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ariel alba
'Moreno', between polygamy and absent monogamy
Already in 'Doubt' ('Duda, in Tagalog), his debut film filmed in 2003, and in 'Bathhouse' (2005), his second film, Crisaldo Pablo addressed topics such as promiscuity, infidelity and homosexuality.In 'Moreno', in Tagalog, (translation: 'Bronze'), a 2007 film shot on digital video, the pioneering director of Philippine guerrilla cinema addresses infidelity in a homosexual relationship, and compares its consequences with the marriage traditions of a poor town on the margins of civilization.
Characterized by its low budget, the intervention of a small number of actors, mostly non-professionals; an unconventional production method, few resources in production, a script without great needs and expenses, few locations, predominating real places to the detriment of sets built for filming; filming wherever necessary without asking for the relevant permission, filming with reduced technical and artistic teams, 'Moreno' follows a raw and independent approach to the so-called guerrilla cinema, as Pablo did in his debut film 'Doubt' and in his second film ' Bathhouse'.
In 'Moreno', its director chooses to demonstrate that he is capable of bringing homosexual relationships to the public eye and making the viewer care about the characters he develops.
Its main protagonist, Cris Vicente, is a documentary filmmaker who is going through difficulties in his romantic relationship with Denver (Ray An Dulay, 'Bathhouse'), his long-term partner.
While Cris tries to improve him relationship with Denver, Denver likes to be unfaithful to him boyfriend. Despite loving Cris deeply, Denver feels the need to look for lovers with whom to share him daily life. At the anniversary party, Denver drugs Cris so he can have a clear path to participate in an orgy with all her male guests, while Cris is unconscious.
The opportunity to leave behind his recent dark past is presented to Cris when the next day he must leave for Lake Sebu, in South Cotabato, to fulfill the assignment of documenting the traditions of the people of T'Boli, specifically making a profile on local women and their changing opinions on multiple marriages.
Waiting him in T'Boli is a woman Mawen (Ynez Veneracion, 'Retaso' 2007), his old friend, who serves as a link between the film company and the inhabitants of the coastal town.
Mawen's husband is also blatantly unfaithful to her, and his situation mirrors that of the cuckolded filmmaker.
The film leads the viewer to reflect on the polygamy of the town's inhabitants and, on the other hand, the absent monogamy of Denver.
Consider the last-minute twist involving Cris and his boss, which turns out to be too much of a coincidence to be believable.
Cris is also aware that one of the male villagers is bothering him. During filming, Cris forgets that he is supposed to be objective and becomes personally involved in the lives of several young women who are engaged to the Datu sa dokyu (Wings Lock), the village patriarch.
The Datu, as the richest men in the village are known, are allowed to have dozens of wives, forced by their impoverished families into marriage against their will to live a life of servitude in exchange for a dowry.
Thus, once again, another disturbing and undesirable view of marriage is presented to the public.
When Ngapon, a young T'boli woman, tells Cris that she wants to free herself from the marriage established by her parents and go to Manila, the main character begins to confront what she left behind in the city. Like the proud Datu with many wives, Cris remembers that he has Denver, his tanned-skinned lover in Manila, who is proud of his many relationships. Ngapon's search for freedom becomes Cris' journey into a dark and very sad past.
However, the experience lived in T'Boli will allow Cris to solve his relationship problem and find the only and correct answer.
With an autobiographical approach, in three of Crisaldo Pablo's films his main character is called Cris. Thus we have Jet Alcantara's Cris from 'Bathhouse', Andoy Ranay's Cris in 'Doubt', and Cris Vicente from 'Moreno', played by the director himself.
Curiously, in the 2009 film 'Showboyz', the main character is named Krys, and is played by Filipino actor Kristoffer King.
Accustomed to fighting battles against censorship, Crisaldo Pablo challenged, confronted and defeated the Philippine government's Film Board, when the film was originally given an X rating, which would have prohibited its exhibition in theaters. Finally, it was able to receive the desired R-18 rating.
Among the mistakes of 'Moreno' we must point out that the dynamics of Cris and Denver's toxic relationship are interesting and should have been explored more. When the story leaves Manila to unfold in T'Boli, it seems as if we left one film behind to watch another.
Although at the beginning Cris frequently remembers Denver's moments of infidelity and the viewer witnesses the slow disintegration of her marriage through some very effective flashbacks, these disappear towards the middle of the film and do not reappear until its climax.
All of this prevents the story in the coastal town from developing organically and effectively, leaving the viewer with what appears to be a very choppy documentary. The reaction of the public that criticizes the lack of a structured story with fully represented dramatic peaks is logical.
Among its successes, we can highlight that the film is capable of showing homosexual couples who have the same problems and struggles that heterosexual couples face; the director develops interesting gay male characters who are not the stereotypes of macho dancers, rent boys or drag queens very common in Filipino LGBT+ themed films.
The first act of the film is very attractive. It's also surprisingly explicit and features a lot of frontal male nudity.
Crisaldo Pablo's work is thought-provoking and encourages the viewer to hope that the characters will be successful in their relationships and achieve a sense of peace and satisfaction in their lives.
The beautiful photography by Jonathan Batoy, Claude Santos and Crisaldo Pablo himself show village scenes and virgin, exotic landscapes that can, in themselves, stimulate the senses.
Despite its low budget and murky night photography, Pablo shows a good eye for the cinematic image. The scenes involving Cris and Denver give the symbolic image of a couple breaking up. Equally striking is the Bergman-style image that almost functions as a split screen in which Cris is sitting, dejected, on one side of a wall, while Denver lies in bed with another man at the other end.
The difference in the men's attitudes is also conveyed by their contrasting appearances. Cris's appearance is average, while the flirtatious Denver usually appears bare-chested and sports a shaved head with a light tuft of beard on his chin.
Isha's low-key, ethnic music, usually consisting of a single repetitive note, effectively sets the mood of the characters in each of the flashbacks.
'Moreno' confirms Cris Pablo as a pioneering figure of the guerrilla style in Philippine cinema, a filmmaker who has turned his cinema into an integral pillar of Filipino, Asian and world independent cinema, celebrated for his ingenuity, authenticity and unfiltered vision, by that gives it a documentary touch.
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East palace, West palace
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An essential Chinese political-erotic drama
The images run before my eyes once again. I resist filling the blank page with my ideas. I fear that on this occasion, as on so many others, I will not be able to say everything about this political-erotic drama full of nuances and trust, that something will get stuck in my throat and I will not be able to express what I feel correctly.Next to me lies, open to its last page, a volume of the story by writer Wang Xiao Bo, who became co-writer, which tells a story of oppression and torment set in a time and place where people were criminals if they were part of the community LGBT+. To understand what happens before my eyes, I need to drink from its most intimate and pure essences. That's why I go to the book as well as the movie.
I think I see A Lan before me touring the two parks, the East Palace, the West Palace, with its public bathrooms, more than in search of sex with other homosexuals, trying to bump into the policeman he has fallen in love with. . It all happens there, behind the Forbidden City, behind the doors of the Palace, in Beijing.
It's 1996 and Zhang Yuan, the Sixth Generation filmmaker, comes to my aid to tell me the story about a repressed and latent homoerotic relationship between a "master and a slave". I enjoy the intense and dark author's chamber piece that leads me to learn about the relationship between an openly gay writer and a police officer who refuses to accept himself because he is overcome by a strong internalized homophobia.
I glimpse Xiao Shi, the handsome man with big hands, those hands that A Lan loves so much, how he fulfills the young gay writer's dreams of being arrested and interrogated by a police officer, it doesn't matter to him if it's for "vandalism".
I witness Xiao Shi go from initial repulsion to fascination and finally attraction. I judge that the accusation of intolerance is not intended to be limited to the Chinese government, but rather to that which is manifested in all parts of the world regardless of the political regime of a given country.
I distinguish before me eros, death and sensuality walking the avenues towards sadomasochism. I sense a possible reconciliation and even the beginning of a romantic relationship between the gay writer and his captor.
I discover in Jian Zhang's beautiful photography how two worlds collide. I notice the back and forth, the initial imbalance of power between victim and executioner. I notice how the power dynamic changes between these two people over the course of a single night, in the middle of an interrogation.
I experience that the writer, from his playful kiss that left the policeman perplexed, to the confrontation between the two moments before the final credits roll, never gives up or shows signs of self-pity.
The images run before my eyes once again, and allow me to appreciate that the effeminate and masochistic, who may seem submissive, transforms, towards the middle of a film that equally transforms into both a power game and a gender performance, upon receiving the freedom granted by Xiao Shi to tell the story of his life.
I enjoy how he manages to turn the interrogation room into his own stage, where he is not only able to spread his wings and fly, but also to shout his love to the police officer.
I evaluate the analysis of gender and sexuality, the replay between pain and pleasure. I recognize myself, like so many others, in the feelings expressed in this film. I appreciate how A Lan can express that she could be a man or a woman, a goddess or a prostitute, the thief in love with her jailer.
I watch as the prisoner assumes the position of power and completely dominates (and even hypnotizes) his captor and all the spectators. And if there is one complaint, it is the script, for not giving a writer, like A Lan, more power over his words to counterattack the uniformed man, and only repeatedly using a single reason: "It's not disgusting. It's love. You can find me despicable, but my love is not".
I appreciate in the film the use of Piaget's genetic psychology and his atmospheric Fassbinder.
I allow myself another regret, the last one, I assure you, but one that affects the film not being much better than it already is: unfortunately, Hu Jun does not always seem to know what to do, how to function in front of the cameras, while his interest in the life story of the homosexual man he interrogates is not given the necessary nuance.
However, I vibrate as I listen to A Lan reply to the policeman, "You've been asking me this whole time. Why don't you ask yourself?" In this way, 'East Palace, West Palace' returns to itself the institutional inquisition that pursues queerness, asking about its own queer nature.
I open my eyes as the film plays with the limits and rules of attraction and seduction as one man's story becomes another's gateway.
I compare the film with that experience that we have all had of risking everything for the opportunity to be ourselves, whether in the search for love, sex, happiness, or simply those moments of connection with other people who can feel like oneself.
I sharpen my senses about how the film also explores the complicated relationship between gay men and the desire to feel loved by those in power, both in the figure of a law enforcement official and in that of the rich daddy that the writer once followed to his house, to receive the burning of the lit cigarette butt in his chest.
I believe that by turning the police interrogation process into seduction, Zhang Yuan's film subverts expectations as expected, and crosses the borders between pain and pleasure, between hate and love.
I distinguish that the emotional structure of the story and the enthusiasm that Si Han and Hu Jun put into expressing their lines make this film moving, beautiful, and shocking. It is a triumph for those who were handcuffed and imprisoned for their sexual identity.
I estimate that it is in that moment, as well as during the 90 minutes of footage, that we can appreciate queer cinema at its maximum expression of gay liberation, a political cinema at its most subversive and resistant, while analyzing how malleable the presentation of the human being to the world. Because the film also fulfills its objective of functioning as an intriguing experiment on the clash between the State and personal space, between the public dimension and private life.
The images run before my eyes once again, and I notice how the cut scenes, in magnificent and precise flashbacks, fill in the missing story of the mysterious writer's past of suffering.
I thus learn about A Lan's hidden desires at school, her relationship with her mother, the sad existence of "Omnibus" (Vicki Zhao), her classmate that anyone can ride; the public shame that the homosexual suffers, his first sexual experience, his furtive encounters in abandoned places with other gay men; how pain has led him to be the person he is, how he has preferred pain rather than being ignored...
In this way I understand the dreamlike epiphanies of the androgynously stylized Chinese theater, whose images also roll before my eyes.
I do not lose sight of the fact that through questions and answers the tumultuous life of the person questioned since his childhood is narrated, the difficulties that come with being homosexual in China, and how the brief intimate scenes of A Lan's life blur the feelings of the man who wear uniform.
I resist the idea that this gay film was written and directed by a straight filmmaker, especially since the portrayal of the queer character is riddled with stereotypes.
However, I applaud that 'East Palace, West Palace' escapes the stereotypical view of narcissistic heterosexual directors, and doesn't tell us one more tearjerking trope about the story of a sad, lonely queer man who has been oppressed all his life and accidentally falls for himself. falls in love with the apparently "straight" police officer who tortures him, because one of the strengths of the film is to present as the protagonist a homosexual character who has almost disappeared in conventional cinema on a global scale due to the horrific process of assimilation of the community and gay culture.
In this sense, Zhang Yuan uses all the queer expressions and traits that are most irritating to heterosexuals. He never sugarcoats the young writer's life and experience of sexuality, to interrogate the very core of homophobia and internalized homophobia, that self-hatred that the character played by Hu Jun feels towards himself.
I see the loud cry for help, both political and sexual, which in this case go hand in hand.
I see the amazing and moving performance of the real-life gay man. I was amazed to learn that Si Han was there as part of the technical team and was only chosen because the supposed protagonist dropped out at the last minute.
The images run before my eyes once again. Contrary to the way Western critics try to frame the film, I don't think the film criticizes the "authoritarian government". Firstly, there are no major differences between how an American LGBT+ film from the 90s criticizes the way society and the state approach homosexuality and what Zhang Yuan's film examines.
That's not to say it's all the same, but simply that certain sections of the public would like to use what was shown in 'East Palace, West Palace' as evidence of some specifically unique and more terrible oppression in China.
The truth is that just by watching the film, I do not feel or see the supposed repression that Western propaganda seeks to impose, ignoring, in the process, the realities of nearby countries. Clear example of political motivation.
I resist the idea that the topics presented are intended to explicitly attack China. However, obviously the film does talk about what is accepted and what is not accepted within any society, in this case the Chinese one.
But A Lan himself raises his voice at this, and expresses (paraphrasing): "we are all different and we walk at our different paces, but we are identical." That is, the repression suffered by the main character throughout his life can be similar to that suffered by any homosexual in any heteronormative and patriarchal society.
Even in societies that are supposedly more liberated with respect to homosexuality, such as the United States, from the beginning of 2023 until today there has been an unparalleled process of legislative violence and regression in the human rights of LGTB+ people.
I am referring to the approval of anti-LGBT+ laws by different states that openly limit different facets of the rights of said community, which aim to put the members of this group back in the closet, and which will begin in 2022 when Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, approved the Don't Say Gay Bill, whose text prohibits teaching any educational content related to sexual orientation or gender identity to students between 3 and 17 years old, and requires that the educational curriculum necessarily define he sex as "determined by biology and reproductive functions" and gender as "binary, stable and fixed".
I believe it is necessary to make these distinctions because too often legitimate criticism is used by opponents as incendiary ammunition. It would be an injustice to this film if it were used like this.
The images flash before my eyes once again, and I hear Min Xiang's music, while the audience gives a standing ovation to 'East Palace, West Palace' at its premiere at the Mar del Plata Film Festival in Argentina, in November 1996, and at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.
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A rare gem of Chinese queer cinema
The innovative Chinese filmmaker, film scholar, screenwriter, novelist, activist and gay academic Cui Zi En, known worldwide for his films 'Star Appeal' (Xingxing xiangxi xi', 2004), 'Zhi tongzhi' (2009), 'Feeding Boys' , Ayaya' (2003), 'Chou jue deng chang' ('Enter the Clowns'), 2001, 'Nannan nünü - Nan Nan Nü Nü' ('Men and Women'), from 1999, 'Queer China, Comrade China' (2008), among others, offers in 'Jiu yue' ('The Old Testament') a rare vision of the gay life in China.Presented in the Official Selections of the renowned Berlin International Film Festival, the Outfest: Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and the Philadelphia Film Festival in 2003, two years after its filming and premiere in China, the episodic film, written by Cui Zi En and co-directed with Jiangang Wei, uses biblical references to weave three interesting vignettes on the themes of sexuality, homophobia and AIDS, while Greek-style choirs sing the moralistic conclusions of each of the trio of stories.
At the same time, it promises an ironic commentary on the tension historically between the Church and homosexuality, as the images show soapy shower scenes with naked men, underwear groping and bed scenes.
Produced by Cuizi Film Studio and Glory Film TV, and distributed by Water Bearer Films, the Chinese film has received praise from critics: "The film's roots are planted in the fertile soil of avant-garde filmmaking", he noted the film the Outfest jury.
In 'Song of Solomon', a couple of men receive an unexpected visit from the ex-boyfriend of one of them who is sick with AIDS. Faced with the commitment to provide palliative care to the former lover, the couple must face the breakup of their own relationship.
'Proverbs' follows the love triangle between a married man, his wife and his gay lover. As the bisexual husband tries to reconcile the two-way relationship, the conflicted wife and lover begin to wonder if he is worth the fight. 'Psalms' concludes the trilogy, with a denunciation of intolerance, through a story about a heterosexual couple openly hostile to the homosexuality of the husband's younger brother, who plans to have sex with his "special friend."
With a duration of 75 minutes and a cast made up mostly of non-professional actors, 'Jiu yue' explores homosexuality in China, and features the performances of the renowned Huanan Du, Luo Dong, Zhang Jian, Yang Qing, Yu Bo , Wei Jiangang, Yu Xiaoyu, among other Chinese actors and actresses.
As in other films by Cui Zi En, 'Jiu yue' is characterized by its low budget, an unconventional production method, few resources in production, a script without great needs and expenses, few locations, predominating real places to the detriment of the sets built for filming, and the use of reduced technical and artistic teams.
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Guerrilla cinema and gay life in the Philippines
'Bathhouse', the highly provocative drama by Crisaldo Pablo ('Moreno', 2007), is a precursor of a cinema that has its dramatic epicenter in spas, saunas and public baths, where homosexual men congregate to relax, organize clandestine dates and having sex, such as the American 'Spa Night', directed in 2016 by Andrew Ahn; the Finnish 'A Moment in the Reeds', written and directed by Mikko Makela in 2017; the British 'Sauna the Dead: A Fairy Tale', directed in 2016 by Tom Frederic, the Spanish short film 'I come to look for you', written and directed in 2023 by José Provencio, among other films.The Filipino director draws on the waters of 'Hamam: Il bagno turkish', the Italian film written and directed in 1997 by Ferzan Ozpetek, among others, to deliver an emotional 106-minute film about first love and leaving closet, which takes the viewer on a dark journey to a world where meeting the wrong man could mean paying the ultimate price.
After his first film, 'Doubt', in 2003, the Filipino filmmaker films the queer comedy-drama 'Bathhouse', which has a script he wrote.
With a tone typical of many Filipino gay films, although a little different given the style of the director (who plays Cris's father in the film), 'Bathhouse' revolves around the college student Rico, played with great sensitivity by Ray-An Dulay, a young man discovered by Crisaldo Pablo and introduced into the Philippine film industry with him, until he became her favorite actor, starring in his films 'Retaso' and 'Moreno', both from 2007, and 'Pitong Dalagita', 2006.
Ray-An Dulay also starred in other LGBT+ themed films directed by Joselito "Jay" Altarejo, another of the great filmmakers of Filipino queer cinema, such as 'Little Boy Big Boy', from 2009, 'Kambyo', from 2008, and 'The Game of Juan's Life', 2009.
In 'Bathhouse', as Rico awakens to his sexuality and accepts being homosexual, he finds himself drawn to the local gay bathhouse, where he longs to establish a connection with the regulars in the clandestine world of homosexual encounters.
At the gay club and sauna, Rico establishes a friendly relationship with Genesis, a role played by a magnificent Andoy Ranay, an actor who had already worked under Pablo in 'Doubt'.
Rico receives an exclusive invitation from a stranger about 15 years older, named Cris (Jet Alcantara, an actor who debuted in 1999 in the action film 'Bullet' and starred in 'Gugma sa Panahon sang Bakunawa', by Peter Solis Nery), to meet that night at Klub Hombre, a private bar for gay men, also attended by heterosexuals looking to have sex with other men in the anonymous comfort of darkness.
In the darkness of the sauna, Rico can also glimpse bisexual and transsexual characters; people who, in the anonymity of darkness, seek to form a bond and a kinship, although they cannot later identify themselves in the light of day.
After having sex with Cris, the college nerd will fall intensely in love with the heartthrob, and accepts his habits as a gigolo or man-slut. All of this is set against the backdrop of the evolution of gay hookup culture in the Philippines, from meet-ups in parks to personal ads, to phone lines, to pagers.
In this sense, while Rico sings and plays the guitar in a park, he is interrupted by some religious boys. This sequence gives a very Wong Kar-Wai feel that I really liked.
At almost 20 years old, Rico has evolved from these primitive forms of human connection before the advent of cell phone services and gay dating apps, to a clandestine club where random sexual encounters occur, except our main character, Rico, looks for love, not sex, and gets a little lost along the way.
The reason for turning the corner is that the man she has fallen in love with is a jaded person who has combined all hopes of love and emotional connection with his nocturnal descent into the bar's orgy den.
When Rico claims that in the darkness of the sauna he can only see silhouettes of bodies around him, Cris responds: "Because we are all here for lust. Lust has no face, only flesh," to defend himself from the instant affection that the boy feels for him.
For his part, Rico will respond: "I don't want to have sex in the dark. It's for the same reason I hate movie theaters... It's very dark like you're having an illusion... When you're done, you leave the room." cinema and it's as if nothing had happened.
And Cris doesn't listen to him, and drags him into his world, a very dark world, but full of fun.
The chemistry between them is immediately hot and intense. In love with Cris, Rico rejects the other sauna customers who are looking for a night of adventure.
Once the fire cools, Rico believes he has found "Mr. Right", but finds himself on a roller coaster of love, jealousy and infidelity, while Cris continues his conquest of the baths.
Through the performances of exotic dancers on the club stage, the film pays tribute to or pioneers the Filipino queer film aesthetic that follows young people who work in the world of sibak, or in other words macho dancers, but identified with the figure of the hustler or prostitute, such as 'Sibak' ('Midnight Dancers'), 1994, by Mel Chionglo; 'Son of the Macho Dancer', 2021, by Joel Lamangan; 'Macho Dancer', 1988, by Lino Brocka, among other films.
A lot of nudity in this film, a lot of sex, and this, instead of detracting from it, supports the plot and the performances.
Rico is a very attractive character, but fortunately this is not the only thing that makes you invest in him.
'Bathhouse' also reminds me of 'Fuccbois', but in my opinion it is much better, having a more developed main character than Kokoy de Santos' Mico Ramos, Royce Cabrera's Ace Policarpo and Migs Villasis's Thor Villasis, protagonists of the Filipino LGBT+ themed film written and directed in 2019 by Eduardo Roy Jr., since in this case it presents a backstory of what Rico's life is like and how his sexuality and coming out to his environment and the people around him.
Likewise, it is commendable that the sexual scenes do not distract the viewer's attention from the dark and depressing situation in which Rico finds himself. Instead of telling a story in which the sexual scenes create a terrifying fantasy, which makes you want to escape in that situation, the explicit scenes cause the viewer to constantly worry about the fate of the characters, because you understand what is at stake for them.
Characterized by its low budget, the intervention of a small number of actors, mostly non-professionals; an unconventional production method, few resources in production, a script without great needs and expenses, few locations, predominating real places to the detriment of sets built for filming; filming where necessary without asking for the relevant permission, filming with reduced technical and artistic teams, 'Bathhouse' follows a raw and independent approach to the so-called guerrilla cinema, as Pablo did in his debut film 'Doubt', to show a somber story with a happy ending.
Heir to the guerrilla style, Cris Pablo has turned his cinema into an integral pillar of Filipino, Asian and world independent cinema, celebrated for its ingenuity, authenticity and unfiltered vision, to which he gives a documentary touch.
On this occasion, the filmmaker once again uses shocking images and strong characters to tell, through naked bodies, extreme sexual content, the squalor of the world of gay saunas and characters with an age difference, the story of gay life in the Philippines, while recreating an idea of how a Filipino bathhouse works, where emotions vibrate, love is made, love is lost and in the end true love is found.
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Tender, moving and poetic story about a father and son trying to reconcile their separated lives
Xiao Rui (Ray), a tall, thin and handsome teenager, returns home, after having grown up with his grandfather, to live with his father (a character played by Wei-Ming Wang, an actor known for his role in 'Han chan xiao ying' (2014), 'Da yue zai dong ji' (2019) and the 1991 film 'A Summer Day'), a businessman from whom he is physically and emotionally distanced. The local art school has opened its doors for him, and the time has come to return to his father's home.The character of Ray is played by Junrui Wang, an actor known for his role in 'Wo ruhua si yu de erzi' (2005).
During the years of estrangement, Ray spent much of his childhood and adolescence rebelling against his father's hard-line, middle-class lifestyle.
At school, Ray becomes romantically involved in a relationship with an unnamed boyfriend, played by Guifeng Wang. The two boys are followed by an equally unnamed mutual friend, played by actor Ziqiang Li.
But when his father discovers the young lovers naked in bed, after the initial surprise, he must begin to understand his own feelings towards homosexuality.
'My Fair Son' makes a slow, uneventful study of a tense relationship between father and son, in which the two must tentatively begin to reconcile their many differences, including Ray's revelation that he is gay, something his father it is difficult for him to accept.
Lacking strong emotions and even music until the end, the film, written and directed by the innovative Chinese filmmaker, film scholar, screenwriter, novelist, activist and gay academic Cui Zi En, known internationally for his films 'Zhi tongzhi' (2009 ), 'Jiu yue' (2001), 'Feeding Boys, Ayaya' (2003), 'Chou jue deng chang' ('Enter the Clowns'), from 2001, 'Nannan nünü - Nan Nan Nü Nü' ('Men and Women'), 1999, 'Queer China, Comrade China' (2008), among others, gives us a tender, moving and poetic story about a father and a son trying to reconcile their separate lives.
The family ties between father and son will continue to be tested when Ray falls in love with the apparently heterosexual Xiao Bo (played by Bo Yu, a Chinese actor known for 'Zhui qiu xing fu de ri zi' (2014), 'Shao nian ge xing' (2022) and 'Xingxing xiangxi xi' (2004), one of his father's best employees But Bo is committed and, by getting involved in a homosexual relationship, he not only risks his position in the company. the company, but also the persecution in his personal life.
When Bo confesses that he is in love with Ray, the father fires him and lies to his son, telling him that he resigned of his own free will. Ray doesn't accept his father's argument. The film ends with the main character wandering around a terrace with floating transparent images of his childhood photographs.
But despite having broken the thread that united him to the person he loved, Ray has not stopped believing in love.
And at this point it is worth thinking positively and saying with Miguel Hernandez that "only those who love fly." Although later he asks himself: "Love... But who loves? Fly... But who flies?". As in "His flight", the title of the poem by the Orihuela shepherd from which the cited verses come, the protagonist of the film has wings in love.
But Cui Zi En's film also reminds me of that flutter that has reached many, such as the Spanish poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, who in his famous "Rhyme". And in that atmosphere where "the sky dissolves in rays of gold / [and] the earth trembles with joy", the Sevillian asks: "Is it love that passes?" Surely, taking our pedestrian condition to the top to give us the volatile, airy, unstable and changeable life of lovers.
I like the brilliant filming of this art film that shows gay life in China, the everyday wonder, the poetry and the complicated existence of life itself.
He achieves this through many deliberate slow scenes, for example, instead of the actors moving at a regular pace, their movements to move are slow, parsimonious. In this way, the director seeks to slow down the actions so that the viewer can feel the tenderness and intimate thoughts of the characters, especially those of Ray, giving us the opportunity to understand and feel what is in the microcosm of their lives and feelings actions.
With beautiful naked torsos of the handsome and sensual young men, 'My Fair Son' is a lyrical, reflective, silent, melancholic, beautiful, poetic and calm film.
What is striking are the scenes of nudity combined with images of the sky, the horizon, the infinite... referring, with a lot of symbolism, to love, thoughts and feelings, too complex and paradoxical to be expressed in words (or the lack of articulation of the characters involved, the love).
Although the film does not inspire me with joy and action, it does manage to make me reflect on beauty, poetry, and the value of life in all its tenderness and sadness.
The sensuality of the film is worth highlighting. The feel of the cinematography drives it a little more than the plot.
Likewise, I enjoyed the long shots, which let you feel the characters' behaviors. The viewer must be attentive, because at times it seems that what we are seeing has little to do with the action on screen. In my case, this puts me in the sensory, dreamlike mindset that Ray seemed to have.
Another element to take into account is how, on several occasions, the camera focuses interest on more traditional elements of the plot. In my opinion, the director wants the viewer to perceive how the secondary characters see things as they are expected to be and not as they are through Ray's eyes.
For example, when scenes involving father and son appear, there are long shots focused on what we expected to see, but then the images stop, allowing the scenes to develop more than we could expect, in total silence, ensuring that the viewer obtains the necessary information to understand what is happening, but really feeling the atmosphere of the actions at the moment, whether internal to the characters and external to the scene.
With all these elements, Cui Zi En creates a film that feels like a more complete, true understanding of what happens between a young dreamer with his head constantly gravitating around his world, his father with things clear, and the rest of the people who surround the lives of these two characters as they care, connect and interact with them.
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Black Art Collection -Testimony-
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The review I would never have liked to write
If coming out is perhaps one of the most satisfying decisions in the lives of all homosexuals, for others taking this step is an insurmountable barrier. And if it is understandable that there are those who cling to continue pretending to be someone else for logical reasons, such as the fear of suffering homophobia and exclusion, the refusal to comply with social expectations that in one way or another influence our lives and decisions, to be intimidated by the possibility of accepting oneself before others, there will also be those who, in order to hide their homosexuality, go so far as to commit terrible crimes.The latter prefer to lie and even kill before allowing their truth to be exposed to the eyes of the family, especially in a heteronormative and patriarchal society, like Japan.
Directed by Asahara Yuzo in 2020, 'Kuroi Gashu Shogen - Black Art Collection - Testimony' becomes social criticism, while exploring modern Japanese society, especially with regard to the traditional family, social prejudices and acceptance of homosexuality in that Asian nation, where apparently honor, reputation and family image are matters important enough to commit a crime.
Screenwriters Asahara Yuzo and Ishikawa Katsumi adapt the short story "Shogen" (証言), by Matsumoto Seicho, in a 90-minute special for television, which combines mystery, suspense, drama and queer thriller, which does not lack the elements psychological elements present in the vast detective fiction of the prolific Japanese intellectual.
The story follows Doctor Ishino Teiichiro (Tanihara Shosuke), who seems to have a perfect life. At just over forty years old, the main character not only enjoys the respect, affection and admiration of his wife Sachiko and his two children, but also of the patients and medical staff of the clinic in Kanazawa where he works.
But the fragile bubble in which he lives soon bursts, when the murder of a woman occurs in a building near his workplace, and the secret he has kept for much of his life threatens to come to light, when he becomes a witness clue.
Teiichiro has been hiding from everyone for three years that he is in a relationship with Umezawa Tomohisa (Asaka Kodai), a young man who shares his art studies with work in a ceramics workshop.
The two men meet in places hidden from other people, especially Umezawa's house, to show their love. Umezawa, who is more liberated, wants Teiichiro to confess to his wife and children that he is homosexual and face the truth of their relationship. But the doctor refuses to come out of the closet. His interest in not losing his reputation is greater than any other reason that pushes him to hide his homosexuality.
But his secret could come to light if he confessed to the detectives investigating a criminal case that, precisely at the time of the events, he found himself on the street, dozens of kilometers from the scene of the crime, with his patient Sugiyama Kozo (Horibe Keisuke), the only suspect. At this crossroads, he decides to lie to the police and give false testimony.
Confirming the alibi would serve to exonerate Sugiyama, but it would also mean having to answer difficult questions, both to the police and to his family, since at the time of the meeting between suspect and witness, the latter was out for a walk with his lover after having had sex, while lying to his wife and children, who trusted that Teiichiro was working at the clinic at that time.
The drama emerges when guilt leads Ishino Teiichiro to reveal to Umezawa the situation he is in, but he resists confessing a truth, which would automatically save the unfortunate man who is being unjustly accused of a crime he did not commit. The fear of coming out to society and their family weighs more.
To complicate everything, Sachiko enrolls in a pottery class, and meets Umezawa, the course's teacher.
Some time later, fulfilling an invitation from Sachiko, Umezawa visits her lover's house and discovers the apparent happy life of the doctor's family, so Umezawa decides to break up with him, unless Teiichiro comes out of the closet.
When Umezawa tries to break up with him after seeing his desire to have Teiichiro fully to himself frustrated, he is killed by the doctor.
With the weight of guilt, the main character finally confesses the whole truth to his wife, claiming that he had to kill Umezawa because he loved him.
Sachiko, who was already suspicious of Teiichiro's strange behavior, is surprised to learn of her husband's homosexuality. Feeling deceived and fearing that the truth will become known to everyone, especially her children, she also makes decisions that end in another tragedy.
By hiding his homosexuality, Teiichiro is able to lie: his first lie is to the police, which leads to an imperfect but innocent man being on the verge of being convicted for a crime he did not commit.
In an attempt to preserve his home life and his relationship with his lover, Teiichiro lies once again, this time to his family.
The third lie (or the first?) occurs when Teiichiro lies to himself, by refusing to acknowledge to others that he is the person he is. This lie is the trigger for the entire conflict.
But Sachiko is willing to lie and make her husband lie in order to protect the dignity of her family: seeing the state of mind of her husband, who is about to reveal everything because he cannot bear the weight of guilt and regret, initially tries both to get him to maintain the lie that could free Sugiyama from jail, and to not reveal himself to be Umezawa's murderer, because then he would have to recognize the type of relationship that both had.
Thus, fearing that Teiichi will confess, she decides to preserve the lie by murdering her husband and denying justice to the murdered lover and Sugiyama.
Behind a notable workmanship and solid interpretations, 'Kuroi Gashu Shogen - Black Art Collection - Testimony' has an atmosphere and temperament that captivates the viewer until the end.
Told linearly, the story (with an attractive script, but sometimes too mechanical) is a kind of ordered accumulation of situations that threaten to overflow on themselves as the narrative progresses: Umezawa's demands that Teiichiro be "brave" and accept yourself; the police investigation that can bring him out of the closet; the conflict of the doctor, who prefers to hide his homosexuality rather than save the life of an innocent man, murder for love...
Despite its virtues, and perhaps because of the cumulative vocation of the narrative, 'Kuroi Gashu Shogen - Black Art Collection - Testimony' presents some excesses that tend to relativize dramatic situations until they become melodramatic, or lighten the richness of the conflicts: Sachiko ( a Nishida Naomi very immersed in her role), who will not tremble when mixing sideburns and alcohol that will cause the death of her husband, giving it the appearance of a suicide; Umezawa looking for a new lover when Teiichiro has barely left his bed; the doctor's wife remembering how in the past she suffered sexual harassment by Sugiyama, which reinforces her conviction that he is the criminal; Saki Sugiyama (Takatsuki Sara), the daughter of the accused, locating and pursuing Ishino Sadanori (Yoshimura Kaito), Teiichiro's son, to ask him to influence her father "to confess the truth"; the fear (in my opinion) of not wanting to disappoint the creators of the saga of adaptations based on short stories written by Matsumoto Seicho, which began with the film 'Knock Down', in 1960, and continued with 'Matsumoto Seicho Series: Kuro no Kumikyoku' , in 1962; 'Matsumoto Seicho Series: Kuro no Kumikyoku', in 1965; 'Matsumoto Seicho no Shogen', in 1984; 'Matsumoto Seicho Suspense: Kuroi Gashu - Shogen', in 1992, and 'Matsumoto Seicho no Shogen', in 2004.
In the performances, Tanihara Shosuke gives us a versatile and contained performance. At no point does it show us a person who is struggling with their sexual identity. We will never see him as a being caught between the desire to be honest with himself and the fear of the repercussions of coming out.
Contrary to Teiichiro, Asaka Kodai's character fulfills his role as the person who knew how to face his fears and explore his sexuality through his relationship with the doctor. For her part, Nishida Naomi gives nuances to her role as a deceived woman capable of anything to preserve the honor and reputation of the family.
This turns out to be the review I never wanted to write. In MDL I publish others in which I celebrate characters in their process of coming out of the closet. In this, I condemn how the characters prefer to lie, take the blame, and even commit horrific crimes, before recognizing themselves as homosexual, or, on the contrary, before accepting others being revealed that a family member or person who has been part of their life be gay.
But the above does not stop you from admiring and recommending the work.
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Acceptance of sexuality
I must have some strange fascination with shipwrecks. In my adolescence I read every novel I could get my hands on that took place on desert islands, in inhospitable landscapes, after the arrival of a survivor of a maritime or air accident.I remember reading works where fiction and reality go hand in hand, such as "Story of a Shipwrecked", by Gabriel García Márquez. I enjoyed "Two Years' Holiday" and "The Mysterious Island" by French novelist Jules Verne; "The Shipwrecked of the Auckland", by François Édouard Raynal, "The Shipwrecked of the Grand Armada", by Fernando Martínez Laínez, "Drifting", by Steve Callahan, "The Shipwrecked of the Liguria", by the Italian author Emilio Salgari , "The Castaways" by Charlotte Rogan, "Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe, "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel, "Isla de Lobos", by José Vicente Pascual, "The castaways of the Batavia", by Simon Leys, "The castaways", by Jean Améry, "Drifting", by Joris-Karl Huysmans.
These works, and others, have in common the fact that the survivors, as soon as they manage to reach land, were immediately forced to survive in an uninhabited and hostile place.
That is why I cannot understand David (John David Schon), the protagonist of 'The Shore BL Series' (marketed as 'The First Island BL Romance'), who, being in the same situation, instead of exploring the terrain and Making sure how to survive, he constantly cries out for help, sitting on the shore under a scorching Philippine sun, in a no less exhausting episode.
But of all the works about shipwrecks, Jody Garcia's series reminds me most of "Just A Bit Wrecked," a gay novel by Alessandra Hazar, because they both share their intriguing concept of two strangers stranded on an uninhabited island that come to love each other.
But while the book by the author of "Forbidden", "Just a Bit Captivated" and "Just a Bit Wrong", among others, describes a narrative arc in which the protagonists begin as declared enemies or adversaries, only to discover gradually a deeper connection that transcends the initial animosity, in 'The Shore BL Series' the friendly approach is surprising.
The series also manages to captivate the viewer with its beautiful photography, delicious cinematography and two talented leading actors.
Produced by Star Image Artist Management, which also produced the series 'Amore BL Series', the story brings us to David, a Psychology student, who runs away from home after discovering two heartbreaking realities that alter his life: he has stumbled upon the truth of his adoption, and his girlfriend and Vince (Kyle Verches), his childhood best friend, have been unfaithful to him.
During their getaway, in the car, the viewer learns, thanks to the voice-over of the main character in constant interior monologues, about the friendship that David and Vince have built for years.
In this way, David arrives at a beach resort and takes refuge in drink. Completely drunk, he ignores warnings of a dangerous approaching storm, rents a boat and, alone, rows out to the ocean in search of tranquility.
But instead of peace, unfortunately, the storm washes David to the shores of an island that appears to be uninhabited. And in this way our narrative hero begins a journey that will change his life forever.
Alone in this inhospitable place and with broken mental health, David cannot adapt to the new situation, so he goes through several stages: confusion, anger, denial, dejection, fear, tolerance, identity, self-acceptance...
Here the series plays with the same acceptance process that any homosexual person usually experiences to accept themselves as such and live homosexuality completely naturally without perceiving it as inferior to heterosexuality.
In this sense, the presence of Simon (Miguel Ching) helps, a young man who, like him, has been stranded on the island and from the first moments shows that he is attracted to his adventure companion.
As David and Simon perfect their survival instincts, a love arises between the two born of mutual need and desperation, as both will have to fend for themselves to survive.
The relationship between them becomes increasingly intense, marked by tension and a mutual desire. But initially, David, who has believed all his life to be heterosexual, will fight against the feelings that are born in his chest and will try to stay away from Simon's amorous longings. The series stands out for its high sexual tension and a palpable sexual tension between the two protagonists.
Both David and Simon have a strong presence on stage that captures the audience with their emotions. Both are debut actors and play their roles well, despite a script that leads them to be repetitive in Byzantine discussions about the acceptance of homosexuality.
And if at some point David perceived the island as a prison from which he could never escape, in truth the islet becomes a liberating space in which he can discover and accept his true sexuality.
David is the character with the most personal development. Seeing him accept both his presence on the island and his homosexuality, the fact that he comes to know his true self, makes me want to hug him and tell him that I support him, that he doesn't have to pretend to be the person he isn't.
For his part, Simon is an attractive and intriguing character. While David appears to be in an emotional crisis and does not know how to deal with the circumstances, Simon maintains a calm demeanor, as if he had control of the situation. He will calm and protect David at all times. He will teach how to fish, how to light a fire, how to seek protection from the sun, the cold at night, animals, rain...
While this is happening on the island, fortunately for David, Vince contacts the resort director and, upon learning of his disappearance, goes to the scene to begin a search and rescue operation for the shipwrecked man.
Noticing the desperation to find David alive, I wondered why he would break his best friend's heart by having an affair with his girlfriend, when the two are so close to each other.
I liked the series about how it manages to separate the story into two distressing but important parts, how it pushed the protagonists to fight for survival, how it exploited them to make them realize the true value of life, how it led them to know their true sexual identity and how one can have everything and the second have nothing.
I loved how the couple developed their feelings and emotions without feeling rushed, but also showing the desire and sexual tension they have for each other and how after physically exploring each other, love and passion take shape into something strong, lasting and healthy.
But what I liked most is the personal development of the three main characters, because if David is called to overcome the reasons that brought him to the island and open his heart to Simon, Simon, with his loving and kind nature, must become the balm that heals David's wounds, while it is up to Vince to accept his friend's true sexual orientation and, in the process, seek redemption for his mistakes, and save the two's old friendship.
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Break the chains of the ordinary to choose those who love
Chinese actors Aiden Wu and Zhong Yang Sun play Lu Shi Ran and Qi Yi, respectively, in the romantic drama 'Uncle Unknown', the adaptation of the web novel "After Flirting, My Uncle Kept Pursuing Me" (乱撩后小叔对我穷追不舍) by Wan Xi Zi (皖西子).The Chinese series, which tells a love story that is socially unacceptable for two reasons, revolves around two ex-boyfriends, Lu Shiran, a rich young man who was adopted by the Lu family in his childhood, and Qi Yi. While they were lovers, Qi Yi was in a coma and involuntarily stopped contacting Lu Shiran. Noticing the detachment, he breaks up with him, thinking that he no longer loved him.
In this way, once his health recovered, Qi Yi was unable to contact Lu Shiran after, not knowing how to locate him, he was blocked as a contact on the phone and social networks.
After the reunion, they begin dating again and both relive their romance, but they will soon discover that they were related, but without blood ties. The series also tells the story of a second couple, made up of the two best friends of the protagonists.
For a short drama, with an average duration of just 8 minutes each episode, low budget, a poorly developed script and mediocre performances, I loved the story, the attractiveness of the four main characters, the solidarity and ingenuity of the group of friends .
I like how the four young homosexual lovers feel free and happy to shout their love through Chinese nightclubs, streets and beaches, where between games and laughter they will kiss and love.
Despite having many characters for such a short time of plot development, the story explains well the reasons why they are all connected to each other.
Now, let's get to the heart of the matter: 'Uncle Unknown' seeks, and manages, to break two taboos, specifically the taboo when there is a relationship of kinship (although in truth there is no relationship of consanguinity in the story but of affinity), and the so-called "rainbow pride."
After learning of the relationship between the two young people, Lu Shiran's adoptive mother, based on a superficial moral compass, will oppose the romance for both one and the other type of relationship that society disapproves of or considers inappropriate.
However, both young people choose to defend their love, to let the world know that they do not work by its rules, and they manage to break the chains of ordinary to choose those they love.
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Love on the menu or menu without love?
Han Ji Yoo likes to eat and drink. Unlike his friend and roommate Park Ji Ha (Jeong Ho Gyun), Ji Yoo drinks to forget his sorrows. Recently, his boyfriend broke up with him and working on the marketing team of a soju production company, called Pai Syn Tang Liquors, even helps to get free samples of the distilled drink native to Korea and preferred by the youth of that country made at base of rice, potato, wheat, barley, sweet potato or dangmil, among other ingredients.One day, the extroverted young man must fulfill an assignment from his work team to find an up-and-coming chef to partner with to help promote the company.
In this way, Ji Yoo returns to the restaurant owned by the handsome and talented chef Park Ki Hoon and from which he was expelled for asking to be served soju. His mission is to convince him to be the chef of an advertising campaign.
But how do you get a chef who meets the proposed requirements when he hates alcohol and refuses not only to sell alcoholic beverages in his restaurant, but also expels customers who try to smuggle liquor into the restaurant? How could such an introverted person, with stage fright, who refuses to give interviews and does not even have social networks because he does not like dealing with others, appear on television programs and become an idol?
Han Ji Yoo's pleas to Park Ki Hoon to consider the company's proposal will be fruitless, which could even be very useful to promote his own establishment in the face of negative publicity from dissatisfied customers who cannot have drinks in his restaurant.
Han Ji Yoo refuses to take no for an answer, so she takes a part-time job at the restaurant in an attempt to get to know Park Ki Hoon better and find a way to finally get him to agree to work with her agency who runs the risk of being fired if he cannot convince the chef.
As the men begin to get to know each other, they develop feelings for each other. Hence, from the first moments in the relationship of the two protagonists, a powerful question arises: could love be on the menu?
On these budgets is built 'All the Liquors', the South Korean Movie directed by Kim Jin Yeol ('Individual Circumstances'), which fails to satisfy me for, among other reasons, despite showing Ji Yoo as an understanding and willing person to support Ki Hoo in overcoming his anxieties and internal conflicts, his character fails to achieve true character growth.
Likewise, the trauma due to which Ki Hoon rejects the consumption of alcoholic beverages takes too long to be explained, while the story does not fully explore the changes that have occurred in the character to suddenly not only allow the consumption of alcohol in his restaurant, but also to consume it himself.
I don't find it appropriate to start the plot with the breakup of Ji Yoo and her boyfriend. It is a scene that provides no tension or any usefulness to the development of the plot. Apart from being one more reason for the character to need to consume alcoholic beverages, this character never appears again, nor does he have any weight in the story. It only serves so that from the beginning we have the information that Ji Yoo is gay, which is laughable to say the least because as viewers we already know that the intention is to narrate a homosexual romance and that Ji Yoo is one of the members of the leading couple.
But the main problem lies in the fact that the promise of a romance does not burn and the story fails to show the passion between the two boys and reach the climax.
Despite a coherent, easy-to-follow story and cozy love scenes that tantalize the audience, the narrative is slow to develop and loses momentum rather than gaining it. The initial romantic sparks are extinguished in the ending with the waves of the sea where the protagonists go, while we left want to witness an attractive romantic relationship in which deep feelings are expressed and the audience is able to convince themselves that they are seeing two people in love.
The lack of chemistry and convincing romantic development between the protagonists manages to disappoint me.
Both Ji Yoo, played by Kim Joon Hyung, and Ki Hoon, the character assumed by Won Do Hyun, fail to act convincingly in accordance with the feelings and emotions we expect from them. They give us only a very superficial relationship, while the slight potential at the beginning disappears as does the tender love story that tepidly forges.
Like dishes prepared without seasoning, the story lacks flavor and fails to excite the public.
Is the weak romance due to the fact that South Korean idols receive rejection from the homophobic, patriarchal and heteronormative South Korean society and, especially, from their fans if they star in BL dramatized films, as has happened on other occasions?
Won Do Hyun is a debut actor in this role, and after this role he has never officially been in front of the cameras again. For his part, Kim Joon Hyung does have a longer career in the acting scene of the Asian nation, even being the protagonist of the films 'Streamer' (2023) and 'The Education' (2020), and appearing in several series as an actor guest or secondary character after 'All the Liquors'.
But aren't other actors who have convincingly starred in boys' love stories and are produced annually in South Korea at equal risk of being despised by fans? Or do Won Do Hyun and Kim Joon Hyung have no prejudices when playing homosexual characters but they will have qualms about being tender and loving on screen? Will the obstacle to the development of a passionate romance fall on the script by newcomer Kim Hoy Joon?
Or will these mistakes have served Kim Jin Yeol well? It may very well be like that, because in 'Individual Circumstances', a love series between boys released in 2024, the year after 'All the Liquors', its protagonists, Ha Yeon Woo, played by Han Jeong Wan, and Seong Woo Jae, a character who comes to life through actor JunQ, builds an emotional bond with more passion and love and both clearly show that they are in love with each other.
The truth is that the absence of seduction, the lack of romance, which also lacks ardent kisses, passionate glances, sublime gestures, convinces me that both characters are just close friends or were sitting in an intermediate space between close friends and more than friends. The lukewarm connection between the protagonists contributes to the lack of seduction in the romance.
Many find the secondary couple more attractive, composed of Choi Wan (Bae Shi Jun), Ki Hoon's assistant at the restaurant, and Kim Yu A (Han Da Sol), the deputy boss of the company where Ji Yoo works. How to value a BL product when the heterosexual couple has greater potential? Aren't these arguments for the work being condemned to oblivion?
With so many BL content productions, many of them South Korean-made, the technical and artistic teams should have taken their work more seriously to convince the demanding public.
This is not a completely disappointing production. One can still laugh and dream of sitting at Ji Yoo and Ki Hoon's table, tasting delicious dishes and drinking bottle after bottle of soju, but their story, without spirit, fails to move me.
Despite showing handsome actors and actresses, 'All the Liquors' is an artistically weak exponent of BL, whose main success lies in the fact that, luckily, it is only about an hour and a half long.
So now I can answer: love is not on the menu. The menu lacks love.
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"Padayon": "Continue the fight"
In Bisaya, the second most spoken language in the Philippines after Tagalog, “Padayon” means “keep going, continue, move forward, do not give up, do not stop…”. It is common to hear the inhabitants of the Visayan Islands pronounce phrases in this language such as: "despite the difficulties, despite the difficult path, Padayon!". In Tagalog there is a term with a similar meaning: "patuloy".Another way to express this determination is “dasig lang,” which is a much deeper Bisaya version of the phrase. "Laban lang" is the Tagalog version, which is also frequently used in the Visayas. All of these expressions essentially translate as "keep fighting".
Whichever phrase you choose, it sums up the spirit that moves 'Padayon', a miniseries written and directed in 2021 by Tyrone Lim Pasaylo, a Filipino accountant turned filmmaker, writer and director Founder of DILAT Productions, who has in this romantic drama of LGBT+ genre, his only film work to date.
Among the successes of 'Padayon', a low-budget Pinoy production is the profitability of the natural space, not as a mere casual vector of setting, or much less as a postcard background commissioned by the Philippine Ministry of Tourism. It is something that I do not point out in vain, since it is also done quite a bit; although in other types of work of lower quality and achievements, or self-respect.
This is not the case: Tyrone Lim Pasaylo's team (mainly himself as scriptwriter and director, in addition to the director of photography and Maria Andres as co-writer) has taken due note of the lessons of Filipino series in particular and Asian series in general, by turning the environment into a dramatic subject and a significant contributor to the ominous atmosphere of the material.
This story places its story in a beautiful rural area, whose exuberance, warm temperatures, impressive fields of plowing and harvesting crops, majestic rivers, and the photography of John Carlo Nova, brilliantly interrelates the plot through close frames, of excellent composition. Ocher or brown colors predominate to highlight the atmosphere of poverty and humility in rural Filipino communities. The exterior images are bright and clear, although with a predominance of the same colors.
Kai Andres (defended with great acting character by actor Ian Rosapapan, one of the best in the play), is a young man who aspires to graduate from university, but circumstances force him to delay his wishes to help his mother Karrisa Andres ( Marga Erasmo), in the cleaning, gardening and maintenance of a luxurious hacienda in the Philippine countryside.
It's a pleasure to rediscover Ian Rosapapan, whom we already admired in his brief but intense role as Kyle in the drama 'Why Love Why Season 2'.
The boy has a simple, but happy life. He helps his mother in the mansion, who works as the housekeeper of the old manor house, while helping to support his humble home, where his sister Kira (Harlene Mayor) also lives. He has a group of good friends, among which Drixler "Drix" Penamonte (Yoyen Bautista) stands out.
But everything changes when Andre Rodriguez (John Padilla, in his debut and only role in his acting career so far) suddenly arrives at the ranch, the young heir to the rural property branded as a playboy and with an impressive feeling that leaves with the The mouth pours water on more than one of the characters and spectators, who has been punished by his abusive father by sending him to the remote region.
This will be the start of a series that, despite always traveling on known plot ground, resists conventionality. The script bridges or relaxes, as appropriate, the complex process of discovery and self-acceptance, since both boys will fall in love despite starting their relationship on the wrong foot, since, unlike Kai, the newcomer is an arrogant and vain boy.
To do this, the series is based on a pillar like the character of Kai, whose load of kindness, camaraderie and good heart enriches the piece. Ian Rosapapan brings the charm, naivety and mischief that the role demands.
For his part, Andre's character learns from Kai honesty, humility, trusting others, asking for forgiveness, being grateful and loving.
Although there is curiosity about "the two boys who are suddenly friends and go to the river alone and spend time together", there is no sign of homophobia. After all, all the young people around Kai and Andre are queer characters and in one way or another they express their homosexuality or transsexuality.
The series also addresses, among other topics, family relationships and the family's acceptance of their son's homosexuality.
Also highlight the soundtrack, in which we will hear John Padilla performing the musical themes "Viaje" and "Himig NG Elehiya", composed by Lester V Flores, and also others, such as "Tanong sa Langit", by Paulo Zingapan, "Mahalaga ", performed by Rojene Ortega, and "Hinto", by Angelique Ferro.
'Padayon' is not very romantic, but it offers a pleasant and affectionate time, and the love story, which can give the sensation of being unbalanced, also works.
Among its main successes is that, without mincing words, the series points an accusing finger at some of the problems faced by the Filipino peasantry, such as difficult access to education, rural poverty that dates back to the country's colonial policies, the persecution of Filipino farmers who advocate for the fair implementation of the land reform program by the government, threats against their fundamental rights to land, life, housing, livelihoods and basic freedoms, the continued and systematic criminalization of rural peasant movements through the presentation of false charges by landowners, influential claimants and companies and their agents, among other problems that result in greater poverty and marginalization of peasant communities through physical displacement and economic towards a future of uncertainty.
On the other hand, it explores the complex problems of the transgender community, identity, gender discrimination, among others, such as personal improvement, desire to fight and work as ways to get ahead.
It hurts deeply that many subplots are left unexplained and unresolved: for example, the motivations for the murder of Kai's father are not explained. Are you dying for your commitment and participation in the social struggle for improvements in the working and living conditions of the Filipino peasantry? Are you a political and agrarian activist? None of this is clear. He could have been murdered for any other reason beyond political and social reasons.
Other subplots that remain open are that of Elaine Eugenio (Milen Alonde), Andre's ex-girlfriend, who arrives at the ranch to, in addition to trying to win back her boyfriend, serve as a spy for the co-star's father. And that of Drix, Kai's jealous and desperate friend for the future.
The six episodes are binged in one go. Its little more than 20 minutes pass quickly, due to the rhythm and the distribution of plateaus and dramatic climaxes. Now, what he successfully builds throughout those chapters, 'Padayon' destroys it in the epilogue.
In the sixth and last episode, a series that – by virtue of its nerve and craft – seemed to obtain a better conclusion, is not consistent with itself. For two reasons: the first: it is a shame that its low budget and the short time available for putting it on the screen has not allowed us to delve into the complex themes exposed in its premise, in fact, little addressed in Pinoy and BL dramas in general.
These outlined objectives, instead of being analyzed in depth, are presented in a way that is too didactic and explanatory, in the style of sermons, with the characters sitting around a bonfire or at their jobs in the field, expressing dispersed and diverse opinions to send messages social. The series talks about social struggles, but the characters spend the day working and having fun in the countryside and show no real interest in changing the economic and political-social situation of the country.
It would surely have been more far-reaching to have shown the viewer the problems faced by Filipino rural workers, on the one hand, and members of the LGBT+ community, especially homosexuals and transgenders, on the other, and their struggles to "move on". "Padayon!".
And the second cause: he then succumbs to a scammer, unintelligent closure. Logical, it is explained in the commercial intentions, in the clear (and reckless) desire for continuity in a second season. But that's not worth it. Today, three years and seven months after its premiere, we have no continuation or ending to this story.
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Views of Love: Grey Rainbow
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"Death" as a synonym for misfortune for LGBT+ people in a society without laws to protect them?
He's not part of the vanguard of Thai BL drama writers and directors, but Boonyawat Thongtong knows how to film and how to tell. He was able to demonstrate it in the specials 'Views of Love: Love from the Sea Level', 'Views of Love: Heart Land' and 'Auto-Focused Love', all from 2016.That's why some mistakes, terrible, bitter, hurt in the framework of the script, the way the story is woven together and in tying up its loose ends, as well as the staging of 'Grey Raibow', a BL drama filmed that same year, about all when he seemed to have conquered the task, which would reach, no doubt, quotas of excellence. In fact, he has not been behind the cameras since then.
Despite the performances, the work in the editing room and the photographic work, already in the final stages, a series that from the first scene runs like honey on a flake, powerfully drawing the attention of the viewer who screams euphorically with passion and delight, The script throws into the ring some ideas that do not have a development and justification, which I will comment on later.
'Grey Rainbow' tell us a classic love romance between two boys, best friends. However, what sets it apart is the fact that it explores themes that other Thai BL dramas ignore or do not address in such depth, such as the process of self-discovery, coming out, the problems faced by the LGBT community in that country due to not having laws that protect them, homophobia, family dynamics and parents' acceptance of their children's sexual orientation, especially if we take into account that it was released in 2016 when these issues were considered much more taboo than they still are today.
The series introduces us to Nuea (Rattanamongkol Nutchapon), an energetic and outgoing university student, and Porsche (Hongladaromp Kasidej), a sensitive and introverted young man, who for two years has secretly developed feelings for his dorm and study partner.
After the first two episodes we have a well-established couple in love. Nuea has also discovered his sexuality after being exposed to Jane, his girlfriend, who has been suspecting for some time that Nuea's feelings for his friend are more than those of a simple friend, and after leaving the period that he himself calls of "confusion", in a beautiful, tender and moving scene of a Thai boxing match, in a ring, culminates with a kiss and Nuea's confession of love to Porsche. By then, the sexual tension between the two had already reached unimaginable levels.
From the third episode onwards, the series gains in nuances: here we see Nuea living and working in the family resort, in the mountains of Chiang Mai, in a picturesque and paradisiacal setting with an elephant sanctuary as a background. Porsche arrives there after leaving his home in Bangkok after arguing with his father about his desire not to practice law.
The elephant sanctuary is the perfect place for Nuer and Porsche to rekindle their romance after graduating from university. The scene of correspondence between the two boys is beautiful through small love notes written on a paper plane that, at night, were sent to both sides of a terrace where they both slept to be as close as possible, given the impossibility to occupy the same bedroom so as not to raise suspicions about their secret relationship.
This will also be the moment when Nuea's parents learn about the relationship between the two young people. Once the initial surprise of rejection of their child's sexual orientation has been assimilated, parents show love for their child and accept him as he is, always keeping his happiness and that of the new member of the family as a priority. His emotions seem genuine, realistic.
Now, there are several points that fail to convince me and I would like to present:
1- Jane's arrival at the elephant sanctuary: it is true that her presence seeks to provide drama and tension by putting a new test to the couple who have just begun to even talk about marriage, when same-sex weddings are still illegal in Thailand even today. The important thing is that the objective of its late incorporation is to fulfill one of the struggles of the members of the LGBT+ community and present in the series: the possibility that two people of the same gender can adopt children. Jane dies, and this makes it possible for Nuea and Porsche to adopt their daughter. But how could they legalize adoption? Today she is a girl, but tomorrow, when she grows up and tries to look for a job, or a position at a university, or tries to get a driver's license or a marriage license, how can she proceed if she does not have legal documents to do so?
2- At one point, Nuea asks Jane: "Is the girl yours and...' daughter?". Why are you asking this question? Do you suspect it could be his? Is she trying to determine if it is from Watt, the young man with whom Jane begins an affair after separating from Nuea, or from another man? What good would it do for him to know if Jane had other relationships besides the one she knew with Watt? Do you want to tell us that he had sexual relations with Jane? It may well be: they are both young, they are in a dating relationship, they share many hours a day together, but nothing indicates that their bond includes sex: they live in separate residences, their meetings are in the middle of the university or public spaces... Anyway, the scope and reasons for this question are not understandable.
3- The series touches on another complex and tricky topic: corruption and how rich businessmen violate the laws. In this sense, Sam, a businessman who has a business near the Nuea properties, tries to obstruct a public river for his benefit, which also flows through the properties of Nuea's parents and where the elephants bathe and are exhibited to tourists. And although Porsche, as legal advisor of the hotel complex, directs the steps seeking justice, which leads him to suffer a homophobic attack, there is no conclusive closure on this issue.
4- Interesting to see how Nuea cross-dressers as a woman, to imitate Jane and thus ensure that the girl does not cry in the absence of her mother. Cross-dressing is a topic rarely covered in Thai BL series, and the actor is also convincing when representing this facet of his character.
5- Nuea's refusal to continue her relationship with Porsche to avoid suffering for his mother. Although he seems to soon forget about the issue, Nuea is not consistent with the struggle of the majority of homosexuals when it comes to facing this problem. Days before, he himself was in this dilemma, because initially his parents, when they found out about his sexuality, did not accept it. What would have happened if Porsche told you the same thing?
6- Porsche's father was reluctant to accept his son's homosexuality. It is true, he remained firm and the mother collaborated by telling her husband that if she maintained her position she would stay with Porsche, implying that she was willing to leave the marital home, but soon we see the father accepting his son, without living that arduous and difficult process of acceptance, especially for a homophobic person who hides behind shame in the face of "what will they say." Of course, he will tell Porsche that it is still too early to take Nuea to Bangkok.
7- I would have liked a happy ending, let's say, a happy and timely closing in the moments when the two boys took their wedding photos, recounting emotional moments that reflect the romance of the protagonists. However, the director and screenwriter choose to kill Nuea. If his death is physical, as everything seems to indicate, I would have liked it to have been much more dramatic, moving and profound, and not through a snap of his fingers on Posrche's part, as if he knew in advance that he was going to die, to freeze the image while Nuea collapsed and died in the middle of her wedding; and another snap of the finger to restart filming while family members and those present throw themselves at the young man's lifeless body.
8- But Nuea's death can be symbolic, and in this way it connects with the supreme objective of the series: to denounce the lack of a law that protects Thai LGBT+ people. In this sense, Nuea's death would represent the death of the members of this human group as they do not have real protection against the harassment and discrimination of a heteronormative, patriarchal and homophobic society.
9- I am not fluent in the Thai language, but while the final credits are rolling, a text may mention that Nuea suffers from a health problem, which caused her death; but for the purposes of the script, this element is not taken into account or incorporated. Therefore, the sequence is not dramatically valid. We will always have in contrast to a young man of about 25 years old, healthy, strong, vigorous, who never had a toothache, who meets his death on the happiest day of his life. I would only explain it to myself, with difficulty, if, I repeat, his death were symbolic: "death" as a synonym for misfortune, misfortune, is the end of LGBT+ people as long as they do not find support in society through laws that protect and grant them the same rights as non-LGBT+ people.
Therefore, the main problem with 'Grey Rainbow' is that we never understand Nuea's death. It is not organic how they tell us. This is due, in large part, to the notable deficiencies in the composition at the writing level.
Despite all these mistakes, the series is recommended.
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The film follows Yuan You and Mu Hong, two students from different high schools, considered the best in Taiwan. Exams are approaching and all students are preparing to beat them.
On the way to class, Yuan You and Mu Hong meet and decide to skip class together, trying to escape all the hassle of the exam, to have a romantic moment of relaxation and escape from the monotony of life.
Under the bridge pier, the imagination of the two teenagers and the confusion about the future intertwine...
A short, but tender and charming film.
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The love of two young people and the homophobic South Korean society
'Brake' (native title 브레이크), the LGBT+-themed romantic and psychological drama directed by South Korean filmmaker Yoo Yong-hwan, tells the story of self-discovery, love and obsession of Byun Shi Woo, a shy and fragile teenager whose only hobby filming his daily life with a camcorder, and he will live a heartbreaking love story with Ha Joon, his classmate and motorcycle racer, who has earned the respect of others by imposing himself through fear.Shi Woo's life is sad and monotonous. Abandoned by his parents in an orphanage, he spent his childhood in foster homes. Without a circle of friends or relatives, the decontextualization of his environment and where he comes from adds an aura of sadness to his person. It is therefore the viewer's task to build the puzzle that is our protagonist, using what he tells us through the way he manages his time and, above all, through his interactions with himself through the videos recorded with his camcorder.
The film is fully part of the aspect of cinema that documents the intensity of youth and young love, but against the backdrop of a heteronormative and patriarchal society in which homophobia and discrimination against those who are different persist, which, as it clearly states, Its title will mean a brake on the development of the love relationship between the two characters.
Yoo Yong-hwan and his technical team are on a mission to talk about something very complex in a sensory way, while the film tells the story of people in need of affection and love through teenage stories that seem somewhat rough and crude.
Thanks to a video filmed by Shi Woo, Ha Joon (role played by Lee Ki Hyuk – 'Little Bird', 2021), and his friends manage to evade what would be a police accusation for damage to third parties in a road accident, so that the young man until then ignored by the other classmates will become part of Ha Joon's gang. From this moment on, the attraction materializes into a tortuous and absolutely living relationship that will not escape harassment and discrimination.
Based on the script by the same director, the film captures on the screen the fierce and veiled feelings of the two young people, their discoveries and their problems, through the most frontal silences and the most violent beauty. In this story the two will choose paths that will determine their lives forever.
Love arises at the first opportunity between these two young people, who launch themselves into a relationship without materializing, because while Shi Woo secretly loves, Ha Joon does not easily assume the homosexual dimension of his growing friendship with Shi Woo. And this circumstance is subject to harassment from the protagonists' other classmates when they discover the growing love attraction between the two boys.
The dedication to deciphering a little of the psyche of the young Shi Woo is understandable, because it is clear that what matters most to Yoo Yong-hwan is the process of emotional transformation of his fascinating protagonist – played with courage by Jang Yoo Sang, an actor who We had already seen him in other LGBT+ themed films before this one, since in 2014 he starred in the drama 'One Night Only', by directors Kim Jo Kwang-soo and Kim Tae-yong, and two years before in the short film 'Night Bugs', by the latter director.
However, the process of a teenager who has never been loved in his life falling in love with someone for the first time will not be as beautiful as expected.
The story is simple, dark and normal: a person falls in love with another person, and with whom a beautiful friendship begins. However, the much more complex story of Shi Woo and Ha Joon begins to fight against the "normal", moving away from the social canons of duty, relationships, and, above all, romance. Between the simplicity of a romance and the battle against convention, 'Brake' submerges, an uninhibited, emotional, astonishing and sad portrait of two people (and everything else) who meet in the midst of adolescence, rebellious and nonconformist, and in the cracks in the establishment of South Korean society.
After crossing their destinies and fooling around with ambiguity, Shi Woo and Ha Joon will not be able to start a love relationship, as their destinies will be irremediably separated when they are ridiculed and harassed by others, so they will have to distance themselves and break up with their friendship.
The relationship between the two characters is, like many of those that happen at that age, unhealthy, absorbing and exciting. The already concise surroundings of the protagonist end up completely disappearing and what we are left with is his silent way of feeling that love and, above all, attraction. 'Brake' speaks, without making things simple for the viewer, about chemical connection and desire.
That chemical connection and that desire that leads to heartbreak because one party is far above the other in terms of having things clear. Or that's the impression it gives. The other big question that the film touches on, and it does so in an always suggestive way, is that of identity. Although Shi Woo is the main character, both he and Ha Joon will see their relationship as the definitive moment to make an irrevocable decision and define themselves as people.
Regarding this last character, the film is astutely vague when it comes to delineating the nature of their conflict. We don't know if he is struggling with repressed homosexuality or poorly digested bisexuality. Yes, we will know, by the time the adventure is over, that our main protagonist is aware of the impossibility of a romance, so it is time to move forward and not look back, to free himself from a relationship that could hardly come to fruition. If feeling that love has done anything for Shi Woo, if his erratic behavior has gotten him anywhere, it is embracing the truth about his self-discovery and sexual identity. And so, putting an end to a love relationship that never took place, in order to move on with his battered life.
Then, the film, premiered at the Seoul Pride International Film Festival, becomes a denunciation against the homophobia present in South Korean society and against its sister, internalized homophobia, as well as the lack of institutional support for helpless children.
The courage to step outside the box, therefore, must be highlighted. The creators' choices try to do so but with humility, without pontificating at any time.
Produced by Use Film, a film production project team established in 2016, the director aims to broaden the perspective of the world through stories of people who do not receive adequate care and are excluded by society.
'Brake' is an exciting example of a young cinema that is even reflected in contemporary creations – from the sentimental and social nudity of the portraits of Leesong Hee Il or In-shik Kim, to the aesthetic and ethical productions of Kim Jho Kwang Soo, Lee Joon-ik, Yoo Ha and Bang Eun-jin, among many other South Korean filmmakers, where he moves like a fish in water thanks also to the most successful and dynamic decisions, such as a musical selection where the lyrics of the songs dialogue great with the action.
The best thing is that the heart of 'Brake' is able to go beyond its stylistic resources to offer itself to the viewer as a mature, moving, intelligent, authentic and honest story, which transcends all possible borders.
The film, a true raw gem, beautiful and murky, delicate and wild, fragile and implacable, is permeated by that vehement breath of commitment to the cause told, of the almost suicidal impulse to follow the characters' choices and not distance oneself from what what happens to them, and in which the color "winter green" appears as a tone and drawing of their general image.
If you are not tired of teenage stories, the discovery of sexuality, love and heartbreak, and amorous obsessions, you will be able to fully enjoy 'Brake', another notch in the LGTB+ cinema imagination that demonstrates the good form of the theme.
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For his part, Mutsuki Kishida (Toyokawa Etsushi - 'Beautiful Rain', 2012) is a handsome, emphatically homosexual doctor with a boyfriend, the beautiful university student Kon (Tsutsui Michitaka - 'Kimi to Ita Natsu', 1994).
In a heteronormative and patriarchal society where appearances are of great importance, both must satisfy their worried parents, so they enter into a marriage of convenience. Even though she knows about her husband's sexuality, each of them finds in the other the perfect partner for a fake marriage.
On the one hand, the marriage of convenience would be important for Mutsuki for his career as a doctor, while at the same time it could be perfect for him to hide his homosexuality in a society like Japan; However, there is genuine affection between the doctor and his wife, as they find some comfort with each other.
However, external pressures weigh on the newlyweds; for example, parents' questions about when there will be a grandchild. As Shoko says: "My comfortable, carefree marriage was as fun as playing at home, but it came at a price after all."
Of course, the parents of the newlyweds know the nature of their own child, but not that of the spouse, and at first the marriage manages to please them. And while the newlyweds hope, in their own way, to live happily ever after, they inevitably come face to face with the fact that no marriage, real or simulated, is a fairy tale.
Although Shoko accepts Mutsuki's relationship with Kon, the young couple will face tough tests, especially when Shoko's parents discover the falsehood of the marriage.
Neither partner seemed to have high expectations about it, and Shoko said, "It was good to have marriages like ours. You didn't expect much, you didn't want much. You lost nothing, there was nothing to fear.
Written and directed by Matsuoka Joji ('Shinya Shokudo 2', 2011), the psychological and LGBT+-themed drama 'Kira Kira Hikaru' was the winner of the Golden Hugo Award for Best Film at the 29th Chicago International Film Festival 1993, while Etsushi Toyokawa won the New Star of the Year Award at the 16th Japanese Academy Awards (1992 Films).
With a rather slow pace, the script adapts the book of the same name written by Kaori Eguni, known for her novels "Reisei to jônetsu no aida" ("Between Calmness and Passion", "Sweet Little Lies", "The Mamiya Brother" and "Tokyo Tower".
The search for connection, trying to fit into social standards, having to pretend in a society that is intolerant of homosexuals, isolation even when you are surrounded by people who are supposed to know and love you, family relationships, urban alienation, These are some of the themes explored in the feature film.
The performance of Hiroko Yakushimaru stands out, playing a depressed young woman who fights against alcohol problems, loneliness, and against what society expects of a young woman: getting married, having a baby, etc. Even though Shoko knew that Mutsuki could never love her the way she wanted, she really tried to make it work.
Her friend and confidant does not help her, telling her that having a baby will help her "calm down" even though she knows that her husband is gay and living in a fake marriage.
With a somewhat open closure as the director opted for people to create their own ending, the marriage that is already built on a fragile foundation and seems to break under the pressures of parents and society and personal weaknesses, finally the three protagonists find a kind of solution.
Despite the difficulties, they come to see that there is a bond and manage to hold on to it. Amidst the demands of submitting to gender roles and collective duties, the three main characters find happiness in their own oddities.
"I would have liked to have done a lot more to develop the relationship between Mitsuki and Kon, because the few scenes they have together show a lot of potential and chemistry between the two."
In my opinion, the book and the movie complement each other well. The complexity of the characters is a bit lacking in the book, but the characters' flaws are more evident in the film adaptation.
Starting off with a happy vibe, in the second part of the film the plot takes a rather sad and dark turn, but somehow manages to come out on the other side, but not without making the viewer suffer. It is a transition of humor that can entertain and, above all, make viewers reflect.
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Anusorn Soisa-ngim, the irreverent, the illusionist
Anusorn Soisa-ngim is a 35-year-old Thai man with a frank smile and happy eyes, a clean-shaven beard and modern pants and shirts as his clothing of choice, in which there is no shortage of the image of Britney Spears, which along with love is the other thing in this world that you believe in.He looks like a high school math teacher. However, sometimes I imagine him in another way, with a wardrobe of bright colors, an earring in his ear and a bohemian air, and in his hands a banner with a motto drawn in the colors of the rainbow, in the middle of a crowd, fighting for the right to equal marriage and the end of the discrimination to which LGBT+ people are subjected in their nation, or actively participating in other protests against harassment and marginalization carried out by executives in the Thai entertainment industry.
Perhaps this way, Aam, as he likes to be called, was more similar to his film work, because Anusorn Soisa-ngim is not dedicated to teaching logarithmic equations to inattentive teenagers: his job is to be a Thai iconoclast or, what is the same, one of the most unique authors of contemporary world cinema.
From his beginnings on the big screen as a screenwriter and director, Aam showed his ways as an original creator. With great artistic skills and indie creation, he says what he thinks and, above all, tells the truth.
Eternal nonconformist and controversial to the core, but never apologetic, few filmmakers can boast in their entire careers the significance of the titles they have delivered from 2012 to date. His debut was with 'Present Perfect', a short film made during his university years, in which he filmed a story related to himself, which would be taken up five years later in a film with the same title, with which he set out to bring back to Toey and Oat, his main characters, with the aim that the audience enjoyed his realistic perspective on what he believes about love, and with the key message that if you think in a new and different way, sometimes it is much better than you expect.
It would then be followed by the films 'Bangkok Dark Tales' (2019), and 'There Is No Space for Me' (2014), the three seasons of '2moons: The Series' (Mello Thailand, 2019), the documentary 'BL Broken Fantasy ' (2020), the feature film 'Present Still Perfect' (with which the cycle momentarily closes, but another installment is planned), the film series 'Call It What You Want' (GagaOOLala, 2021), which includes 'It's Complicated', and the film series 'Till the World Ends', the latter two from 2023.
Their creations share a taste for telling realistic stories that reflect their own lives, or about how they wish society was, how they wish people would treat each other. Despite the stylistic variations between each work, one cannot escape the feeling that they point to the same essences, convictions, fears, securities, philias and intimate worldviews of the author. As if Anusorn Soisa-ngim created a portal to his mind through his filmography, because the Thai director believes in the power of telling stories, in creating content that speaks to people, that makes them feel, think and question . He ultimately believes in being unapologetically himself, no matter what the industry says.
His journey has not been easy. After graduating in 2014, the filmmaker dove headfirst into the world of glitz and glamor that is the entertainment industry, only to discover that it's more about who you know than what you can do. But here's the kicker: Instead of following their rules, Anusorn Soisa-ngim made his own. And that provoked the anger of the hierarchy.
Inspired by real events, 'Call It What You Want' reflected the pressure of the BL industry on artists: plastic surgery, strict diets and, worst of all, the suffering to which young actors are subjected when they are harassed by film producers series, in addition to the need to keep the relationships between many of the protagonists of these dramas a secret from the company and fans. This meant an attempt to silence him.
Being banned from the entertainment industry has meant for him that he is not chained to having to follow guidelines, so he can break the rules and, although he does not have money for his creations, he has been able to push the limits and create art that really means something, without fear that it may generate controversy.
Aam's cinema has as many tricks as a conjurer. Characterized by telling real, raw stories full of passion, his works are about people, life, struggles and triumphs, and that is what makes them unforgettable. His creations go from laughter to horror as they reflect the sexual harassment of young actors by executives in the entertainment industry, or the promises that giving them their bodies would guarantee them entry to Earthly Paradise; but perennially having as its main theme the romance between boys.
Always trying to be himself and, at the same time, trying to understand what the fans really want to see.
Away from fiction, but about it, in the documentary 'BL Broken Fantasy' he addresses the behind-the-scenes of BL. Starring Bright and Win, the protagonists of the famous BL 'Still 2gether', Anusorn Soisa-ngim himself and a group of directors, producers, actors and scriptwriters of the genre, including Aof Noppharnach, Vachirawit Chivaaree and Metawin Opas-iamkajorn, try answer questions such as: Where does the BL series come from? Why are Yaoi fangirls devoting themselves physically and financially to BL?
Revered in 2022 as the best-selling BL sales director, in 2023 he was the Filmmaker of the Pride Month. He was nominated twice for the Asian Contents Awards, the first in 2020 thanks to '2moons: The Series', and then the following year with his second series, 'Call It What You Want', with which he was also nominated for an award. Content Asia, for "illuminating the struggles of independent filmmakers in the cutthroat entertainment sector." This series of films reveals, through the lens of Aam Anusorn, a tapestry of challenges, triumphs, and eternal perseverance.
Known for his unique approach to storytelling, drawing inspiration from his own experiences to create stories, Aam has made a name for himself in the independent film industry, and founded his own production company, COM'ME'TIVE By Aam, while still He was in his second year at Bangkok University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Film and Performing Arts.
'PRESENT PERFECT' AND 'PRESENT STILL PERFECT'
Aam's most notable work to date is 'Present Perfect', which he adapted from the original 2012 short film. It is considered the first Thai film to receive funding from the government of Hokkaido, Japan.
The film revolves around Toey, a young Thai man who, after a painful breakup, decides to heal his broken heart in the Japanese city of Higashikawa, where he meets Oat, a man who travels to Japan to experience freedom for the last time in his life, because he is about to get married. From strangers to friends, romance blossoms between the two. Before returning to the "real" world, the two men have to pick up the broken pieces and rebuild them.
Starring Kritsana Maroukasonti as Oat and Tonawanik Adisorn as Toey, for her 2017 debut, Aam Anusorn Soisa-Ngim drew on him own experiences to tell this romantic story that will take the viewer on a moving journey as the characters follow the simple quest of love The encounter forms a beautiful relationship between two men, because each has his own trauma.
For the filmmaker, recovering these characters, especially Oat and Toey, was like seeing himself.
Produced by Nuttachai Jiraanont, Tanwarin Sukapisit and Chen Rong Hua, the film won the Best Film Award at the Amsterdam LGBTQ Film Festival in the Netherlands and was screened at many film festivals around the world, including the World Festival Bangkok Film Festival, the Serile Filmului International Gay Film Festival, Romania, and the Western Visayas Film Festival, Philippines.
Then, the film ended inconclusively, in the airport scene in which both young people have to separate. The director faced a dilemma, when one is about to accept or delete the other's friend request. And he chose to just leave it there, because he wanted people to create their own ending. "Those were those times, in 2017, when gay marriage was something we didn't talk about in Thailand," he told the press at the time.
While 'Present Perfect' is more realistic and intended to be true to life, 'Present Still Perfect', released on March 12, 2020, offers a more idealistic view of same-sex relationships in modern Thailand, while the A pair of former lovers reunites once again on the remote island of Koh Kood.
Four years after what is told in 'Present Perfect', Toey meets Oat at the airport and all his pain returns. In an attempt to cope with her pain, he decides to travel to Koh Kood where he meets Jane (Darina Boonchu), the guesthouse owner who recently discovered that her husband was having an affair, and Kenta (Ryota Omi), a traveler from Japan who was staying at his house.
The peace and beauty of the island brought Toey joy again, but he knew he couldn't ignore her feelings for Oat forever. Until one night he receives a message from Oat about how much he missed him. Toey responds by stating that he loves him too, because deep down being with Oat is all he wants, but he is cautious, knowing that his love is forbidden. The next morning, Oat appears on Koh Kood. Now Toey has to decide whether to follow his heart and rekindle his relationship with Oat or let him go since they can never truly be together.
'Present Still Perfect' is more about how Aam wishes society was. With his dream of getting married one day still unfulfilled, the filmmaker needed his dream to come true, at least on screen. For this reason, he did not hesitate to see his characters triumph in love. "I feel like I'm already married, even though that's not the truth. So yeah, the reason I keep coming back to these characters is because I want them to be successful in love, and ultimately they were."
The sequel to 'Present Perfect' makes a clear statement in favor of same-sex marriage.
And if on the one hand, the film has contributed to changing mentalities and making visible people from the LGBT+ community and their struggles for the legalization of same-sex marriage in Thailand, it also leaves another clear message: the act of letting go, the act of forgiving. If your husband is gay and you already knew it because you have been with him for years, you have to learn to let go and accept the truth.
In 2018 he did not have the budget to film the second part because no one supported him. Then one of his fans suggested, "Why don't you go to Indiegogo.com and then do some crowdfunding?" And after a lot of thinking: "Who is going to pay me the money? I'm a nobody. Nobody cares about me. Why do I have to?", he discovered one day that he had enough money to embark on that other trip. .
On the other hand, much of 'Present Perfect' and its sequel deal with cultural differences. In 'Present Still Perfect', for example, a Japanese character explains how in Japan it is considered disrespectful to let an old woman take her seat on the bus.
However, what is truly extraordinary is the cinematographic wrapping of these topics in films and series that leave the unmistakable feeling of being unique.
This, and no other, is the key to Anusorn Soisa-Ngim's exceptionality. If we look closely, the themes are not different from those of hundreds of authors, many of them also Thai, no matter how much personal quirks are sought in their work. However, his way of conceiving stories on celluloid has such a singularity that there is no other choice but to applaud and applaud him, like the magician who has just pulled a white rabbit out of his hat.
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