PPBongi
California, USA
4 Minutes That Seemed Like 8
Essentially, you must buy into the premise that our physical brain will cease to function after 4 minutes without oxygen. This of course, is a truism. But what this series then does is push forward a premise that during those 4 minutes without oxygen, people who are experiencing that trauma, relive ‘life’ in various manners within that 4-minute window period. For some, they can perceive events that will occur 4 minutes in the future. Why this series is so confusing is that it attempts to project too much story with too many people. Admittedly, I am old, and I have a difficult time following a train of thought for one individual and I am pushing it for two people. But when you have multiple people affected by the advancement of 4 minutes in the future with a number of different alternatives for each, my mind begins to jellify. Logic becomes inoperative here. Everything makes sense because nothing actually does. It depends upon the time frame you are currently in. Therefore, there is no logic. Consequently, I am lost.I am bemused by criticism of this series from people who state there are too many NC scenes. I did not see any, so I am not sure what they are talking about. For those who read this, this IS an adult series with an adult theme. There is nothing pornographic or even sexually offensive. If you find it so, then stop watching. Do not impose your standards on others for that will become a dangerous precedent There are way more obscene subject matters such as infidelity, murder, suicide, illegal gambling, bullying, abuse, and yet we are concerned about a few scenes of two guys laying in bed semi-naked? Incongruent, silly, and cretinous thinking.
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Both Esoteric and Bittersweet
Certainly, the story is not unique. It is the story of two high school boys who fell in love then, but circumstances did not permit them to follow-up with their relationship then. Time did not diminish the feelings but only created a valley of forgetting one another. The series is so short that it does not allow for any type of character development and frankly this type of story is getting ‘old’ and worn out. The series is so short that it does not allow for any type of character development and frankly this type of story is getting ‘old’ and worn out. Overall, this is a good series. Well-acted and sincere. Screenplay needed tightening up as I found the relationship when they reconnect not dynamic enough and a bit perplexing. But it is an entertaining series. It is simply enjoyable and refreshing to watch. Overall, this is a good series. Well-acted and sincere. Screenplay needed tightening up as I found the relationship when they reconnect not dynamic enough and a bit perplexing. But it is an entertaining series. It is simply enjoyable and refreshing to watch. Overall, this is a good series. Well-acted and sincere. Screenplay needed tightening up as I found the relationship when they reconnect not dynamic enough and a bit perplexing. But it is an entertaining series. It is simply enjoyable and refreshing to watch.Was this review helpful to you?
Good Story But Lacked Credence
There is honestly so much to unpack here in this short series that goes way beyond the plot or story. Reality and fiction merge together to make this series unique. As the abstract states, this series is based on a ‘true story’. Perhaps a more apt description might be closer to a docudrama. We just get to a minimal level of feeling something for them as a couple, and then the series is over. That is too bad. The emotional connections to their characters simply do not go deep enough to make them believable. This production company, overall, has created some solid and wholesome productions in the past. This is not a bad series, but it needed so much more effort. It just feels incomplete and awkward.Was this review helpful to you?
Perfection!
This story is a classic one as it reflects an age-old tale of a ‘mid-life’ crisis. While season one is 5 years and the sequel movie is 4 years ago, both ‘hold up’ today as being relevant, funny, and still charming. Beyond that, both are wondrously entertaining. It is funny. Very funny – throughout. And it completely held my attention. That is hard to do. To sustain a level of humor and constantly recreating realities that are funny is not easy to do, but this series and movie does so with great skill. The comedic timing is sheer perfection, and the physical comedy is outstanding especially for Tanaka Kei as Haruta Sochi. Many others also displayed great comedic timing as well. That is a reflection not only of good acting talent but also of exemplary directing. Both the series and movie have their slow moments, but they are few and far between.Was this review helpful to you?
A Good Popcorn Movie
Indeed, this is a visually stunning movie that is certainly entertaining. With a big bag of popcorn (or snack of your choice) and a relaxing chair, you will thoroughly enjoy this movie. Filled with handsome men, a relatively interesting but a bit slow-plodding plot at times, elegant chorography, breathtaking cinematography, and beautiful costumes, you are in for a treat. Is it memorable? Well, no, not really, but it sure is fun to watch. The plot is manifestly implausible, slow in the middle, yet it worked in the end as entertainment. The ending is to be expected. There are no hidden meanings, and the story does not go deep. To coin a trite phrase, admittedly, it is what it is. Do not read more into it. This is a beautiful, compelling, and colorful story. The costumes, choreography, cinematography, and set designs are all exquisite. So, grab some popcorn or your favorite snack and watch this very enchanting movie and then go to bed. It is that kind of movie. Fun but forgettable.Was this review helpful to you?
One word: Eschew
This story is profoundly complex, made elementary. Yet, it should not. It presents itself in a superficial manner with a lot of voyeuristic sex scenes to help us with our escapism from its true reality. And its true reality is that it is a very sad story filled with toxic people doing awful things to innocent people. I found the story to be a rather ugly tale peppered with unnecessary eroticism. This series has a lot of diversion in it. Many hot, steamy love scenes, that felt very voyeuristic to me and sometimes laughable. Sure, these guys are sensual, cute, and sexy. To see them romping around in bed making love with their pants on is just plain ludicrous and silly. It was just not the main couple either. How about under the covers with simulation so we can use our imagination? Sometimes imagination is better. To show us making love in bed (or having sex) with pants on seemed extraordinarily contrived and silly. And completely and totally unrealistic. And I might add, insulting to gay people everywhere.Was this review helpful to you?
Good Series; Really Lousy Script
The allegory behind this theme is fascinating. Its screenplay is where it fell flat. If they had followed the initiative of the story, the saga would have been a way more compelling BL. Instead, it became spasmodic. The receptivity behind this story is very good; the screenwriting is simply awful. Frankly despite its awful screenplay, this is well acted, and the actors and actresses did the best they could with a lousy script. This series is deeper than what it is given credit for. It gets lost in the endless and totally unnecessary cat-and-mouse, ‘enemies-to-lovers’ fiasco. Thai BLs absolutely need to get out of the rut of being formulaic. This series was a shameful waste. This was good; it just was not great. But it could have been.Was this review helpful to you?
BL Drama no Shuen ni Narimashita: Crank Up Hen
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I Did Not Find It Funny
I did not find this BL funny at least not with the main couple. Billed as a comedy, I did not see it as funny or even humorous. On the contrary, I found it sad and rather lonely. In the sense, you have two individuals who are products of their culture and society that are so terrified and fearful of being open and honest with each other that because of that, they nearly lost each other in the process. I just do not understand the horror of even hinting that you like a person. This is actually a deeply interesting and moving story with profound consequences to it. There is nothing wrong with the acting in this series. It is sharp, and at times rather poignant. However, who really runs away with their subtle performances are the two respective managers of these guys. This is a cute story that should have been way better. The Japanese use the voiceover to explain a lot of the action internally with the characters which I detest. It is a cheap way for performers not to have to ‘act’. And it robs the audience of seeing anything really meaningful.Was this review helpful to you?
Could Have Been A Masterpiece!
This gem comes along with its stunning, nearly perfect love story that crashed and burned at the end. It just had to make it have a ‘feel-good’ happy ending. Unfortunately in that process, it transformed into a trite overblown conclusion. I cried as hard at the demise of this fantastic series as I did during the whole of this series. The ending completely ruined it for me. The series starts out so exceptional and I felt the curse of Thai BLs would finally be broken where it would not be so epigonic. It is a beautiful story of privilege meeting non-privilege with the union becoming one precariously in the middle. This is one of the few Thai BLs that handled a story about a disability with a sense of maturity, commitment, and a level-headedness, and a realistic albeit not always positive outcome or solution. One overriding theme that they presented and telegraphed throughout was the abhorrence of pity in dealing with people with disabilities. Again, having spent my entire professional career in that field, that is a compete truism. Yet, somehow, I knew that theme would also be its downfall and it was. This was an exceptional series until the last 2 episodes and then it completely fell apart. The ending simply destroyed and ruined this otherwise brilliant series.Was this review helpful to you?
More Food and More Love
Along the way, is a cast of characters, that almost become caricatures but do not. They sometimes feel unreal, yet you find yourself compelled to watch them and wanting to be in the same room with them and understand why they have developed such a kinship with one another. It is soft, subtle but so beautiful. It is a worthy way to spend your time as you will see two imperfect older men come to grips with getting older, slowly grow to love one another more deeply, and enjoy each other’s company mainly around the dinning room table.Was this review helpful to you?
A Labor of Love
Another labor of love. Sure, it has a ton of production issues. And the story is a bit lame, but the effort is still there. Its sincerity is real. There is surely nothing deep about this series and the acting is quite stilted and one dimensional. They are all in desperate need of acting coaches to create a greater range of emotions for all of them as they seem to be relying on their past experiences to get through this series. Perhaps I am overrating this series a bit. And admittedly I have a soft spot for productions who operate on a shoe-string budget as this one does. Parts of this series have some well written dialogue in them as well. But also admittedly, this schtick of theirs is wearing thin even for me. The production is simply awful. Editing, sound, and cinematography need a lot of work. And investment needs to be made in acting coaches for all of them to deepen their ranges. Sincerity and good story telling can go only so far; now you need greater technical skills. It might be better to save money for one big production with a good story and intensive acting classes and better production equipment and better-quality acting than all of these little productions that only highlight what is wrong and not what is right.Was this review helpful to you?
Title Matches The Story
This is the 'feel good' story of the year. Sometimes a title to a movie is so spot-on that nothing more needs to be said about it. The summation is expressed, quite literally, in this title. It is a story about a very lonely young man who by chance meets a very nice man and a love is awakened. Not only is a love awakened but a reckoning and a realization of oneself is as well. You get all of that in just over 30 minutes of pure cinematic magic in this beautiful love sonnet that reads more like poetry than prose.Was this review helpful to you?
Raw, Gritty & Intense
This is a movie that lays out in detail all the ugliness of the darker side of Thai society that we do certainly not see in BLs. Since I honestly know little about the political inner working of Thailand, I do not know whether this chronicle is based on some semblance of truth or not. However, as in any premise, I do believe some kernels of truth and honesty are no doubt in this screenplay and part of it must be taken at face value. We tend to not want to think of or perhaps see that a fantasy land of ours (such as Thailand) has a darker side to it, but it does. And this movie presents a very dark, depressing, look at that reality. There is no romance here nor any hint of a BL; but it does present a side of the adult entertainment industry we tend to dismiss or pretend does not exist as we glaze over or gloss over the geo-political strife that might also exist in that part of the world when we watch BLs in the comfort of our homes.You can read my full review of this movie at BLBliss.com.
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A Meteor Called Dumbness Destroyed This Series
There is no mythos here; that went extent along with the dinosaurs. Instead, it is a jumbled incoherent mess of disorganized shifts of scenes packed with individuals for the most part that are astonishingly unlikeable, dumb as a box of rocks, naïve, and caricatures. Some are decidedly despicable creatures as well. The whole universe of this story centers around one of the densest characters I have ever seen. Not only is he naïve and remains so throughout, but he is also the biggest milqutoast and nebbish individual ever in any BL. There is only one character that is worth watching this series for and the only reason why this is not on my 10 worst BL list. That character is Charlam. Watch it for him and enjoy.You can read my full review at BLBliss.com.
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Hard Series To Dislike
This is a hard series to dislike, even if it is a bit unpleasant to watch. While these guys are ‘bad guys’ they have sanitized them so much and made them redeemable, you literally sympathize with their plight. And honestly, I was completely entertained by them, even though the story is nearly incomprehensible. It is another ‘Mafia-type’ criminally related series with a lot of tropey chest-thumping bravado ‘action’ that I frankly did not understand and was disturbed by its gratuitous violence. None of it made a lot of sense to me and it had a feel of familiarity about it as it is full of clichés. What is really essential are the two solid love stories and the third, rather peripheral and underlying one.Read my fill review at BLBliss.com.
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