BLISS RATING: ★★★★+
“Lust is the enjoy of life and love is the joy of life.” – P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar
This is not your typical BL in the traditional sense of its definition. But it is a bl as defined by the phrase boy lust because that is exactly what it is. It is a simple premise, really. It is about two men who find themselves serendipitously in a sexual moment of lust, libidinous, lewdness, and lasciviousness. Honestly, we do not need background stories, emotional music, soft tender moments, or longing glances. This is strictly a story of hedonistic sexual desire and animalism in the moment.
A security guard, played by Lai Hao-Zhe knocks on the door of a tenant, played by Hsu Ting-Chen to question him about the noise complaints coming from his apartment. There is something very distant and cold in both their eyes. Immediately, the sexual tension between the two is palpable and they are, for whatever reason, attracted to each other. Both are superficial individuals who are not thinking with any intellectual appreciation; just the idea that ‘something’ exists between the two. While the complaint is initially resolved, the security guard leaves but looks back, knocks on the door, grabs him, kisses him passionately, and a night of animalistic lust and desire ensues. The sex scenes here are brutish, hedonic, and lustful so be warned. Again, as true to many of these lustful stories, it is the thrill and desire of being ravaged by someone like the security guard that is enticing and appealing. It is the classic case of the ‘bad-boy syndrome’ even in the gay world. It is, perhaps buried or deeply secretive and not openly admitted to. But the fantasy of being ravaged and taken by someone, just on the cusp of willingness, is still strong. Both these men are lonely, vulnerable, and are obviously in some repressed sexual development stage where life has become mundane, shallow, ordinary, and frankly boring. This changes all that.
However, things take an even darker twist. The security guard secretly takes the keys to the tenant’s apartment and the next day, sneaks into his place and leaves a gift that will have meaning to the tenant. However, the security guard is now controlled by his desires and this behavior, besides being illegal, is creepy, stalky, and obviously unhealthy. He is now controlled by his animalistic desires. But before, he has a chance to leave, the tenant returns obviously in the throes of another man’s arms and passions. The security guard is enraged and apoplectic. He beats up the lover and attempts to choke the tenant, who by this point is terrified for his life. The security guard releases him and gains some semblance of composure and proceeds to open up the gift he had intended to leave the tenant, as if it was some type of peace offering. The tenant sees the gift, and in a gesture of complete submission and desire, willingly extends his hands to it where they again proceed to passionately engage in sex with his friend laying on the floor, eyes open, not really knowing if he is living or dead, and more astonishingly, not caring.
To say this short snippet is remarkable would not do it justice. It can be described in all kinds of terms – sad, pathetic, terrifying, controlling, savage, depraved, wanton, and concupiscence. But for both what negates all of that, is the intense erotic satisfaction from brutish behavior that overrides all sense of normalcy, decency, morality, and appropriate standards of behavior. More terrifying than even that is how easy it was for each to succumb to this madness. What does that say about us as a species.
I am not condoning this behavior, but I understand its intense fantasy attraction. We can all say, ‘never me’ but that I am not so sure is a given. When a perfect storm is formed, the likelihood of reaching its zenith is almost a certainty. Our filters do not work. Our moral compass does not give us direction. Our belief systems are replaced with eroticism and intense sexual gratification. All because we are only living in the moment. This story shows us that.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this movie? Both men deserve this distinction. They portrayed these figures as sad, pathetic creatures whose love for life has been lost. Lai Hao-Zhe as the security guard seems to be more deeply troubled especially in his cold creepy eye contact and almost nightmarish facial features. Hsu Ting-Chen as the tenant immediately senses the security guards deeper darker instincts and quite literally allows him to release the debauchery within both. Although the tenant is a bit more controlled over his sexual desires, he knows how to use his wile to fulfill the fantasy. These men had such intense grasps on who their characters were and how they ticked. In other words, they were phenomenally realistic in their approaches.
This is a disturbing short movie and I do not recommend it for everyone. This presents the antithesis of what Bls. This story does show how easy it is to, first, succumb to your most basic animalistic desires, and, secondly, how close we can become to not being able to live within the confines of societal limitations on what we think is normal or expected if the Craving hits us.
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