Pure Vanilla
Charlie has always had a secret crush on Gabriel, but he’s not great with his emotions. Sparks fly when the two spend the night putting together the perfect recipe for a Valentine’s Day TV special.
Dominic Kebre@Niso2020
The title says it
Sometimes youtube's suggestions can be surprising. A few days ago I was surprised to find a beautiful BL short film from Myanmar, ”Bus Stop”, and today it is a BL short film from Singapore that is as sweet as the title indicates. So I'll review it here – the first time I'm reviewing a BL movie from Singapore.
”Pure Vanilla” shows a day in the lives of bakery owner Gabriel (Braven Yeo) and his assistant Charlie (Soh Deng Xun), a day that changes their lives. Gabriel and Charlie have been working together for some time, but Gabriel has only recently noticed that Charlie's behaviour has changed – Gabriel thinks that Charlie has a crush on him. In the evening, Charlie offers to work overtime, and they try a new recipe of a cake for Valentine's Day. They both like their creation, and while Charlie cleans up the bakery, Gabriel falls asleep at the counter. Charlie puts his jacket on Gabriel's shoulder to keep him warm and starts patting his hair. When Gabriel wakes up, they kiss, cautiously at first, and more passionately later, which tells us that this is the moment when the co-workers become lovers.
There are many things that I liked about this short film. First of all, there is the acting. The secret loving and longing looks, the shyness, and the joy when they leave their inhibitions behind and kiss - all this is perfectly acted, and the protagonists appear to have a great chemistry. Then there is the atmosphere: the bakery is a warm, comfortable place where the boss and his assistant obviously feel at home, and the unobtrusive background music underscores the pleasant atmosphere as do the cakes that are displayed which look so sweet and delicious that they will probably make you gain weight even when you only see them. The cinematography is nice, and the production quality is better than in many other BL productions.
To sum up – this is a sweet short film with good acting, directing, and story-telling, and it made me smile for 10 minutes. I hope it will find lots of viewers on youtube, and I would love to see the lead actors in a full-fledged BL series.
Country: Singapore (2023)
Duration: 9:35 mins.
Director: Mickey Hiah
Cast: Soh Deng Xun, Braven Yeo et al.