Reviews

Fun, witty and charming film with good performances and an interesting premise

'The Boy Foretold by the Stars' is a charming 2020 Filipino gay romantic comedy about coming of age, romance, and exploration of sexual identity.
The film explores the love story between two teenagers in a Catholic school setting who, with the help of a fortune teller, find themselves on an optional school retreat called "Journey with the Lord."
Through a series of events dictated by astrology and destiny, the protagonists discover the true meaning of love and acceptance.

The story:

Written and directed by first-time trans director Dolly Dulu, who has said in interviews that the story is based on her own personal experience, this fun, witty and charming film, with good performances and an interesting premise, begins when two best friends, students of Openly gay high school at St. Francis Catholic School, Dominic and Timmy (John Leinard Ramos, in his acting debut), go to a fortune teller, Baby R (Iyah Mina), to learn about their love life. Baby R tells Dominic, the central character of the film, that he will meet his soul mate in a week, and gives him several signs that would indicate that this child is really the one the stars have predicted.
On the contrary to Dominic, who is in love with Paul (Renshi de Guzman - 'In Between' I and II), another classmate, but does not dare to confess his love, Timmy is more open when declaring his feelings to Joseph, his platonic love.
As they prepare to participate in the school retreat they frequently organize, a student signs up at the last minute: Luke Armada, the high school basketball star. And Dominic is assigned to be Luke's godfather.
Luke has a girlfriend named Karen (Rissey Reyes – 'Pearl Next Door', 2021). But they are having problems in their relationship because Karen is very busy and finally breaks up with Luke, who believes in destiny and always resorts to flipping a coin when making important decisions.
Although Dominic and Luke are schoolmates, they have never met, as they are in different groups and their interests are not the same. In addition, he spends much of his free time co-leading the optional school retreat.
Heartbroken, Luke attends the retreat as a way to find time to reflect on his breakup and his life. As fate would have it, the two boys team up and discover that they have a strong and undeniable connection with each other.
Letting Luke know that he is gay and asking if that will be a problem, Luke says no. When Luke and Dominic begin to open up to each other and become friends, Dominic is not thinking about a romantic relationship with the young basketball player. After all, Luke is straight. Luke has a girlfriend. Luke would never notice an effeminate boy like him, ideas that run through his head.
Then Dominic begins to notice the signs that the "manghuhula" predicted in the way his relationship with Luke is blossoming. For his part, Luke eventually becomes confused about his feelings for Dominic, as he grew up knowing that he is heterosexual.
And so begins their romance, which will be put in danger with the sudden appearance of Karen to reconcile with Luke, or by Luke being ridiculed by his prejudiced and homophobic friends, fruits of a society that hates and discriminates against those who are different, such as the Filipino, for get too close to Dominic.

Of characters and actors:

Adrian Lindayag is known in the Philippines as a former fashion stylist and supporting actor in plays and television series. Before becoming known to a wider audience thanks to this film, he had already starred in the musical "Rak of Aegis" and was part of the cast of the comedy "Oh My Dad!", on TV5. Meanwhile, Keann Johnson is a model which had appeared in dramatic anthologies.
In the film they play Dominic and Luke, respectively. By then, both had already worked together on the LGBT+ film 'Click, Like & Share', from 2020, under the direction of Topel Lee and Ricky Rivero. Adrian playing one of the protagonists, Your Road Monts, and Keann playing the supporting character Your Road Derek.
In the film, Adrian is believable in the role simply because he is very comfortable being effeminate and doesn't seem to act at all. His impressive acting skills have been demonstrated in other performances, especially with his role as King in Marahuyo Proyect, a 2024 LGBT+ series directed by JP Habac. If you haven't seen it yet, you don't know what a great work you've missed. I recommend it to you.
Keann is a definite find. He is a beautiful actor, a mass idol as a model and his presence in the media and digital networks, with stage and acting mastery. He is also fluent in English and pronounces all his lines in that language, which is an advantage. He is remembered for appearing in the BL drama 'Worth the Wait' and starring in the LGBT+ film 'Run', both in 2021.

Some thoughts:

Filmed before the Covid-19 pandemic, when the BL (Boys' Love) genre was not yet popular in the Philippines, "The Boy Foretold by the Stars" shows this conventional vibe that works in its favor and achieves audience applause. In fact, it is a very accessible film as it plays with love in various ways and gives up its most intimate aspects.
In this sense, love is approached more as a means of friendship, companionship, and complicity as Luke and Dominic's bond grows. This approach is very laudable, because although love needs affection and intimacy, there is this feeling of a purer love by eliminating its more sexual aspects.
The most fascinating thing about the film is not the romance, but its depiction of that love story within an endemic Philippine landscape: that of an all-boys Catholic high school, with teachers, student leaders and students in constant struggle to unite the dogmatic religious doctrine that marks homosexuals as sinners who will not be able to enter Heaven, and the diversity of sexual identities. Without being didactic, the film bravely refuses to bank on the safety and convenience of secularism and instead places romance right in the middle of expressions of religiosity.
In this sense, it is impressive how Dulu was able to avoid turning the film into an argument against Catholic conservatism. Well, although the film has scenes where characters are judged for being openly homosexual, for being effeminate, or discussing homosexuality as a sin, this only happens to confront the confusion and not to judge. It is magnificent how the director never loses sight of the objective of the film, which is none other than to celebrate the purity of love, regardless of gender.
There are some tender and touching scenes between Dominic and Luke. The film also has enough emotional highs and lows to satisfy any romance lover.
The development of the relationship between the two boys is gradual but never stagnates, and the acting between the leads is surprisingly great. However, I was always attentive to what for me was the main problem in a film that depends heavily on the idea of ​​destiny and having a soul mate, because does destiny really have anything to do with love?
Although Timmy is the person who pushes Dominic to consult the fortune teller and get a reading, his story is left aside and forgotten, so the film focuses on the story of his friend and his romance with the boy the fortune teller predicted he would meet soon. I would have liked to see more of what happens to him.
In 'The Boy Foretold by the Stars', Dominic plays a gay man who comes out as gay to his close friends at school, but claims that he has not come out to his own parents. This makes one wonder, since his actions are so effeminate, that it is impossible for his parents not to quickly deduce what his sexual preference is.
The director is right by not populating her film with big names. Instead, he entrusted the roles of two high school seniors who find love with the slight help of fate and amid the prejudices of their all-boys Catholic school to two new young actors who, although they have previous experience in theater and television, they don't have the manufactured chemistry that might have fueled their pairing. And this makes the result much more natural and realistic.
Another of the film's achievements is that the director manages to conjure an impeccable passion in a school where religion, homophobia and machismo are pillars, and creates a homosexual romance to support. Even if all the twists and beats of the film are familiar and predictable, it still convinces and succeeds, as it thrives on its simplicity and direct approach.
The film has good production and technical values. The narrative flow is smooth and the setting of the Catholic boys' school is used to great advantage to establish the setting of the story.
Its narrative, based on a well-written script, has a great pace in general.

In summary:

'The Boy Foretold by the Stars' is a fun, witty and charming gay film that follows the blossoming love relationship between two students at a strict all-boys Catholic school, in which one of them is openly gay and doesn't believe in destiny. , while the other is heterosexual and decides everything by flipping a coin.
Produced by Jodi Sta. María under Clever Minds Inc., The Dolly Collection and Brainstormers Lab., the film seeks to unravel themes such as growing up queer in a Catholic school, facing homophobia and sticking to your faith, whether queer or not.
One of its most interesting aspects is that it is not afraid to portray the effeminate gay, a trope that is often used in secondary characters and other times as a stereotype to denigrate the homosexual. In this film, destiny is as real as the people who experience it.
Without being apparently subversive and through a formula that favors tradition, 'The Boy Foretold by the Stars', considered the "first Filipino BL film", finalist in the feature film section at the 2020 CineFilipino Film Festival, opens a path for making homosexuality visible in a strongly patriarchal and heteronormative society, while encouraging escapist cinema to go through the realities of coming of age.
Despite its imperfections and lack of coherence when it comes to its visuals, especially as its few visually pleasing scenes are interspersed between prolonged and unspectacular passages, the film is visually pleasing, and brings a much-needed dose of positivity into a world in which hatred and discrimination against homosexuals prevails.
While it will make you reflect, the story, which has its conclusive closure in the series 'Love Beneath the Stars' (2021), will captivate you and leave you smiling.

Lees verder

Strange finger

The movie is almost 20 minutes long but it was over in an instant. The background for the story is the loud TV program with commercials and news about current issues in the Korean society. And then there is this chopped finger found at the parking place.

I have seen people cutting and chopping and losing fingers in many Korean movies. Most recently in the movie "Hopeless". I even remember the news about some Koreans chopping off their own finger in protest against Japan. But the main question here is: what can you do with a finger? Apparently, a lot but nothing worthy. Maybe this is an allegory on how we are interested in the lives of other people but at the end we can only live our own life.

So this short movie is very strange. I didn't understand it but i liked it.

Lees verder

Just have a box of tissues.

The only reason I'm taking points of the rewatch value is because you'll want to cry all over again. A particular kind of cry. One I'd have to be ready for again. Seriously, have tissues handy.

This was a beautiful movie. I loved the characters and their stories, some where straight up injustices, and some that you realized that probably did deserve what they got. It was still hard to see anything happen to these women though. More so it's about connections and choices. It always makes me sad seeing how South Korea portrays orphans and prisoners. Prejudices against people for things they can't control. I hope this isn't really how it is . . . . but I've been told it is.

The actors were amazing. Whether they were top cast or just little side rolls. Which is impressive. The characters grew and the actors did such a wonderful job that you could see that growth. Be totally affected with it right along these amazing women.

The music was great. Which is important here! It was used in so many ways. To make us laugh. Empower the women. Convey hope, longing, and eventually heart break.

Overall I probably can't add to the praise everyone else has already sung (hahaha! couldn't resist), but I definitely will say this is good enough that I would suggest it to none K-drama fans. It holds up well enough. I was so happy with the acting and story. It was such a moving movie and I loved that all of the characters grew. No one was unaffected by the plot!

Lees verder

Hong Kong writer-director Simon Chung addresses the relationship between men loving other men and strives to speak on behalf of the gay community through his films.
Premiering at the 26th London Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (since renamed BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival), on March 28, 2012, 'Speechless' (Chinese: 無言; pinyin: Wu yan), its fifth film, between short films and feature films, after filming 'Stanley Beloved' (1998), 'First Love and Other Pains (1999), 'Innocent' (2005) and 'End of Love' (2009), is a homosexual drama about a mysterious young Frenchman who is found naked on the banks of a river in a remote border city in southern China, precisely in Wuhan.
On this occasion, Chung joined forces with fellow writer and director Claudia Priscilla ('Look at Me Again') to take the protagonists on a journey in which destiny transcends differences in gender and culture.
In this film, the director continues to represent the violence of queers, but the film not only focuses on homosexuality, but also on the frustration of love.
The stranger (Pierre-Matthieu Vital), is arrested by the local police. Apparently he doesn't want to or can't talk (hence the title of the film), so he is sent to a hospital to find out what's wrong with him.
During his convalescence in the health center he remains mute, plagued by nightmares and scenes from the past. Despite having lost the ability to speak, the mysterious character is still able to create an emotional bond with the cute and kind Xiao Jiang, a nurse, who decides to help him when he is about to be transferred to an asylum, taking him clandestinely to his uncle's remote house in a distant village.
As Jiang connects with his new, silent friend, he discovers the secrets of his past and the reason for his silence. Jealousy, homosexuality and cultural differences caused the young Frenchman great harm from which he has not yet recovered.
The discovery leads to the retelling of a secondary love story between exchange student from France, Luke, who is eventually revealed to be the patient's identity, and a fellow college student named Han Dong. Unfortunately, Han has a girlfriend, Xiao Ning, who proves to be dangerously jealous.
Screened at major LGBT film festivals in London, Vancouver, Toronto and Turin, the interracial romance easily appeals to people of all sexual orientations as it reveals the true nature of love: that it is transcendent, but can also fade like dew.
Although the film is slow and somewhat confusing, it conveys this sad reality about the differences between the acceptance of homosexuality by different cultures. The drama gives way to a thriller that addresses themes such as betrayal, jealousy, revenge, and investigation, while showing scenes of frontal male nudity and sexual content, and viewers discover the truth step by step.
"Speechless" has quite a few flaws, notably the use of flashbacks to tell everything, completely interrupting the narrative, but it is a beautiful song against homophobia and for friendship and acceptance of those who are different.
'Speechless' is a surprisingly intriguing film that unfolds slowly and reveals what happened to Luke to render him mute. In the first half of the film, we glimpse Luke's memory as he attempts to piece together his own backstory, including scenes in which he has sex with another man. Once Luke leaves the hospital and joins Jiang, he disappears, leaving Jiang to investigate to find out how he ended up in the hospital. What follows is a series of twists and turns as Jiang tries to uncover the truth about his mysterious friend.
Following the personality of the main protagonist easily leads to falling in love with him, and that is what will happen to the viewer who is able to convince that any act is justified if it is out of love.
On the other hand, being faced with a story based on memory loss gives rise to a certain intrigue and a development to reconstruct the forgotten personality.
Simon Chung makes sure you are immersed in Luke's story as you, as Jiang, try to discover what really happened. From the opening scene of the film, where we see Luke swimming naked before he is arrested, you are intrigued to know what happened and if he is really crazy. Of course, things aren't that clear cut, but the film's many twists and turns eventually reveal the events leading up to that moment.
The handsome Han Dong is played by mainland Chinese model, actor and magician Jian Jiang, while actress Yung Yung Yu plays Xiao Ning.
Chung also gets strong but sensitive performances from his young cast members.
One of the difficulties Chung encountered during filming is that the actor who plays Luke does not speak fluent Mandarin Chinese, so he had to offer him help to train him to deliver his lines.
Filmed in the small town of Shantou, on the east coast of Guangdong Province, and in the northern countryside of this province located in southern China, and at Shantou University, 'Speechless' is a solid mystery drama and It hooked us from the opening scene.
Of course, it helps that Pierre-Matthieu Vital is very pretty, so seeing him naked from the beginning definitely helps the film win you over. This young actor's performance is very good and he has to be expressive through other means, since his character barely utters a word.
Simon Chung has created an intriguing film that explores not only homosexuality, but tells the story of a young man whose innocent relationship with another man had such traumatic consequences.
As the director noted, the inspiration for the film came from a real-life case known as the "Piano Man", in which a man appeared on the east coast of England several years before filming began.
'Speechless' reminds me of 'Soundless Wind Chime', another 2009 Chinese film with a gay theme and a similar atmosphere, which also has as its main theme a romance between two young people, one Chinese and the other Western. Unlike 'Speechless', the dialogue in the aforementioned film is mainly in English.
Chi-Lap Chan's beautiful cinematography and Sebastian Seidel's music introduce us to the fascinating romance between Han and Luke, who was still speaking at the time. However, it is the more subtle growth of love and understanding between the silent Luke and Jiang that has stayed with me.

Lees verder

"Hope is for the living, not for the dead"

I just saw it, I knew what it was about because I saw the Chinese movie, I thought I wouldn't cry but I ended up crying more.

Bo (Bright) knew that he was a versatile actor, although many (and I don't understand why, don't believe in his acting).

From the beginning he always wanted to help people despite being a debtor. He was a very pure, sweet and kind soul, unfortunately sometimes we fall into circumstances that we do not want but nevertheless he was always willing to change until the end for Im, with whom he has great chemistry.

What I really liked was the ending and the letter that he wrote to Im, that he wanted him to love each other and have a very long and happy life even though he nor his father were by his side. Also that he was able to see the store that Im wanted to build and that former debtors came to visit them.

After all, he wasn't mean to them or hurt them like the others.

I won't say that it surpassed the Chinese version, which is my favorite, but it lived up to my expectations. Good soundtrack, good acting and good cinematography.

Lees verder

Wang YiBo's 1st Big Screen Movie In The USA, All Over The World! What More Could I Ask For?

1st If You Love, And Adore Wang YiBo As Much As I Do, This Movie Is Not For The Faint Of Heart... I Was Chingy, Screaming, And Almost Brought To Tears Crying Watching This Movie. Knowing The Age In Which YiBo Filmed This Movie, And All The Stunts, And Hard Work Made Me So Sad For Him That I Wanted To Cry For Him. The Hard Work, And Dedication He Put Into This Movie. It Is So Real, And So Life Like, I Couldn't Even Begin To Tell You. This Young Man At The Age Of 24-25, Whatever It Might Have Been, When No Name/Hidden Blade Came Out YiBo Had Just Turned 25, He Did All His Stunts, He Did All The Fighting, And Punch Scenes Himself... In An Interview, It Was Said There Was Not Enough Time To Teach YiBo How To Punch, And Hit Correctly, So YiBo Said He Felt Bad, And Sorry For All The Actors That He Punching, Because He Was Really Punching Them, And Hurting Them.
I Honestly Was So Excited That This Movie Was Coming Out To The USA, I Even The Tickets To The Showing The Night Before The 1st Opening... YiBo's 1st Big Screen Movie In The USA, What More Could A Huge Wang YiBo Fan Ask For Like Me?

As For The Story Line Some Parts I Didn't Like Especially When It Came To The Prisoners, And Animals, But That Is What War Is So What Can You Do? A Feed Part Left Me A Little Tramtized.

The Stunts That Were Done By YiBo, And All The Actors Were Amazing... I Can't Imagine How Hard It Was To Get It So Real, And So Life Like Like They Did. The Visual Affects Are Insane Too. It Was Jam Packed With A Lot Of Exciment.
YES, THERE IS LOTS OF GORE!!!
Lots Of Twists, And Turns.
What Seems To Be What It Seems Is Not What It Seems!

Even Though There Was Certain Things I Didn't Like, I Ended Up Watching No Name/Hidden Blade The Day Before Is Was Released, And The Last Day It Was Released In The USA. That How Much I Really Liked It, Or Maybe It Was More To Support Wang YiBo With His 1st Big Screen Movie, 2nd Time Around I Brought My Mom Too... NO IT'S BECAUSE THAT IS HOW MUCH I LOVE AND ADORE YIBO, AND WANTED TO SUPPORT HIM.

My Mom Was Even On The Edge Of Her Seat, And I Remember She Comented At One Scene Oui Yo Lay, In Taiwanness It Like Oh My Goodness, Like Basically Her Heart Is Hurting For Him. She Even Asked Me How Old He Was, And I Had Told Her, I Know She Was Feeling The Same Way I Felt With Him Being So Young, And Having To Go Though All That.

All I Gotta Say Is Yes There Are A Few Scenes That I Don't Like, I Wanted To Jump Out Of My Skin, Because Of All The Stunts YiBo Did, But It Is A Really Great Movie, Because There Is A Lot Of Action, And Excitement. Plot Twist And Turns. What You Expect Is Not What You Think. What You Think Is Not What You Expect. Pay Close Attention To Everything, And Every Detail, Because You Might Miss Something That Is Very Important.
My Husband, And I Noticed Diffrent Things The 2nd Time We Watched It, When We Didn't Notice It The 1st Time We Watched It.

P.S. YES, AT THE VERY END YIBO IS REALLY EATTING THE DRUNKEN SHRMP ALIVE, RAW AND MOVING!!! If That Isn't Being Brave Or Up For A Challenge, And Being A Professional In His Profession I Don't Know What Is!

September 4th, 2024 @ 9:?? A.M.-10:47 A.M.

Lees verder

Soapy Middle-school Story Based on a Song

Three years into a very successful career as singer-songwriter in 2008, Angela Aki released her 8th single "Tegami (Haikei Jūgo no Kimi e)" or "Letter: Dear 15-yearold Me". The song was then used in the following year as competition song in a national competition for middle-school choirs and NHK produced four documentaries following Aki to various middle-schools as the children rehearsed the song for the competition. One of those documentaries served as inspiration for a 2011 novel by Nakata Eiichi, a pen-name of the extremely prolific writer Otsuichi, and that novel is the basis for this 2015 film. The song itself has since become the standard graduation song for middle-school graduation ceremonies in Japan.

The story is set in a small island town near Nagasaki, and centers around three characters: third-year student Nazuna who is the captain of the choir club, Kashiwagi-sensei who was a well lauded classical pianist and who has returned to the island to serve as a substitute teacher for a year and first-year student Satoru. The film slowly reveals the backstories of these three characters as Kashiwagi disrupts the old way the choir was run by allowing boys with all their cooties to join the group. All three of the characters have very soapy pasts and the plot is overly reliant on convenient plot timings for events that otherwise would have little chance of being conincident. But the film does build to a lovely climax at the provincial choir competition in Nagasaki City with a truly moving performance of Aki's song by the choir.

If you love the song, then this film is probably a must-watch. For the more general viewer, the film is still quite good with some excellent performances by the three main actors as their characters go through a year of growth which does reflect well the dialogue within the lyrics of the original song.

Lees verder

Esse é aquele tipo de filme que apenas achei legal e achei vibe sessão da tarde.

Sinto que dava para o roteirista desenvolver mais essa história pois a premissa era boa: garota famosa que vai para o interior e conhece mocinho lá. Só que ficou parecendo um trabalho preguiçoso.
As atuações também deixaram um pouco a desejar o que deu mais uma quebrada no ritmo.

As passagens cômicas são o puro exagero kkkk.
Quanto a parte do romance, achei que foi desenvolvendo gradualmente e de uma forma legal.

No geral, não é uma perda de tempo, é uma boa opção num momento relax .

Lees verder

an absolutely devastating must-watch

I remember when spaceless came out a few months ago and I didn't watch it, but now that 4 minutes is almost over, I figured I would. And holy shit.
I am so glad that I skipped it when it came out during pride month cause it is an absolute masterpiece of an emotional hate crime ?
Anyone who thinks Jes and Bible don't have chemistry is a fucking idiot, they are perfect! The scene by the water is literally devastating and they both played it so well. It's so sad, but so beautiful.
Bible was the standout for me, just the utter devastation on his face in most scenes, and then the end, the soft smile after Tul tells Garn that he named his daughter after him.
The story itself is just so devastating (I know I keep using that word, but it's the most fitting) because Garn was willing to suffer just so that he could still have Tul in his life. And I don't blame Tul entirely for the way he treated Garn, but I do hate him just a little bit for knowing how Garn felt and lowkey leading him on. But props for being honest and telling him that it was never gonna happen. It's still sad tho because it almost feels like Garn died of a broken heart ?

Lees verder

Unrealistic but interesting

I couldn't fully enjoy the movie. It has a lot of great elements, but also a lot of stupid, illogical and unrealistic details. I won't reveal spoilers but I will at least mention the first scene where we see the main character Im Gyu-nam mapping the way through the DMZ. The scene is full of tension and looks attractive, but it is completely unrealistic. The whole movie is like that. They don't represent the realistic view on North Korean regime but an anecdotal exaggeration of it. The events in the plot are so "extra" that until halfway through the film I kept asking myself: "Is this really happening?", and later I came to terms with the fact that the film is based on impossible plots and even more impossible instant resolutions. Maybe modern audience likes that, but to me it was a bit off putting from what is generally very engaging and interesting story.

Life in North Korea must be very difficult, and the film develops the theme of free will and choice well. Is it better to live in obedience-slavery but in security or to live in freedom but in uncertainty? The two main protagonists each answer this question in their own way.

Lees verder