Egoist (2022)

NOT a BL but a proper queer movie

I find it important to make it clear that this is not a formulaic BL aimed at a (mostly) female audience, who enjoy watching pretty men get it on. Yes, men fall in love in this movie and yes, there are sex scenes, but this is where the similarities to BL end.

This movie explores gay relationships and gay life in today's Japan without being overly dramatic, but also without any of the "Love is Love and it'll all be good in the end"-sugar coating we see in most BLs.

During the Q&A session at a film festival, the director Matsunaga Daishi said that he deliberately cast queer (amateur) actors in some roles (eg. Kosuke's friend group) to further LGBTQ representation.

Suzuki Ryohei is simply stunning in his portrayal of Kosuke. He manages with sometimes minimalistic expressions or what should be mundane tasks, such as drawing in his eyebrows, to portray a man, who has learned to navigate a world which is hardly accepting of the LGBTQ community. A man, who has armored himself with success and a seemingly hard shell, but who shows vulnerability and his true self in places and among people he knows he is welcome.

The movie isn't perfect. There are aspects of Kosuke's and Ryuta's relationship I wish it had explored in more depth, but it is impactful and (as I said before) Suzuki Ryohei's performance alone makes it very much worth a watch.

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It is all about balance and whole a lot of pain...

In not so many fancy words, I think this movie is phenomenal! Why?

• Two hours flew by in a second

• Intimate scenes are so raw and believable, and just the way I want them. If someone can do a nasty yet sensual NC scene that makes your stomach turn is Japanese. This time, the scenes are going so well along the story. Lets be honest, many Japanese movies do have explicit content that can overpower the story, or, especially dramas can lack any kind of sexual or intimate content. This does not make them bad, I am just talking about how well Egoist is balanced compared to Japanese movies, and in general.

• I enjoyed the balance between letting it go and being polite and restrained. Overall movie has that. And all of that is very nicely packed and topped with a hint of luxury and poverty.

• The whole story about financial and emotional compensation left me deeply wounded, so at the end of my short review, I would say this is not a love movie, nor a romance. This is movie filled with love by the people who were severely damaged by life and their families and they did love and they did care, the way they knew how.

• I feel I cannot pick the pieces of my heart after watching this movie and that is not that bad. It made me feel something, it made me feel a lot actually.

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