, mas unidos pela tecnologia. Infelizmente, com o sucesso dessas séries, vieram uma centena de séries de péssima qualidade, feitas sem nenhum cuidado, e a partir de 2021 o país vem tentando limpar essa imagem, trazendo séries, que embora não tenham tanto investimento, mas tem um roteiro "razoável" e um elenco esforçado.
Não acho justo comparar com outros países, como a Tailândia, Japão, Coréia, que já estão no ramo há muito tempo e mesmo assim, de vez em quando fazem alguma série ruim. Uma grande qualidade dos BL'S filipinos, é a abordagem LGBT sem muita frescura e mimimi. Eles mostram relações de forma mais real que o resto da Ásia, com beijos reais e atores que não tem medo de cenas quentes.

O roteiro fala basicamente sobre dois jovens que se conhecem no trânsito e se tratam com hostilidade inicialmente. É uma comédia romântica, portanto os dois heróis voltam a se encontrar em um resort afastado da cidade, onde os dois estão indo para descansar. Na verdade não existem grandes dramas, o único drama existente é o que os levou à pousada, mas a partir desse ponto. Não é possivel descrever em que momento Alex se apaixonou por Gino, achei esse desenvolvimento estranho e sem sentido. A atuação de alguns personagens é muito espalhafatosa, como Kelly por exemplo. Sei que deveria ser um alívio cômico, mas pelo amor de Deus... Ela estava no local de trabalho e não tinha nenhum respeito pelo hóspede.
O foco principal é o casal, mas sinceramente, a cena do casamento é a maior vergonha alheia da história BL. Como uma promoção: se durante a hospedagem você conseguir um namorado, faremos um casamento surpresa para vcs, não importa se estejam juntos a apenas poucos meses, foi muito sem noção, forçado.

A produção deixou a desejar em alguns pontos, não gostei da ost. A locação era belíssima, mas contrariando o cenário, houve problemas de iluminação, além de algumas vezes os microfones dos atores ficarem perceptíveis.

Os atores principais fizeram um bom trabalho. O personagem Gino, sinceramente achei muito feio. O personagem Alex é um grande gostoso que adora se exibir, uma das bundas mais lindas que já vi, diga- se de passagem. Mas curiosamente eles conseguiram ter uma boa química.

Enfim, não é a melhor série do mundo, eu não assistiria de novo. Mas não é uma série ruim, e com certeza indico.

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