A story to forget

Directed by Rafael D. Duterte and produced by Take One Studio, 'A Story to Remember' revolves around Raver and Ford, two childhood best friends who were separated by fate, but whose lives will definitely intersect again through music.
The youth romantic drama begins by telling the childhood of two friends, Raver, played by RJ Buena, and Ford, a role assumed by ZK Nakaoka, who, together, dream of managing and owning a restaurant. Then, the story jumps in time to take us, about 15 years later, to a new scenario in which the first is an unemployed musician looking for work, and the second is the owner of a bar on the verge of bankruptcy.
Needing to improve the situation, someone recommends Ford hire a musician who can sing live and attract more customers. This is how the two childhood friends will meet again, after having taken different paths when they were just children.
The leading couple will be joined by another boys, that of Andrei and Jayson, played by Garry Herrera and Aerone Mendoza, in that order, while the GL side will show a romantic story between Sofía (Dianne Santillán) and Jazmine (Jerica Dagohoy) .
The growing fascination with Pinoy Boy's Love (BL) series, such as 'Gameboys', 'Hello Stranger', 'Boys' Lockdown', 'Gaya Sa Pelikula', 'Hello, stranger', 'Boys' Lockdown' and 'Quaranthings' , among others, can be interpreted as part of the LGBT+ community's long struggle for greater inclusion.
However, 'A Story to Remember', with multiple queer characters and stories, despite exploring many relevant themes with the aim of educating and raising awareness among viewers, shows conflicts that, in addition to perpetuating stereotypes, barely touch the surface. rather than highlighting complex experiences.
A series with a simple story, with predictable twists, a very basic and unoriginal plot, uninspiring and poorly developed characters, an erratic staging and weak performances cannot be saved even with the presence of beautiful boys; the views of beautiful locations, such as the paradisiacal Philippine beaches where the search for the mother of one of the two protagonists will take us in the audiovisual, or the representation of three romances, two between boys and one lesbian.
'A Story to Remember' is an accumulation of whims, provocations and excesses without much meaning. Neither separately nor as a whole, none of the six characters will be able to make the viewer fall in love. They will not make us identify with them or their stories and destinies, since their characterizations seem like cardboard formulas that will not obtain the viewer's empathy. Nice actors and actresses? Just that, because there is no connection between them. Therefore, there can be no difference between them and the viewer.
Despite setting out to deal with themes such as love, acceptance, discovery, as well as the challenges that come with being queer in today's world, the series becomes repetitive and is not even able to leave the feeling that it could have given more, since its Creators chose to resort to the cliché of gay cinema with its stereotyped characters.
Unfortunately, this is not the first failure of the team behind it in its efforts to produce a BL series. The current production company Take One Studios began its journey under the name of YTteamcavite. With this brand he produced his first boy love drama titled 'The Unexpected', which disappeared after only three episodes on the air. Later, he took up the story and differentiated it from the original by retitling it 'Unexpected: The Remake', of which only the first episode could be seen.
The company reappeared some time later under the name Cosmix Films, announcing a new BL project, this time called 'Bed Weather'. After proposing its premiere four times, the production company finally canceled the series, of which not even the pilot episode was broadcast.

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The fear of commitment and the secrecy of a clandestine homosexual relationship

'Daybreak' (Tagalog: Bukang-liwayway) is a Filipino independent film of romantic genre and LGBT theme, directed by Adolfo Borinaga Alix, Jr., director of films such as '4 Days', 'Imoral', 'The Affair' and ' Porno', and series like 'Unlocked', among others.
Released in 2008, the cast has only two actors: Coco Martin as JP, a handsome young man in his twenties, with a girlfriend, a boatman and tourist guide in Taal, Batangas, and Paolo Rivero as William, a married doctor, father of a family. , in a supposedly happy heterosexual marriage, who play a couple of men who have had a secret romantic bond for a year. After some time apart, they meet at a family vacation home in Tagaytay, Cavite, to maintain an intense sexual and loving relationship for one night before one of them goes abroad.
Almost two decades after its premiere, and after producing important works of the genre, the film shows fissures in its staging, like a preamble that is too long for a medium-length film, not so solid performances and filling the short time with shots of palm trees and clouds that show a poor resource due to the lack of ideas.
However, it is worth highlighting the use of lighting, especially interior lighting, where chiaroscuro underlines the state of mind of two men confronting their realities.
Personally, I liked the way the lights and cameras were directed towards the bodies of the two protagonists. By highlighting its sensuality, the viewer comes to fully understand that he is witnessing two people who love each other and are suffering from the imminent breakup.
And if on the one hand it may seem somewhat out of tune that it tries to claim a visible, touristy place beyond that, and not marginal, underground, so to speak, for gay relationships, adopting precisely the same forms as an independent romantic melodrama between heterosexuals On the other hand, it can be useful in helping to bring this reality closer to a conservative society, such as the Philippines, which considers homosexual relationships taboo, and which perhaps would otherwise be much more inclined to not accept the image of two men sharing bed, affections, kisses and confidences.
Supported by a script written by Charliebebs Gohetia, the film explores homosexuality and failed relationships, through a relationship with an expiration date.
This is not a work solely aimed at the gay public, as it addresses something as universal as love. But, it also speaks of the emotional undercurrents around the secrecy of an illegal homosexual relationship in the eyes of the family and the heteronormative and patriarchal society. Homosexuality and its representation are not a taboo to overcome, but the film ends up subtly revealing its vindictive nature by pointing the finger at the assumed homophobia in our behavioral protocols.
Always based on the margins of the independent Filipino homosexual film movement, the director, in his third film, shows interest in also investigating with images a frequent theme in homosexual relationships: he is married but in love with the other. The other wants it just for himself.
Both will live their last night as lovers, since William plans to leave for Australia. William wants to let it all go, but he doesn't know how to break the news to JP, who is already emotionally attached to him, even though they didn't actually have an agreement that they are actually a couple.
Various scenes and dialogues lead to the climax when JP is reluctant to accept the breakup. In the midst of conversations about their past, including evoking their happy and unforgettable moments, the evening passes, while they examine the photographs as the only witness of what they have experienced.
With a beautiful night as a backdrop, when their desire for each other dominates their minds and the conversations revolve around truisms and commonplaces, passion explodes and the two men make love as pleasant as ever. At dawn, William remains firm in his decision, leaving for Manila where he will take a plane to Australia, thus ending his relationship with JP.
In a single narrative time, with the intention of voyeurism, the film allows viewers to discover what happens when two men spend the night contemplating whether to break up or continue their relationship.
The essence of 'Daybreak' is not so much in the description of a romance with an expiration date but in the subtlety with which the director makes it emerge from the ellipses. The way it avoids or shows the sex scenes is exemplary. Intimacy begins to boil in the heat of confessions, memories, the risk of being surprised, the clandestine date in a secluded place of two people who face their loneliness, even though they are accompanied in the life that they have allowed others to know, hiding his true desires and passions from everyone.
Compared to the usual clichés of romantic cinema, be it drama or comedy, 'Daybreak' holds some appreciable surprises. Adolfo Borinaga Alix, Jr sculpts without artifice the ephemeral relationship of a love relationship between two young men. There are several sequences between the actors where a credible and deep intimacy is built, which serves to prepare the viewer for the ending announced from the first scenes and leave us, in the process, with a bitter taste in our mouths.
The narrative ellipsis that integrates the film and the ending with the characters, one driving his car on the road, and the other feeling alone, helpless in the middle of the house, still remembering the last night of love lived with the person he loves, puts The end of many homosexual relationships is evident: the fear of one of the two involved of commitment and a society that still discriminates against homosexuals.

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The reunion with oneself

Captivating and irresistibly beautiful, '1987: Kumbida' is a romantic short film with LGBT themes, directed by Aireen Remoto, who is also in charge of photography and script from a story by KL Rico.
Released in 2020, the film tells the story of Joaquin (Glenn Mhar Balmonte), a closeted, introverted and deaf gay boy, and Isagani, or just Gani (Joseph Manuel Galapon), as his loved ones know him, an openly gay, cheerful young man. and boisterous, who dreams of becoming a well-known journalist. They will both meet at a friends party and in the middle of the long, sweet night that awaits them, the couple of Filipino teenagers make each other discover their true selves through confidences, music and dance.
As the title portrays (kumbida means "to invite"), this moving film shows us what it is like to hide who you are and who you love in the late 1980s.
Always based on the margins of the independent Filipino homosexual film movement, its director gives us a sincere and visceral coming-of-age story.
Finalist of the Gawad Sining Short Film Festival 2020, the film makes a virtue of its scarcity of means and also gives us an emotional and poetic story about the impact that one night can have on our lives. The performances are deep and well done, the young actors give themselves in a way that makes us feel a connection between both characters.
The total dedication of Glenn Mhar Balmonte and Joseph Manuel Galapon to giving life to the protagonist couple ensures that the viewer ends up totally involved with the characters, wishing the best of possible futures for these two young people, whose relationship can lead to love. Both characters become that voice for those people who are still afraid to reveal themselves.
Joaquín and Gani's story conveys their struggles and the circumstances they have to overcome for the simple fact of being part of the LGBTQ+ community. The film aims to break gender stereotypes and will be beneficial not only for members of the LGBT+ community, but for all people. Likewise, the elimination of discrimination is proposed, promoting equal rights for all human beings and the desire for acceptance, at a time of approval of the SOGIEB bill. Carrying out this effort was not prevented by the pandemic caused by Covid-19 or Typhoon Ulysses, which put the lives of all those involved in the filming at risk.
While Isagani (Gani) hangs out with his usual gang of queer friends at the house of one of them, on a typical night, Joaquin arrives at the party. Gani has been wanting to get intimate with the newcomer for some time and, despite both living in a small rural provincial town where all the neighbors know each other, he has not dared to introduce himself properly because he considers it too serious.
His friends, aware of the attraction that arouses in Gani, encourage him to talk to Joaquin and they both enjoy the festival together.
It doesn't take long for the two young men to be talking. Although Joaquin receives Gani coldly, he will soon be infected by the boy's joy and will first begin to smile timidly at him, and then soon find himself involved in a lively conversation, verbal on one's part, and through gestures and sign language, on the other hand. the other.
They will leave on a bicycle, taken at random from a yard on loan, since they did not ask the owner for it, and now pedaling one, now pedaling the other, they will continue their journey of discovery and acceptance.
Unintentionally, the night out will end up turning into an adventure that will result in something completely different than anyone could have foreseen. After hours under the starry sky, bike rides, the sudden rain that comes while they are sitting on the banks of the river, where Gani will take Joaquin to show him his favorite place, where he goes every time he wants to breathe, and to ask for a wish after the passing of a shooting star, the two teenagers will begin to get to know each other better and make all kinds of confidences.
Gani will talk about his dreams of becoming a journalist to report only with the truth, about when he arrives at university in Manila, the first thing he will do is take a bath because the capital's water "has chlorine", about his desire not to disappoint others. his loved ones, especially his parents, the need to be accepted as he is, that nothing changes in the future, especially with his family, that he owes it to his friends to have confidence in himself, the feeling of emptiness inside him "perhaps because he is gay", that he has set out to prove that "although I am different I can achieve my dreams", of his right to decide and choose, of his fears and his insecurities. In silence, Joaquin listens carefully, and as a sign that he agrees with his new friend, he will take one of his hands and bring it to his heart so that he can hear the beats well.
And they will dance under a sky that already shows the approach of dawn, to the beat of "Isang Buong Araw Kasama Ka", performed by Akom Ayalam, and Sayaw NG Buhay, by Nathaniel Cabanero.
Sharp, moving and with memorable performances, despite the youth of its protagonists and the fact that they are not professional actors, which gives greater naturalness and conviction to their performances, the film has several sequences between the actors where an intimacy is built. credible and profound that, together with several sequences of monitoring and observation of Gani's character, are the most valuable moments of the film, in my opinion.
I like how intimacy begins to boil in the heat of Gani's confessions and Joaquin's complicity, two people who face their loneliness from diametrically opposite emotional places: one who has not come out of the closet and the other who trusts that his family will. he accepts, but finally discovers that this is not the case.
'1987: Invitation', by its English title, is a film about a brief encounter that will radically change the lives of two teenagers, made from a disarming humility, set in La Isabela, in the Administrative Region of Cagayan Valley, Philippines,
In a homophobic society, like the Philippines, where there is no type of recognition of same-sex couples in the form of marriage or civil union, therefore, it does not recognize homoparental families either, the film is a small triumph. in a sea of ​​defeats, where calm and honesty take over the narrative to give us hope at the end of the tunnel.
The invitation that its own title suggests is to reunite with oneself. Joaquin rediscovers himself through Gani, and that rediscovery is what allows him to spread his wings and come out of the closet, now free of all social prejudices, cultural ties and internalized homophobia, as some of the reasons that have made it difficult for him to come out of the closet. closet.
Accompanied by brilliant performances and a solid narrative, the film, which does not have a high budget, covers the transformation of the protagonist, a boy who finally accepts his homosexuality and is not afraid to show it to the world, thanks to the arrival into his life of a neighbor. with whom he had never exchanged a word.
The importance of the film lies not so much in its themes and display of diversity, but in its deeper approaches. '1987: Kumbida', is a story full of sincerity and humility, of narrative and formal intimacy that becomes an aesthetic exercise in the search for happiness: a beautiful idyll of the reunion with oneself, and that has the ability to bring to all types of audiences the question: why are we not able to look at the love between two men with "normality"?
The film takes a look at the growing love of two different people who stop their emerging true love for themselves and each other. In this sense, it proposes to debate the dilemma of accusing others of being wrong or lying about who they are, or of trying to accept that, sometimes, what is traditional is not always correct.
'1987: Kumbida' is a mirror for society to look at itself and understand the acceptance of what is different, and to understand that love is not limited by gender or anything else.
In this sense, we are all Gani and Joaquín in our own way, since we always want to be heard, loved and accepted.

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The beginning of the beautiful love story of Takumi and Gii

'Takumi-kun Series: Nagai Nagai Monogatari no Hajimari no Asa' portrays the sparkling love story of Takumi and Gii, in a real-time adaptation of 'Takumi-kun Series', the well-known manga series of light novels of the shōnen genre. ai, written by Shinobu Gotoh, and published by the Kadokawa Shōten publishing house.
Kenji Yokoi and Hiroko Kanasugi, the same duo from the previous film, are back together to, the first as director and the second as screenwriter, add to their filmography this romantic, school, youth and Japanese BL drama, released in 2023, which tells the original story of the first installment of the 'Takumi-kun Series' and the beginning of the romance between these two boys, and to do so it combines three titles from the Kanzen-ban 1 (omnibus edition) of the original novels: 'Akatsuki wo Matsumade' (Until I Wait for Dawn), 'Soshite Harukaze ni Sasayaite' (And Then, I Whisper in the Spring Breeze) and 'Nagai Nagai Monogatari no Hajimari no Asa' (The Morning of the Beginning of a Long, Long Story).
Without a doubt, it will surprise the public that, 17 years after the first film adaptation in 2007, the popular series is producing a film that travels back to its beginnings to recreate this famous romance with a new cast and story.
The film has taken the viewer by surprise, who never thought one of the classic Japanese live-action adaptations that were made at a time when today's popular BLs were hardly produced would ever be revisited. However, nostalgia, curiosity and intrigue have summoned his followers of yesteryear, while making those who have never seen the previous titles rear their heads: 'Takumi-kun Series: Soshite, Harukaze ni Sasayaite' (2007), 'Takumi -kun Series: Nijiiro no Garasu' (2009), Takumi-kun Series: Bibo no Detail (2010), 'Takumi-kun Series: Pure' (2010) and 'Takumi-kun Series: Ano, Hareta Aozora' (2011) .
With this, six live-action films have been made based on the series. Actors Tomo Yanagishita and Keisuke Katō played Takumi and Gii, respectively, in the first film. In subsequent adaptations of the franchise, both actors were replaced by Kyōsuke Hamao and Daisuke Watanabe in their respective roles of Takumi and Gii. Yukihiro Takiguchi, who played Akaike, was the only actor to appear in every film. Here Takahashi Rio is responsible for assuming the role.
Plot
Far away from the city and deep in the mountains, lies Shidō Academy, an all-male high school. In years past the school housed only the children of the country's elite families, but recently it has opened its doors to everyone in its historic classrooms. Takumi Hayama, a boy of humble origins, prepares to enter the prestigious institution.
The story begins precisely on the day of the entrance exercise. Giichi Saki, or just Gii, played by Kato Daigo in his acting debut, a popular boy who has returned from the United States, passes Takumi Hayama (Morishita Shion) in the hallway.
Fascinated by his striking presence, strong magnetism, and Gii's exotic, non-Japanese beauty, Takumi follows him with his eyes. Gii stops walking and they look at each other, with a mischievous smile on the latter's lips.
Now a high school student, Takumi is treated like a weirdo by his classmates due to his haphephobia, that is, phobia of human contact, the product of a psychological trauma from the past. It is for this same reason that he avoids socializing with others and everyone at school sees him as unemotional and unsociable. However, his aversion to touching and being touched by others begins to disappear thanks to Gii and his relationship with him.
Furthermore, Takumi is discriminated against for having a humble origin. The only person interested in forming a sincere friendship with Takumi is Toshihisa Katakura (Yusuke Noguchi), his dormmate.
Spring arrives and, at the beginning of the second year, the students are relocated and Takumi begins to occupy a dormitory with Gii, unaware that his own withdrawn and distant personality has caught the attention of his new partner. Gii is the only person who doesn't see Takumi as a stranger and the two become friends. The distance between them shortens while the bond strengthens. As Takumi learns more about Gii, he must also learn to overcome his past and the rivals who threaten to break up their budding relationship. The days of peace for Takumi will soon be altered.
Romance takes time to develop. Faithful to the original, the bond between the two young people is cemented from silence and distance. When the characters finally realize that they are meant to be, all the waiting is worth it. Having seen the previous films allows the viewer to understand that the relationship is simmering, and that at the least expected moment the love interests will finally come together.
The public must understand that their characters are completely opposite and have led a very different life because they come from two worlds facing each other: that of capital, on the one hand, and that of work, on the other. That is, that of luxury and waste, and that of poverty and deprivation.
The relationship is unintentionally helped by third-year student Kei Aso (Nagashima Ryunosuke) by asking Takumi to participate with him in the campus "shrine quest" event. Gii's jealousy does not take long to appear, realizing that other boys are also interested in Takumi.
On the other hand, Gii is more determined every day to get closer to the boy to protect him from harassment and accompany him in his loneliness. Paying attention to what Takumi's other students say drives him to relate insistently. The united glances and close encounters eventually lead to a closer bond.
Against everything desired, Izumi Takabayashi (Nakayama Satsuki) is the essential key for Gii to finally confess his love. Takabayashi is the first to realize that his beloved Gii not only does not pay him the required attention, but is also interested in Takumi. And while jealousy consumes him, he plans an attack against him, and summons the students who idolize him.
However, Gii realizes Takabayashi's plot and tries to save Takumi. While they are kidnapped, Gii takes the opportunity to confess his love. This truth disturbs Takumi, however, he realizes the true sensitivity of Gii's personality.
And so begins the long, long, brilliant story of Takumi and Gii. I doubt I will end the saga with this film. He himself left the door open to continue the romance.
Through the eyes of Takumi, the narrator, the viewer will be able to enjoy the birth of romance between two people who are a priori incompatible and who, however, enter into a loving relationship, marked by trauma and jealousy.
With a modern approach to differentiate itself from the previous films, Kato Daigo, the actor who plays Gii, has a strong presence on the screen and those scenes of walks around the school or simply being in his bedroom, near Takumi or talking to Other characters can make the audience delirious.
Morishita Shion shows the fragility and vulnerability of her character, and also how she comes to understand that Gii was the piece she needed for her life to turn around and begin to be happy.
There are no kissing scenes, but the interaction, physical and emotional, and the chemistry between the protagonists are manifested in so many other moments of intimacy, such as a friendly conversation.
I value in the film that it joins other dramatized films to address issues related to sexuality and gender identity. In conservative societies with strong patriarchal and heteronormative traditions, such as Japan, where discrimination against LGBT+ people persists and relationships between people of the same sex are not recognized, and where stigma and repression of sexual diversity prevail, conscious or unconsciously, the population has a deep-rooted prejudice that separating, even a little, from "normality" causes unhappiness.
Although some change is beginning to be seen, even young people instinctively discriminate when they pity homosexuals and think that they deserve support because they are not normal people. Perhaps, through works like this, people, especially new and future generations, will realize that homosexuals also enjoy "normal happiness" and a daily life that is not far from their own, thus allowing society changes.
By showing relationships between people of the same sex, without a doubt the image of the homosexual man in society changes. In this film, the character of Gii, an educated, high-society, athletic and attractive young man, who falls in love with a humble and broken boy, with a trauma that consumes him, and together they share a romance, which also has a transformative capacity, It can be the remedy to free young people from the image they harbor of masculinity.
I celebrate in boys' love their efforts to portray the diversity of human relationships with delicacy, dismantling the prevailing stereotypes regarding what is "normal." I applaud that efforts like this contribute to gradually changing society, bridging the gap between fiction and reality. Step by step, Japanese boys' love infiltrates the collective consciousness, and could usher in a new era in which homosexuals are not discriminated against.

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A 'My Own Private Idaho' without a road trip

The plot of this film places us on the island of Taiwan, where a story is told through Chengxi Yuan (Joseph Huang), a 13-year-old student. He tells us how his father, Zheng Yuan (Spark Chen), who died 95 days earlier after battling cancer, had been having a homosexual relationship with the young actor and theater director Ah Jie (Roy Chiu), thus deceiving his mother San Lian (Ying-Xuan Hsieh), who is now angry because her husband had put his life insurance in the name of his lover, thus depriving the minor of financial benefit.
It is from then on that San Lian will demand the insurance money from Ah Jie, an attitude that will not please his son at all, who, being not only in mourning, but also trapped in the middle of a complicated legal battle between the two adults , she will run away from home and go live in the home of her father's lover so as not to see her, causing the displeasure of both her mother and the man in whose arms her father dies.
The rebellious teenager knew that his father was gay, but had no idea who he had left his mother for. Now he is drawn to the man's fickle nature and his relationship with his father. This event will force the mother to reevaluate her relationship with both of them.
While San Liam blames Ah Jie for not only taking her ex-husband's life insurance money but also ruining her marriage, in therapy and fed up with a mother he considers money-hungry and indifferent, Chengxi Yuan begins to spend more time with Jie in an effort to find out who the "bad guy" is in this situation.
In the young boy's eyes, his mother becomes "Liu San Lian 2.0", as Chengxi Yuan tells his therapist. Angry, demanding, authoritarian, and prone to drama, the teenager can no longer stand his mother's tricks (including throwing away his father's cards), prompting him to seek out Ah Jie, even if it is to threaten to jump from her. balcony.
During the course of the film, we will see flashbacks of the relationship between Ah Jie and Zheng Yuan, who was forced to marry a woman in order to be "normal", since we must not forget that homosexuality in Taiwan continues to be seen as taboo and indecorous, as occurs in other Asian countries, such as Japan, South Korea and Thailand, despite same-sex marriage being legal since 2019, the year after the film was released, which makes it 'Dear Ex' is even more timely, revolutionary and innovative.
We will also know what has happened to the insurance money, for which San Lian will be willing to do anything just to get it (and in part also Chengsi Yuan, since she needs it so that her mother can send her to study in California and thus lose her. of sight). In all of these, Jie has the same intentions, since he is bankrupt after putting his savings into making his lover's last days more bearable, as well as his professional work in the theater.
We will also learn the reason why Saint Liam is a loud and authoritarian mother and ex-wife. The subsequent scenes will show us how much pain he had to endure throughout his life. The actress does a good job of conveying emotions and feelings.
On the surface, Ah Jie is presented as a typical "husband thief" and is called a "fag" by San Lian on more than one occasion. For her part, she is seen as a bitter, authoritarian woman and a despised mother. But when we get to the end of the movie, their roles in Cheng Yuan's life become more focused, as does Chengxi Yuan's role in this triangle.
The doodles drawn by Chengxi Yuan that animate the screen add to the understanding of the story, obscuring and enhancing the live action images below. However, the film's campy qualities should not be taken as fatuous. It is a remarkably moving and compelling painting.
In this way, between the present narrated by Chengxi Yuan and the visions of the past, we will learn the true story of this love relationship, especially the period in which the lover becomes Zheng Yuan's caretaker as cancer devours his body. .
This complex, moving and timely Taiwanese story of pain, intolerance and family infighting, in its narrative arc about a journey of discovery for its three protagonists, in a society where LGBTQ rights are not as advanced as in North America and Europe, It reminds me of 'My Own Private Idaho', without the road trip.
'Dear Ex' feels like a coming-of-age film for its three leads, even though Ah Jie and San Lian are in their thirties. It's not that the trio of main characters end up as friends, drinking soju in a bar, but they all come to understand that they contributed to Cheng Yuan's life and why things happened the way they narrated. There are some leaps of faith in the film's editing, and much of it seems to be disguised by the teenager's voiceover.
This is the first feature film by Mag Hsu, a theater writer and director (she could not resist capturing it in images in the film), whose television scripts have been nominated for various awards throughout Asia. Among his most popular works are 'Mars', 'Silence' and 'In Time with You'. The film in question is co-directed by filmmaker Chih-Yen Hsu, known for being one of the most popular music video directors in Taiwan.
It is not a perfect film. Its Achilles heel lies in the fact that some viewers may find the pace of the film slow at various points, which can cause the plot to become diluted in some aspects. Additionally, the morals of 'Dear Ex' may be difficult for some people to understand.
Against it could also be that the film visually resembles a soap opera, and this is because the directors have extensive experience in television.
Still, it is worth noting that it is an important film made with love from the perspective of narration and interpretation. The splendid direction, photography, editing and editing allows this story to be shaped and guides the viewer in a masterful way.
As the film progresses, the story fractures, traveling back and forth in time as the three characters struggle to reach a point of reconciliation. The stereotypes of San Lian as a manipulative shrew and Jie as an opportunistic rogue fade away, leaving only the tenderness and sense of betrayal they both still feel toward the man they loved. Roles change, as do the characters' feelings for each other.
At times, the film threatens to descend into melodrama, but the attentive directors always knew how to right the course, balancing oversaturated flashbacks with a nuanced portrait of love that withstands both tests and time.
'Dear Ex' offers an interesting look at family relationships, with a bold narrative and bold direction. The film is full of well-developed characters and situations that force us to rethink the idea of ​​family in modern society.
From the comedy-drama, romance, homosexuality and theater genre, the viewer can see that it is not a very simple plot, showing us the social reality of Taiwan, to which is added a homosexual love relationship that is, possibly, one of the most beautiful , although also dramatic, that has never been made into a film.
All this, of course, had its recognition, since the film, after its premiere at the Far East Film Festival, held in the city of Udine, Italy, won the awards for Best Film Narrative, Best Leading Actor (Roy Chiu) , Best Leading Actress (Ying-Xuan Hsieh) and the Press Award at the 20th Taipei Film Awards, to which were added the victories of Best Leading Actress (Ying-Xuan Hsieh), Best Original Sound and Best Edited Film at the 55th Golden Horse Awards (along with five other nominations including Best Picture and Best Director). It also won the best director award at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival.
If I had to summarize, I would say that 'Dear Ex' is an insightful look at the ways people process grief under difficult circumstances. It takes a few moments to explain the film's central problems, just as the story unfolds in a matter of minutes, while the filmmakers largely let their tight script and exceptional performers convey the characters' complex emotions and motivations. brilliantly.
But the film is more about the people than their problems. And the three characters who star in the film are imperfect and partial human beings, but each one contains emphatically sympathetic and credible traits.

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The redefinition of first love

Heartwarming, funny, bittersweet and unforgettable, 'My Friend Is Still Alive' (내 친구는 아직 살아있다 / Nae Chinguneun Ajik Sal-aissda), 2013 KBS drama special, revolves around high school students Chi Hyun (Lee Joo Seung, from 9 Seconds - Eternal Time) and Myung Soo (Kim Chang Hwan), who always take care of their best friend Kyung Sook (Lee Gi Kwang, from Me Too, Flower), who has been fighting leukemia for years.
To accompany him in his most difficult moments, they shave their heads as a sign of affection and affection, take him to the beach, tell him jokes and make fun of him, always with the aim of making him smile.
Instead of talking about how sad the situation is, the three prefer to clown around and talk about their non-existent love lives and make plans for the future.
The doctor will tell Kyung Sook one day that he is improving and the next he describes a discouraging and Dantesque panorama. Faced with uncertainty, Kyung Sook decides to make a list of last wishes that he wants to fulfill if he has to die young. His last wish is to kiss his first love before he dies, but he has never experienced falling in love.
So, Chi Hyun and Myung Soo set out on a mission to find a girl who can become the dying friend's first love with very funny results.
If you are new to K-dramas you should know that "first loves" are essentially the ones that matter the most, as they will be remembered for a lifetime.
In the process, they meet Kook Hwa (Jeon Soo Jin - "kook"), and manage to convince her that Kyung Sook is in love with her. This is how the two young people connect. The three boys decide to hide the truth from Kook Hwa about Kyung Sook's illness, despite recognizing that it is not fair to her. But when the sick person's health deteriorates, the time comes when it will be difficult for them to maintain the lie.
What will happen? Will Kyung Sook be able to give the long-awaited first kiss before he dies? That question is answered in one of the most beautiful and moving scenes in all the romantic comedies in history.
But before you get there, your heart will skip a beat when you hear the dying man tell his friend Chi Hyun one of the most beautiful lines in all the romantic comedies of all time: "The things I wanted to do with my first love, Come to think of it, I did them with you. We rode our bikes together. We fed each other. We watched the stars together. We spent the night together. I've done all those things for the first time with you. Every one of them. It's not I may like a man, but when I think about it, my first love was you. I did a lot of things with you, friend. So I may not have my first kiss, but at least I have a first love before I die."
Directed by Lee Eung Bok and scripted by Go Jung Won, 'My Friend Is Still Alive' brings a rollercoaster of emotions, showing a wonderful and touching story of friends and love.
With male bonding as its main theme, actors Lee Gi Kwang and Lee Joo Seung deliver dynamic and surprisingly realistic performances. Shocking to see how the friendship and love between these friends developed in a really nice balance, and how they redefined first love.
Yes, it is a BL romantic comedy or love between boys, although it does not follow the same channels that the genre has accustomed us to. But more than highlighting the issue, what interests me most here is appreciating the film as an unsurpassed exponent of comedy as a model of what is inherent to the comic event on screen, of the relationship between hilarity and reflection, of the timing and tone of comedy.
Lee Eung Bok starts from the fundamental pillar of comedy: a generic device mounted on the careful premise of provoking laughter in a situation that is supposedly antithetical to the genre (illness, death, pain), a neat and well-crafted script; asset accompanied in his film by attributes such as class, containment in the underlining, a narrative fluidity that juxtaposes, with high craftsmanship in the assembly, each of the scenarios of expression of the situations of hilarity.
The director of 'School', 'Dream High' and 'Descendants of the Sun', among other dramas and films, learned in 'My Friend Is Still Alive' the lesson given by the genre in its classic aspect: defined characters; comic effectiveness; place for the farcical-irrational; dialogues elaborated on the reel of a spiral of stinging retorts; direct planning; simple narrative structure, but full of spark and mischief; maintained pulse and constant rhythm; actors who exude poise in superb compositions whose effectiveness is supported by intelligent editing, always concerned with cutting in time before killing the gag.

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Loneliness in love

Among the various contradictory situations that human beings experience throughout their lives, the relationships they establish with their peers are one of the most enigmatic. On the one hand, we are beings who naturally seek company and, in fact, it was thanks to our ability to socialize and live in groups that we survived and evolved as a species.
However, at the same time, building relationships comes with some difficulties. For various reasons, loneliness, isolation or some other form of these conflicts prevails over the natural inclination to company, preventing connection with others and even with the world around us.
Throughout their history, film and television have explored these setbacks from different perspectives. In some cases, having as a premise that loneliness is a symptom of complex emotional states, in others as an effect of the social alienation fostered by the world-system in which we live, and on other occasions seeing loneliness that is experienced as a transition necessary towards something more.
'Lonely Connections', by Joselito Altarejos, addresses the deeply human and existentialist theme of loneliness in love. Does feeling alone, despite being accompanied, mean having to give up love? On the contrary, the person who feels lonely in a relationship wants love, but at the same time is very aware of the type of relationship they need and what they expect from their partner. Perhaps it is precisely because of this awareness that finding the right person is not easy.
The viewer is faced with a reflection on how human beings face, in an intimate way, the search for happiness and their own identity. Loneliness may not be the best theme for a series or a film, since it does not need to be dramatic, energetic and, of course, happy or romantic. But it is a fundamental part of our human nature and a feeling that we have all felt at least once in our lives.
The famous Filipino filmmaker starts from this reality to tell us a story that shows that having a relationship with another person is no guarantee of feeling loved and accompanied. Feeling loneliness, indifference and emptiness on the part of the other person should make us reflect on the health of the relationship itself. When these events occur it is because there is real wear and tear, and decision-making is needed.
The characters of the series find themselves in a gray atmosphere, full of monotony, tedium, and depersonalized beings. They are solitudes that come together, recognizing new faces and new voices from the crowd. In six episodes lasting about 15 minutes on average, 'Lonely Connections' fills its footage with small gestures while they, the actors, without shyness or modesty, have hard and hot sex, while exposing their erect penises in front of the computer screen , showing themselves to whoever is on the other side of it, knowing in what is nothing more than a fleeting moment within their lives.
As an example of Altarejo's stylistic mastery, which makes every scene overflow with beauty and excess, the series reflects on maturity, heartbreak, the search for happiness, the need to feel connected to someone and the feeling of wanting to escape and live. at that moment. It deals with the loneliness of the individual in the couple since, despite having someone by their side, the characters are characterized by a deep loneliness framed by unhappiness.
But the series adds a new ingredient: it takes advantage of the quarantine and social isolation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, to make loneliness more palpable and raw.
With dark photography and a sad, melancholic soundtrack, the series explores heartbreak and loneliness, but also invites us to reflect on the relevance of being with a person who loves you and loves you just as you are, rather than surrounding yourself with people. with which you will never feel accompanied and happy. The same thing happens in relationships. You can establish a relationship with another person, and share your life with them, but you come to feel alone. It is loneliness in love.
We see in the miniseries people fully accompanied, but still feeling alone. They have sex, kiss, smile, feed their cats and watch vintage videos. There are betrayals, casual relationships, but also dissatisfaction, fear of coming out, breakups, and a constant search for love and happiness.
And from the point of view of the person who has stopped being loved: heartbreak opens up, something we must accept. Maybe the person we love stops loving us. And we must accept it. We can't force anyone to love us, and no matter how much it hurts us, we have to let them go their way. What is really important is that this breakup is as healthy as possible. If the person stops loving another, they must have enough courage and maturity to know how to end the relationship, without the other person suffering excessively from their indifference and emptiness.
One of the most heartbreaking moments, and most notable for its visual intensity, is a pure reflection of the loneliness shown through one of the protagonists, after having hot and explicit sex with his partner and another boy whom they invited to join in a threesome. . Four minutes of fixed camera on Sandino Martin, dancing alone to the beat of a melancholic melody, which defines the character's mood, on the record player, while he silently suffers his loneliness and drowns his sorrow in a solo dance, while moving the head repeatedly as a sign of boredom, dissatisfaction, sadness, lack of love and frustration. In the next room lies his lover, on the bed still burning from the heat of the naked bodies, who is deciding to abandon him so that he can be with the person he loves, who could very well be the person who formed the group a few moments ago. sexual theme.
The entire scene is being "observed", as a witness, by the poster for 'Unfried', a film directed by Joselito Altarejos himself in 2014, which also talks about the loneliness, anguish and obsession of a 15-year-old gay teenager. with social networks and how the viewer is taken on a nightmarish journey with the film's hero, David (Sandino Martin himself), whom Jonathan, his lover, abandoned just before Christmas, and turns to the screens of his cell phone, iPad and computer in a desperate attempt to prolong her connection, also lonely, with the boy she loves.
Joaquín, as the character is called, has seen how his love for the boy who sleeps next to him has withered. We don't know the reason, but one of the parties has lost interest in the other person, and is emotionally distancing themselves from them, making their counterpart notice the emptiness and loneliness. It is at that moment when the paths of both fork and go in opposite directions.
Through monologues rather than dialogues, we can see how often a person's own emotional wounds are the reason why they can isolate themselves from others, as well as the fact that there is nothing so painful to experience. how the loved person distances himself from us, and thus we experience his total indifference. Loving and not being loved is one of the most terrible life experiences. Loneliness in love generates very deep wounds in the soul.
In addition to the cinematographic style, the film also stands out for its soundtrack. In short, one of the most interesting series about loneliness in love in recent years and that defines the behaviors and situations of many people today.
What can be learned from this story? A heartbreaking image is shown of young people who, in reality, only want stability, but circumstances have gone against their wishes and, in this way, they find themselves in a state of loneliness that, combined with sadness and pain from the loss of love, make 'Lonely Connections' a visually captivating story.

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'Waterboys', the original and its derivatives

The film 'Water Boyy', from 2015, and the drama 'Water Boyy: The Series', broadcast on the GMM 25 network in 2017, both Thai and from the youth genre, comedy, romance, sports and yaoi, are heirs of 'Waterboys' (ウォーターボーイズ?), the 2001 comedy written and directed by Shinobu Yaguchi, about five teenagers who start a synchronized swimming team at their high school.
Based on real events that occurred in 1999, the Japanese film recreates the idea from the experience of a group of students from the Kawagoe High School swim team in the city of Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, who were inspired by the exhibitions synchronized swimming Olympians on television to create a choreography for "Men's Synchronized Swimming" that they performed at their high school's school festival.
PLOT
Suzuki (Satoshi Tsumabuki) dreams of being a great swimmer, but reality conspires against him: in addition to being the only member of the swimming team at Tadano Boys' High School in Sagara, now the city of Makinohara, Shizuoka Prefecture, He's so slow that in his last competition he literally came out of the water after the pool closed. When he believes that all is lost for him, while retiring after his failure, he sees a team of swimmers practicing synchronized swimming, and is dazzled by the beauty of their movements.
With the arrival at the school of a new Physical Education teacher, Sakuma (Kaori Manabe), it is announced that she will take charge of the swimming club since until now it lacked a coach. Marveled by the young and beautiful teacher, all the students at the school decide to enroll. However, they flee with the same speed when they discover that he plans to turn it into a synchronized swimming team, a popularly feminine sport. In the stampede, Suzuki and four boys who fail to escape in time become part of the brand new "syncro" team.
Along with Suzuki, the other members are: Sato (Hiroshi Tamaki), the failed basketball player; Ohta (Akifumi Miura), a skeletal boy who dreams of some physical activity giving him muscles; Kanazawa (Koen Kondo), a math nerd who can't even float, and Saotome (Takatoshi Kaneko), an effete gay boy.
Against all logic, during her first day of work and a few hours after making the boys promise to become a syncro team and make a presentation for the school cultural festival, Sakuma reveals that she is pregnant and requests maternity leave for the rest of the year. . In this way, the five teenagers are left to their own devices, being the laughingstock of the rest of the students.
Amidst the ridicule of their colleagues, they decide to resign, but at the last minute they agree to move forward. But another setback appears on the horizon: the pool has been assigned to another club that has filled it with fish.
In response to their complaints, Sugita (Tetta Sugimoto), the teacher in charge of the club, agrees to give them the pool if they collect all the fish before the next day to return them to the supplier. Hard task for these slow and "lazy" guys: but the idea arises of taking advantage of the night to drain the pool and collect the fish without effort. Subsequently manipulating the water meter will allow you to refill the pool with water for free and everything will be fixed.
In this chain of absurdities, the boys are discovered and are required to pay for the wasted water. They will be forced to go out and sell tickets door to door. After completing this new mission, they will have to convince Sugita and Isomura (Naoto Takenaka), the supplier of the fish, to return the pool to them. Desperate to prove themselves, they improvise a synchronized swimming routine that ends in disaster. With Sato's head burned and banned from appearing at the festival, they once again think about dissolving the team.
On a date with Shizuko Kiuchi (Aya Hirayama), a beautiful girl from Sakuragi Girls' High School and a martial arts practitioner, Suzuki visits the city aquarium. To his surprise, he finds out that Isomura is the coach there. Seeing his skill with the dolphins and orcas in magnificent routines choreographed by himself, he begs him to train the team. At first he refuses, but finally agrees in exchange for athletic achievements and not questioning his strategy to train them as athletes.
It's time to convince Sato, Ohta, Kanazawa and Saotome to resume training, now with a new teacher. But in the agreement Isomura hides a trick to get rid of them. He will devise tasks in order to make them give up, such as cleaning the windows of all the orca and dolphin tanks in the aquarium under the excuse of strengthening their muscles.
In the first test in the pool, and against all odds, the boys can swim: they have improved their physical condition and by observing the mammals in the tanks they learned to imitate their movements.
Since their original plan failed, Isomura will require them to dance in time, arguing that "it's not synchro if you don't synchronize." But their plan suffers a setback again: Ohta brings his experiences in aerobic routine practices and gives them ease in dancing, which allows them to master the game and develop choreographic skills. Defeated, the coach decides to take his job seriously.
One night Sato, Ohta and Kanazawa discover Suzuki and Saotome talking secretly on the beach. Sato proposes that this is proof of his theory that Saotome is in love with Suzuki and is confessing. But Suzuki reveals that Saotome, whom he has always been in love with, is Sato, but he has never had the courage to declare himself, so he summoned him to tell Sato on his behalf.
The team only needs authorization from the school directors to participate in the sporting event. They achieve this by devising the plan to fake a mass drowning during training on the beach and with the arrival of lifeguards and the press to obtain news about the supposed rescue efforts, taking advantage of the occasion to promote their presentation on television. Pressured by the enthusiasm of the community and the television channels, they have no choice but to authorize them.
With the return to classes after the end of the holidays, many other students ask to join the club wishing to participate. Ohta teaches them the choreographies and Kanazawa calculates the rhythms, patterns and spaces to move. Suzuki, Sato and Saotome investigate the new members' skills to enrich the presentation.
A few days later the men's synchronized swimming team, now large and popular, is fully prepared for its presentation.
But new fears assail Suzuki: although he loves swimming and being part of the club, he is embarrassed to be seen by others, especially by Shizuko, whom he fears will discover him.
To make matters worse, on the eve of the festival, some students accidentally set the school on fire and the firefighters must use the water from the pool to extinguish the fire. Given the impossibility of filling it on time, the event is in danger of being suspended.
But the Sakuragi student council comes to the rescue by offering their pool as they celebrate their own cultural festival on the same day. With the participants and the public moved to the new stage, Suzuki reveals that he does not wish to participate, since the event will take place at the same Shizuko school. Faced with everyone's disappointment, Isomura encourages them and the team performs an amazing choreography that impresses everyone with all kinds of performances.
Just before finishing the aquatic routine, a sudden dip causes Suzuki to lose his swimsuit when he falls into the pool, but Shizuko, sitting in the front row, throws him a swimsuit that she has handmade for him, revealing that she has always She knows about the team and is proud.
The film ends with the team, baptized as Waterboys, thanking the spectators who applaud them, impressed and delighted by their performance.
In addition to the aforementioned Thai audiovisuals, which separate themselves from the original by focusing on swimming and not synchronized swimming, in addition to making explicit what is related to homosexual relationships between their characters, the Japanese film inspired a television series, with a total of three seasons: 'Water Boys', from 2003, 'Water Boys 2', from 2004, and 'Water Boys 2005 Natsu', from 2005.

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Saunas to hide gay sex from public view in Taiwan, despite having gay marriage recognized?

If you type "gay massage" in one of the internet search engines, you may be surprised by the numerous private spas in Taiwan that offer gay-friendly professional masseuse services in the field of physical and tantric massage.
There are not a few customers, of all races, ages and body types, as the managers of these establishments assure in online promotional advertisements and on printed posters placed in public places, who go daily to these centers where they can Select to your liking, among the handsome male masseuses, from which of them you want to receive first-class sensual massages. They even "marry" this sex worker, and every time they visit the sauna they will request the services of their favorite masseuse.
Cinema has told stories about the world of massages in the gay environment. The 2005 Filipino film 'Masahista' ('The Masseur'), ​​by Brillante Mendoza and with a script co-written with Boots Agbayani Pastor, paves the way to present stories about boys who work as masseuses in a sauna with homosexual clientele.
This film was followed by others such as "Spa Night", a 2016 American independent drama film, written and directed by Andrew Ahn, and set in Los Angeles, California, which follows the story of a closeted Korean-American gay teenager who accepts a He works at a Korean spa to help his struggling family and discovers an underground world of gay spa sex that both scares and excites him.
'The Younger', the 2014 Taiwanese medium-length film, presents the story of Chen Hao (Chen Hao-Chin), about twenty years old, poor and without financial resources, who is forced by circumstances to work as a masseuse in a local restaurant. sauna type in the Sanchong district, where homosexual people go.
Unintentionally, the young man enters a prostitution ring that uses a massage parlor as a cover. In it he discovers that the 'extra services' offer large sums of money. He makes the decision to work after not receiving a response to his request to the Taiwanese government for assistance for low-income people. In addition to not finding a suitable job, his grandmother, Chen Hao Zhi, suffers from Alzheimer's, and the young man cannot pay the high medical bills, food for her, or his own support.
Initially, the attractive young man accepts a job at the spa, but discovers that his colleagues, instigated by the owner of the establishment, offer special services that are not included in the massage program.
At this point it would be good to ask ourselves: Why do these saunas continue to exist today in which Taiwanese homosexuals seek sex hidden from public view, when, since 2019, the legislation of that island recognizes marriage for same-sex couples?
The objective of today's gay spas on Taiwanese soil are the same as in 2014, when 'The Younger' was filmed: in addition to offering a means of subsistence to their sex workers while they "entertain" the clientele, these centers serve as a more liberal and tolerant universe to hide the transgression of traditional Taiwanese values ​​by its homosexual clients in a society that, even today, after homosexuality and gay marriage have been legalized, coming out is still not well received in most conservative Taiwanese families, who reject the homosexuality of their children.
Even though equal marriage and same-sex sexual relations are legal; LGBT+ people and households headed by LGBT+ couples are not yet eligible for the legal protections available to opposite-sex couples. That is to say, despite the evident achievements in the matter, discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transsexuals and other members of the community continues in Taiwan.
Chen Hao will face a moral dilemma for doing what he does. In that fight, who will be the winner? Ethics, his status as a kind and hard-working young man, or the need to get ahead? How many examples like this are there in real life both in Taiwan and the rest of the world? Isn't it the function of cinema, and art in general, to entertain, but also to show our realities, no matter how hard they are?
Initially, the boy refuses to offer these services requested by the regulars, but if he seeks to receive more generous tips to be able to get ahead with his life and that of his grandmother, he understands that he cannot limit himself to normal massages, but has to contribute the "extra" that his clients and, especially, his boss demand from him. This is how he gives in and earns illegal money, "on the outside", through unspecified erotic services.
However, his work makes him discover that he has an instinctive desire for the male body, so he begins to enter into relationships, bringing chaos and complications to his life.
Or would it be correct to say two lives? Yes, the young man lives two parallel lives: an exemplary grandson with economic problems who seeks to empower himself with a decent job, and a gay prostitute immersed in a world of saunas that offer homosexual services.
However, the creators of the medium-length film will not leave the boy to his fate and will not allow him to go down the drain into a much colder and darker hell, and throughout the dramatic changes he will experience, they will ensure that Let us be aware, as viewers, of Chen Hao's difficult situation by maintaining unconditional empathy with the character, whom they will seek to save despite his mistakes and bad decisions.
The boy falls in love with one of the clients, who also seems to have feelings for him, with whom he experiences, in one of the massage sessions, a brief, but first, warm and tender sexual experience. When the owner of the establishment discovers what happened, pressure increases for the young man, already open to having sex with men, to provide the same sexual service to other clients.
With images of explicit sex, the colors in dark tones, sepia and yellow, serve to define the narrative, identify the mood of the characters, and even manipulate the viewer's attention, to expose the grandmother's illness and the insecurities and the naivety of the young man, while he has sexual encounters with several men who come to the sauna looking specifically for him, keeping his life and his work in an erotic limbo from which he wants to get out, but which sucks him back to the bottom.
In this microcosm, the film wants to show us the drive of a young man who would do anything to keep his grandmother healthy, and how in the process he discovers his sexual orientation.
The obsession with the beloved client, the idea of ​​the need to escape due to his rejection of the work he does, the desert sensation, of aridity, that surrounds the life of the protagonist, and the representation of otherness, are represented in a strong symbolic load. behind the yellowish walls used in the film.
In this journey about life, the discovery and acceptance of sexual identity, the film intersperses two parts: one in which the protagonist boy takes care of his beloved grandmother, the only relative with whom he lives, and another that is his I work as a masseuse.
In this kind of tribute to saunas, those places so frequently associated with the homosexual world and where very diverse things happen, Chen Hao embarks on a journey of discovery, facing the pain of being powerless to guarantee the health and life of his loved one, but above all to questions about love, life and survival.

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The constant search for happiness and the fight against gay loneliness

With 'Arisan', from 2003, the first Indonesian film with a homosexual theme about the life of an upper-class woman who feels attracted to a young gay executive, other films from that Asian country have delicately touched on the problems that a marginalized community faces.
While it is true that homosexuality is not prohibited by law, many members of the Indonesian LGBTIQ+ community remain in the "closet", as it continues to be a taboo in a country where 85 percent of its 220 million inhabitants are Muslims.
Films that have attempted to break myths around homosexuality and explore cultural taboos and social stigma in Indonesia include 'The Sun, The Moon and The Hurricane', which tells the story of Rain and his journey to find and lose happiness, love and the meaning of life. The protagonist, played by William Tjokro, will witness the change of the people around him, as well as the changes that will occur in himself simply to adapt, to survive. Rain will understand that all the events in his life and the people he meets shaped his personality and his destiny.
This brave film is easily identified with its audience through its beautiful and poetic narration. It effectively portrays the ever-changing nature of the human being, his eternal struggle to grow, to find his own happiness while fighting loneliness and facing the expectations of others.
After winning the Best Asian Short Film award at Screen Singapore with 'Red Umbrella' in 2011, Indonesian independent film director Andri Cung returns with his first feature film, from 2014, with which he contributes to the LGBTIQ+ community in its fight for rights queer in Indonesia.
Filmed in Jakarta, Bali and Bangkok with a small budget and no more than 20 crew members, the film, which screened for three consecutive weeks nationwide with Rating R21, successfully delivers its director's inspiring and liberal plot with a happy ending.
In this avant-garde, progressive, unconventional and sincere project that seeks to help change attitudes towards homosexuality in Southeast Asia, the filmmaker once again explores the social norms and taboos of his country. The notions of body image and passion, always from an artistic aesthetic and narrative, orbit the sometimes slow pace of the film.
The film takes us through the existential dilemma of Rain, who, in search of belonging, love, happiness and the meaning of life, pursues human connection in fleeting loves, and faces the inevitability of gay loneliness, this theme controversial in liberal societies. On the other hand, the viewer is immersed in the psychology of internalized shame and homophobia, shaping three-dimensional characters and weaving a fascinating plot.
In 'The Sun, The Moon and The Hurricane' the intention, as much as educating the audience, provoking reflection and perhaps connecting the audience with their personal circumstances, is also to provide a narrative that resonates with their own experiences. .
Its fundamental premise lies in the idea that our lives are a constant process of self-discovery, a journey that never ends. In this march through life, the film selected for its world premiere at the 2014 Vancouver International Film Festival advocates commitment to oneself. But in this journey towards authenticity and personal acceptance in the LGBTIQ+ community, support and connection with others is also important.
The film, which was highlighted at the 2016 Indonesia Film Festival and ACMI, Melbourne, Australia, also stars Natalius Chendana as Kris, winner of the Best New Actor award in Indonesia 2013, an actor who had previously worked with Andri Cung on '3SUM'.
Among the film's awards and achievements, the nomination for Best New Director at the 2014 Vancouver International Film Festival stands out, being selected to participate in the Jakarta International Film Festival (JiFFest) 2014 and the Jogja NetPac Asian Film Festival (JAFF) 2014. For his part, William Tjokro was nominated for Best New Actor at Piala Maya 2014, while at this same event Andri Cung was nominated in the Best Original Screenplay category.
At 19, and while experiencing a period of self-discovery, Rain is protected by the enigmatic Kris (Natalius Chendana) from bullying by homophobes at the high school they attend. Kris, who is very popular with the girls, will demand Rain's friendship, insist that she spend the night at sleepovers and that she abandon her other friends. “You don't need them. I alone am enough for you.”
However, Kris himself went out at night with a succession of casual girlfriends. Rain, who is coming to terms with being gay, will wait for Kris at his house, going through the drawers to try to discover the personality of his mysterious friend.
When Kris arrives on one of those outings with the girl on duty and kisses a Rain who is pretending to be sleeping, emotions are unleashed. Caught in the act of stealing a kiss, Kris first reacts by expelling Rain from the house, but not before ordering him to never reveal that he desires another man.
After the tempestuous sex scene that ensues, and after sleeping in each other's arms, Kris will leave Rain at her home. As the music in the background pumps as loud as the shame and guilt in her blood, Kris leaves crying, thinking that the time has come to abandon the person she loves so much. Andri Cung's unstable hand-held camera is masterful, as he follows that man inside a car, overflowing with tears of pain and sadness.
Rain, for his part, cannot understand why this young man who loves him and whom he loves abruptly disappears from his life.
Nine years later, Rain seems to have gotten over Kris. Visiting Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, she has a brief but warm and tender sexual experience with Will (Cornelio Sunny). However, he will come to confess to this free-spirited prostitute that it does not matter how many people pass through his life, because he has only had one great love.
Now, 32 years old and with a consolidated career as a filmmaker, he receives a surprising invitation to visit Kris, now unhappily married to Susan (Gesata Stella) and living in Bali. What does Kris really want? Is Rain the only person he's ever loved? The reunion with Kris will lead Rain to make the most difficult decision of his life.
While it is true that the first third of the film is slow-paced and suffers from narrative inertia, it begins to gain momentum after Kris disappears and Rain fully embraces his sexuality. The reason for this cinematographic procedure lies in the necessary accumulation of conflicts for the characters to develop.
The combination of one-liner dialogue, Rain's voice-over narration, raw, shaky camera movements, and close-ups highlight the characters' denial, internal struggles, and discomfort with each other.
The editing by Dwi Agus Purwanto and Mochamad Rizky Pratama, and the songs “The Moon” and “Daylight Dreaming”, by Toper Caesar, contribute to the visuality of the film, and create an impression of dreaminess and peace. Their combination manages to highlight the hope and intimacy shared between the two protagonists.
The sun shines during the day and is always in the shape of a circle. The moon rises at night and its shape appears to change and can sometimes be seen during the day. What are the sun and the moon? How are they similar and how are they different?
As a metaphor for life itself, the film's title alludes to the sunny and hopeful phases, on the one hand, and the dark and stormy phases, on the other, of human existence itself in perfect balance.

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Feelings for the deceased brother's partner or between stepsiblings: a challenge to the norm

For some time now, Korean cinema and television have been committed to showing characters from the LGBTIQ+ community. The works of the filmmakers demonstrate the evolution of an audiovisual panorama interested in expanding its sense of inclusive diversity.
This is the reason why among the films of this Asian nation that reflect the various aspects of seduction and attraction, couples and commitment between characters of this human group, that is, lesbians, gays, transgenders, bisexual, intersex, queer and more, titles such as 'Yeoldaeya' ('열대야'), also known in English as 'Tropical Story' or 'Tropical Night', appear.
Mixing drama and gay romance, this 2017 Korean-Thai collaboration from director, screenwriter, cinematographer and editor Kim Hun revolves around Kim Min-ki (Khan), a young Korean man who travels to the city Pattaya, Thailand, to find Park Jae-Hee (Park Hyun Soo), the lover of Kim Min-hoon (Choi Hong Joon), his older brother. Interested in finding out why Min-hoon committed suicide after escaping military service, he will try to contact his boyfriend. Min-ki suspects that his death is due to Jae-Hee's indifference. Therefore, look for him to express his regret.
Will Jae-hee be indirectly to blame for the tragedy? Did Min-hoon think about how much damage he would cause to those who love him? Is his death related to the harassment to which homosexuals are subjected within the Korean army by their superiors? Doesn't Article 92 of the South Korean Military Penal Code consider sexual relations between members of the same sex to be "sexual harassment", punishable by a maximum of one year in prison? Isn't the illegality of homosexuality and discrimination towards LGBTIQ+ people in Korea due, among other factors, to the fact that the country's army maintains a conscription system? Doesn't the military have a strong influence on the way Korean men's gender identity is configured?
Isn't it true that conservative South Korean society encourages homosexuals to feel ashamed of themselves? Don't you want homosexuals to blame themselves for not being able to satisfy society's criteria of heteronormality? Is it the purpose of the film to accuse South Korean society as a whole for the suicide that Min-hoon is forced to commit? So is it a suicide or a crime? Wouldn't society itself be to blame for the tragedy? Although this would be a good song, 'Tropical Night' opts for romance, perhaps to avoid finding other reasons for censorship and rejection in that homophobic society.
However, the film does not hide in presenting social themes that are extremely strong, such as homosexuality, the possible romantic relationship between step-siblings or between the ex-boyfriend of a deceased person and his brother, suicide, guilt, how taking steps forward in the face of problems and limits, and the fragile thread that sometimes exists between friendship and love. Generating controversy and having the ability to educate and offer a different point of view is an essential objective of 'Tropic Night'. Could Kim Hun have set out to prove that life is not simply black and white, and sometimes addition and subtraction can yield different results than expected?
The fundamental message it transmits is love, despite the situations of each character. The film teaches us how the transformative force of love can overcome and overcome every obstacle that comes our way.
Without being guilty, Jae-hee reflects the complexity of human emotions, especially the weight of guilt and the internal struggle that it generates in those who carry it. Meanwhile, Min-ki carries the pain of not having understood his brother in time and not having been by his side in his most bitter moments. Then it will hurt him to have recriminated someone who was always faithful and loving to Min-hoon.
Initially, Jae-hee appears uncomfortable with Min-Gi's presence in her house. He does not agree to give him an apology for his insistent demand to express "I'm sorry", because he does not consider himself the cause of Min-hoon's suicide, in addition to accusing him of being selfish for not valuing his life and not taking into account the suffering that the decision committing suicide would cause the people who love him.
However, Lee Tae Kyung (Lee Geun Joo), Jae-hee's stepbrother and who suffers from a fatal illness, with his jokes and laughter, will be the catalyst for the rapprochement of both boys. What first emerges as a rivalry will soon give way to friendship and from this to love. The meeting of Jae-hee and Min-ki will cause strange feelings to arise for each other. As Min-ki slowly stops blaming Jae-hee, a strong connection begins to develop between the two. Will it be morally correct to establish a loving bond between the ex-boyfriend of a person who committed suicide and his brother?
For his part, Tae Kyung struggles with the duality between the bonds of brotherhood that bind him to Jae-hee and the romantic feelings he also has for his stepbrother. If, on the one hand, the relationship between Jae-hee and Min-ki can generate a lot of controversy, especially when we base ourselves on patterns that consider a brother's partner untouchable, and especially when he has died, the fact that A young man is secretly in love with the son of his mother's husband, even if they are not related by blood.
Facing the possibility of developing feelings for a brother's partner or between step-siblings, as occurs between the three protagonists, challenges the norm, and can make the viewer who is not used to consuming strong and delicate themes in television productions feel uncomfortable. cinematographic. However, this is a challenge that can be real.
The plot seeks to explore how to deal with complex emotions and the difficult decision between preserving the friendship that could unite Jae-hee and her late boyfriend's brother, or following the path of love. Although some may consider this situation embarrassing, I believe that addressing these taboo topics is essential to enrich the narrative and provoke reflection in the audience.
Tae Kyung, knowing that he has little time left to live, prefers to hide from Jae-hee the feelings that he has kept silent for years. “I want you to remember me as a brother,” he will confess to Min-gi, who did understand the secret early on, and will encourage him to follow the dictates of his heart. “You two make a great couple,” he admits. "Do not go. “Stay a few more days,” he will instruct him, so that he can comfort Jae-hee when he is gone, in addition to giving them time for both of them to open up to love. Dying, he will seek the same fate as Kim-hoon.
The viewer must be alert to how the situation develops to understand the characters' decisions and attitudes. Only in this way will you come to recognize that despite circumstances and limits, friendship and love sometimes intertwine, generating dilemmas that are difficult to resolve.
With this film, Kim Hun challenges taboos and breaks norms to successfully guide how the characters face these complex situations. The three protagonists do not stagnate, they evolve and face twists, generating emotions and interest, giving rise to discussions among the audience.
Winner of the 'Pink Money Award' (Audience Award) at the 2017 Seoul Pride Film Festival (SPFF), 'Tropical Night' features Jeon Il-hwan as music director and Lee Sang-woo as executive producer, producer and costume designer.

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How does the gaze of others affect an a priori perfect homosexual relationship?

In this 2018 short film of only 15 minutes, Taiwanese director Ching Chi Hu captures a youthful homosexual experience with a good deal of sensitivity, but also with the same taste for taking the dramatic conflict to a practically extreme situation that crushes the audience's heart. more sensitive.
The first part of this deeply personal portrait of a newly discovered love, draws the love relationship between the two protagonist boys, Kai Chang (Xuan Qi Chen) and Hao Tsai (Bo Yao Wang), the latter co-writer with Chi Hu, in a of those intense and unique connections that occur over six magical months, while both frequently skip classes at a Taiwanese high school to discover the universe within their reach.
Between jokes, laughter and complicity, what emerges as a friendship quickly transforms into a more intense bond. However, with the same speed and simplicity as this pure relationship is created, it is affected when moving to another socialization environment, school. As Hao rides the bus with his fellow students, they express an obvious aversion toward homosexual people. In fact, the girl next to him, presumably a girlfriend to hide his homosexuality, asks Hao about the boy with whom he spends many hours together every day and they are very close.
As the connection between the two strengthens, Hao grows increasingly certain that they will not have the possibility of a future together. Therefore, against her will, she decides to break up with her lover. The scenes, which show the mutual discovery of secret desires until one's lips want to eat the other's, are filmed with a tender and tactile lens.
Through ellipses and in a naturalistic tone, in its second half, 'Grounded' becomes a drama around the loss that Kai suffers, first due to the death of his mother, and then due to the tragic breakup with Hao .
Instead of jokes, laughter and complicity, now there are half smiles on the faces of the two protagonists and involuntary grimaces of pain, with the boys' lips closed and those dark, very dark eyes, shining with shed tears and others without shedding.
Hao wants to “marry the sea and embrace freedom, but he is afraid of the wind and the waves and the limits of painting.” The homophobic society in which he lives and where marriage between people of the same sex is not recognized until the year after the filming of the short, does not allow him to conquer his dreams. Hao does not reveal himself to the circumstances and ends up being a victim of them. This foresees serious consequences for the loved one.
The short film thus becomes a sharp portrait of how the gaze of others ends up affecting an a priori perfect relationship. The audiovisual offers us, on the one hand, a window to other realities, and on the other hand, it places a mirror in front of ours.
With a little more development of the characters and events, I have no doubt this film will be able to remodel the belief system of many viewers, make them think and reconsider our immovable truths.

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The projector turns on. The big screen lights up. The images roll. The movie within the movie begins. The latter is a kind of Filipino-style surrealism that will soon envelop us. “For adults only” can be read on a curtain after crossing the porch. Meeting point for hustlers and scammers. Prostitutes and homosexuals offer sexual services sitting in their seats or in the main lobby. Transvestites and bisexuals kiss or have oral sex with anyone in the dark while the unsurprising gaze of a child on a bicycle. The room remains in darkness with the smell of overflowing semen. There is no celebration of flavors with popcorn, candy or hotdogs. A labyrinthine space with more than one surprise in every corner.
Service (Serbis, in Filipino) is a 2008 independent drama film directed by Brillante Mendoza, leader of a generation of new Filipino filmmakers who leaves a trail of wonder wherever he goes. With this, his seventh film, Mendoza was the first filmmaker from his country invited to compete for the Palme d'Or in the official section of the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. It is also the first Filipino film to compete in that important international film event since Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim, by Lino Brocka, in 1984.
The script, written by Armando Lao and Boots Agbayani Pastor, shows us thieves fleeing from the police roaming the hallways of the theater. Mothers with infants looking for another child, also a minor, who may have entered the dark room to meet with gays. Sellers of flowers or watermelon seeds walking through what was once a prestigious establishment that became a dilapidated movie theater dedicated to presenting double programs of erotic and pornographic films from the 70s, to advertise their products for sale. People going up and down stairs in an endless maelstrom of sound, noise and movement.
Transvestites and prostitutes showing their bodies to the moans of the movie lovers in the background as if they were being exhibited on a catwalk. Homosexual couples at the entrance to the bathroom waiting their turn to let off steam, but not the urge to urinate but the sexual appetite.
Family problems aired in everyone's ear. Sewer water that floods the bathrooms and nooks and filters down the stairs to the ground floor. Between the stench and the squalor, we will soon learn about the various family plots that will become intertwined with the comings and goings of the public and clients.
Claire Villareal's montage allows us to appreciate the graffiti on the walls of the bathrooms or hallways that display penises or vaginas with the names of their owners along with the telephone number and the price to be paid by the potential client. Layers of paint with a broad brush to hide graffiti. Posters of gay and erotic films hanging on the walls. Lazy people are the only ones who do not have entry permission, as can be read on another sign at the entrance. A runaway goat pacing in front of the projection screen after entering through a hole in the wall. Lights that turn on. The luminosity invades the stalls. Pants that are pulled up in a hurry, zippers that close in an enigmatic frenzy, shirts that hide nakedness are placed again on the unsheltered bodies. The lovers run in terror due to the terror of being surprised. The four-legged animal on the run and in pursuit a herd of two-legged animals that bleat as much as that one.
Two cinemas closed due to the economic crisis and this one, the only one open, does not generate enough income to feed everyone. Rolled films pad the walls before rolling across the floor to the Philippine Rabbit Line bus that links Angeles City to Manila. The city, doors outside, like another spectator of the film that rolls inside the building. People on the streets coming and going and fixing their gaze on the posters to discover that it is not the one showing the film they expect to see.
If viewers have their party at the Family cinema, the Pineda family, a matriarchy around which children, grandchildren, cousins ​​and nephews swarm, also has its treat. Together they run an old, baroque, grimy, decadent and labyrinthine cinema, which in turn serves as the home of the family clan, a kind of microcosm in which women, especially the two mothers, play a central leadership role in all the events. senses, moral authority and control of the property and custody of its members.
Nanay Flor, the matriarch, her daughter Nayda, her stepson Lando and her adopted daughter Jewel are in charge of selling tickets, meals and candy. His nephews, Alan and Ronald, are respectively the painter and the projectionist. While the family members go up and down the stairs in their daily chores, what happens in the living room and the more than populated hallways is foreign to them.
Bigamy, unwanted pregnancy, hasty commitment to silence what others will say, possible incest and boils on the skin are part of the daily challenges faced by this troubled family. And there, before them all, the true “star” of the show: a huge, dilapidated movie theater that serves as a family business and living space.
The exploration of family dynamics, particularly the relationship of Nanay Flor, played brilliantly by Gina Pareño, and her daughter Nayda (Jaclyn Jose), adds depth and emotional resonance to the story. The cast also includes Coco Martín, Dan Alvaro, Mercedes Cabral, Julio Diaz and Kristofer King.
As the film progresses, the plot becomes increasingly absorbing, drawing viewers into the journey of what happens in each space of the film establishment. Gian Gianan's music helps with this. Photographed by Odissey Flores, the raw, arid images, infused with a moving intimacy, enhance the emotional resonance of the story, while subtle touches of ironic humor serve to increase the tenderness aroused by the members of this surprising fallen gang. .
Mama Flor under the clock that relentlessly rings, with her best clothes, waiting for the curtains to come down. The cinema is silent. People go out. Among them Alan, backpack on his shoulders, fleeing from responsibility.
The tape burns. The projector turns off. The big screen goes dark. Images die until the next day. The movie within the movie ends.

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The cliché of engineering students in BL series: from 'Sotus' to 'Secretly Love'

University environment? A university in Bangkok? Faculty of Engineering? Hazing boss? A secret love between two boys? A boy in love with a sundere, that is, a person whose initial behavior is cold and reserved, but who gradually transforms into someone warm, sensitive and friendly? One of them who, after a while, turns from hostile and unfriendly into an individual whose behavior is affectionate? Is one of them from a year older than the other? One called Khonprot, a name very similar to Kongphob? All this in a Thai BL?
This is how I reflected while reading the synopsis of 'A Secretly Love'. Then, other recurring questions would arise: By some chance one of the boys gives the other a "gear", that small toothed wheel, symbol of the Faculty of Engineering? Are you sure it's not SOTUS?
With this idea I immersed myself in the first episode of the series that tells the romance between Khonprot, a role assumed by Kut-Thanawat Sukfuengfueng, a third-year hazing leader at the Faculty of Engineering, and Pluem, played by actor Kimmon-Warodom Khemmontha.
Since I started watching BL dramas, I have found that if you ask any fan of the genre what the biggest cliché is in this type of productions, they will undoubtedly answer that placing the plot in the Faculty of Engineering and its protagonists are future engineers. I don't consider it bad to repeat the same cliché over and over again, especially if it is developed well. But this requirement is rarely met, which undermines the success of the drama.
The main problem with these series is not the use of the much-questioned cliché ad nauseum, but the fact that it is not even made good use of, in addition to ignoring a cruel reality, such as the hegemonic masculinity prevailing in the faculties of Engineering.
Homosexual engineering students in Thailand suffer from violence perpetrated by homophobes, both inside and outside the University, as well as mockery and harassment from students in higher years. This affects their self-esteem and daily life, to the extent that many have been forced to leave their studies because they feel harassed, while others commit suicide.
Future engineers and other careers, especially the "effeminate" ones, describe psychological, physical and sexual violence against them, demonstrating the articulation of homophobia and misogyny in Thai universities. Much of his narratives describe the role of alcohol in strengthening masculine bonds, negotiating manhood before groups of peers, and evading feelings and frustrations. Others, to hide their homosexuality, are forced to seduce and have sex with several women and separate them from their true feelings and emotions.
Let us remember that Thailand is a sexist and conservative society in which marriage between people of the same gender is not yet legal and in which homosexuality is taboo and frowned upon by both family and religion.
Topics such as the need to seek new ways of “being human and free” in the university environment, or how boys construct new ways of being a man and being young in the society in which they live, as well as the other problems highlighted in this review. to 'A Scretly Love' are absent in the plots of BL series, which do not take into account the social and historical nature of masculinity. This is a social construction recreated, reproduced and reinvented daily by social actors differentiated by age, sexual orientation and other factors.
Whether it happens organically due to the environment in which they grew up, due to their desires for expression through physical appearance, due to experiences lived in the school environment or, on the contrary, due to their feeling of not aligning with the paradigm, the Engineering students assume the consciousness of being a male subject who develops daily in a sexist environment or environment, exalting masculinity and even homophobic, which expects from them strength and resistance, sporting inclination, independence, self-sufficiency, passion, determination, open mind and abruptness as concepts associated with them.
Thai BL dramas, and others, do not take into account the reasons why these situations and beliefs have arisen. They do not tell how homosexual engineering students (and other majors) are excited about the possibility of reimagining and deconstructing the reality that surrounds them. They do not reflect on how they expect to live in a community in which no one feels pressured to align with certain thoughts or be forced to act in a certain way that is foreign to their personalities and characters.
Given this reality, the series on this topic within the BL genre suffer from not addressing the necessary equality policies that must be established in Engineering faculties in Thailand and other places in the world, and for which so many members of the LGBT+ community have fought and still fight to make them a global reality.
These dramas are limited to reflecting a homosexual romance and leave aside everything related to equity, justice and equal opportunities as the benefits that everyone would receive as a result of actions being implemented for their benefit. These dramas ignore everything that has to do with the need to recognize problems, question behaviors and join the essential changes that do not come and do not focus their attention on something more rooted in the freedom with which each person experiences life. .
In this context, the interest of scriptwriters and directors in presenting engineering students in romances with other boys of the same sex is striking and, above all, if they all dream of training as engineers, ignoring everything else.
All of the above would change if the premise were better supported within the script. It can get tiring, due to oversaturation, that creators want us to believe over and over again, that engineers, so “masculine”, can also love other boys, especially when in most cases they represent to these not so masculine.
'A Secretly Love' shows that it is not necessary to place the protagonists as students of the Faculty of Engineering. In the series, as in other previous ones, this fact has no relevance within the plot. Apart from using the faculty as a setting for various scenes, the interest in demonstrating a supposed superiority of some students over others depending on the faculty in which they study, or the much-used gear as a symbol that represents the official acceptance of the student at the faculty, or the representation of the actors proudly wearing the blue shirt that becomes another emblem of future Thai engineers, do not seem to have greater importance than the role they play in the story.
The series repeats the same mistake of its predecessors determined to place the story and the characters in an Engineering faculty, by attempting to show the great importance that this career has, when this circumstance collides with the little value that it truly represents in the plot line.
As is the case in other Thai BL productions, 'A Secretly Love' confirms that it would not suffer any alteration in its plot if the protagonists were placed in any other faculty other than Engineering.
At the opposite extreme, stands SOTUS: The Series and SOTUS S: The Series (2016-2017), by director Pongpisit Sri, based on a BL novel by BitterSweet, a pioneering work par excellence within this type of series of this Thai genre.
Sotus is the perfect demonstration of the evolution and development of the main plot, subplots and characters, both main and secondary, in an environment of students from the Faculty of Engineering. The entire cast manages to cope and develop within this reality in such a deep and emotional way, as has never been seen before or since in a BL, by achieving a good balance between romance and the everyday life of engineering students.
It would be meritorious for Odd Ramet Ruangpratum, the director of the television adaptation of Avery Pie's novel of the same name, if he managed, without repeating Sotus, to show us in a more profound and convincing way than his predecessors within these BL-themed series, a romance between engineering students, renewing formulas and ignoring clichés.
I just hope that the fictional characters that represent one a noble boy who keeps his word and has leadership qualities, the one who tries to act strong all the time, although inside he is a very sensitive person, and the other a young athlete who speaks little, but hits hard and likes to be pretentious, but deep down he is a sensitive person with a fragile heart, easy to love and difficult to forget, so that the young Engineering students that they embody can live in freedom. , equality, equity and justice, and their human rights are respected.
I would like Khonprot and Pluem to be able to live up to Arthit and Kongphob, the two heroes of Sotus, by convincingly showing us situations such as hazing, the upper-year student-lower year hierarchy relationship, the effort involved in achieving the long-awaited gear, or achieve the title of engineer, while their romantic relationship matures, grows and becomes as strong as the metal from which the small cogwheel, symbol of the Faculty of Engineering, is made.

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In recent decades, the proliferation of social networks has allowed the emergence of problems such as post-truth or distortion of reality in the creation of content. The lack of legitimacy of traditional media has given way to a collective thought that prefers to believe in content shared on networks by a family member or friend, rather than that which has been verified and contrasted.
This situation gives rise to a public opinion formed based on untrue information, giving rise to hyperreality. This favors fake news, as there is no proper selection, verification and construction of information.
Since becoming a public figure, FueangNakhon (Job Krisz Ahandrik), the protagonist of the Thai BL series 'City of Stars', has mastered the pressure from journalists and the persecution of his fans. Being a well-known face has not been easy for him. If you ever thought that being recognized on the streets would be a dream, reality proved you wrong. The pressure of always having the press watching his every move is exhausting. The emergence of his followers on social networks doesn't help either. After the latest “scandal” in which you have been involved, how to proceed on your social media profiles? Is it appropriate to take a season off to “detox”? Would it be preferable to abandon social networks permanently?
His “mistake” was to register and publish on “Zendaya” a first message that said: "let's transmit positive energy to each other." Due to the condition that each publication contains only positive content, the platform, whose offices are located in Silicon Valley, California, is not popular among Thai users. However, the message from the self-proclaimed “Thailand's most popular villain” will provoke an avalanche of attacks from Internet users in the Asian country. In response, Zendaya's managers intend to "monitor" FueangNakhon.
Who better to fulfill this task than Krommatha (Porsche Sitha Kanchana-alongkorn), Zendaya's only Thai programmer. Shouldn't he take his vacation in Thailand? Wouldn't he then be the right one to keep a close eye on “provocateurs” like FueangNakhon? How to protect the digital application from villains like this, if not by acting energetically so that situations like this are not repeated?
Who would have thought that Krommatha wouldn't have to work hard to track down the cause of the chaos, as he would take a seat at the same table occupied by Zendaya's programmer upon her arrival at the Bangkok airport? Who would think that the villain is called son by Krommatha's mother? Does Krommatha wish to pursue the “infamous” one or rest with his parents? What will happen between the two boys when they start dating?

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