All posts by PPBongi

Thai Reviews

“Club Friday Season 16: Domestic Incident” Series Review (Ep.1 to 4)

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I was thunderstruck by the theme of this series. It is a story in an anthology labeled “Club Friday”. Its content is one I have never seen before and certainly involves a very controversial topic. If they had been more adult about its fruition and handled it like a ruminative production, this would and could have been up there as the Best BL for 2024. However, in my opinion, they lacked the courage to push the envelope here to make it more consequential.

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Chinese Reviews

“The Spirealm” Series Review (Ep.1 to 78)

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Yes, indeed I did watch this phenomenal series and, while not a gamer nor understanding much about the intricacies of this series, I treasured its theme and ambition. This series is breathtaking in its presentation, cinematography, storytelling, and acting. I was completely mesmerized and astonishingly could pretty much follow the gist of the story minus the minutiae and detailed storylines. Being a Westerner, I also got hopelessly entangled by the names and relationships of individuals. None of that mattered to me, however. My focus was on the two main protagonists and the heart of their story.

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Vietnamese Reviews

“Under the Oak Tree” Series Review (Ep.1 to 10)

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This series, without wanting to sound hyperbolic, is in an instant classic category and in essence prototypical. It is one of the most remarkable BLs I have ever seen or perhaps will ever see. It is that good. It is certainly unique. True to Vietnamese BLs, it is a series that digs deep into the internal onuses of humanity and its various components of human passions. I have stated this before and shall state it again. Some of the finest, if not the finest BLs come from Vietnam. They tell deeply insightful stories of humanity that have heart and aspiration and tell it in a way that underlying it all is still the message of hope. And they tell these stories in ways that if we listen and observe, can help us change to become better individuals. The narratives are just remarkable.

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Thai Reviews

“Love Sea” Series Review (Ep.1 to 10)

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This series is exceptional, surprisingly. I was not expecting it to affect me as deeply as it did, but one had to frankly get through a lot of cacophony to get to the story. But once you did, and evaluated that, it was much deeper than most viewers, I think, realized. It honestly left me emotionally drained. This series, I felt.

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Thai Reviews

“Wandee Goodday” Series Review (Ep. 1 to 12)

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This series is a dichotomous BL, bordering on being oxymoronic. Sometimes brilliant then slipping into utter banality. Occasionally poignant but mostly filled with mundane trite tediousness. Sporadic displays of serious adult behaviors but mostly overshadowed with adolescent/pubescence behavioral patterns acting like petulant teenage children instead of adults in a serious sexual relationship. Occasional story lines eliciting tears and then in the next dialogue nothing but endless dribble of cliches and platitudes. In other words, not generally reflecting real life but an idealized sanitized world peppered with a whisper of reality and an occasional homage to authenticity. The best word to describe this series is: puffery. I simply had a hard time relating to this story.

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Movie Review

“The Blue Hour” Movie Review

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This is a serendipitous find and what a find it is. Sometimes one needs to go back in order to proceed forward. Admittedly, this is a movie that goes way back and by today’s standards in the BL world might be considered ‘old’ and maybe thought of as remote. Its reviews were less than stellar, which is incredulous, and I think based on a misunderstanding of what this movie was all about. I hesitate to reference it as a BL, however. More aptly, it certainly is a gay film. A gay film highlighted by elucidations from the inner thoughts of a mind of a tortured young gay boy, struggling with his ‘coming out.’ If you see it as that, it will have more meaning.

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