#b tier

Mmm, but did they have to do it though? Don't get me wrong, I understand why they did. Like I mentioned in my previous review, there was something going on over seas that had the entire world's attention at the time. Most weren't focused on animation at all, unless it was propaganda. This was a good idea, as it allowed many different artists to work on the story. It wouldn't break the bank like Snow White did. And this as an idea was established at first as accompanyment to the famous Sorcerer's Apprentice vignette, so it seems like it just grew out of that.

Disclaimer: I don't really like this movie style. I like defined stories, I like a movie that is telling me something complete and full, I like every piece working in tandem. I am aware this is the complete opposite of what Fantasia is all about. That's not a bad thing! Just not my jar of honey. I'll do my best to try and deviate my opinion of the movie away from my immediate dislike of the premise. Just because this isn't my style doesn't mean it's bad.

Because there are 7 vignettes with a little intermission in the middle, I will give my opinion of each as a separate entity. Second disclaimer that it is late when I am writing this, and this is my third attempt. It's probably not going to be as detailed as my others so far. First up, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. I get what they were going for, with the idea that sometimes music exists for the sake of music and no other explanation is needed. That's fully true. So then... why make animation for it? Why should I watch Fantasia tell me that, then give me abstract animation for something they just told me I should only listen to? It doesn't make much sense to me, being honest. The timing was incredible with the animation and the music of course, but this entire first section feels unnecessary and forgettable. Moving on.

Ah, The Nutcracker Suite. The metaphorical and sometimes actual literal bells ringing in Christmas time. This one is actually one of my favorites from the entire film. The fairies are drawn so delightfully and pulled me right back to my childhood imagination. I used to try and catch fairies in my backyard by staying up late to see when they put the dew on the leaves. Of course, all that resulted is that I fell asleep on the screened in porch and had to be carried to bed. I digress. This section of Fantasia delighted me. What a fun look at nature! Granted, there were some parts of it (how do you racially stereotype mushrooms? I would never have thought this would be a question I needed to ask, but apparently Disney has said, "Watch me.") that were not as fun, but the dance of the dandelions was fantastic. The animation was smooth and natural. Love was put into this one, but it is difficult to look past the obvious racism at play here.

And now, presenting to the audience, the most famous vignette from Fantasia: The Sorcerer's Apprentice. I actually didn't like this one as much as I liked the Nutcracker Suite and some of the others. The Sorcerer's Apprentice was smooth of course and the timing was excellent; I would expect nothing less from a Disney film. This section wasn't bad by any measure, just somewhat predictable. Very rich coming from someone who has seen Mickey Mouse in that little sorcerer's hat since she couldn't walk, but I couldn't help but feel a little let down. I suppose I expected more? I'm not sure what else it could have delivered, but I can't help disappointment. It was very fun nontheless, and had a funky wizard in it. If there is one thing you must know about me, I do adore a funky wizard. My icon is currently a funky wizard. Not sure what the future will hold, but funky wizards? God tier. It's a shame the Sorcerer's Apprentice was not also god tier. Again, not bad, I just expected more.

Oh Rite of Spring, my beloved. Wow. WOW. Disney, you've been holding out on me by how dark you can get in this modern era! This one is right up there with the last segment for my favorite. The dinosaurs, although they looked somewhat strange based on how we view them nowadays, were super cool! Oh man, it was fascinating to see what scientists thought at the time of how the dinosaurs died. The drought was horrifying, the T. Rex was terrifying, the earthquake was... well... earth-shattering. Seeing Earth go from an inhospitable ball to this thriving ecosphere back to inhospitable ball was simply amazing. If you read my Pinocchio review, you'll remember that I mentioned how the water animation was advanced? Well, this one improved on it. The lava animation, similar to water, was amazing. Honestly spectacular. I cannot recommend this segment enough, I adored it. Dinosaurs were eating each other! Off screen, but at least the tearing motion was implied! They showed creatures keeling over and dying of thirst! Disney! What is this! Give me more! I know this might appear as if I'm disaster obsessed, but seriously, the Rite of Spring got adapted to Earth's history with all its messes and unforgiving nature, and somehow it pulled that off. Good thing about these smaller segments is that it's possible to just watch it without needing much else. With that said, I'd highly recommend just going and watching this one now. I'd watch it again if it wasn't almost midnight.

There is a brief intermission at this point in the film, so there will be one here.

Okay, back to it.

Oh Pastoral Symphony, my beloathed. This one was by far my least liked. Why were the centaurs drawn like that? Why was everyone drawn like that? What's up with the racial discrimination (rhetorical question, I am aware that racism existed in the 40's)? This one just felt... off. It felt like someone had an idea, pitched it, and then passed it to the animators, except one singular animator was like, "I know EXACTLY what to do." and then proceeded to draw everyone like that. And the rest of the animators were like, "Hey man, I don't know about this--" but were promptly silenced and told to draw some goddamn nipple-less centaurs. And by God, they drew some smooth centaurs. I'm saying, these creatures are SMOOTH. 0 definition on any of them. Pecs? No. Bellybutton? Horse. What if we threw in regular skin tones with purple and blue and green? That looks good right? Also, it's the clear inspiration for the magical, multi-colored horse thing that everyone associates with little girls now. Very strange stuff. Did not like this one at all.

Egh. Dance of the Hours was just... meh. Very meh. The characters in here looked odd. Clearly no furry was on the animation team. Were there furries back then? There had to be, right? I'm not sure. I'm not looking it up right now. Regardless, the ostriches looked kinda bad, the hippos looked kinda bad, the elephants looked kinda bad, and you'll never believe it, but the alligators also looked kinda bad. It just didn't make much sense. I suppose it was meant to be a continuation of Pastoral Symphony's theme of frolicking and such, but it really didn't get the message across very well. My main problem is that it felt like it lacked inspiration compared to the others. All the other segments (excepting Toccata and Fugue in D Minor) were all reimaginings of the intended stories and/or showcasing the world the music is happening in. Dance of the Hours just felt like a direct interpretation somehow. Morning, afternoon, evening, and night were all present, and it was so directly relevant that it felt uninspired compared to the other sections.

Alright, time for the finale! Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria! I loved this one. Granted, I love Halloween, so this was already sure to get in my good books, but they animated the hands of the head demon so magnificently that it was surprising. The hands looked like they should be in the background, but no. They really just put that much detail into it. I think this segment took all the detail from the centaurs from Pastoral Symphony. Even the harpies were accurate and they had (don't tell Tumblr or they'll ban me) boobs. Uncovered. Consider me shocked. I'm still surprised. Regardless, this one was dark, the color palette was just fantastic, and was wrapped up neatly at the end with the Ave Maria. The only complaint I have about this section is that the Ave Maria part goes on for a few minutes, and that's a long time for someone with a short attention span (me). Otherwise, fantastic part, absolutely would have spooked me if I was a kid, 10/10, would scare a child again. This one also felt a little uninspired compared to some of the others, but eh. It's creepy. I do appreciate the creep factor.

So, taking into account that some sections are just wonderful and some are just not, I think this is a solid B-tier film. Will I watch the entire thing again? Probably not. I don't have the patience nor the willpower to get through some of those sections again; however, I think I'll likely revisit Rite of Spring and Night on Bald Mountain again, and maybe even The Nutcracker Suite. Fantasia is pretty good! It's just not my taste.

Previous: Pinnochio

Some people have been very mean to this show, and while it does absolutely deserve it, i think some of its positive qualities may have been overlooked. So this is some Love With Benefits apologia for those of you turning up your noses.

First of all, my favorite trope is back. That's right! We have ourselves (say it with me) A PLAY WITHIN A PLAY! (Show within a show. Semantics.) And it's a pure romantic comedy, so nothing horrible happens unless you count the editing. First and Play are the romantic leads in a new BL series, and they are flopping hard. They have zero chemistry and nothing in common, and they bicker all the time. So naturally, the production team decides to lock them in a house together for ten days, with occasional check-ins. Great. I love it. Their dynamic gets good quickly.

In terms of characterization, First is a tease who can't cook and Play is an easy mark who gets all the weird personality tics (talks to his stuffed rabbit, fights in his sleep, diet is 90% various ice cream treats). There's a brilliantly dumb scene where Play, trying to practice a fakeout kiss, forgets how left and right work and accidentally smashes his lips against First's face. There's also a cute setup/payoff(?) where First asks for all Play's leftover popsicle sticks, and it turns out he's building a shitty little diorama topper for a music box. Unclear what the point is, but it's quirky! In general, these actors have excellent chemistry when they're given dialogue or action cues that make sense, and it's nice that the narrative wastes no time trying to get them into one bed, for tropes' sake.

I love Usagi, Play's stuffed rabbit, and i love that both Play and First treat him like a real person with feelings. I think that First catching Play talking to Usagi for the first time is the moment he realizes he might legitimately be down bad. (We're glossing right over the fact that he's naked and hiding in the closet when this happens.) Usagi also shows how observant First is when it comes to Play's behavior, as he makes the connection between Play's sleep-thrashing and whether or not Usagi is available to cuddle. The scene where First gives Usagi a little shirt is legitimately heartwarming (and sets up some contrivance in the finale that doesn't really matter). This has been to say: Usagi supremacy. Breakout star of the series in my humble opinion.

Love With Benefits gets points for two gender diverse femme characters who aren't just punchlines, which i am a big fan of, and one of them even gets her own brief subplot, a love triangle that is legitimately the most interesting dynamic i've seen in any series thus far. You have Penelope, the flamboyant femme assistant (whose hair i love, for what it's worth), crushing on the acting coach Chai, who rebuffs her. You have the director, Pok, a self-important artsy chaser type, crushing ineffectually on Penelope, who rebuffs him. And you have Chai(!), a DL bottom(!!) with bad taste, crushing on Pok(!!!), who seems mostly oblivious. The scene after their delightfully circular interaction, Chai lets the mask slip with Penelope, essentially saying that they won't work out because they're sisters (when it comes to their sexual interests). If Love With Benefits had better…everything, this would be an S-tier gag. Even as it is, I am still quite gagged. I cackled.

Fine. I guess this gets its own paragraph. There's no escaping it. That sex scene…listen. Woof. I try not to make shallow judgments based on pure physical chemistry, but it's difficult, especially when it's the most convincing and artfully shot scene in the series. It gave me homoerotic frissons. It is achingly good. Standing in my truth.

I had a good time, but:

I'm out of nice things to say. This show deserves to be bullied a little bit.

The points i just gave it for its two gender diverse femme-presenting side characters who aren't just stereotypes? Consider those points roughly half-revoked. One of them is a bit of a cutthroat industry girlboss who otherwise does nothing, and Penelope is giving Stereotypes+™: The new character writing service that goes slightly beyond the bare minimum and imbues a character with up to two (2) sympathetic traits! (Don't get me wrong, she still has funny moments, but some scenes just provoke unamused eyerolls.)

Speaking of Penelope, i'm taking away exactly half the points i gave her love triangle situation as well. It had potential, and it had its moments, but the execution, as with…a lot of this series, was half-baked. I'm standing by my initial take, but with less enthusiasm, particularly because Chai backtracks slightly on his initial revelation that he's gay, and it's left ambiguous which admission, if either, is him being honest.

And speaking of love triangles, the one they made for First and Play overstays its welcome after about twelve seconds. It's dumb that they threaten to replace one of the leads of the show with Pluto for longer than one episode, it's dumb that Pluto is so melodramatic about Play not remembering him from a random audition (let alone not liking him back), and it's dumb that Play sits there saying absolutely nothing while Pluto talks at him, although it is kind of a power move? Useless though. Next.

The edit is absolutely wilin'. It cuts to at least one scene where Chai's lips are moving for two full seconds without audio. That was probably the most egregious, but in general, about twice an episode, there is a choice that simply sends me. Was someone asleep while takes were getting spliced together? Or perhaps in a k-hole?

More unanswered questions, rapid-fire:

Why do some locations in the house look like the set design budget was roughly thirty baht?

What exactly is Penelope supposed to be doing to facilitate First and Play's chemistry? And does she, at any point, do that?

Why is the second bathroom off-limits?

Why is the whole show cancelled when First and Play fall in love? Like, logistically speaking, isn't that a more expensive headache than just riding out their relationship? And how does Penelope suddenly have a second project lined up for them after one phone ca—oh, right, the director is a chaser. That one tracks.

Wait—why is she the one finding them a second project? I thought she was a producer's assistant?

How do First and Play know to meet each other back at the house at the end of the finale? Why don't they just text each other?

How is Play not vitamin deficient?

Character(s) entitled to financial compensation: Not because of the narrative, but the characters of Penelope and Chai, who could have been consistently and genuinely funny. I wanted to like them, and the concept is there! The execution was just lacking.

This series has some narrative misses for me, but it gets a lot of small things right, and it's aesthetically understated in a pretty way.

If there's one thing i immediately noticed about this series, it's that it is very laid back—which makes sense, given the prominence of surfing. But all the younger characters are addressed, for the most part, by first name, and it's treated as mostly normal for the core four to be informal with each other. Chika's parents are also preternaturally chill with the revolving door of random teenagers entering their home to have dinner and spend the night. It's a pretty cool vibe.

I love Shun. He's a good egg. I like his instant, easygoing friendship with Chika (after she attacks him thinking he stole Nagisa's board). I think it's nice to have a fish-out-of-water protagonist that all the other characters suddenly and implicitly trust. He's also very kind to Ako and makes a surprisingly mature and astute observation about her desire to be more engaged with the world. And his quiet, slow-build, intricate-rituals relationship with Nagisa is ever so slightly sweet. Nagisa, for his part, is kind of an asshole, most of which i'm willing to attribute to him being a teenage boy. He scarcely acknowledges Chika exists for years, which, even if he doesn't reciprocate her crush, is weirdly standoffish behavior for someone who eats with her family. Still, there are some little things to like about him. He tries to admit his feelings for Shun by reciting the story of a monk who committed suicide to follow his lover into the afterlife, which i assume is always a winning line. There are a couple shots of him trying to memorize or recall the smell of Shun's hair that are a masterclass in scent-based homoeroticism. And, after briefly ruining a few lives with chaos demon behavior, he does eventually chase after Shun so they can have their happily ever after or whatever.

It shouldn't be refreshing for girls to have personalities, but it is. Chika is particularly fleshed out, and she seems like she'd be a lifelong friend if she and Shun weren't narratively pitted in direct competition for the love of the boy who has virtually ignored her for years. As it stands regardless, they get along well, and it's nice to see kids just being silly and making friends. Chika gets to be kind and thoughful, but also emotionally vibrant, prone to fantasy and resentment and teenage embarrassment. I think her actor gives the best performance of the main four. Ako is definitely the most marginalized of the group, but we get to see how she sees herself, and she's still fleshed out enough that her character's emotional arc is easy to follow. I think she's a good egg, too.

Chika's parents are suspiciously warm and inviting people, what withe the free 24/7 bed and breakfast for teens they seem to run. I appreciate how the elder Kumakiris get to have fun and be in love with each other, i like that they respect their daughter's boundaries while still trying to look out for her. I like that they promote the importance of condoms! Normalize condoms! And Ms. Kumakiri's advice on coping with heartbreak is delicious. The scene where Chika takes her words to heart and tries to bury a beef bone in a public park is probably the funniest in the series.

I like that the setting of the series varies often, from apartments to stores to beaches to rooftops. The monotonous lingering middle-distance vibe of the camera is definitely balanced out a bit by frequent changes in location. And while we're talking about the camera, it does a lot of work implying Nagisa and Shun's chemistry, more than the two of them ever really get to express.

Finally, the actors who are supposed to be high school aged do be looking pretty young. Ben Platt test passed.

I had a good time, but:

I'm very over girls who have done nothing wrong getting emotionally undone by boys who are bad at communication. Please give me a break, i am begging you. Nagisa's particular flavor of chaos demon antics isn't entertaining enough to justify this. He's kind of just an asshole to Chika.

And speaking of Nagisa…is no one else peeping how his first girlfriend in the series (a) is dating a teenager at least two years younger than her and then (b) is upset that he's acting immature? No one? Ma'am. He's seventeen and you are a university student. Punch up.

Chika's creepy, leering coworker? No thank you. I hate it.

This series is short, but it somehow still drags for the last three episodes. I'm gonna need the science girls to explain that one.

Unfortunately, you have been chopped: His (2020, sequel).

A movie that has two timeskips in 5 minutes spanning altogether ten to fifteen years, replacing both lead actors with actors who look nothing like them and putting them in an entirely new setting and storyline without any of the side characters from the original series. I just want to put this out there: If you have an entirely new story to tell…just tell a new story. You don't need to recycle names from a prequel if nothing else about them is going to follow. It looks pretty, and i've heard people have enjoyed it, but i do not need it.

Character(s) entitled to financial compensation: Chika and Ako, for being narratively useful and sympathetic but ultimately expendable girls in a BL series. Surely, at some point, writers will get tired of doing this. Eventually. Maybe.

Conclusion: Of all the series i've enjoyed overall, this one is maybe the one with the slightest imbalance between things i liked and things i didn't. It just edges out indifference by being short enough to binge quickly and throwing me a bone in its better moments. It's not groundbreaking, but it's fine!

Second Chance is not a great series, but it does enough good that i appreciate it for what it is. And it has one of my favorite narrative structures in BL, with two parallel A-plots and a very marginal C-plot running in the background.

The opening scene is (presumably) in medias res, and we get an underwater pool moment (oh hi, Dark Blue Kiss (2019)!) between Paper and Tong Fah, before hopping back into the main timeline of things. Paper, Tong Fah, and Chris are three high school friends who are thankfully not in a love triangle, and Jeno and Near are students they occasionally run into, who are also terrorized by Arthur, who is Jeno's abusive ex. There is a girl trio as well.

Paper and Tong Fah have a friends-to-lovers arc with some electrifying moments. There are a lot of glances and lines of dialogue that nod at the direction their friendship is about to go. The scene where they're dancing in Tong Fah's bedroom and then slowly give in to their mutual attraction? Brilliant stuff. I love a narratively important kiss. They unfortunately do not work out initially, as Paper is scared of being gay that they'll lose their friendship and turns cold, leaving Tong Fah to struggle through his 'unrequited' crush alone. This leads, improbably, to Tong Fah in a coma(!), with a penitent and thoroughly chastened Paper reading the letter Tong Fah wrote to him about his Big Feelings. Whatever will Paper do?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Jeno is regularly getting the shit beat out of him at school by Arthur, whose behavior the school administration seems rather slow to confront. Chris, a minor internet celebrity(!), keeps showing up and defending him, making Chris a target of their bullying as well, but Jeno seems more embarrassed and angry than appreciative. Jeno decides to take self-defense classes, and surprise! Chris is the top muay thai student at the gym, and they spend more time together. Chris flirts at a reluctant Jeno. Arthur gets suspended and vanishes from the plot for a hot minute. Despite some progress, Jeno still seems distant from Chris, and Jeno's sister Geneva tells him to ease up a bit, because his very forward behavior is lowkey how Arthur was with Jeno while they were dating. Not a great look. Whatever will Chris do?

The C-plot…we'll get to it. Suffice it to say they fuck up their relationship as well.

Before getting back to our boys, let's discuss the breakout #girl moment. Geneva and Rose and Daisy have a standout scene where they stand up to Arthur and his weird gang by blackmailing him into leaving Jeno alone. Feminism! The best part of this scene happens after Arthur leaves, defeated, when they all admit that they were scared the whole time—it was a brief moment where they all felt real.

Also while we're here, there are a few set design easter eggs in the posters on the walls of Tong Fah's bedroom. That's fun. In fact, the set design communicates a good deal of information in this series: The school is absolutely plastered in 'Stop Bullying' posters, which is either intentional needling of weak anti-bullying campaigns or unintentionally, hilariously on-the-nose worldbuilding. I got a chuckle.

Oh, right. Back to Paper and Chris, and the reason for the title of the show (surprise!): Both of them get a second chance to do the relationship better. Tong Fah exits his coma and, despite medically improbable odds, makes it to the school dance, where Paper finally returns his love confession, and they kiss. Mazel. Meanwhile, back at the school library, Chris and Jeno unpack a memory they shared there when they were younger. After talking through it with each other, they both realize that they're ready to take the next step, and they kiss. (Is it fair to say i like their relationship more than Paper and Tong Fah's? I'm standing in my truth.)

At the dance, Arthur manifests in the plot again to ask Jeno to give him a second chance, too, and Jeno offers him forgiveness but nothing more. This is probably the most interesting thematic element in Second Chance, a show where second chances are ostensibly the whole vibe. But here the writers leap from the screen to let us all know that not every relationship deserves a second chance. A bit much, but i'll take it. We also learn that abuse is cyclical and intergenerational, as it turns out that Arthur himself is being abused by his father, which is dark, but also the second most interesting thematic element. Weird to save it for the very end, but maybe things got cut for time.

I had a good time, but:

The edit is, at times, incomprehensible. At one point there is a scene where Paper is in the hospital to comfort Tong Fah after his father dies, and i have no idea where it is intended to fall in the timeline. It was given no context as far as i could tell, and then it was abruptly over, leaving me feeling less like something important had been communicated, and more like someone deleted a scene at some point and then someone else put it back in a completely different place. And try as i might, i cannot place the pool scene anywhere in the timeline, either. Which is weird, as it is the opening shot, and presumably narratively important!

The physical abuse of Jeno is a lot, and the series does shockingly little to make it mesh tonally with the relative lightness of the rest of the narrative. Wanting a piece of media to contribute something insightful about a subject like bullying or intimate partner violence does not necessarily mean that it actually…does that. I don't think Second Chance does a bad job with the subject matter, but i think it does a mediocre job thematically making it work and therefore a gratuitous job showing (narratively unnecessary) violence without payoff. (And the writers seem to realize this, because it basically stops halfway through the series.) The formula here acknowledges the problem of abuse and the various structural failures that allow it to continue, but it doesn't show any recourse other than the power of friendship, self-esteem, and muay thai class. Those things can be useful, but that's not really adding constructively to the conversation, especially once the series has already acknowledged the structural component (the school administration) that allows Arthur and his gang to keep committing violence.

The trouble with putting one of your lead characters in a coma is that part of your story will come to a screeching halt if you don't know what to fill their absence with, and, well, Second Chance has Tong Fah get knocked into next month by a rogue vehicle offscreen. It eventually works to get the story where it needs to go, but surely there was a more elegant way to go about this.

The girls almost have personalities but they still feel like afterthoughts about 80% of the time, so much so that the one scene where they do anything major is a genuine shock! I don't want to be shocked when girls do things! Give girls more to do!

Finally, the C-plot with Near and M. I have questions. It's giving weird boss-employee vibes (and i hate that age gap), but also they game online together, but also Near doesn't know that the gamer he has a crush on is M, but M does know it's Near? How does he know but Near doesn't? And why does he not just tell him? Why does Near apologize after it all shakes out? This plot doesn't have nearly enough prominence in the narrative to have strong feelings about it, but every scene between them left me wanting a SparkNotes-style explainer, thinking that surely i missed something. The edit does not help. (And Near has far more chemistry with a customer who is on screen for thirty seconds than he does with M.)

Character(s) entitled to financial compensation: Jeno, who ought to sue Arthur and his friends for the emotional and physical damages associated with assault and battery. Near can join, too. Make it a class-action suit.

Conclusion: Second Chance is not perfect, but it's not the most egregious thing you could watch, and there are shining moments where a better show somehow filters through its cracks. The two lead couples play nicely together, and the most annoying things about the series—well, these too shall pass. It's initially heavy on the conflict, for those of you who like angst, but it has a happy ending. I gave it a chance. I might give it a second.

Hey Rival, I Love You is probably the most interesting application of a love triangle with girl antagonist that i've seen in a BL, which surprisingly helps make up for a myriad technical sins the show commits.

The plot: Chau dates Duong. Chau dates Phuc. Duong and Phuc find out she's playing both of them, and then while plotting to expose her cheating, they fall in love and end up cheating on her. It's a true chaotic bisexual love triangle, and it gets splashed all over social media when they all start exposing each other. They both dump her (obviously) and start dating without her baggage killing the vibe. The end!

This story has solidly decent acting with a hit-or-miss script, shows off good character interactions with a surprising amount of suspense, and actually makes me enjoy the antagonist girlboss Chau simply because she's evil in a new and interesting way (and also is very funny whenever she feels cornered). Duong and Phuc have solid chemistry.

That's really all i have to say about the overall content, in terms of what i liked about this short film. It's fairly basic, but i enjoyed it! Now, that being said,

I had a good time, but:

Not gonna lie, she's looking kinda rough. Similar to the problems of other low-budget pandemic-era Vietnamese projects, Hey Rival, I Love You suffers from dodgy audio, spartan set design, and a dearth of extras. (Unless everyone here goes to the world's most exclusive school, there should probably be more than like eight students.)

The writing and editing also fail to impress, which is a little bit disappointing for a short film that already has tighter margins for wasted moments or nonsense explanations. It's kind of egregious that Duong and Phuc spend any time arguing about whether or not to expose Chau in the second act, because it's the reason they get together in the first place and there's really no reason not to, which the film confirms when she catches, records, and outs them. Then they expose her anyway, because duh. (It would have been funnier if, at the end of act two, the three of them exposed each other at the exact same time, and then in the third act they'd have to figure out a way to navigate the fallout together. But we hate to see a girlboss winning, i guess.)

Conceptually, there's still a lot to love here, and i do enjoy it! Unfortunately, the follow-through (for understandable reasons) leaves something to be desired.

Character(s) entitled to financial compensation: Everybody at this school getting whiplash from the drama between these three. Imagine getting this absolutely scalding tea watching their Instagram stories in homeroom. I'd be inconsolable.

Conclusion: This is one of the worse shows, technically speaking, that i've seen, and yet it has a charm about it that i'm willing to buy into despite its flaws. The writing has its moments, the actors do more or less enough with relatively little, and the leads get a happy ending. There are worse ways to kill thirty minutes, and i don't regret this one.

I hate boss-employee tropes in romance stories. They give me hives. But, despite giving me hives, Be Loved in House: I Do is a surprisingly good time, if you can get past Jin Yu Zhen being The Way He Is for the first few episodes.

I like that the series is set in a metalworking shop. That's new, and i think it's cool that the characters' jobs actually play a role in the story, and we get to see what they all specialize in. The part where Shi Lei, Bai Xiao Qian, and Wang Jing are all trying to secure a contract before Jin Yu Zhen does shows their workplace camaraderie despite/because of the new boss being kind of a dick, and i like that the random influencers at Yan Zhao Gang's café try to help them. It's nice that all the characters are fundamentally kind people trying to do the right thing (eventually; Jin Yu Zhen does start out basically evil), and all of them get to be with people they love in the end. I like Wu Si Qi and Yan Zhao Gang's B-plot relationship, mostly. It's at least something to watch while our lead couple is still struggling. And i really, really like Shi Lei's character. I don't even know exactly what it is about the way he's written that makes him so compelling, but he's doing great—and this actor consistently nails the tone and mannerisms i want to see out of him.

I think i like the references to Le Petit Prince? Something about how love tames and softens and makes us vulnerable to pain; something about Jin Yu Zhen choosing between the fox here at his side and the memory of the faraway rose that first tamed him. This frames the ending of the series as a kind of reversal of the ending of the book it references, suggesting that the act of cutting himself off from love was akin to Jin Yu Zhen committing a spiritual suicide, whose effects can only be reversed when he lets go of past hurt? Maybe i'm doing too much exegesis here; i don't recall a ton of thematic emphasis on this point, but i could be wrong!

I don't know how popular this opinion is, but i like Yi Zi Tong, and i really like the special episode that explores his backstory with Jin Yu Zhen. They were cute together, and the special episode had a surprisingly mature tonal shift for a storyline that improbably includes Jin Yu Zhen going into a six-month coma. And it even helps sharpen a nice thematic message: Sometimes things don't work out the way you expect, but life goes on after your coma, and you may even be able to heal. I like that Yi Zi Tong decides it's his fault that Jin Yu Zhen refuses to get over their breakup, and he therefore chooses the most dramatic and convoluted way to get him to move forward. I love a messy queen. The false love triangle is initially irritating, but the fact that it's false (and that he plays both sides) helps. And it does get Jin Yu Zhen to finally stop being so annoying, so maybe Yi Zi Tong really did know exactly what buttons to push.

Jin Yu Zhen and Shi Lei have very funny chemistry, and i love the reverse only-one-bed trope where both parties sleep together on the ground instead of the available bed. I've actually used it before in my own writing, so i'm biased, but i think it's a great way to subvert a trope to comedic effect. (And these two look good together! They're clearly having a good time.)

I had a good time, but:

I really loathe the boss-employee trope it's based on, and although there's not much that can be done about that problem, they could have at least made Jen Yu Zhen's workplace rule consistent. There's no reason for him to be mad at Wu Si Qi for dating someone outside of the workplace. It doesn't even begin to make sense. Also, his kicking Si Qi out of the house in the first place is…evil, even if it ends well.

In general i was slightly annoyed at how Si Qi was mostly written as a dumb child for laughs, but then occasionally the narrative asks us to believe he's responsible, smart, and mature. Maybe tone down the gags about how clueless he is about everything just 20% or so.

Not Si Qi and Zhao Gang talking marriage after like two weeks. Tap the brakes, girls.

All the characters act like it's common knowledge that Shi Lei has a crush on Cheng Luo at the café, but he looks at her like twice and says maybe three sentences at her over the course of twelve episodes. That could have been fully dropped, and with all the time it saved, she could have been given a personality. Not everything has to be a poorly executed ghost of a love triangle.

The straight couple had very little flavor. They're not bad, but there's time enough for a little pizzazz. I think their actors could have shined in these roles with a little extra character boost. Instead, they mostly repeat the same joke of Bai Xiao Qian being mad at Wang Jing and Wang Jing cowering from her gaze. As individuals though, they're cool.

Character(s) entitled to financial compensation: The proletariat. Isn't work oppressive enough without anti-love policies?

Conclusion: This series does a bunch of things that i don't love with just enough heart and verve to make me root for the lead couple anyway. I surprisingly think the plotline with the ex works, and the special episode makes the whole preceding plot feel a bit more mature than it actually is. It's funny, it's competently produced, and while the story doesn't always make sense, it at least has the decency to be cute. Would watch again.

Oh she is CAMP, girls. This short-ish film is not here because it is particularly good but it is a good time. At least according to me.

Here's the gist of the plot: Huy gets fired from his job as a chef the same day his childhood neighbor Thang shows up at his house looking for a job. They used to not get along but now they need money, so they start a food delivery business with Huy's sister Ngan. Huy and Thang fall in love but Huy's old boss hates him so he teams up with Thang's homophobic mother to steal their recipes and split them up. But through the power of love and the internet, everything gets fixed and they live happily ever after. Standard.

The naïve camp here comes from the fact that this film spends so much runtime on meaningless narrative fragments that its characters sometimes feel like hollow ornamentations on the skeleton of a story, defined by their reactions to an implausible chain of events. What Beef, Cupcakes and Him lacks in good taste or quality, however, it makes up for in its blessedly short length, general good humor, and the fantasy of two cute guys and an internet-savvy girlboss starting a successful catering business. Love wins!

There are a few things about the film that do work. The actors are doing a competent job even if they definitely needed to reshoot a few moments. Huy and Thang are basically empty vessels of characters, but we get clear emotions from both of them at key points in the plot, and they do make a sweet couple. Ngan is very good at running an Instagram business and you know i love a girlboss. She is always in her bag and is the reason they get to keep living in that big empty ass house. The minor characters, with one tedious exception, are interesting additions to the plot insofar as their actions are most of what makes the plot happen.

But though i do enjoy the antics of its half-baked main characters, the thing that makes Beef, Cupcakes and Him truly worth watching is the indescribable feeling of watching Huy's boss seethe while a TV interviewer praises Huy's food as being tastier and more savory and less expensive than his food specifically. That scene alone justifies this whole project. I had to pause and cackle several times over because the writing here, intentionally or otherwise, is absolutely golden.

I had a good time, but:

No part of this viewing experience makes a terrible amount of sense and you need to just be okay with that. The interior set design is spartan, even by low-budget pandemic-era Vietnamese indie project standards. And the edit went with several takes that should not have been used, and so many scenes that needed either a hair more time or a lot less. In particular, keeping the shot where Huy and Thang fall on the bed in the most unnatural way possible was…a choice.

The title makes no sense in English, and i don't know enough about Vietnamese to understand why beef and cupcakes are mentioned in the title but aren't a major part of their catering business, if they are even present at all. If this actually makes sense, please let me know how.

Alright, this one's a doozy: The scene with the hysterical housewife who's prepared to off herself over her cheating husband is not very funny, and the plot halts here for what feels like ten full minutes. Who wrote this? And how did it make it to the final edit? Her presence actually makes Huy a much less enjoyable character because he spends the whole scene essentially yelling at her to pay for her delivery and stop being stupid. And then it's over and she never matters again?

Character(s) entitled to financial compensation: You already know. She has no purpose other than being berated and adds nothing to the narrative. Who wrote this into the script? Why is she here?

Conclusion: If it required more of a time commitment, Beef, Cupcakes and Him would be a slog. If it were a fraction more competent, it would not be nearly as fun to watch. If you're going in looking to develop strong attachments to well-developed characters, or if you need flawless production quality to stay tuned in, you should probably look elsewhere. But if, after those caveats, you're still down to see three twenty-somethings start a gay family business and get their happily ever after in under an hour, then this the short film for you.