Between Complete and Incomplete (2021)

Important Representation

I'm not gonna lie this is mainly going to be me giving opinions about the asexual rep found in this movie, since I'm an asexual myself. I'm going to try not to spoil things, but if you want to go in blind stop reading here, just go watch it becuse tl;dr this movie is good and the ace + poly rep is A+.

What makes me super happy about this movie is that beyond just being excited to see myself on screen, my identity was talked about in a caring, knowledgeable manner. I was worried going into this that they'd present the "solution" to the problem in their throuple as Minho just having sex with them regardless. Thankfully that wasn't the case, and we got good discussions about his boundaries, and what he was curious about/the things he wanted to try with them and what things were most likely off the table. The power was always in Minho's hands.

Side note, the first scene where we see he likes to take pictures of his partners was actually a really nice detail! The indication that he had aesthetic attraction towards them and expressed this through photography was something I appreciated. Some people who are trying to give asexual representation sometimes don't acknowledge the split attraction model, so seeing this director understand that he can still have aesthetic attraction was really nice.

Honestly, Minho is probably one of the best aces i've seen portrayed, because while he shone a light on the asexual experience, it never felt like an "Asexual 101" that some characters devolve into. He wasn't a vague ace, but he also wasn't a "teaching prop" ace. You could see him as a proper, fleshed out person. We saw him talk about his boundaries, we saw him express his love in other ways, he talked about his curiosity, and even the moments where he hated himself rang painfully true.

To talk about his partners, there's one whose name I didn't catch but don't have much to say on. He was the calm, caring one who was attuned to the feelings of both of his partners, and was definitely the glue. As for Seongjin, his behaviour at the beginning initially bothered me, because his frustration came out in the form of slight aphobia. Not in a strong sense, he knew what asexuality was and acknowledged that was part of who Minho was and he loved him, but he was was often frustrated that there were so many things Minho didn't like him doing and verbalized it and that made Minho sad which made the other partner upset as well. The more I watched though, I could see that it was because Seongjin's love language was physical contact, and so was at a loss of how to express his love towards Minho when kissing and sex were taken off the table. That wasn't put forward like an excuse, but I did understand the reasons behind his behaviour better. This died down later anyways as they all began to strike a balance, discovering the other ways they can all express their love for one another.

Is it odd to say the ending made me tear up a bit? I just really liked the fact that Minho wanted to try something, and felt safe to ask his partners to help him explore this. It was a great moment full of so much love..

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Poly & Ace Representation!

Overall: Though there are areas they could improve on, I'm giving this a 9 because it has poly and ace representation which is rare. I really wish this was a whole series and we were able to see how their relationship started and what happens after this short film because 18 minutes was definitely not long enough. Also, the filmmaker received $638 USD to make this film as part of a Matchbox competition and I'm extra impressed with that budget. Purchased for $3.88 USD and watched on Vimeo.

Content Warnings: none

What I Liked:
- they did give some information about asexuality, especially Minho's conversation with his friend (though the acting seemed a bit wooden there)
- I liked the times that they had good communication*
- the reference to Long Time No See (it was the movie that they were watching, I've watched it so many times I recognized it just by the sound lol)
- production value is good considering they had almost no budget

Room For Improvement:
- I didn't really like that quote at the beginning which makes it seem that polyamory is almost here. It's here and it's been here since the dawn of time.
- it was an odd way to start. I don't like when people take pictures of sleeping people and I wasn't sure how the two knew each other. 
- *on the couch at the beginning, do the other two not know what Minho likes/dislikes/boundaries??? Why haven't they had conversations about this? Also, that conversation in the bar seemed odd. Wouldn't the two of them discussed it beforehand? (though I did like the follow up conversation they had later).

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