Movie Summary [ It seems to Rain]

Title: It seems to Rain
Release Date:  ….errrr? 
Language: Mandarin

English Subs? – Oh yes 😀


Cast:
(actor – character)
Nai Yuan Chang – Shin-Kwang Huang
Chin Wen Chung – Cheng Chen
Ting-Yin Kuo – Hsiao-Jung Wang

Basic Plot Summary:
Shin Kwang Huang, a high school student, is having problems coming to terms with his sexuality, and find himself hating his naturally curly hair. The friendly and unpredictable Cheng Chen transfers into their school, and immediately befriends Kwang. Kwang’s childhood friend and girlfriend Hsiao-Jung Wang knows something is wrong with Kwang and tries to help him.

My Thoughts:

*~WARNING!!!~*

 

May contain Spoilers!!!

And by ‘May’ I mean does!!!

Although I really liked it…i couldn’t help but feel like i was missing something, as if some parts were cut out…

Btw this is only a short film. Why is that that short films are always the cutest? Damn you, film makers!
Anyway…everything in this movie is symbolic, from the Rabbit in is dreams, to his curly hair. I liked the symbolism!
And I felt a part of me die when Kwang shaved his lovely curly hair off </3

It was a little bit disappointing, as there wasn’t much physical contact between Kwang and Cheng… *sigh*
Kwang’s curly hair is awesome though!….and his hands are really nice too…. Kwang is just really attractive!! 

Not a fan of the awkward moment when Cheng and Kwang go to this….Library(!? Seriously, was that a Library?!) and watch some porn. I DO NOT ADVISE you having the volume on when that scene takes place if your parents are in the next room….lorddd
I did laugh quite a bit when I saw all those tissue boxes though….

I believe…this Chinese for this movie is 少年不戴花…. not being able to speak Chinese, I have no idea

 

Watch Online:
The film is avaliable on youtube, however the subs are hard to see in some shots….especially when its on a white background, I had to go blind through some of it, but I cant find a better subbed version, sorry!!

Screencaps:

 *~.SPOILERS.~*

[Posted to WP 15th March 2022] Copyright held by the film company; claimed as fair use regardless.Purpose of use: illustrate and display the film

Drama Summary [Gloomy Salad Days]

Title: Gloomy Salad Days
Release Date: 2010
Language: Mandarin
English Subs? – Yep

Cast:
(actor – character)
Serena Fang – Du (death girl)
Aaron Yan – Shen Qi 

Ah Ben – Xiao Lun
Zhang Yong Zheng – Zhao Da Dong

Episode Summary:
each episode is around 45 minutes long.
Okay firstly…..The drama itself isnt a BL drama…but it has 2 episodes with a gay storyline (which is the ones i’m gonna be summarising!) The drama has 12 ‘real life’ stories….it talks about homosexuality,  relationships with teachers, isolation, bullying, prostitution, incest and suicide….and other lovely topic

Anyways…. detailed guide of episode 13-14. 
I’m only going to talk about the Xiao Lun/Da Dong storyline….sorry Du and Shen Qi
prepare for: 

ULTIMATE SPOILERS!

Episode 13 –
Xiao Lun has always been bullied by Da Dong because of his feminine personality he is an easy target. Xiao Lun is amazing at nail painting! Da Dong is like some….high school gangsta(?) and the classmates have to pay him money…because of his grandmother is poor Xiao Lun is incapable of paying Da Dong a few times. Because Xiao Lun is such an adorably nice guy he paints the girls nails for free.
Because Xiao Lun cant pay Da Dong gets him to sweep the floors, while him and he friends smoke and play cards. Xiao Lun tried to tell one of the teachers….but the teacher did nothing, what a complete ass.
Xiao Lun gets bullied again in the guys toilets….but luckily Lu Zi come in and stands up to Da Dong, what a babe. Xiao Lun becomes interested in Lu Zi….until he finds out he actually has a girlfriend.
We get an insight into Da Dong’s life….he is always in the shadow of his awesome boxer brother, and he’s under pressure from the group he is part of…Da Dong is constantly trying to prove how tough he is.
One day after getting attacked by Da Dong, Xiao Lun runs to a room..where Du appeared and did her “Do you want to be a stone?!!!” thing….because Xiao Lun is such a sweetie he doesnt want to kill Da Dong even though Da Dong is so horrible to him.
The Head Instructor finds out what happened, and talks with Da Dong and Xiao Lun. Da Dong is lying about the whole thing…the head Instructure punches Da Dong.
Head Instructor  tells Xiao Lun to punch Da Dong, and he’ll pretend he didnt see… Xiao Lun said “Wh am i the one being punished when he’s the one who did wrong?!” Head Instructor (HI) was all like “Ehh…?! How is this a punishment?!” and told him is was practicing his manliness…..Xiao Lun punched him gently….causing Da Dong to laugh…so HI beat him instead.
The whole thing turned into a lecture about how weak Xiao Lun is….totally unfair i thought.
HI said Xiao Lun could leave….and the he proceeded to beat the crap out of Da Dong…until the teacher lady saves him….she’s the only one who has some sense!
Its Hong Ge’s birthday….(he’s the guy who used to take money from Xiao Lun before he left – the leader of the gang) and they are planning something big….

Episode 14 –
Da Dong is happy because Hong Ge said he sees him as his brother….and the next day he should meet them somewhere because they are going to “have some fun”
Basicalmente….Da Dong is going to pretend to be the cable guy….and Hong Ge’s guys are going to beat the crap out of some guy. The plan goes well…until the guys leave and the man gets up….starts chasing after Da Dong…and who does Da Dong run into? Xiao Lun!
Xiao Lun fixes him up and lends him he jacket as a bit of a disguise. Da Dong find the rock in the coat pocket….He returns them both to Xiao Lun.
On the day of the school anniversary, Xiao Lun and Da Dong perform together, much to the surprise of the Head Instructor and to the delight of the teacher lady(who gets 3 bouquets of flowers…..lucky lady!) Xiao Lun hugs Da Dong….it seems the two have sorted out their differences…
at the festival, Xiao Lun is forced into going into the haunted house …thing :L
Da Dong attacks Xiao Lun…and bite his neck….soon, the neck bite turns into a kiss.
Xiao Lun says “You’re the same as me….you’re gay”
Da Dong freaks out and starts beating Xiao Lun….he says he’ll make sure he never speaks and ends up strangling him….
Du shows up and has a chat with Da Dong.
Da Dong says he’d rather be a rock than people finding out he’s gay.
Xiao Lun is rushed to the hospital.
He’s been in a coma for 2 days. Da Dong goes to visit Xiao Lun…but he only waits outside. he then goes to the roof…and sees Xiao Lun’s grandmother, the Head Instructor and The teacher lady leave, and goes back to Xiao Lun.
Du is there and he find out that Xiao Lun wont die….he just wont wake up, because of Da Dong.
Because of Du, Da Dong realises that he’s a total dumbass for bullying Xiao Lun, because he did nothing wrong….and Da Dong is the worst person EVAAAR!!!
He begs Du to bring Xiao Lun back…he is willing to turn into a rock.
Xiao Lun’s grandmother returns and sees Da Dong crying over the situation….she says she doesnt blame him.
BAM! 
Xiao Lun wakes up!!!
Da Dong….Xiao Lun and Shen Qi dig a hole and bury the rock! Adios Du!
Or…..not?

My Thoughts:

I’ve seen….episodes 1-6, 13 and 14.
I couldnt see the others….the player i was watching it on became unavailable 😦
I like the entire concept of the drama….a little depressing – the story lines are really realistic and…hell i just love this drama!

Also, can we just take a minute to appreciate the title
“Gloomy Salad Days”
I mean…how epic is that?! 

But back to these episodes…. :
Xiao Lun is so cute
I think he’s great, if he were in my school i’d totally be friends with him, he’s so kind an loving, and it breaks my heart that Da Dong and the other guys were bullying him…well they were bullying everyone but especially Xiao Lun.
Da Dong was such ass though…less so towards the end. I mean I understand he’s going through some stuff, y’know being part of a violent, money obsessed gang and trying to live up to his super strong brother and projecting his anger through bullying…but NO  that is no excuse to act like a dick. But I liked him at the end when he was so upset about Xiao Lun he was sobbing at his bedside *sniff*

I liked how it subtly went from VAMPIRE NECK BITING!!! to casual make out time…loved it!
It could have been an amazing BL scene…..until Xiao Lun said “You’re the same as me” kinda….killed the moment. Da Dong – little bit of an overreaction I feel…
In my head I had an alternate ending where Xiao Lun and Da Dong actually got it on, it would have been full of BL goodness and no one would be put in a coma…Ah that would have been nice *fantasises* 

But anyway, I liked it! I actually really like the concept of the whole drama, i just wish I could have seen more episodes 
annnnd…I’m totally in love with Aaron Yan so….perhaps a little bit biased 😀

I rate 8/10

OST?
The opening theme is called Gloomy Salad Days by Wan Fang

and the ending theme is called Du by Wan Fang

Screen Caps:

*~ MORE SPOILERS ~*

Ep 13

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ep 14

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Posted to WP 25th January 2022] Copyright held by the film company; claimed as fair use regardless.Purpose of use: illustrate and display the film

Movie Summary [Pair Of Love]

Title: Pair Of Love
Release Date: 2010
Language: Mandarin
English Subs Available? – Yes

Cast:
(actor – character)
? – Guo Yi-cin
? – Li Ai-ling
? – He Wei-lun
? – Lin Jeng-je

Basic Plot Summary:
This is a Taiwanese short movie, following the lives of 2 couples, one gay, one lesbian.
Guo Yi-cin and Li Ai-ling – the girls
He Wei-lun and Lin Jeng-je – the boys.

He Wei-lun and Lin Jeng-je have been good friends but in their last year of high school their relationship takes a subtle change.
This starts to get difficult for them both, as they have to deal with social pressures and public opinions…

My thoughts:

CONTAINS SPOILERS

Prepare to have your heart ripped from your chest. I’m not even joking.

These guys are so adorable….seriously!!!
Lun and Jeng ..! Ahhh when they’re play fighting on the bed…I swear, it was so cute!

Ohhh my god, dont forget the swimming pool scene..I couldn’t handle that scene, I had to take a break – scream for a little bit and then take a cold shower before resuming.

It’s so heartbreaking when Jeng’s team mates are making fun of him and picking on Lun. And Jeng was trying to defend them both, and then ends up getting kicked off the team.

And then Jeng breaks it off with Lun…Lun’s face…
Oh god and when he sees Cin and Jeng together…HEART WRENCHING.

It was all too much, seriously…people with weak hearts, you wont be able to handle this.

But the ending was so lovely, I’m so glad Cin and Jeng broke up so freely.
When Jeng was running to find Lun, my heart leapt!
And the hug at the end, Lun didnt even have to turn around to know it was Jeng, how perfect, and then my heart melted xD

Even though its only 40 minutes long it’s still worth seeing!
I know how a lot of people don’t really like short movies, honestly i’m not a big fan but this one was really good, and even though it wasn’t that long it doesnt ‘feel’ like it was a short movie….If that makes any sense at all.

Unfortunately i don’t know the actors….sorry 😦

I rate:
8/10

Screen Caps:

*~.SPOILERS.~*

[Sent to wordpress: 15th July 2020]

Copyright held by the film company; claimed as fair use regardless.

Purpose of use: illustrate and display the film

Movie Summary [ Go Go G-Boys]

Title: Go Go Go-Boys / 当我们同在一起 / Dang wo men tong zai yi qi
Release Date: 2006
Language: Cantonese
English Subs Available? – Yes

Cast:
Tae – A-Hong
Zhen Kang Tang – A-Shin
Yu Fa Yang – Jay
?- Kitamura
? – Siao Sih
?- Young Long
Guo Zhong Tang – Daniel

Basic Plot Summary:

A-Shin and A-Hong have been friends since childhood, have always been really close 🙂
A-Hong finds out his self-obsessed girlfriend Risa (?) has put them in serious dept, A-Hong sees no way out….that is, until he sees a poster for a G-Boy Beauty Contest.
The catch? all participants have to be gay.
A-Shin, being the supported friend that he is <3, enters the competition too.
A-Hong and A-Shin are joined by 4 other (INCREDIBLY) attractive men competing to be the winner of the G-Boy competition.
Amongst them, An undercover cop , Jay, who has been charged with the responsibility to protect the competition from a wild terrorist attack by a homophobe.

My Thoughts:

CONTAINS SPOILERS

I really loved it, it’s definitely up there with Formula 17 on my list of lovely BL films.
The chemistry between Tae and Cheng Kang Tang is amazing!!!
Jay is amazing, I mean….woah…he is so cute in his suit.

This movie has moments of seriousness, humour, passion and romance…I really enjoyed it. I don’t think I could praise it enough!

Something else i liked: how the ‘relationship’ part of the story wasnt 100% about A-Shin and A-Hong  but there’s also Young Long and Daniel’s thing, Young Long’s relationship with his dad, A-Hong and his girlfriend..you know, things like that, which makes the movie less….two dimensional (….am I even making sense?!)

Think of this movie as a Taiwanese Gay version of Miss Congeniality…
This isn’t really a negative point but…the storyline isn’t 100% original, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing! God no! But…it would have been nice if it didn’t have such heavy undertones of Miss Congeniality (again….not a bad thing…!!)

I really recommend it! Especially if you like light-hearted movies! If you prefer something more…heart wrenching and emotionally traumatising, maybe this isn’t for you.

I’m sorry that i couldn’t find out all of the actor’s names

[Side note….Was Yu Fa Yang in Formula 17? did he play Kevin? the guy who Tien met on the internet?! If not, wowaah they look similar!! ^^]

Update: yes it was!

I rate:
9/10

Also extra love for Taiwan for pumping out such attractive men and awesome movies… Me gustaaa

Songs:
The song that A-Shin sings is called : Courage (勇气) by Michael Wong

 

The actual tracks heard in the movie are by a band called ‘1976’
The song Modern Youth is what A-Shin and A-Hong sing at the start…AND end!! 😀

Screen Caps:

* ~ SPOILERS ~*

[Original Post: 16th March 2012]

[Sent to wordpress: 6th July 2020]

Copyright held by the film company; claimed as fair use regardless.

Purpose of use: illustrate and display the film

Movie Summary [Formula 17]

Title: Formula 17 / 17歲的天空
Release Date: 2004
Language: Mandarin
English Subs available? – Yes

Cast:
Tony Yang – Tien
Ducan Lai – Bai Tieh-Nan
Chin King – Yu
Dada Ji – C.C.
Jimmy Yang – Alan

Basic Plot Summary:
Innocent Tien travels to Taipei, to meet an internet friend…being the romantic lemon that he is he is disappointed when his ‘friend’ turns out to be sex hungry sleaze
Tien leaves and goes to a bar and runs into his friend from school Yu.

At the bar he becomes aware of a very sexy man: Bai Tieh-Nan AKA ‘Number 1 playboy’ as he is infamous for his one night stands.

Tien ends up staying with Yu and he gets a job in a gym and runs into Bai on many occasions, it’s obvious they both have feelings for each other, but will Bai’s nature as ‘Number One Playboy’ affect their….relationship?!

My Thoughts:

SPOILERS

In the original post I spent the entire time raving about how much I this film. If you think I’m going to do that again…then you would be completely correct!

I loved everything about this film. I think what I liked so much was how realistic their relationship was; the energy between Tien and Bai was so natural and for me, they really portrayed the innocence of a first love –  although Tien wasn’t technically Bai’s “first” he was still the first guy he loved.

The way they conducted themselves around each other: not knowing what to say, awkwardly shuffling around and not knowing what to do are exactly how you would imagine an encounter to be when you meet the guy you like. Oh it was so sweet!

I swear Tong Yang and Duncan Lai are amazing actors who had such chemistry, when Tien was standing outside Bai’s door and there was the awkward moment where they avoided looking at each other and then their eyes locked and shared their first kiss…..being able to portray emotion like that, even if it is only for a few seconds, is just incredible.

Yes the two main characters were fabulous, but what about Yu, Alan and C.C!
Ah those guys were totally hilarious and I think they really made the film.

Formula 17 really is my go-to happy film. Usually I watch a BL film and think “oh yeah it was good” and never watch it again, but with this film I’ve seen is so many times I’m surprised I don’t know the dialogue off by heart!

Plus it’s really nice to watch such a upbeat BL film when there are so many depressing ones out there! (looking at you Scud)

Also if you enjoy “light hearted” movies like this, check out Go Go G-Boys

My Rating, for this amazing movie, would have to be
9.5/10
(lost 0.5 because of those cringy moments, nothing is perfect !)

Watch Online
As of 2020 this film is still avaliable online on dailymotion – if you would like me to send you the link (if you can’t find it yourself) then please let me know!

Soundtrack:
It took me a long time to find these songs, since I couldn’t read Chinese at the time (I’m still not very good ahaha!) So I would just listen and type into google what I could hear…quite often it worked! So here are the two songs I could find in pinyin.

1 – From the scene with Tien and Bai on the scooter!
Wo Xiang Ni De Kuai Le Shi Ying Wei Wo – Rock Bang
2- From Tien and Bai’s sex scene
Ni Shen Bian – Stanley Huang

Screencaps :

*~ SPOILERS!!! ~*

.

[original post: 27/2/12]
[Moved: 28/4/20]

Copyright held by the film company; claimed as fair use regardless.

Purpose of use: illustrate and display the film

Movie Summary [Eternal Summer]

Title: Eternal Summer – 盛夏光年
Release Date: 2006
Language: Mandarin.
English Subs available  – Yes

Cast:
Joseph Chang – Shane
Bryant Chang – Jonathan
Kate Yeung – Carrie

Basic Plot Summary:
As a child Jonathan was instructed to befriend his rebellious classmate, Shane, in hopes that Jonathan’s good behaviour would rub off on him. Ever since then the two have been close friends.
Now in High School, Carrie arrives from Hong Kong and transfers into their school. She befriends Jonathan and invites him out to skip school and go to Taipei. Their friendship develops as she learns the ‘truth’ about Jonathan. After meeting Carrie, Shane instantly becomes interested in her and asks her to be his girlfriend, she will accept on one condition: he gets into University.

What To Expect:
Love between friends vs Romantic love. Not particularly sad but there are some emotional moments.

My thoughts:

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS

The first time I saw this film I was set on hating Carrie. I was so clouded by the fact that I wanted Jonathan and Shane to be together I didn’t care what happened to Carrie, I just didn’t want her around.

That was my problem, I seemed to really dislike the female characters especially when they threaten to break up the relationship – even if it is unintentional.

Now, however, I don’t hate her – I actually really sympathise with her. She isn’t a horrible person that I made her out to be the first time I watched it. So before I go on with anything else I must apologise for being so closed minded about this character.

In this film we see two different types of love. The love that Jonathan feels for Shane (and Shane for Carrie) and the love that Shane feels for Jonathan. The former is romantic love while is the latter shows closeness of a true friendship. Although Shane does love Jonathan it’s not the same type of love. I’m fully prepared to get all philosophical about this, but I’ll leave that for another time.

This film is very similar to the Japanese film  Like Grains Of Sand. If you liked that film then you will like this film and vice versa.

Oh there is a sex scene. It’s not particularly graphic but..it is there. If you don’t want to watch that then..your call.

I’m quite surprised at myself for not liking this film the first time round, but I like I said…clouded
I’m going to re-rate this film and give it:
7/10

To read the commentary and reason behind my rating go HERE (scroll to the bottom for the reason)

Screen caps:

*~.SPOILERS.~*

[Original Post: 27th February 2012]

[Updated: 24th June 2013]

  [Sent to wordpress: 21st April 2020]

Copyright held by the film company; claimed as fair use regardless.

Purpose of use: illustrate and display the film