Movie Digest
Sena Izumi was born into a talented family, where his father, mother, and brother are active and famous in the entertainment business. He lives a pretty mundane existence and despises being a part of the media circus. Izumi is a college student who aspires to be a manga author. One day, he reunited with Ichijou Ryouma, a famous young actor with whom he worked on a production ten years ago. Izumi had dressed up as a girl for that advertisement. Ryouma fell in love with him with that assumption. Ryouma goes through many phases of shock, astonishment, and denial before accepting reality.
The Feel-Good Part
There is a happy ending without much hassle. Other than that, there is not anything as a feel-good part in the film.
The Disappointing Factor
There was not any build-up in the plot and between the characters. It makes us lose interest in the film early on itself. They also copied the two-dimensional aspects of the characters in manga and anime, which did not work to the film’s advantage.
In-Depth Analysis
This film is an adaptation of a manga of the same name written by Eiki Eiki. Love Stage is a mediocre BL (Boys’ Love) film with little redeeming qualities. The plot is weak, the acting is poor, the pair is mismatched, and the romance is awkward. The story in Love Stage does not adapt well to a live-action film. With its shallowly formed romance and weak comedic timing, this film falls short. The clumsy storytelling emphasizes all of the problems in the frivolous plot. Many of the scenarios are so poorly staged that they cause discomfort to the audience. All exaggerated humor or playful romance moments translate well in manga format, but the goofiness falls flat with real-life performers. Exaggerated acting does not feel like real people reacting authentically. Instead, they are like theatrical performers who have been instructed to distort their facial expressions and wave their arms maniacally. The ending of the film was sort of satisfactory. The courage it takes for a well-known figure to come out in public was a pleasant scene to witness. There was no fuss about an actor coming out, which is how it should be in a perfect world.
Star Power
There was not any character that gave impressive or decent acting. The leads, Sugiyama Mahiro (Sena Izumi) and Nakada Hiroki (Ichijou Ryouma) did not reflect any chemistry in the film. These two mediocre actors aren’t powerful enough to sell a poorly scripted romance.
Overall Opinion
It is not the best nor the worst BL movie in the industry. Do not keep any expectations before diving into this film.
