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Shang Yin (2016)
Nicely surprised.
I found this mini-series on imdb via "People who liked this also liked...". I looked it up on Wikipedia and it says "web series", so I guess the only way to watch this is on You-tube or related sites. I was a bit sceptical and did not expect much of it. However, I was very nicely surprised. First I have to say that neither Mandarin nor English is my native language and I had to make do with spoken Mandarin and rather poorly translated subtitles which disappeared very fast, so I may have missed many of the details of the dialogues.
This series is almost exclusively about the rather special relationship between the handsome main characters Luo Yin and Gu Hai. They are related through Luo's mother and Gu's Father who, after both divorces, began a new relationship, but the lads do not know that. Luo is rather poor and Gu is wealthy. The two meet in school and in the beginning Gu is bullying Luo, but as the series proceed this stops and Gu gets more and more obsessed to Luo. It's an extraordinary combination of love and power. The constant attempts of Gu to conquer Luo and the sometimes faint resistances of Luo are very touching. The secondary characters are mostly decent as well, but Luo (Timmy Xu) en Gu (Johnny Huang) really make this series.
It certainly has its downsides as well. Especially the music was a little inconvenient from time to time. Sometimes, for some reason I had to think of the computer game the Sims. Also, the frequent score of Brokeback Mountain was not in its place. Only the song of Twinbed in one of the final episodes was completely in its place.
From time to time there were some scenes where I had a little doubts. Things like in class where Luo is sleeping constantly and the teacher doesn't say anything about it. But that did not bother me much at all.
According to the info I have read on the internet this series has been cancelled and banned in China and the actors have been banned to do any future acting. This really is a sad fact and proves that there is still a lot of discrimination in the world. A few scenes were also censored (Can't understand why at all), but you can watch them separately on You-Tube.
There are 15 episodes and I have enjoyed all of them. It has its flaws, but the main characters (and many other actors) are playing so well that I can easily forgive all of this. 8/10 for this unique series.
Taekwondo (2016)
Could have been great but somewhat disappointing.
Before you continue reading be aware that there will be a spoiler !
Let me first tell you briefly about what this film is about. Fernando is a handsome young lad who invites some of his (straight) friends for the holidays in a nice country house with swimming pool. They have left their girlfriends at home and fill their days with swimming, relaxing, talking (about sex), drinking and smoking pot. In this "men only" situation, they walk around the house half- or completely naked all the time. Fernando (Fer) also invites his friend Germán from Taekwondo lessons, who is secretly gay and someone the other lads don't know. But he easily gets accepted into the group. Fernando and Germán start getting fond of each other more and more and spent as much times together as they can.
Actually there is almost no plot in this slow paced film, just a bunch of young lads enjoying themselves, having simple conversations, but that did not bother me at all. On the contrary, this is just one of those films which is meant to be like that. So you can just watch and enjoy these nice looking guys and their way of behaving and almost taste the holiday feeling yourself. Almost a bit like spying on them. That is something I did like about the film. I also liked the character Fernando, you could really sense his fondness of Germán. Germán was a little less convincing as an actor I think, but still adequate. So what bothers me about this film you must be thinking, since everything so far has been rather positive. It was actually the end of it. So hence the spoiler. For the entire film you feel the growing connection between Fer and Germán, and this chemistry gets more intense as the film progresses. So as the film goes on, you really do want those guys to admit that they do love each other and in some scenes that longing is so obvious. The way Fer sometimes stares at Germán for example is lovely. As the end got nearer I was just waiting so impatiently for that obliged kiss. So only in the very last minute of the film (big spoiler ahead), when the other guys have already left the country house, sitting at the swimming pool, Fer asks Germán if he can give him a kiss. In that short scene, you can only see the lads from their back, in a very dark scene, where you can hardly distinguish who is who, there is a brief his. I know it should only be a small part of the film, but in this case, when there has been built up so much (sexual) tension during the entire film, in my opinion, that kiss should have been fireworks and definitely clearly visible... For me it almost felt as the director was afraid to include a clearly visible gay kiss.
Conclusion: nice film but frustrating ending.
Viharsarok (2014)
Negative and depressing
This film is about the young and handsome Hungarian lad Szabolcs who plays in a German football team. One day after a lost game and a fight with his friend Bernard he decides to go back to his home country. He inherited an old and dilapidated house and decides to renovate it. One evening a young lad, called Áron tries to steal his motorbike. He catches him but they end up being friends or some sort of "lovers" and renovate the house together. Áron is struggling heavily with his feelings
The people in the neighbourhood get to know about their relationship and start harassing both boys. I have a double feeling after seeing this movie. On the one hand it is nicely directed, the setting is lovely, the boys are quite handsome (they are even bare-chested half of the film) and the love scenes are touching, dialogues are sparse but sufficient
On the other hand this is one of the so many negative gay movies. We have seen the story over and over again. I know there are still a lot of prejudices against LGTB people in Eastern Europe and many other parts of the world, but this film has almost no positive image in it. It's mostly depressing and negative. Like the director wanted to give the message: if you are gay you will end up living or dying miserably and everyone else will hate you. Why are there so little positive LGTB films? Why is it always about homophobia, difficult coming out, one of the lovers not excepting his feelings
I would definitely not recommend this to gay people.
Intouchables (2011)
Watch and enjoy !
Intouchables is definitely one of the best films I have ever seen. Of course the interaction between Cluzet and Sy is unforgettable, and the film would not have been the same without these great actors. Nonetheless, this picture is almost perfect in every sense. It has a mix of drama, hilarious moments, deeper meaning without being arty, superb acting and cast, great setting and music and much more. After seeing it I felt good and could not get it out of my mind for days. One of the few (French) films that could be set on an equal level of quality and excellence, would be "Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain. This is one of the rare films I gave a 10. Watch it and enjoy !
Will & Grace (1998)
Mediocre but somewhat offensive
A couple of weeks ago I bought the entire DVD-box of Will & Grace, all 8 seasons, not really knowing this comedy. The theme just seemed interesting. First of all I want to say that this show has some positive sides, like Karen Walker, who is hilarious at times and her bizarre relationship with Rosario. The main characters Will and Grace are funny at times. I also liked several minor characters like Rosario and Ellen. Jack has a couple of funny moments, but is just annoying most of the time. On the other hand, as a gay man, I find this show pretty offensive. I know it is supposed to be a comedy, but what bothers me most is that Grace kisses her boyfriends all the time, Karen and Jack (?!) kiss all the time, even will and grace kiss many times passionately, but now I am watching season 5 and not even once have I seen Will kiss another man. Maybe this once with Jack and another time with some boyfriend, but this was very brief and more the way you would kiss a good friend. Just this one example makes this show rather homophobic. Some other things bother me as well, like the absence of any masculine gay man. All characters like needlework and refer as ladies to each-other. It's a comedy, but they could made more different and diverse characters. I will give this show a 6.