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...
The film starts with a straight actor opening about his struggles trying to make it as an actor. He talks about being taken advantage of by his agent, then a producer and that how he landed into the gay film because a man has to eat. There’s a young man who has to find the bravery to tell his parents that he’s a puppet, despite the fact they think that puppets are disgusting and abnormal. We have a man who appears to have kidnapped someone and is holding him in his basement, who slowly undresses as he reveals what is going on. In another, a hot young guys talk about what he’s really looking for as he lies in the arms of another man just after sex. A man slowly shaves off his beard, with each look he tries on a new persona that allows him to explore the fact that despite being with a woman, he has strong desires for men. And more...
Anthology films are always hit or miss, just because of the nature that some stories connect better with audiences and others don't. Even though genre wise, we get to see comedy, horror, empathy; but there were actually only 2 segments that I connected with. The first one with the actor really establishes the contrasting light and dark reveals that are to come over its duration. And then of the man slowly shaving off his beard was intense and gripping. That one was deep, but rest of the others were strictly ok or bad. The actors are thankfully good to look at and easy on eyes, but after a while, the constant jibber jabber takes my mind away from actually focussing on the film and as an audience I feel thats a problem. Surely, we are all looking for different meaningful cinema but it should still manage to hold your attention. I will probably give it a pass. (4/10)
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