Skip to main content

The Sting Of Lavender (Manipuri Series)

By Golu
I guess taking inspiration from all the Asian BL series, this show is touted as first BL series, from the state of Manipur, a princely state in the eastern part of India. Even though the series is being promoted as a BL show, I have to say that it is much more than that. BL is a part of it, but the show mainly focuses on the lead man's trails and tribulations, his family, his struggles, his friends and everything around him. It tries to tackle issues that queer folks have to face like opposition from society, from their families, from peers, and might even their own selves in the form of internalized homophobia.

Bimol is a young adult studying college, from a lower middle class family and struggling to provide for his younger brother while also dealing with his alcoholic father. The mother left them sometime back. HIs father abuses him of being feminine. To make ends meet, Bimol does makeup for girls. His only two close friends are a girl and another boy. The girl knows that Bimol is gay but his straight friend has no idea. Bimol is also occasionally bullied in school. When a new boy Albert joins the class, Bimol has a crush on him. Luckily Albert shows interest in him too and they become friends, with an indication that even Albert may like him. But Bimol's family an money struggles are so much of a pressure for him, that he can't focus on anything else. In multiple episodes we see how he is managing life between his younger brother, and alcoholic father, how he has a small difference with his closest straight friend but eventually the friendship wins irrespective of the sexual identity of Bimol. The ending is a bit vague, after Albert suddenly disappears after episode 6 and ending is left open ended with a promise for a follow up season.

Clearly this series has been made on a very very modest budget and it shows. The sting is just average, but the makers did have some story in mind. We are shown another student in the class who professes his crush on Bimol and even kisses him which gets rebuked since Bimol doesn't feel anything for him. Looks like the other lead Albert quit the show midway and the makers had to change course in middle. I later got to know of some of the struggles the crew faced while filming, including homophobic backlash, that forced their direction in a certain way, which assures me that were it not for that, the show could have gotten the ending that it deserved. There was one episode where Bimol dreams (?) of maybe accidentally killing his father. There are a lot of scenes of his internal self talking to him and taking him in all different directions. A lot of the plot is about school and family life but there is a love story too and thats why, I struggle to classify this show as a BL show. It had 8 episodes each of about 25 ish minutes. Also, the audio of this show is a huge issue which is inconsistent. Overall just a below average show, but I am glad someone took the initiative. Hopefully with second season, the makers will show us something even more promising and sharp technical skills. (4/10)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

By Golu
Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin
5 comments
Read more

One Summer Night (Korean)

By Golu
I really wanted to like this film but for non native speakers, these movie leaves a lot to be understood and the way scenes were unfolding in front of me, I wasn't sure many times what was really going on. The story had potential button getting any back story on any of the characters limited my ability to empathize with any of these actors. Film starts with two North Korea military guys Yong Joon and Jae Sung having sex and they are caught red handed and they run. Three years later we see Yong Joon in Seoul leading a very mundane and poor life. He has a boyfriend Tae-Kyu, who is a weird guy. He is carefree, doesn't do any work and is completely emotional and financially dependent on Young Joon. In fact, even Yong Joon will go to any lengths to protect him , fend for him and taking care of him to the extent of even taking up prostitution. Suddenly one day Jae Sung appears in their life again. His motivation is not clear but it is obvious he wants Yong Joon back in his life, who
Post a Comment
Read more

Ultimate masturbation: Shigoki no yama (Japanese) [The Ultimate Masturbation]

By Golu
I would never know what was the point behind making this film. Was it supposed to be a comedy, cos it wasn't. It wasn't even porn. It was just a silly attempt at making something absolutely senseless and ridiculous. The story, as well as direction is equally shoddy. You could laugh for having seen something so bad, but I wouldn't call that comedy. An old man runs a camp about gay masturbation. The explanation given is that gays masturbate for pleasure unlike straight men, for whom the act is seen as shame or because they can't find a woman. One day a straight man shows up and wants to join the camp for his thesis. After discussion, he is allowed in. Rules include that you can masturbate together, you can masturbate one another, but there is no fellatio or anal sex. Some students of course breaks rule. The teacher then talks about 2 forms of masturbation which gives ultimate pleasure. He shows one without touching and then refuses to talk of the other. Somehow suddenly,
Post a Comment
Read more