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It hooks you up... somehow. It needed some better writing!
In all honesty, as soon as I pressed "play" to this movie, I was feeling unsure. The first few scenes looked not only low-budget, but also low-camera-quality. Luckily. it gets better... somehow.PLOT (6.5/10):
Nathan is a lifestyle photographer. While in a bar, his attention gets instantly caught by a guy named Emman. They locked eyes and flirted from afar... but nothing happens.
Emman is a student and an activist. He's part of a movement that seems quite organized, but ultimately FAILS in give to the audience plenty enough information about itself. I'm not from Philliphines, so I have no idea if that movement is real or if its goals are clear enough for them which is why they didn't bother to explain better.
While in rallying against tuition fee increase, Emman and Nathan met, and the "love story" begins. About this scene in particular, I have no idea why Emman run away with Nathan in his car. There's more people involved struggling against ONE security guard, and no one else ran, just the two of them. We didn't even see the two of them struggling together, or Nathan "rescuing" Emman. So that was really bad executed.
PLOT TWISTS [PT] (8.5/10) (Warning: Heavy Spoilers):
The twists and turns were actually the best thing about this film. The movie relies heavily on flashbacks to tell the love story that has already ended, but we don't know that right from the very beggining. You surely can suspect that, but you still don't know why.
PT N°1: The student movement (in which Emman is envolved) wants to take some congressman to justice for some scam (that the movie fails to explain). That congressman turns out to be Nathan's "godfather". In other words, his mother's lover. Later, we learn that the mother is also persecuted by law.
PT N°2: Being in two different stages of life and two opposites sides of a conflict wasn't enough, because, at the end, Nathan seems to be willing to support Emman. They have already professed their love for each other at this point, and those lovey-dovey words: "You are mine!". But, wait... it's time for a new reveal! ... Emman already has a boyfriend. It is implied that he has been in a relationship way before meeting Nathan. This third person (Vince) even gives allowance to Emman and pays his tuition!
PT N°3: As soon as Nathan learns that he has being played by Emman, he dumps him. I was actually impressed but this realistic depiction of a person with a minimun of dignity, who was strong enough to get out of a relationship after being deceived this way. He didn't really "fight for his man", which is the usual route in this kind of movies. So I really loved this.
I'm OK with "open relationship" and "Throuples". But those two have something in common: previous agreement of both or three parties. If you learn that your partner has another person along the way... there's no way in hell I'm gonna be OK with that. This is why the second half of the movie got way more enternaining for me.
PT N°4: Some people never stay for midcredit or postcredit scenes. Well, I'm not one of those.
By the last scenes of the movie, Emman keeps asking Nathan for another chance because he loves him very much... however, he also loves Vince and he's not willing to give up on his sugar-daddy. Emman keeps insisting "I'll be back", but after Nathan says something like "Drop Vince, and then come back"... well, Emman just leaves without saying a word and Nathan cries. The End.
.... Then, came the midcredits. Someone knocks on the door. Nathan thinks "oh, Emman came back". But no, as soon as he opens the door a familiar face gets inside the house. The pizza guy (Ivan) from very early in the movie, in the scene when Nathan and Emman met and then went to Nathan's house for netflix and chill. In that particular scene, we see how the pizza delivery guy just enters to the house, giving a sense of familiarity with the place and with Nathan. Now, in the very last scene of the movie, we learn that Nathan and Ivan are in some kind of relationship. They say and do somethings that at the very leadt implies they are "now", but it makes you question if they have been together all along.
WRITING (6/10)
The writing involving the main couple is ok, quite realistic sometimes (specially the whole breakup and after breakup). They hit the clishes and even tried some risky choices.
The writing that involves the student movement and the organization, the politic scam/corruption was bad.
ACTING (7/10)
It's kinda mixed, honestly. Some better than others, There's also the problem of some characters being written better than others. So, overall:
- The actor playing Nathan was, PERFORMANCE-WISE, the best. I'm not saying it was a strong performance, but was more than enough. Maybe his loud crying could improve, but his silent crying was on point! By the end of the movie, I believed his words, and I believed he has dignity, which is way underrated.
- The actor playing Emman was so-so. Sometimes good, sometimes not. I didn't get the level of emotion that he was trying to portray. Still, I'm not saying it was bad, just "not as good".
- The actor playing Raven fine. He's whole objective was to be flirtatious at the beggining (to fuck with Emman, which didn't showed to us, but I believed it happened) and then, flirtatious again with Nathan when he was brokenhearted (and, yeah, also fuck him... which we did get to see). Meaning, he wasn't a major character, but his performance was really convincing. Also, really nice ass.
- The actors playing Nathan's mother and Congressman Ignacio were... meh. Average performances, but the script didn't alow them to shine in any way or form.
- The actors playing Ruel and the Organization Leader were no good. I blame the writing. They didn't speak much, specially Ruel, but they failed to make an impression.
- The actor playing Vince was just OK.
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Believable plot mostly!
I've been watching BL from quite some time, and most of them follow a patron or try too hard to be trending topic that goes overboard and ended up being messy or unbelievable. I didn't have this problem with "Venus in the Sky". Right from the very beginning you kinda know what you'll get.Some people criticizes the pace. I think it's on point. If you have been rejected by your friend/crush, you won't recover that fast. There's always a grudge, a feeling of distrust ... and petyness. That's why I understood Venus.
On the other hand, we have Sky, the clearly MVP of this series for me. It's the first time I've seen Tod Panapong Khaisang, so I was pleasantly surprise by his acting. Sky is the ultimate go-getter. He recognized his mistake (I can't blame the guy for not knowing his own feeling at a young age, but still), and as soon as he saw an opportunity he went above and beyond.
Honestly, Sky was perfect in my eyes. He made me laugh most of the time with his audacity. His reactions were always so extra, and if the guy has to sulk, oh, he sulks alright! Also, the guy was clingy as baby!
Janus/Bom was a nice support couple. Both were involved in the main plot, and the one of their own was nice.
The third couple (Tonkla/Tong) it wasn't that good, in general. I didn't connected with them, to be honest.
About the "sex scenes", which by the way aren't that many and also far from shocking (some prude person was classifying the show as "softcore", lol). I don't have much to say. I am a grown man, I don't mind watching guys showing some skin and having sex. In fact, I've always hated shows in which the couples are too shy to even kiss INDOORS. Like what!? I get the whole not-PDA trend, but in your private space, at your home, and specially when you are starting a grown-up relationship, you really wanna have as much physical contact as you can. So, I'm really glad I could see some realistic and sloppy kisses, and more.
So, in general:
A) The plot was very simple and portrayed in a realistic way. Don't expect crazy twists.
B) The main couple had great chemistry (in banter, cutenes and sexyness). I liked their storyline. Both actor did a good job. If anything, I think Tod's was better in his interactions with the whole cast, while Cheque felt comfortable only in his dialogs with Tod and Tontae).
C) If you want things to move quickly, this show ins not for you. Just remember, slow and fun can be better than quick and messy.
D) The budget for this series was clearly a moderated one, and you can see that right from the start. Maybe that's one of the reasons I wasn't too hard too judge.
E) When it comes to "rewatch value", I wouldn't underestimate this show. By the time I'm writing this review, I'm on my third re-watch, and I actually had much fun than the first time (mostly because I skip most of the Tonkla/Tong story arc.
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So much love, so little budget.
In all honesty, it wasn't that good.(A) The PLOT, the idea, wasn't bad at all. I hate sad endings that are usually associated with paranormal/supernatural love stories, so I really liked the early twist (ML was comatose, not dead) which lead me to believe there would be a happy ending.
(B) Too many characters, too many sub-plots. There's no need for that. Some support characters really didn't need that much screen time.
(C) The ACTING was pretty much amateur. The characters were most of the time either not emotionally invested or overreacting to everything and anything (think "extra", like really extra!). I would usually blame to the young age, but this is not the case. The coaches (all of them) were specially bad, and the Director was borderline campy. The guy playing "Jedi" (Oat Pasakorn Sanrattana) was the only one who seemed more natural, which is sad, because is the ML who has the least amount of time on screen.
(D) The AUDIO was terrible sometimes, and the english SUBTITLES (Line TV) even worse.
It was an OK show. I think the same story could easily be told in 7 or 8 episodes.
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Overrated, but the acting is superb.
ML's acting was the very best of this bL.However, the series itself is kida overrated. I get the frustration about being censored and the whole homo-ban situation, but even without that, this series had some serious plot holes in the fist 15 episodes (continuation errors, and some silly mistakes due to the scrip writer's superpower to forget how reality works).
Also, the ending. If they were forced to shutdown the show by episode 15... then all they needed to do was to delete the very last scene. That way, it wouldn't have feel like an ending still, but it would have been better.
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The plot itself is great. The actual script, not so great.
It's actually nice to watch a Thai BL Serie that feels more mature, and not the typical "freshmen year BL" that ends up portraying characters like high-schoolers. In fact, the strongest point of this serie is the acting (also the soundtrack), by far.The plot itself is great. However, the actual writting (script) was far from perfect. Way too many political speeches that felt forzed (not by its content but because of its lenght and reiteration). Sometimes, all you need is 2 or 3 strong sentences to get the audience's attention, instead of a whole speech/debate in every single episode. Real changes comes with "actions", not with "words". I wish we could have seen more actions.
By the end of the serie you will be feeling conflicted. You will be feeling happyness, because the two main BL couples end up together, but you will also feel like something is missing... and there will be a lot of questions, simply because the writer forgot how real life works.
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Recomendation: If you watched this on Viki... MUST rewatch on dailymotion.
I watched this a couple of days ago on Viki for the first time. Even when I really enjoyed the series overall, I got kinda pissed off by the ending (which felt unfinished), I just wanted them together (Xia Yao and Yuan Zong) somehow.Last night, all my dreams came true. I found out that I watched a heavily censored version (without even realize it).
So, I won't spoil anything, except that: If you liked the series or the ML's chemistry; If you thought there was "potential" to be good; If the ending left you weird out somehow... Then go inmediately to Dailymotion and watch the uncut version (30 episodes, +21 mins each).
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Ande Guangxia Qian Wanjian
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There was something missing.
It feels unfinished, in more senses than one.I won't blame the actors. At the end of the day, I think they did what they could, considering how POORLY WRITTEN the story was. In fact, the script and the plot itself are the real problems here. The story lacks importance. Big issues were taken lightly, while stupid things were taken out of proportion.
Let's review the main issues:
1) We are presented with a love story about two people from apparently two different worlds. However, in 24 episodes we never knew about those worlds. We never got to know their families, so the 3 or 4 times that any of the leads received a call from a familiar... it ment nothing. In fact, it felf random.
2) If the little girl and the little boy were around the same age in the flashbacks, how on earth did he become 4 or 5 years older in present day? This issue has nothing to do with the "real" age gap between the leads (I'm used to 30-something people playing highschoolers, so I really couldn't care less about that). I'm talking plot wise. He's a MBA student while she's just starting architecture.
3) The heart-shaped music box did not get the importance that it should have. It was supposed to mean something, a real connection or a symbol... at the end, the fact that they met each other as kids ment nothing. A wasted oportunity.
4) Stupid situations taken out of proportion: (A) Nobody spends two days in the hospital for a simple gut punch. (B) The whole "she went missing" situation was cringe. The classmates did nothing, but then comes the heroe and instanly finds her... unharmed,.. sitting there,.. waiting. Not even a scratch!
5) Abuse of flashbacks. Background music louder than dialogue. Some scenes felt out of place.
Anyways, it wasn't good, but I've seen worse.
Despite everything, there was some good chemistry between the leads (I mean, Dennis could have good chemistry with a plant after all), but the dialogue was really bad. So, every sweet moment between them was hijacked by some bad wording statement.
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The plot was nothing new, but good enough.
This was the first C-Drama I ever watched. It wasn't "amazing", but it was good enough to keep me hooked.By the end of the show, I felt like something was missing. It didn't fit as great as it should, mostly because of two things:
1. Hou Zi was WAY TOO GOOD for Xiao Yi, in every single sense. By the last third of the series you can't help it but feel bad for the guy... and kinda dislike Xiao Yi because all of her poor choices.
2. The ending feels rushed, not because viewers don't wanted Hou Zi and Xiao Yi to be together, but because writters wasted two whole episodes on Tian Fei and his CRAZY-OVERACTED mother. She was the worst part of the series, by far.
Tian Fei should have instantly died. We didn't need her mother's circus. I did't care for Lu's happy ending either, because neither her or Tain Fei had any redeeming qualities.
In general, the plot was nothing new, but good enough. The real problem was in the last few episodes.
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