This Vietnamese show isn't exactly groundbreaking, but it definitely keeps you hooked. It’s a quick watch with 10 episodes that only last about 15 to 20 minutes each, and even though it uses all the usual BL tropes, it really works because you can't help but root for the underdog. The romance actually takes its time to show up and then wraps up pretty fast, but the characters still feel way more relatable than in a lot of other shows like this. The story follows Phuc, who moves from Hanoi to Saigon to open his dream bar and live with his girlfriend. Things go sideways immediately when he arrives a day early to surprise her and catches her cheating, so he breaks up with her and leaves. He ends up reaching out to his old childhood neighbors, Cong and his sister Han, who he hasn't seen in years. The siblings are struggling on their own with a massive debt and Han’s poor health. Han thinks her brother works at a convenience store, but Cong is actually a heavy for a criminal gro...
Brash and cocky, Oliver enters an empty bar asking if someone could buy him a pint? Sitting at the bar nursing his beer is Lukas, who wants none of the entitled fratboy energy this loser is giving off. What Oliver doesn't know is that before he ended up drinking alone on Christmas, Lukas came dreadfully close to jumping off a bridge (which we find out much later). The two men happen to meet again in a bus a short while later. Oliver suggests that the two hang out. Lukas agrees but makes clear that he is gay. Each is saddled with his own demons. Lukas, the gay man from Germany, struggles with his acting career, while Oliver juggles singing aspirations and a failing nightclub. The whole film is about the duo hanging out and slowly opening up about their past, their fears and future plans. We don't know about Oliver's sexuality clearly, although the two end up kissing in the middle of night. Regardless of whether Oliver and Lukas' bond is strictly platonic or whether it could ignite sexual heat, these two feel good together.
The film is laced with the many lengthy conversations between Lukas and Oliver unfolding primarily in dully functional repetitive shot/reverse shots. The lighting is flat and the writing lacks depth of any kind. The two actors share a good chemistry, but I felt also cheated thinking this film is gonna be a queer love story, but it was nothing like that. The two hold hands and there is another kiss towards the end, but that's about it. Honestly besides Lukas being gay, there is really no hint of his sexuality at any point. We also get a 16 year old teenager aded to the group for a while but that also goes nowhere. Overall, I fettle film is extremely uninteresting, too dialogue heavy an don't sure where it was headed. Maybe it's about trying tomato connections, but what's the point if audiences can't wait for the film to end. The two actors are charming and good looking but that can take you only so far when the script itself doesn't have much to offer in the first place. (3/10)
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