BLISS RATING: ★★★★
“No one should have to hide who they are or who they love.” – Barrack Obama
These are two distinct and separate short BL series completed a number of years ago from Vietnam which I shall be honest with you, I absolutely and unequivocally adored. But I cannot tell you why. Both productions are simply awful. I mean really bad, awful productions. Sound is bad or non-existent. Camera work is questionable. Poor editing. Over the top acting in some places. Absolutely awful translations to the point it was almost incomprehensible to understand, let alone follow.
Yet, I LOVED both these series. The acting from the main male actors is so sincere and so raw and so genuine that it made it believable. I could not keep my eyes off them. The first one is translated as ‘MY BROTHER’. It is an amazing story of an older stepbrother who falls deeply in love with his younger stepbrother. The older stepbrother Phong (Nguyen Hoang Anh). He is a cold-hearted individual who is arrogant and a very broody person. He can be very curt with people and treat them very badly. The younger stepbrother Vu (Nam Mario) is a somewhat naïve induvial who looks for the good in everyone and goes overboard to please his older stepbrother.
Vu is an incredibly sweet and gentle soul who as he gets to spend more time with his older stepbrother begins to fall in love with him as Phong falls deeply in love with him. I know this sounds simple and gentle, but it is a very rough series involving an uncomfortable sex scene that starts out not consenting but then turns into a passionate scene. There is also a female ‘girlfriend’ of Phong that is physically abusive towards Vu and is pretending to be pregnant by Phong but in reality, she is not. She gets ‘kidnapped” and is quite literally forced to confront her behaviors by the real father of her child. Vu has a friend that he becomes close to and who also develops feelings for him. There are other characters in this series but honestly with the inadequate translations, it was hard to follow what was being said and how they were actually involved in the story. You had to do a lot of ‘guessing’ as to what the context of the story was. But I did not care. What was intriguing about this gem is the absolute chemistry that there was between Vu and Phong. They displayed such raw passion when they are together. Anger, hurt, fright, and an intense lust and greed for each other (you do not need words to see any of those emotions). You can feel how much they want to be together but can they? So many roadblocks exit.
There is also a deep connection between Vu and his friend Thien (Vu Phoung). This one is a more gentle, soft, caring, empathetic, and nurturing relation that could easily lead to romance, but Vu is simply not interested in that from Thien. Thien knows and senses that as well and realize that Vu’s real affection is for his stepbrother. This series was a story of deep passion with a lot of very bad behaviors to either obtain it or deny it. It is not necessarily easy to watch but it seemed so real, genuine, and just plain so well acted that you become mesmerized by it.
Honestly, you think is this really happening? And it is. You really must dig and search for this gem. It is agonizingly frustrating to watch because of the poor production and just awful translation. But these guys are so good looking and play these roles so convincingly, especially when they are victims to circumstances around them. It is real, raw, and a good study of human behavior.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. the series? All of these performers do an exceptional job. They are all so genuine but the one that stands out for me is Nam Mario as Vu. He maintains this wounded look throughout as if he is in emotional pain and yet never succumbs to its dark side. He seems vulnerable yet in control. It is a remarkable performance.
The second one is translated as ‘ADAM’S SECRET’. I have no idea why the title has anything to do with the series and I did not care. Here again, you must want to see this to find it. You must really search and dig deep to find English translations of it. Like the first one, the translations are awful at best. But again, the story carries itself so well from the acting of the three main male actors, who are very good looking. What is impressive about this is that the production did not try to make these guys look like Adonises. You can see blemishes on their faces. You can see 5 o’clock shadows. You can see messed up hair. But that is what made it so real, genuine, honest, and relatable. As with the previous series, the production is not good but slightly better than the other one.
There are still sound issues, camera problems, production issues (like items being there in one scene and not a split second later). They also had a menacing female character to one of the main characters that was doing everything she could to win him back. There were also some weirdly over-the-top female characters for comic relief and for the most part, were superficial and unnecessary (the whole thing with the piece of cake, I honestly did not understand at all).
Essentially this is a story about 3 guys who are thrust into becoming roommates by accident and necessity. It is silly but the whole situation is set for comedic interactions. It is a bemusing story of antics and shenanigans among the three of them with each having distinct and different personalities. Thai Duong (Duong Thang), is a model and is gay. Bao Nam (Nam Tran Ba), is a photographer and has a rather possessive girlfriend who is doing her best to win him back. She seems to not be able to comprehend that he does not want her no matter what roadblocks she puts in front of him. He literally confesses he is gay to her, but she is still not listening. The third guy, A Huy (Pham Trung Kien) is by far the most complex character in this series. He appears to be this country nerd who comes to the big city for education and initially seems naïve to the world. But he is way more complex than that. He is a person with some rather deep and complex emotions but never really shares them openly, as we discover at the end. He is by far the saddest character of them all.
All three go through some rough times as roommates but they learn to respect boundaries and spaces and becomes friends who look out for each other and take care of each other. Huy becomes aware that Duong may be gay, and he is confused by the whole concept of what that is and how could two men love each other. Here is where it takes an unusual twist. He seems to have premonitions. While he begins to sense that Duong and Nam may be liking each other, he has dreams that Nam may be killed if he continues with the relationship with Duong. He sees him being killed by a car.
So, he tries desperately to stop them from developing a relationship but to no avail. Some things are changed but he still feels uneasy. As he watches, he realized that there is nothing going to stop this relationship. So he saves Nam from being killed. There is this powerful scene with no words spoken that says volumes. You can see on each other’s faces there is a connection and a sense of understanding what this is all about, especially for Huy. He never returns to the room. When they call to find out why, he said that they needed to be together, and he knew it was those two that had to be alone together. While I am not sure, because of specific translation issues, my own interpretation of this scene had a twist. I believe that he liked Nam too but knew it would never be him and he was going to be the bigger person and not stand in their way. I based this on loose translation into English and the intonation of Hue’s voice. This is a very powerful scene and one filled with sadness as they both saw him as their friend and roommate who will never return. There is another twist here at the end that makes the story so interesting. Nam is out working but Thang thinks he is going home for good without ever saying goodbye to him. When Nam comes back, there is such an interesting dialogue between the two that is both funny and romantic. I loved it.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. the series? Pham Trung Kien as A Huy is a complex character who shows such strong internal strengths through a lot of adversities. He is a bit of a mystery individual, but his characterization is what gives this story its focus and direction.
Oh, I can hear the comments now. I am nutty for liking these stories, but I honestly loved them. They are amateurish I know but they are also so filled with heart, commitment, and passion for the art of filmmaking that I found them entertaining. The stories are surprisingly complex made simple but with real true emotions. If the productions were better, these series would be on everyone’s list. If nothing else, they are incredibly entertaining. You must suspend the frustration you will experience with the production issues and simply go with the flow of the stories they are trying to tell. Undoubtedly, these stories have greater impact to those who understand the language, cultural, and customs of Vietnam.
Not really knowing any of that to a great degree, I was lost but still appreciated the story and its deeper meaning, at least to me. I honestly wish I knew the language and customs of Vietnam so I could have appreciated these stores more fully. But in my limited way, I simply loved them. Such sincerity is rare, and I found it in these series. In the Vietnam series I have viewed, including these two, there is such a reality to the storytelling that makes it genuine and real. They do not belabor the point or drag on scenes ad infinitum. They get to the point quickly and sometimes painfully. If anyone from the production or those who acted in these series, ever reads this review, I want you to know how deeply I felt about these series and how entertaining they were. If anyone knows of persons in the production or were in it, please convey to them how much I loved and appreciated their work. Kudos!
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