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Hot Brother Next Door (Vietnamese Series)

By Golu
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...
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The Cage (Korean)

By Golu
Told entirely through a third narrator (I saw the English version), it was extremely difficult to follow through what twas the exact storyline of the film. I would focus and follow for about 10 minutes and think that finally I understand what's going on, but then suddenly a tonal shot would happen, and it will again start going into circles which I was not able to keep up.

As per the official synopsis, After being framed in a murder, Nick returns to his troubled hometown Exalon, where he begins an affair with a young man working at a family restaurant. The arrival of his former employer convinces Nick that he is being personally hunted down. We go into flashback in another fictional town where it seems Nicks used to do some illegal business and also had sexual relations with his ex-boss. But he is missing deeper currents unravelling a wave of local unrest, to which he unwittingly contributes.

The film is way too artsy and extremely heavy on symbolism, which went over my head most of the times. There are  images of barren lands, government migration office cubicles, women making kimchi in the streets, and karaoke bars in Chinatown, and at some point I also felt was the main protagonist also struggling with his sexuality? I also read somewhere the the film is about one's sexual awakening and love life is entangled with matters much larger than one's own body. But the pea sized brain of mine doesn't have the ability to comprehend such hidden meanings in this film or in any other film. The one and only good thing about the film was the good looking and handsome leading young man. Besides that, I didn't understand the film at all. If any one of you did, please enlighten me. (1.5/10)
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