My Friendship 2 (2022)

Beautiful and powerful

This story is so authentic that it hurled me back to that age in a way that I haven't felt in a long time. This is what you can get when you put together good writing, directing, and acting.

In an hour a more complete story was told than you get in most 12-episode series - testament to the power of the image, and how a facial expression can convey more than 20 minutes of voiceover or exposition.

Oak is better in this than anything he's done before, conveying an innocent loneliness, insecurity, and longing in a way that you usually don't see as he's tended to be in more comical roles. Mon is shattering, and I was amazed at his first-rate performance in the last scene. That was very difficult material to pull off, and would have been dull with an off-the-shelf actor, but it's clear he put a lot of work and thought into the scene and received able guidance from the director, for whom this is clearly a very personal story.

Highly recommended.

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Just Brilliant in its Simplicity

While it may not be necessary to watch 1 before 2, it might make more sense since 2 is the prequel to 1. However, I watched 2 before the first series and for me, it was not necessarily the smoothest of transitions. But the story is simple, basic, yet conveys a sense of life as it really exists. One comes to terms with who he is and the other does not. There are only two characters in these series and so the whole story is shouldered on the strength and conviction of these two young men. Mon and Oak are the powerhouse couple in BL today but are not recognized as so. Just brilliant acting.
See my full review at BLBliss.com.

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Les prémisses de l'amour et ses errements

C'est un joyau brut. La narration est simple sans chichi inutile et le jeu des acteurs est si juste et prenant. Le personnage de Jack est particulièrement bien décrit avec beaucoup de tendresse, de respect et de beauté, l'acteur est fabuleux. Le personnage de Bank est aussi bien dépeint, ses errements et enfin l'évidence de l'affection sont bien joués. Mon seul bémol est le fait que la rupture avec la petite amie aurait pu être plus décrite, pourquoi cette rupture? Sinon franchement il faut avoir vu ces deux épisodes si l'on aime les BL. La scène finale est très bien jouée aussi, on est totalement à leur place. A voir absolument.

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the Height of Incongruency

Understanding that this is a prequel, 2 episodes make total sense and they were enough to give you a glimpse of who the characters are.

this is a coming of age story; like so many that we have seen before, there is some confusion about what to call these feelings, but a strong sense of realness of said feelings is present through the episodes, especially the second. The question of what does it mean is the reason we see the interaction that we do at the end where there is a parting, but still no acknowledgement of what is really going on. You get to understand that the real issue here is having to call the feelings what they are and then having to deal with the consequences of such a label. None of our characters are ready for that, with reason.

There is a girl in the mix and a break up. Its a BL, so I mean ... Suffice to say the end is unpleasant for all parties. However, her voice is missing in this story. We are not told what she found attractive and what eventually led to the end. We are also not told how the relationship truly was in the quiet moments when it was just the two of them. Will that be explored later?

I loved this series for the way that it was shot, honestly. There was no beautification of the situation. Real is as real got. Having said that though there were some scenes that felt choppy due to editing. The acting was magnificent. Both our leads are talented and know how to communicate without uttering a word. The directing, um - was autobriographical. Shall we say that and leave it at that. Its his story and this is how he chooses to tell it. Commendable as that required some courage and vulnerability and we appreciate the sharing.

Looking forward to more of this.

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