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FrankIncese

USA

FrankIncese

USA
Forbidden Love japanese movie review
Completed
Forbidden Love
3 people found this review helpful
by FrankIncese
Nov 15, 2020
Completed
Overall 5.0
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 4.0
Rewatch Value 2.0
This review may contain spoilers

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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