Friend or Lover (2021)

The chemistry is no joke! Recommend it!!!

So funny how a supposedly "low budget" Taiwanese BL drama is better than "high budget" Thai BL dramas. Pretty cute 70 minute short series, I really liked it.

The actors are obviously very good at acting, the filming and directing seems pretty fine too. Not sure where the other reviewers got "amateur" from. Non of the actors is an "Amateur." They seem very into and passionate about acting.

They're very hot so that's a "plus." Their chemistry is so strong and natural.

Such a sweet friends to lovers story. I LOVED the OST. A true man that knows how to keep what's his. No drama, no misunderstandings.

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Very pleasantly runtimed taiwanese BL, the short length doesn't make you lose anything: you only lose the added cr*p that makes you WAIT. Both the guys are cute, though their looks are not perfect. One of the guys needs to lose the purple highlights he still got from some previous decade and the other has some serious wrinkle around his eye, actually both of them are not smooth faced, so just note that they are not young boys. Not that it matters, but usually guys like them have most their energy spent over their careers and/or children, instead of messing around all the time, so the lifestyle presented in the series kinda doesn't fit. I liked the 1st episode the most, it already had everything in those 10 minutes:) Had I watched it only, I might actually have given higher rating;-)

The further episodes actually had the feeling of the repeated joke. Or added characters that weren't necessary. It's low budget, which is very obvious but at least during the 1st episode one is entertained enough to not mind it. Episode 2 had practically nothing added, episode 3 added stuff I like to skip. Episode 4 had some badguy stuff, with bad actor (/wrong type) as the bad guy, and the background song which didn't match the scene (only it's not funny this time, it's morelike ridiculous). Looks like the wisdom "Less is More" applies even on such short timed series as this. Episode 5 had kiss scene. I didn't find episode 6 at first, then I found it having 5 minutes only, so I wasn't sure whether that was a full cut. I only knew that by then I found the background songs annoying. The final I found had 6 minutes and it featured a confession involving giving the guy balloons (seriously) and more listening to grossly unfitting music style background songs (which played loud). It looked like they put grown-up actors into a home-made kids movie.

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A Good Amateur Production

Friend or Lover was quite sweet and well done. It does have a number of flaws but because it's a small production I am very impressed with what has been achieved. For the amateur production sphere, I would actually give the show an 8. The show follows 4 friends at university and as we start to learn about them, we realise that two of them have mutual feelings for them. Sadly, both have a back stories with crime which could prevent them from actually being together. Part of the show explores this and how their struggles to understand and accept their feelings.

I thought the acting in this show was decent. It wasn't perfect but the actors were able to convey the story well enough that I could be invested watching it. For the actual plot and writing, it was a bit over the place, but it did come together in the end. If it was a longer show, I did wish it visited more stuff it introduced like jealousy in the friendship group and the stories of the other friends.

I really appreciate the efforts of the actors and every else involved involved in this production and I really hope we get to see more BL content from them. I recommend this show if you're looking something sweet to watch on a Sunday afternoon. It is total ~50mins which is not a huge investment.

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A cute and decent short. Very Underrated as of this post

This series is a budget short so we should judge it on how good it communicated the meaning through <1hour total. If you are looking for a short and sweet mini series then this is for you. Keeping it on point and direct. Keep in mind that production was in the middle of COVID and probably was rated very biased. If they had more budget this has potential to be a long series, but for a small production crew, this was amazing. Yes there were problems but the series at least finished the main storyline and I am grateful for their effort.

(All the characters have similar names to the actor so be mindful that they DO NOT represent the actors' lives. Apparently, many comments about this is about the actors not being like the series and that is why this is UNDERRATED)

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

Main Storyline: Xiaotian used to be a gang member but when they bully Xingkong he stood up to against them and has been away from the gang since. He became a better person with Xingkong and made new friends with Ahai and Yas. While hiding after being chased by the gang, he realised he love Xingkong. Going through some denial and confirmation, he finally begged that the gang leave Xingkong and him and got beaten for it. He finally have a happy live with Xingkong after recovery.

Side storyline: Yas is a child of a divorced couple and since then became a play boy. After meeting Xiaotian, he feel like his life finally have meaning and love Xiaotian in secret. He is very jealous of Xingkong but decided that he wants Xiaotian to be happy and helped Xiaotian to confess with Xingkong.

As for Ahai, he does not have a story and I think it was production problem so he was left out.

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Has potential

This short BL has a cute premise but the production and some of the acting falls short. Actually, the acting is pretty good except for the lead. I think he produced this (maybe directed? ) as well and I don't think his acting is that great. Also seems a bit old to pull off the university student look. The production values are understandably low but some things are just dumb. If someone gets the crap beat out of them, you would think they would have some marks, blood (?) or at least look like they were beat within an inch of their lives. And the punches and kicks clearly don't connect so it takes you out of the feeling of the scene. Not sure it's worth waiting weeks for episodes to upload.

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Fraquinha, mas gostei.

Essa é umas das várias microsséries produzidas pelo canal do You Tube "Xiaole", que também é o nome do dono do canal, que é produtor e protagonista de todas as séries que produz.

Sobre esse roteiro em específico, é bem simples, não há muito tempo para desenvolver uma história complexa, então tudo é bem superficial. Em um dia em que Yu Xing Kong está sendo intimidado, Lan Yi Tian, seu amigo de longa data e galã da escola, o defende, e consequentemente passa a ser um alvo dos , uma gangue cruel, que passa a os perseguir. De um jeito especial, a partir do momento em que os olhares se cruzam, nasce um amor, que luta um pouco com o sentimento de amizade e acaba vencendo. O grupo de amigos, além deles dois, tem mais dois personagens, um menino e uma menina, e aparentemente o menino é apaixonado por Lan Yi Tian, mas prefere manter o silêncio a atrapalhar o romance dele.

A história não tem muita qualidade, pra ser bem sincera. Os atores são claramente muito velhos para atuarem como estudantes, as lutas são pessimamente coreografadas, além do baixo orçamento, que limita a quantidade de atores e locações. A filmografia é bem amadora, não é das piores que já vi, mas também não é das melhores. A fotografia fica comprometida pela qualidade da filmagem e pela falta de locações interessantes. A atuação é apenas razoável e não existe uma ost interessante.

Apesar disso, gostei de assistir, e acabei virando fã das séries desse canal. Não é uma série que pretendo assistir de novo, mas com certeza recomendo.

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