Tag Archives: Tran Vu Duc Duy

“Khat- The Lust” Series Review (Ep.1 to 3)

This is NOT a BL but a gay story of love instead. As the title implies, this is a saga of lust. Loosely translated, the title means ‘thirsty’, and in a way that more aptly describes this story. It is an account of a sexual fervor that manifests itself in a reality we are unaccustomed to in the BL world. While the BL world is fantasy, this diegesis is anchored in realism. Like most Vietnamese BLs, this premise is also rooted in a world of authenticity. However, its ending becomes unambiguously romantic. It simply takes a different route than the usual formulaic path of a BL. Frankly, this one is based on what happens between two young men drawn to each other in the real world through eroticism. Uncolored. Unfettered. Unvarnished. But not in any way ribald.

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“Love Bill” Series Review (Ep. 1 to 10)

This is one of those series that is so centric to being Vietnamese, that it might not be translatable into other languages. Idiomatic expressions and nuances of the language are powerful but when translated into other languages might not have the same intended impact. Does that take away anything from the series? Sure, it does. Does it make watching this series more difficult to interpret? Absolutely. Does it make it less impactful? No! I still felt its impact. I merely have to translate into my own internal language and give it meaning to me. And this series is astonishingly moving and so full of life. And that life had so many peaks and valleys that it made watching it joyful and sorrowful emotionally for me.

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“Mr. Cinderella” Series Review (Ep.1 to 8)

This series utterly confounded me. I did not understand it – initially. The story was choppy, incoherent at times, and made little sense to my western-oriented mind. Frankly, I did not understand the fairy-tale related title and what it had to do with the series. Humbly, I want to explain my bewilderment of this series from two vastly different perspectives.

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