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...
Three oddballs in a school ultimately come together: Dan is a new boy in the neighborhood, openly gay and wants to start a gay straight alliance but the school board would not allow. We then have Diwata, an aspiring outspoken wanna be actress who is heart broken when she is not selected for a school musical because she is against the changes made to the story to suit the sensibilities of the conservative town. Finally we have Solomon, who has a lot of thoughts and topics that he wants to write about but the school newspaper is heavily censored because of board rules and hence he is also frustrated. Among the only options available to them, the make/join the ‘Speech & Debate’ club because they feel this is what will give them a platform to showcase their talents and fight against the outdated rules of their school. After a few weeks, they make a disastrous attempt to participate in a Portland competition, and get into some big-city trouble when they miss the bus home. They then come up with a master plan to use the board meeting to make people aware of their problems and hoping that with the use of media, things will finally improve for the three of them, for people like them and for the entire school and town.
My biggest problem like I mentioned above is that, this film never connects with the audience. It fails to make a convincing case. If you look from a point of view of brainless entertainment, maybe this is good but then I doubt this was the intention, since a lot of issues have been tried to highlight in this film. Hypocrisy, teen pregnancy, closet gay teacher, homophobia, social media craze, bullying, freedom of speech, and other general teenage issues; and because of this, it never does justice to anything. On the bright side, the acting from all the three main characters is amazing, especially Diwata. Actually she did crack me up a couple of times. Dan was gorgeous looking and gives in a very restrained performance of a city gay boy trying to adjust in a small town. Solomon was also good and added a charm to the story.
A strictly time pass film which I would say as below average. Good looking cast but a weak storyline. (4/10)
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