June was pride month and I decided to take my time and watch the LGTBQ+ movies and series the Dutch Netflix provides. To be fair I’m struggling to navigate Netflix lately so I’m unsure if I hit them all but so far here’s my list of favourites and why you should watch them. Even though being gay, lesbian or anything in Asia is still rather taboo, Yaoi and Yuri are very big in the Japanese anime/manga scene and I’ve seen a lot of LGBTQ+ anime in my past so I’m surprised with the lack of movies on Netflix but also that they’re actually there. Of course I feel like there should be more… Anyway, here are my favourites so far!
4. Ride or Die
When Rei gets a call from the woman she’s been in love with for years, she risks her own relationship, her own life to save her from her abusive husband. This movie was based on a manga with the name Gunjou and it’s sad, happy and theres a lot of nudity and sex in the movie.
Ride or Die
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Genre: Romance, Drama, Based on a manga
Release Date: April 15m 2921
Duration: 2H 22M
Director: Ryuichi Hiroki
Writer: Ching Nakamura, Nami Yoshikawa
Stars: Kiko Mizuhara, Honami Sato, Shinya Nitro, Shunsuke Tanaka, Setsuko Karasuma, Sara Minami, Yui Uemura, Anne Suzuki, Tetsushi Tanaka, Yoko Maki, Jason Brock
Where to watch: Netflix
Opinion
7 out of 10
This movie was also intense, it has some suspense but also a lot of drama that I didn’t fully understand half the time. My personal opinion it that the main characters changed their minds a lot and it would make the story line jump a little when things were going either good or bad. I however would recommend it to people to watch if they like seeing a strong female lead. Rei was played absolutely perfectly by Kiko Mizuhara and if you like heavy subjects and don’t mind nudity and sex this is something to watch.
3. Wish You
Wish You is a South Korean movie about the shy music agency parttimer and keyboard player Yoon Sang Yi who fell in love with a street singers beautiful voice, After two bad attempts on speaking to the busker Yoon Sang Yi introduces his coworker and talent scout to Kang In Soo, The scout easily picks up on the secret crush Sang Yi has on Kang In soo and while signing a contract with the agency they are instructed to live together so Yoon Sang Yi can make sure Kang In Soo doesn’t break the rules of the agency. Kang In Soo and Yoon Sang Yi hit it off quite easily and they work hard recording Kang In Soo’s album before hard times hits them. Can they figure it out together?
WISH YOU: Your Melody from My Heart the Movie
Country: South Korea
Language: Korean
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Release Date: January 15, 2021
Duration: 1H 42M
Director: Do Joon Sung
Stars: Sang Lee, Kang In Soo, Kang Ye Na, Baek Seo-Bin, Jung Ji Yeon, Subin Park
Opinion
10 out of 10
I thought the storyline and very cute, not overly drawn out, not played out too quickly. I really enjoyed watching this and felt warm and fuzzy during it because all of it was so cute! Acting isn’t top notch but it didn’t bother me too much. It’s cute and soft, very nice watch if you want something like that.
2. Your Name engraved Herein
This Taiwanese movie tells the story of two friends during their school years as the martial law ends in 1987. In a homophobic society then in Taiwan loving another man will always end in a threat of violence and social shaming by adults but also peers, When going to commemorate the late president, A-Han discovers his affection to the friend he met in school band and after secretly showing each other those feelings, they end up misunderstanding and running away from their feelings and losing contact.
Your Name Engraved Herein
Original title: The Name Engraved in Your Heart
Country: Taiwan
Language: Mandarin, English
Genre: Romance, Drama, Based on a true story
Release Date: December 23, 2020
Duration: 1H 58M
Director: Kuang-Hui Lui
Writer: Yu Ning Chu
Stars: Edward Chen, Jing-Hua Tseng, David Has-Chi Chiu, Leon Dai, Gavio Grangeon, Honduras, Mountain Kao, Lenny Li, Hui Min Lin, Shao-hua Lung, Nien-hsien Ma, Barrt Qu, Akira Chen, Soda Voyu, Lotus Wang, Shih-Sian Wang, Waa Wei
Where to watch: Netflix
Opinion
10 out of 10
To me this movie was intense, in it’s raw and dirty truth. That love isn’t easy, that it’s hard to understand but that in the end losing the first person you’ve ever lost doesn’t mean the end of the world. There’s a lot of violence and mentions/depictions of sexual acts. so this isn’t a movie to watch with someone or watched by someone younger than the adult age. The actor displayed their feelings so truly and I couldn’t stop myself from shedding tears as I watched it. It’s good, it’s very 80’s and it’s raw. I ended up loving it, and watching the trailer gave me goosebumps.
1. Dear Ex
When Song Chengxi’s father passes away after leaving his mother and him to pursue a relationship with a man, he continues getting into worse fights with his mother after they find out that his father left all the life insurance money to as his mother calls it “his mistress”. Liu Sanlian starts harassing the mistress Jay, a gay man that works in a theatre for the money and her son Song Chengxi runs away and starts living with Jay.
As the time progresses they find out just why and how things went as they went and maybe the family can continue to work through their losses.
Dear Ex
誰先愛上他的 – Shei xian ai shang ta de
Country: Taiwan
Language: Mandarin
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Romance
Release Date: November 12, 2018
Duration: 1H 40M
Director: Chih-Yen Hsu & Mag Hsu
Writers: Mag Hsu, Shih-yuen Lu
Stars: Roy Chiu, Yinh-Hsuan Hsieh, Spark Chen, Joseph Huang, Fang Wan, Ai-Lun Kao, Cheng-Chun Liang, Li-Yin Yang, Kaier, Hsin-Ling Chung, Clover Kao, Zhe An, Ting-Chien Wu, Min-Fu-Chou,
Opinion
10 out of 10
I skipped over this title a couple of times because I didn’t like the way it looked or the title of it, it wouldn’t grab me at all but I decided to just watch it because I couldn’t find anything else to watch this night and it took me about five minutes to get into the story before being sucked in completely. You think this story will be about the kid who finds solace in his pain but it isn’t. this movie made me cry so much, I love it and I tell everyone to watch it. It’s amazing and shows both the journey of loss as the end of a relationship. This movie is worth your time.
