Skip to main content

Paternal Instinct (Documentary)

By Golu
This documentary is nearly twenty years old now, and it follows a gay couple as they navigate the stressful and exciting journey of their first pregnancy through surrogacy. You get to see it all— the hope, the nerves, and the dramatic hurdles they have to clear along the way. Back in the day, this was probably a massive deal, but since I’ve known a few gay couples who’ve gone through this exact process, some parts felt a bit dated to me. I liked bits and pieces of it, but I also felt like the film stays pretty surface-level. It doesn't really dive into the deep, complicated reality of life after the baby actually arrives. If only raising a kid were actually as simple as this movie makes it look! Erik and Mark have been together in New York for ten years, and since they feel solid in their relationship, they decide they’re ready to raise a child. They start the hunt for a surrogate and eventually connect with Wen, a wife and mom from Maine who agrees to carry the baby for a standard...
Post a Comment

Black Summer (Korean)

By Golu
This was such an odd film. It took me more than half the film to even wrap my head around on what really is happening, because as far as I could see, the film was about 4-5 friends just hanging out in their apartment eating, drinking and chatting. The scenes are random and distributed and have no regular flow and feels like random scenes stitched with one another. I actually had to read the synopsis to even figure out what I just saw and this is a huge problem.

Jihyeon works at the university as a part-timer, writing and making films. One day, as he holds an audition while preparing for his next film, he meets Geonwoo, a budding actor and a junior colleague from school. They share many things in common including not particularly physically affectionate with their girlfriends, despite being in relationship for around 4 years. None of them is gay but there is some sort of mental and physical attraction between the two guys. Their relationship becomes a topic of controversy in the university community, and to protect Geonwoo, Jihyeon claims that he was the one who sexually abused Geonu. How will the two men face despair and hope?

As I said, this film is all over the place. There is a whole lot of nothing in this almost 2 hour film. The two shy guys take their own time to make their first move. This sense of soft romance is so overwhelming that when other people finally discover the relationship, the insult takes on bizarre dimensions, which is hardly there in the film anyway. As for the actual plot, well, there's really not much of that to speak of. I'm still not totally sure what to make of the first several opening scenes. They're structured like a framing device, but there's so little concrete information these events could have taken place before or after the main part of the story. This feels like someone school project and is completely avoidable. (0.5/10)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sei no Gekiyaku (Japanese) [Dangerous Drugs of Sex]

By Golu
Every person has their own unique way of dealing with loss. This film is as much a psychological thriller as it is a soft porn BDSM portrayal of two young men that makes the film overall horrifying as well as humane. It is really hard to describe the genre of this film in one word. Its important not that the film has some really disturbing scenes so if you go into seeing this film, please proceed with caution. Although any sexual non-consensual activity is not ok, this film has its won strange way of showing that suicide is not the only solution to all life's problems. Makoto is a regular office goer, who just finds out that his girlfriend is probably cheating on him. ON top of it, his parents sudden death coming back from a trip that he forced them to take, he gets completely dejected and decides to commit suicide. Unknown to him, he is saved by mysterious man Yoda Ryoji, and he wakes up finding himself tied up in leather and belts in a very BDSM setting. This mysterious saver soo...
3 comments
Read more

Drug Shore (Chinese)

By Golu
Apparently tis film was adapted by a true story Well, true or not, movies/series about drugs are not easy to watch. I have always said that drugs is like the end of life for anyone. For those who sink into this sea of addiction, some manage to swim upstream to recovery, while others cannot make it to the shore. The film may not be the best, but it does have a noble intention to remind everyone of the evil affects of drugs and combining that with sex. Ah Zhe is in a happy relationship with his influencer boyfriend. On his partner's birthday, they end up going to a party, which interestingly is being hosted at a drug dealer's house and this is where for the first time he is exposed to the world of drugs. The duo somehow do it just enough and come back home but next day Ah She gets invited by the dealer Xiao Fei for a meal. The dealer has a soft corner for Ah Zhe, but before anyone realizes, Ah Zhe's life spirals out of control when slowly he starts doing more and more drugs, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

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