Long Time No See (2017)

A more mature BL drama that blends cute interactions and a suspenseful plot masterfully. The relationship between the main characters is very past faced, but this is made believable through the fact that they've been getting to know each other online and thus know each other quite well already. The drama is quite mature, with very suggestive scenes and load of blood, but it never felt cheap or done this way for attention grabbing as it fits well with the more mature mob plot.
The mob plot stays pretty surface-level, but it's well balanced and thought through with the flashbacks used.
I also adored the sister character.

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The Story

It wasn't too romantic or dramatic. It was just as I needed. It was weird to have a lovers to enemies and then lovers again. But I just see that as the spice of this drama. I loved how they were sure about their sexuality (unlike other dramas which the characters magically become gay or understand it by just one person in theri twenties).

It has some violence so I don't recommend it if you're not a fan of it. I'm not a fan too but I actually lilked the story, acting, and so many things.

The progress of the story is little slow but I highly recommend it.

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Really good to see a sympathetic gay movie, excellent cast, including the sister. The two male leads so handsome, and that most difficult to come by "happy ending" to a gay movie. The only thing that marred it for me is the OTT violence, but I suppose that went with the territory here. The villains were all too credible. The story required some suspension of disbelief, what with the coincidences. I can't go further so as to avoid spoilers. Music hardly made an impression, but not knocking it down for that. All I can say to anyone into BL or gay movies is: WATCH IT. We need more like this and I for one am quite willing to support with my wallet. Top notch, well worth a re-watch.

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It's so hard finding LGBTQ media that doesn't fall victim to tired tropes, harmful stereotypes, and/or unhappy endings, especially in the BL category. I'm so happy to say that this movie is a gem and doesn't contain any of these!!

What I loved:

-The characters are both established as men who are attracted to men. None of that "I'm not gay, I only love you" BS that BL loves to use. On a similar note, there's no stereotypical enforcement of one man as the "effeminate" bottom and the other as the "manly" top, another thing BL loves to use. Cheers to not perpetuating heteronormativity!
-The portrayal of a healthy, happy, functional gay relationship that doesn't end in death or unnecessary angst. Chisoo and Gitae have their obstacles, of course--as you can probably tell by the summary LOL--but they go through their battles, communicate with each other, and find their happy ending.
-The acting is phenomenal for such a small production! I was pleasantly surprised. I was drawn into the main characters, their emotional moments were tangible and believable, and the intimate scenes were so sweet.
-Gitae's sister <3333
-The HAPPY ENDING!!! I can't emphasize this enough!!!

The story really needed another hour or more of screen time to fully flesh out everything and give more depth to the characters--I also really would've loved to see this as a full-length series!!--but given that the studio, Strongberry, is very small and undoubtedly on a tight budget, especially as a producer of queer content, it's amazing as it is.

You can purchase the full movie on Vimeo, I just bought it for $11.11 USD. (link: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/longtimenosee) Please support Strongberry and buy it if you can!!

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I really enjoyed this brief mini-series.

In a country that is as socially conservative as South Korea, it must be a difficult decision for actors to play gay characters. Tak Woo Suk and Yeon Seung Ho were excellent. I am so glad that they were prepared to do this. I really liked their chemistry and the sincerity they showed one another. I also was blown away by Ra Sun Young's powerful lines about family being more important than whether or not her brother likes men.

Dramas such as this one are very, very valuable. They show people that being gay is not a bad thing. We all share the same kinds of feelings and if you love someone, whether it's same-sex or opposite-sex, no-one is all that different from anyone else.

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They could have done so much more...UGH

A Korean mini BL series (3 episodes in most stream websites, but the "chapters" are divided in a weird way) about a mobster "flying dagger" that falls in love with a guy he met online...but there are many twists and turns in this short yet sweet gangster love story.

I really enjoyed this tiny series, I was just very unfortunate that it is short! A lot is left unsaid because of the lack of time to let the story evolve. If this series had 10 to 13 episodes it would turn out amazing, no joke. There was SO MUCH room to create a great BL with the plot. It's not an usual story for BLs, and I'd have loved to see what it would look like with well written dialog and time for the characters to grow. ***sigh*** I'd be so nice.

But I still enjoyed it even with its flaws. It's not a series you'll keep rewatching , it's a cool short-term BL with a tiny amount of spice, blood, punches, and love.

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Sweet and Happy

For once a gay relationship drama has a happy ending! I am so happy for this couple as I am normally left heartbroken after watching something LGBT+ and had began to avoid dramas like these.

Although it says it is a 5 part drama I see it more as a movie, being around 1hr 20min long. I just wish I could see more of the couple but for how long it ran for you could see the character development evolve so much. I love how steamy the main couple are, I am just so happy that they found happiness. The traumatic backstory is quite common for these dramas but it still breaks my heart to see people are still treated this way due to personal preferences.

This drama gives a good insight into the struggles some people can have if you differ from the norm, and how even just one person on your side can help change your future for the better.

If you are fond of LGBT+ dramas and have had your heart broken too many times by these, I would recommend this to you.

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One of the most underrated Korean boy love dramas

I kindly suggest y'all to watch this on vimeo instead of torrent sites since in times like these we should support our independent movie makers and studios. Companies like these are so far one of the very few people who create Korean LGBTQ+ content, so they deserve our support even more. This mini drama was overall really sweet despite its grim storyline. I also wasn't expecting those intimate scenes since kdramas are generally PG13 and even if there's a "sex scene" it's heavily implied or fades to black, so I quite liked this and how it was done like your average American sex scenes in movies or shows (aka where you still see nothing but it doesn't fade to black etcetera). I quite appreciated the more mature themes in this drama and I thought it was done very tastefully. Also Chi-Soo is actually such a sweet puppy and I really felt bad for him. I really liked how he finally got the family he so deserved. Wild Dog's sister was also the real MVP and I loved how supportive she was of her brother and his sexuality. The acting, production, cinematography, sets, costumes etcetera were really nice too. I definitely think it's an underrated drama and it's really something you should watch if you either liked where your eyes linger or if you want a more mature boy love drama without any harmful representation. Besides, the two leads had great chemistry.

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Good For 1 Watch. Missing Some Emotional Stepping Stones.

Very general spoiler on the ending only. Definitely good for one watch but I may not rewatch as it wasn't very emotionally engaging for me. The fight scenes are great, intimacy is fairly realistic and there's more of it than the average Korean BL, the acting is strong (9.5/10 for the two leads, 7-8/10 for everyone else), and the plot-twist is surprising. I was glad I watched it but didn't feel completely satisfied afterwards, even though the ending is happy.

The review by Rent343 on MDL puts into words some of what I was feeling (my own notes are below this quoted excerpt): https://mydramalist.com/profile/Rent343/review/63835
"...I dunno, it felt like I was reading a sparknotes summary for a great novel. I got all the big facts/ plot points but the delivery took little to no time to make those facts emotionally significant..."

MY NOTES:
That's what I felt too- like it was the Sparknotes to a greater story. I missed the romantic build of the connection between the characters (both by text before they met and then after) so when conflict came, the stakes didn't feel as high as they could have. They still felt like a few-dates-old crush. I mentally knew they were in love because the audience was told so, and they were certainly cute/sweet to watch, but I didn't feel it emotionally. I was rooting for them and the plot-twist scene did tug at my heartstrings, but I kept feeling like too many chunks of the story were missing/skipped to feel fully connected and satisfied.

It didn't help that there was absolutely no sense of time. It felt like they had only known each other for a few days, which is why their love confessions didn't feel that strong. It's possible multiple weeks passed, but who knows!

Some side threads are annoyingly left in the air, like the reason behind the plot-twist. A character says they will tell another everything but the audience never gets to hear it!

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This drama was very unexpectedly good. I went in thinking I'd see the usual Korean BL movie, well I did not...
Story: The premise is quite interesting and tbh I wish they made a real series out of it and not just 5 short episodes/one movie. Like this the story was slightly rushed but kept its overall charm. Definitely interesting and not the usual Korean BL you get, definitely not.

Acting: The acting was amazing, from all sides. The good guys, the villains...you forget they are actors and you get really immersed into their characters. Definitely big compliments to the cast for that. No shallow acting here.

Music: There was music? Well, I guess the usual background music to highlight stuff. But here let me take this chance to say this: The production of this is amazing, great picture, great colours, great quality and camera work.

Rewatch: definitely!

Overall, I do not regret the least that I bought it to watch it. Like this I can rewatch it again and again and again and enjoy this wonderful Korean movie, so untypical of the usual BL stuff we get from Korea. Check it out, it's definitely worth watching!

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So good

I am in love with this short series. The last time I felt this way about a gay couple was with HIStory: Trapped (what about The Untamed, you say? I’m not worthy of WangXian, they’re in their own universe).

I loved the main characters, both were effectively played by the actors, especially Tak Woo Suk. Yeon Seung Ho was also very good in his role. I adored their tenderness and devotion. The skinship scenes were tastefully done and the first one was quite hilarious yet sweet. Felt like I was intruding on their private moments.

The background story was also interesting and more than kept me interested in the whole thing. I did not rate this series a 10 because there are certain parts of the plot that kind of faded away on its own, this is the only downside.

BUT CAN WE TALK ABOUT GI TAE’S SISTER??! What a supportive and loving family member! Her unconditional love is everything. Every BL series needs a similar character in it.

REWATCH VALUE: Hell, yes!

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