5/10. Very formulaic. It was watchable in a mindless sort of a way, first episode in and one could tell it wasn't supposed to be very deep or cinematically resonant so just enjoy it as was very clearly made as a genre specific show, it was very clearly targeted towards women who like to watch stories of men getting it on. So like the readership here. In that sense, it was very much like a screen representation of a typical popular bl manhwa, depth and nuance would be touch and go. The plot and story were at the mercy of fan service. The main lead dynamic was hot and cold, plenty of hot scenes fell flat because of how weak the direction was and how amateur the acting was. The Russian dude was somewhat decent, the Canadian dude was extremely monotone and inflectionless. The way he said I love you was the most flat I love you ever said and not just on screen. The supporting characters were pretty generic too. The production quality and design were surprisingly not as bad as i usually expect of targeted media like this, which means there was ample money to be spent, and that's good. This means that in future, there will be more talented creators and actors in this genre. For most male white actors, it's a rite of passage to do at least one gay film in the beginning of their career, but that's where most stop. Would be glad to see more creatives investing in the bl genre.
If anyone's interested, watch Andrew Haigh's films like - weekend, all of us strangers. Lovely films. Others like God's own country, Levan Akin's - And then we danced, are pretty good too. Most of Marco Berger's films, he is a really good director. Moonlight by Barry Jenkins. Oh and one of my favourite gay movies of all time, Farewell My Concubine, but only watch it if you want to break your heart in a million pieces.
That's harsh. So there are plenty of factions in gay cinema, if not as much is straight cinema. There are some really good films, but most of them aren't as mainstream because of the taboo attached to LGBTQ+ cinema, they don't get the same funding for distribution or PR as straight cinema.Then there's a whole another gay industry where they make stuff for pure entertainment and most of it is either some kind of soft porn or fetishization. Some creators start here but go on to make more commercially viable films. That's where Heated Rivalry sits, somewhere on the cusp. So that's not so bad. Things can go either better or worse from here, depending on what audiences prefer, plot or soft porn. But at least there's hope.
dont know if this'll make a difference but Shane's character is autistic so apparently the monotone voice was intended on the actors behalf but im not sure how much of that is true. ..loved this review btw ε=ε=(ノ≧∇≦)ノ
So apparently the writer accidently wrote him as autism-coded because one of her son's is autistic. The character itself wasn't explicitly autistic though, however anxiety ridden, repressed, modeled after the Asian stereotype (often true) of kids that are controlled by their helicopter parent/s. That's why it felt incongruous.
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HEATED RIVALRY SUCK, ILL RATE IT 0/10 FUCK THAT SHIT IT SUCK SO MUCH. You can literally predict everything lmaooo.
That's harsh. So there are plenty of factions in gay cinema, if not as much is straight cinema. There are some really good films, but most of them aren't as mainstream because of the taboo attached to LGBTQ+ cinema, they don't get the same funding for distribution or PR as straight cinema.Then there's a whole another gay industry where they make stuff for pure entertainment and most of it is either some kind of soft porn or fetishization. Some creators start here but go on to make more commercially viable films. That's where Heated Rivalry sits, somewhere on the cusp. So that's not so bad. Things can go either better or worse from here, depending on what audiences prefer, plot or soft porn. But at least there's hope.
dont know if this'll make a difference but Shane's character is autistic so apparently the monotone voice was intended on the actors behalf but im not sure how much of that is true. ..loved this review btw ε=ε=(ノ≧∇≦)ノ
So apparently the writer accidently wrote him as autism-coded because one of her son's is autistic. The character itself wasn't explicitly autistic though, however anxiety ridden, repressed, modeled after the Asian stereotype (often true) of kids that are controlled by their helicopter parent/s. That's why it felt incongruous.