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...
Bimol is a young adult studying college, from a lower middle class family and struggling to provide for his younger brother while also dealing with his alcoholic father. The mother left them sometime back. HIs father abuses him of being feminine. To make ends meet, Bimol does makeup for girls. His only two close friends are a girl and another boy. The girl knows that Bimol is gay but his straight friend has no idea. Bimol is also occasionally bullied in school. When a new boy Albert joins the class, Bimol has a crush on him. Luckily Albert shows interest in him too and they become friends, with an indication that even Albert may like him. But Bimol's family an money struggles are so much of a pressure for him, that he can't focus on anything else. In multiple episodes we see how he is managing life between his younger brother, and alcoholic father, how he has a small difference with his closest straight friend but eventually the friendship wins irrespective of the sexual identity of Bimol. The ending is a bit vague, after Albert suddenly disappears after episode 6 and ending is left open ended with a promise for a follow up season.
Clearly this series has been made on a very very modest budget and it shows. The sting is just average, but the makers did have some story in mind. We are shown another student in the class who professes his crush on Bimol and even kisses him which gets rebuked since Bimol doesn't feel anything for him. Looks like the other lead Albert quit the show midway and the makers had to change course in middle. I later got to know of some of the struggles the crew faced while filming, including homophobic backlash, that forced their direction in a certain way, which assures me that were it not for that, the show could have gotten the ending that it deserved. There was one episode where Bimol dreams (?) of maybe accidentally killing his father. There are a lot of scenes of his internal self talking to him and taking him in all different directions. A lot of the plot is about school and family life but there is a love story too and thats why, I struggle to classify this show as a BL show. It had 8 episodes each of about 25 ish minutes. Also, the audio of this show is a huge issue which is inconsistent. Overall just a below average show, but I am glad someone took the initiative. Hopefully with second season, the makers will show us something even more promising and sharp technical skills. (4/10)
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