Film review: Night Flight, a gay drama about schoolyard bullying

It's a sure-firerecipe for audience manipulation to add latent homosexual impulses into South Korean high-school dramas, susceptible as they already are to scenes of vicious bullying. However, despite its descent into sentimentality and full-blown brutality, this gay-themed romance will likely also break a few hearts with its devastating tale about finding one's place in the world.

Directed by the openly gay Leesong Hee-il, follows a trio of schoolboys who were playground friends at junior high but have grown apart in the following years. The gulf among them only grows wider when the closeted Yong-ju (Kwak Si-yang) confesses his love for gang leader Gi-woong (Lee Jae-joon), who has, in turn, become the chief oppressor of Yong-ju's nerdy friend Gi-taek (Choi Joon-ha).

After Gi-woong steals Yong-ju's bike to escape from a rival gang, the latter takes the occasion as an excuse to stalk his long-time crush, eventually eroding Gi-woong's resistance with reminders of their innocent past together. But as Gi-taek struggles to cope with the bullying of Gi-woong's gang, betrayal and its violent repercussions become inevitable.