FrothyMix

I think I'm the only BL fan who doesn't like "GSP" which I also found preachy, mainly through that effeminate gay uncle. The guys were cute as can be but I won't bore you with my long list of reasons I don't care for it. In short, I found it full of cliches and tropes, Filipino-style, with two appealing leads to mask all the BS. But I'm glad you enjoy it!

I think I quit watching Sakristan part-way through, I'm not sure why, but "weird" might sum it up. lol

I'm def not a "fluffy drama" type, though I don't mind small amounts of fluff along with tons of angst, conflict, drama, stress, love, passion, sex, you name it, all the stuff that makes drama drama.

And yes, what is up with the trans characters in Pinoy BLs? They throw the most outrageous stereotypes in your face and demand that you accept them as individual, real characters. Nope.

Glad to hear I made the "right" choice. lol What is it with the Phillippines and all the horrendously bad gay and BL content that comes out of there?
There are a handful of movies and maybe three series I can think of that I didn't just drop. Fuccbois is really good in my opinion. Hello Stranger and Gameboys, of course, but not much else. There are a few older Pinoy gay films I like but omg, the garbage...and to make it all worse, more often than not they are extremely PREACHY in tone.

Of course I wish he'd been able to hold on for just long enough for them to get away as adults together...but yeah, once you're to the point of cutting yourself there are way serious issues of deep, deep depression and not entirely rational thinking. But god knows there was NO ONE he could talk to about any of this to put it in perspective, not even his BF. For right now...I just keep having the profound thought "wow" "wow" "wow" over and over...I hope this wins awards.

God, it was deep enough for me as is...I was totally freaked. Now...lol. Wow, this is an amazing film.

I wish you lived next door so we could chat about this. Right now I remain unsure about that end, but it may be that is because I just watched it and I'm a wreck and not ready to go there yet. I was torn up as it was just thinking he had left him behind to escape that school and environment.

God I hated those girls. I was so stoked when he grabbed her boob.

OMG...I completely missed the most important hints as to the actual ending. I was thinking Minha ran away to somewhere it was easier to be gay, but fuck, the self-cutting and everything else you say is so spot-on. Oh shit, I just watched this and now I'm crying again. How did I not catch the suicide thing at all? Somehow a ray of hope in me often misses things like this in movies, at least on the first watch.

Question: Why do you think Minha broke it off on the beach? Do that rather than disappear/die while they were still together? But wait a minute...what about Sang Bum being the one to break it off first on the beach? If not Minha was planning to kill himself wouldn't THAT have been the place to just leave things be between them? Minha seemed very happy at the beach and throughout that day, but I do remember that look on his face on the train. However, I thought he was just pondering how sick he was of being ignored in public by Sang Bum and how it hurt his feelings. But there's def no denying the words "I don't want to be alive" or whatever he said when Sang Bum mentioned his cutting.

SHIT...now I really have to think about this more and it is YOUR fault. :D Wow, I haven't cried this hard over a movie in a long time.

Just now watched it and I'll be thinking of it for weeks too. I find that it is often a good idea to come back for the second watch sooner rather than later, though. I think it helps speed up the processing. But wow, these two actors created such solid characters and a sense of relationship and time shared in just 30 minutes...that's stunning.

There really ARE lots of fun and funny gay films and series around, we just have to look for them. I just watched two funny shorts earlier this evening, so I don't feel quite so bad, thank god. But wow, you know, it's that thing about movies...they don't MAKE us sad, they touch the sadness that is already there within us and we respond according to how effectively they are done. This one was done INCREDIBLY well. I'm a basket case right now. But I'll be back for a re-sob, I mean a re-watch someday soon, because of that thing about TRUTH that you said. How brave was that of Min Ha to break it off for his own good and to save himself when it would have been temporarily less painful to keep going out with his BF?

I know just what you mean. As soon as it ended, between sobs, I thought "I will be thinking about this for weeks to come..."

Please do watch it anyway...it is stunningly well-done. For this one I went with a hand towel.

This is when I ask: How can something that hurts so bad to watch be so beautiful?

I still have tears running down my face. I'm not at all sure what to think at this moment. I guess I'm somewhat stunned. All signs of a powerful piece of cinema, of course, but just as mystifying as every other time it happens.

This push-pulled-pushed-pulled me many times and each time I went with it all the way because it is so masterfully written and directed and above all...impeccably acted by two rare and talented actors.

Wow. I wish someone was here with me right now to talk to about this. I'm a mess. And I have images in my mind from this film that will recur to me over and over in the next few days. Another sign of powerful work.

I'm broken-hearted.

The worst imaginable.

Hmmm...may have to check that out. The translation is good?

Maybe I'm emotionally retarded, but feeling that someone I cherished/loved/adored "Is always with me" is NOT the same as having them here on Earth with me, ya know? Am I wrong?

There are a lot of gay movies with happy or positive endings, but you do have to look for them. And it's quite easy to avoid the ones with sad endings.

I'm mostly wondering how it is possible to say this is "not very sad to see." For real? This is one of the first Asian gay films I saw, I had no idea what was coming, and it nearly broke me at the end.

Nice brief summation. I liked its episodic structure very much because even though I noticed it, I didn't find it hard to follow in the slightest as to how we got to where we are from where we were. So for me it made a really good movie even better because each time there was a little catching up to do I didn't have to WORK at it if you get me.

I put off coming back to "Lan Yu" until last for a second watch because what I remembered most vividly was an out-of-the-blue, heart-crushing ending that seemed to spring from a sadistic conspiracy between writer and director to emotionally obliterate the audience just for kicks and because they could. I seem to remember firing off a comment under the film on Youtube about "audience-abuse" or something. That may be a little too melodramatic, but I still don't think it's far off the mark in some cases. I won't say a whole lot more because I've since become familiar with cliche'd tragic BL endings and I know it's not my imagination that they are a thing.

Coming off this second watch, I think I learned that what most destroyed me about the ending to Lan Yu is how sweet, kind, loving and decent the character was. I would love to have had him as a friend. So as an audience member I was right down there on the floor Han Dong at the end. I hadn't lost a lover, but I had lost a dear friend and I'm still a little pissed about it.

WELL...I finally made it back to watch this film after more than 14 months or so. I first watched it in the first couple of weeks I discovered the treasure trove of gay Asian cinema and BL series, of which I'd known nothing til then. Unfortunately, among other dramas I watched during those days were "A Frozen Flower," "Grey Rainbow," "Green Butterflies," "History: MODC," "Night Flight," "The King and the Clown," "Third Country," "End of Love," "Eternal Summer," "Dear Tenant," "Bangkok Love Story," and others. I sat in a living room chair in front of my laptop sobbing night after night and wondering wtf was up with Asian gay films and could I stand to keep watching? I think of almost all of those listed dramas as high-quality but the body-and soul-count was deadly to my spirit.

More below under the spoiler tag...

Yeah, now that I distinguish those two, I think you're right. When it comes to movies I tend to not separate the two genres but probably should.

Acting is good, generally, except for the fake drunkenness and the fake crying on the beach. It was like he turned the faucet on, the off, and there were no tears. lol
Story is completely unoriginal, especially all the mindless hooking up, and not just on Yao's part. Hin had had a bad experience with Yao before and STILL put out on the beach because...??? I have no idea. I guess f**king is the default if you're just kind of there already?
And of course, we have the usual BL let's get drunk and messy scene.
Then Hin, who I guess we're supposed to see as the one in a position to choose (?) invites Hugo over for beers but also invites the annoying, stupid Yao who upon arriving lets Hugo know they had hooked up on the beach the night before. So how is Hin any great catch? He apparently regards Yao as an oafish, drunken player but puts out for him and then invites him over to drink with the seemingly somewhat decent guy. He seems like the type who thinks of himself in one way but behaves in another.
And yeah, Yao is a drunken sleaze.
I'm team Hugo, but I wish he'd just write off the other two and go his own way.

So after all this bitching, I'm still going back to watch the second season, so obviously something clicked with me. It was Hugo and his naivete and seemingly good natured heart, as well as the overall production values given what I'd guess to be a tiny budget.

And I liked that the three actors are all different in type and appearance without being runway models, which is refreshing. But so far it's a 6/10 for unoriginality.