Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

The little mini-series from Vietnam was a decent watch. IT had drama, love, emotion, family, everything in it. Sure, it is really hard to combine all this in a small series, but I would rather have the story move forward fast and crispy rather than it being starched unnecessarily. With only 5 episodes of average 15 minutes each, this is an easy watch. The series starts with a girl introducing her boyfriend to her parents, Hi name is Bao. When her brother walks in, both the guys are surprised. The brother Khanh works a s aTA at the same department where Bao studies. We are told that just a couple of days back , the two had a steamy gay hookup. Also turns out that Khanh has a wife and he is always trying to avoid her. While continuing his affair with Bao, Khanh keeps requesting him to not play games with his sister, but in reality this was all a sham. The sister is actually lesbian and good friends with Bao and they were pretending to do a sham marriage so that eventually she could divor...

A down to earth BL series set in the rural country side where the realization to stop the pain, a self-sacrifice had to be made which is the price of love. Continuing the trend, this is also a low production series from Vietnam, but at least here, the was not as bad. Acting and story had some depth and thought was given through. One of the shows where things don't end on a happy ending, but probably more reality. And in this case, the choice was made, deliberately, not to have one. This mini-series was 4 episodes of 30 minutes each. For some this show may feel genuine and real, which it likely is, but it could still use a lot of polishing. In rural village, we meet Bach and Han, two brothers. Bach is the older one who odd job jobs and work in a wood factory to take care of him and his younger brother. One of the neighbors nephew Tung comes to stay with her leaving's home since his family cannot accept that he is gay. Tung is employed at the same location where Bach works. Befor...

This cute little Vietnamese story stays on track and doesn't force itself with random side stories to throw you off track. With just 7 episodes of about 22 to 30 minutes duration, the show was quite an easy to watch series with a nice BL at the central core of it. A simple, heartfelt love story. Show starts with Binh accidentally bumping into Thang and breaking his camera. Binh works in a cafe but wants to be a singer. However he lacks the confidence owing to some burn scars on his neck that he got in his childhood. Thang takes liking for Binh and joins the same cafe. In the same cafe, Binh has a boyfriend Van, who unknown to Binh is also having a secret affair with another guy. When Binh finds out he is heartbroken and somehow he stats warming up to flirtations from Thang, who also raises Binh's confidence to participate in an upcoming singing competition. In parallel, evil Van also harbors making it big as a singer and has been using all these boys as a stepping ladder. When ...

This Vietnamese series is very mellow, given its base in a countryside setting. The series has an interesting premise but the makers have added too many characters and too many parallel stories and they all keep vying for attention. So what happened here is that the leads barely get any time to develop their romance and focus on it, making it really hard to connect with them or root for them. The show is 9 episodes with average 20 min each. Yes, the Vietnamese BL scene is improving but this is going to take time. Dang is a student in city who is not very good in studies and has already failed twice for university entrance exam. Tired of his antics, his mother decides to bring him to the village to his grandma after finding out that there is this teacher in village who could possibly help Dang study. We meet Son, a young man, who has taken responsibility of teaching younger kids so that the family members can work. While not a teacher by profession, he reluctantly agrees to teach Dang. ...

One of the many problems with this series is that attires to do too many things in little time. It wants to ta all BL tropes and add them all to this series. There is no real character development, shallow characters and motives, total lack of depth and many such. I think had I seen this 4 years ago when it came out, I might have thought of it a little better, but watching it today when there is so much evolution in asian BL, this just comes off as laughable.  A cafe owner has just been dumped by his girlfriend. He passes out but he bumps into this ‘girl’ who helps him get home and they end up having sex. He somehow cannot get her out of his head. The reality is that girl is actually a boy who occasionally dresses as girl to make online content o make extra cash. Incidentally, through his 2 other gay couple friends, he ends up getting a job as a waiter at the same cafe owned by the boss. We discover that this cafe owner is quite ‘lascivious’ and really treats females merely as sexu...

Had I seen this BL back in 2021 when it came out, I might have a slightly more appreciation for the show than what I have right now. And to be honest, as of today, I don't really have much to say about the show. It just made me realize how basic were the stories that were being told in BL context from most Asian countries and makes me appreciate how we have grown both in terms of storytelling and the production efforts that are going in every year to make these stories bigger and better. This series was 6 episodes of about 25-30 minutes each and honestly was all over the place. The basic premise is between Phuc and Tung who share a on-again-off again relationship. Phuc is staying with his cousin in countryside. When Tung visits his parents who are neighbors, they are not home so Tung ends up staying with Phuc. They were likley boyfriends or had feelings before, but Tung is a bit envious and jealous by nature. He once saw Phuc hugging another boy, who was Tung's brother and sinc...

This 10 episode Vietnamese gay family series is actually quite fun to watch. It feels like this show is a sequel of sorts to Tien Bromance, a very confused show 2020. Its got same characters, actors and extended storyline, but so much better than the original one. The episodes are about 18-20 minutes each. And the show primarily shows us everyday joys and trials of a gay couple navigating through life and raising their young child. We meet Tai and Tien again who are now living in a suburban home with their 6-7 year old son. Tien still works in some sort of gang/mafia and Tai is a teacher. There is really not much of a story here. We see multiple issues that these young parents try to navigate e through, while also making sure their relationship and love still stays strong. We see how they both care about their son, there are some funny situations when they both have trust issues, the way Tai treats the mafia gang members when they come (like a jealous housewife), the occasional baby si...

The sequel to the Vietnamese series that showed us the love story between a reformed gangster and a doctor. The story here sort of continues, a few years later. They are now married and have been together for a few years. But even if you haven't seen the first season, there is no direct connection as such and you can still watch this season independent. This season brings in a villain that is trying to break the couple apart. Just like the predecessor, this season also has 8 episodes of about 30 minutes each. Khoa and Dung are happily married now and living together. Dung is now reformed and works in a coffee shop while keeping the house together with cooking, cleaning etc. At his private practice, Khoa gets a new doctor Khang who feels a bit arrogant and he likes to brag about his successses. One of his success stories is a skilled procedure where he helped a patient recover his arm after a traffic accident. Turns out this was no other than Khoa' step brother Thanh. Khoa was a...

Another one of those Vietnamese series which has all kind of toxic traits, stereotypical characters, predictable storyline and you , as an audience keep wondering why was the series made. The plot is outrageous, most side characters are despicable and totally hate-worthy, not that our lead character is any better; and worst of all the editing of the show is so bad that at many places you just keep wondering what and how did that random scene pop in between. Also at 14 episodes of about 20 or more minutes each, this is stretched beyond it needed to. Thach is a wealthy restaurant owner who lost his eyesight in accident. His ex-girlfriend Linh checks up on him and pretends to show concern. However, she only cares about going after his fortune, especially his restaurant chain which Thach vehemently refuses. She then hopes a caretaker Phuc, a university student to take care of him (so far sounds like a recent Thai series that I saw, but trust me, the similarities end here). Phuc has a lousy...

I am not sure if I would call this show strictly as a BL, but it's somewhere in there. But primarily, this is the story of a misfit class of high schoolers- the worst students in the class. The main character and his friends consistently get the worst test scores in their class. Despite their notorious reputation, a new teacher wants to inspire them to take school more seriously. Some gifted classmates become mentors and give tutoring lessons. As they study together, the protagonists develop an attraction to each other. The show is just 6 episodes averaging at 15 minutes each. We are introduced to mainly 4 and more school students who are considered part of the worst class and will likely fail. A new teacher takes upon himself to change this , but for this he needs to motivate them. Khoa is a talented badminton player who aspires to be selected for Vietnam's national team, but the teacher tells him that he will need to improve his grades as well if he really aspires to make it ...

Oh my god! This series was such a drag. Literally nothing happens ove the course of the exhausting 12 episodes (25-30 minutes) of this series. It just waxes and whines throughout. Even if I was to squeeze this into a short film, I wouldn't be able to make it longer than 10 minutes. So imagine having to sit through this atrocity for such a long time. There are no significantly strong moments in this series. Shot in the phone format, apparently for TikTok, you get used to it while watching but when the story itself has nothing to offer, there is only so much attention that we, as audience can pay to it. A young guy Vienh moves to countryside to take. Break from everything. He finds a cheap rental house because it has 'haunted' reputation. When he moves in, there is a cat lurking around and he takes it in. The next morning when he wakes up, he finds a young boy sleeping next to him. Soon, he realizes that somehow cat has transformed into human An. He just an accepts this inexp...

I am not sure of there is really a whole lot to write about this show. I read that he videos of this show were originally released as small 1-3 min TikTok videos, which actually makes a lot of sense. I guess at some point they became popular, so this is when the makers decided to stitch them into episodes. As of now, there are 13 episodes available on YouTube, each with about 12 ish minutes of content. There are some lengthier episodes but they show interviews with cast members. The focus Simon two couples in high school. The first couple are the best of friends since forever and they both enjoy each other's company and also constantly keep flirting. Their's is the kind of relationship that draws blurry lines between friendship, bromance and romance. As you can imagine, in these episodes we see many many disconnected shorts of interactions between this young friends and various scenarios that happen in school. Some of these were meh while others were really fun. I loved, every ...

Where do I even begin? This Vietnamese show was soooo bad. No story, bad acting, cringy dialogues and almost like a school project, Although I feel that school projects might give us something better to watch. Apparently. This was originally supposed to be 10 episodes but this season got shut down after 6 episodes and thank God for that. I would have cancelled this after 2 episodes. It's just so bad. The 6 episodes are about 20 minutes each. A young teen Thai lives with his mother. Her friend's son comes from village to live with them and study in school. Thai doesn't like him first, but slowly they become friends. Then out of blue, Thai starts having a crush on him and professes his love while he is drunk twice, but nothing comes out of his. Since Thai is a mediocre student, his mother hires a tutor. This tutor becomes friends with the country boy. After passing out from school, this country boy starts living on his own and meets a boy who gets beaten up on the street. He ...

I remember enjoying the season 1 when it came out. It was an over the top comedy with some really good gags and comedy that somehow worked for me. I distinctly remember that OTT comedy can get ridiculous, but somehow this series kept fun lively and I had smile on my face. The season 2 of the series follows similar pattern, albite here the conflicts are not that innovative, like they were in first season. Ba Do and Jackie are now living separately and now have an adopted daughter. Jackie is a strict parent and their 3 year old daughter uses that as an excuse to throw tantrums around and always keep Jackie on his toes. Ba Do is starting a new job and one of his colleagues starts liking him. Similarly Jackie gets a new admirer in the form of his trans friend's cafe's manager. Re-enter Ba Dong's sister, who is still broke as hell, losing money and using every trick in the book to pay off her debts. She ends up selling her mother's house, which forces both the mother and dau...

Vietnamese BL shows are still going through their multiple phases. While certain production houses are coming up with polished series, some up coming producers are still gonna take some time to reach there. But at least they ar not torturing us with 14 long episodes. Instead this series with only 5 episodes of 20-30 minutes each, is an easy watch and at the end of it, even though you may feel that story is rough around the edges, you don't feel that you have wasted a whole ton of time. The show primarily suffers due to the same BL tropes that Thai shows did few years back. Instead of developing the attraction between the leads, it focuses on tired conflicts, silly jokes, and a scheming love rival. Thankfully we get a romantic finale. Thanh has a fight with his father for joining music school and he leaves and is going somewhere. We also met An, a young man who lives in the city. Begets a call from his aging grandmother asking him to come visit her since it's been over ten years...

I was pleasantly surprised by how well the production quality of the show was. It had beautiful visuals and artistry and the actors and the director knew what they were doing. It did not feel like an amateurish attempt. Sure, the story basic about a love story between step siblings is something that different people may have different sensibilities about, but you can't deny that the idea behind everything is a show of love with a simple story narration. Tan is an angry young man who goes to school. He feels he is misunderstood by his teachers just because he is weak in studies, but has a very close group of friends who are always there for him. His tough exterior hides his vulnerability and pain, which is always directed towards his step brother Vu, who is smarty intelligent and loved by almost all. Tan is angry with his father for having married Vu’s mother, who herself travels a lot for work. There is a boy in class of Tan whom he has a crush on, but he never acts on it. When Tan...

What a roller coaster ride this series is. The big winner here is two very charming leads and the quirky and energetic chemistry thither share. It is very endearing and magnetic, but the clunky narrative bogs the show down heavily. The story is touching and was being handled well and I was all into the show but man oh man, was a disaster it was in the last three episodes. A really bad editing job and constant back and forth took away all the goodness and the huge promise that the series shows in its first half. Despite all this, thanks to it charming leads it is still pretty decent, but will not be as great as it could have been with a straight forward narrative. The show is 10 episodes of 35-45 minutes each. Nghia is a rebellious teenager of rich parents. One day when he loses a lot of money in gambling, he is given an ultimatum and thrown out of home. Since his friends all abandon him at the time of need and Nghia has no money, bBefore leaving home, he finds a bill stating that someo...

Before I start writing the review if this series, I have to say that the show had the most androgynous looking actors I have ever seen. I still cannot fathom if some of the characters were male/female or gender neutral. Its just an observation from me and I am not sure if that was intentional or not. Another noticeable thing fo rme was the kids school uniform. I have never seen such a school uniform and it was such a welcome and refreshing change from the white short and grey shorts of the Thai BL dramas (just kidding). This is a sweet and fun and silly mini series of 4 episodes of 20 minutes each, which is a very easy breezy watch about a coming-of-age story, This is a story about 5 friends and starts with Nghia drama about trying to kiss his best friend Minh. At that moment, he realizes that Minh is now just not a friend, but the individual to whom he is deeply attracted to in a sexual way. This of course can be very confusing. Nghia tries to convince Minh that he is more to him than...

Oh god! Another show that had an interesting premise and storyline and the execution falters big time. The show stretches a paper thin plot over 14 episodes each of about 15 isa minutes, but then the repetitive scenes keep going on forever and everything is eventually tied together in 12/13 episode. Three were so many places where I completely lost interest ins hat was going on since it was just not worth it. Khánh Dang lost his memory after a serious accident. He could only remember he had some sort of interaction with this girl named Tô Linh. When he asked her about it, Tô Linh would tell him that the two of them were actual lovers. Not having any recollection, Khánh Dang believes it to be the case, but somehow doesn't feel committed to this relationship, especially to Linh who is constantly harsh to him. Suffering from constant headaches, Khanh Dang begins to have dreams that he and a strange boy had loving gestures towards each other, which raises many questions for his psychia...

This Vietnamese BL series could have been so much better. They had a great looking cast, a decent story on hand, but like most companies, the makers got trapped to use almost BL tropes in one single show and the editing of the show was so bad. The scenes felt a disjointed at many places. What could have been a good goofy comedy, if treated well, turned out to be a below average fare. The show is 6 episodes of about 25 minutes each. Minh is a businessman who lives with his younger sister. One night while walking he meets drunk student Tan and next thing you know is they have a one night stand after a night of drinking. His sister is not getting good Martin school so he is looking third tutor and Tan applies for position and gets the job. Minh remembers who Tan is but Tan can't recollect the said night. Slowly Tan starts to become integral part of the brother-sister family cooking them meals as well. Things change, when Minh's childhood friend arrives and it feels that he is madl...