Night Flight (2014)

As three childhood friends grow up, their relationship changes as one splinters off to join a gang leaving “Yong-ju” (Kwak Si-yang) in the lurch and “Gi-Taek” (Jun-ha Choi) being bullied. “Yong-ju” has a bigger problem, though, and that is his affection for his erstwhile pal and the now leader of this pack “Gi-woong” (Jae-Joon Lee) whom he loves from the shadows. With pressure mounting on the young man to get the grades needed for university and his hormones raging, he starts to take risks that soon get spotted by the manipulative “Seong-jin” (Chang-hwan Kim) who sows seeds of destruction and exclusion that are to violently strain loyalties and perhaps forge a new understanding between the two in the face of some fairly obnoxious homophobia. On the face if it, this is just another story of teenage, angst-ridden, unrequited love - but both leading men deliver quite authentic performances as their conflict within themselves, with each other and with their malevolent schoolmates all gradually and quite poignantly come to an head. It’s a story about acceptability, sure, but it’s also one about personality, choices and fear - and though maybe a little slowly paced, it does show just how toxic school life can be for boys struggling to find their own identity amidst a sea of hostility, conformity and even a little jealousy. There’s romance here, but as far distant from an Hollywood style as you are likely to encounter and if you like films that don’t mince their words as they depict coming-of-age from a grittier perspective, then this is a well-acted and potently written example that’s well worth a look.

While a gay movie it is not a love or romance story. Basically it's about two guys who where friends in middle school and they reconnect in high school, but by this point one is gay, and in the closet, and in love with his former friend. However, there is no indication that the friend is also gay. In fact when he first tells him the friend punches in face, the next time they talk the friend spits on him. In time they do spend some time together, but the friend hardly says anything at all, he mostly just listens. The gay guy also makes very poor decisions and this leads to some of his own problems later in the movie. While not everything that happens is his fault, some of it is. After some traumatic events, the gay guy breaks down and the friend does hold his hand and puts his arm around him and that is the first time that the friend showed any emotional response to him. Is the friend gay or is he just being a caring friend? The answer is not revealed in the movie. It was a good movie and an interesting watch, but not a feel-good romcom by any means.