I Told Sunset about You

Get a piña colada to watch this.

The series was honestly long overdue for me to watch, but I kept avoiding it because of the "alleged trauma" it brings—I never wanted to start! The first thing that caught my attention was that they used different actors to portray the characters as children, which helped emphasize the growth of the characters. Teh and Oh-aew are a realistic portrayal of the teenage experience. Episode 3 was such a beautiful journey of self-discovery mixed with trauma. Oh-aew is my hero. I feel like he already knew that his feelings for Bas were just fleeting lust. He was so honest and brave about his emotions; he didn’t express these feelings openly, but he knew they weren't as deep as what he felt for Teh.

I tried not to be too frustrated with Teh, because I felt he was the one struggling the most with understanding and accepting his sexuality. But he was definitely playing too much with both Oh-aew’s and Tarn’s feelings. Despite this, both characters were relatable, and the actors did an extraordinary job. However, I have to say they both cry in a way that isn’t exactly pretty!

Read More

Well made and well acted but a little uneven

The series accomplishes a lot. It remains engaging and enjoyable even though we mostly watch the mistakes and missteps of high school students trying to manage their first romantic relationsihps. It's all drama with very little time spent watching anyone enjoy eachother's companionship, but it works. The attention to detail in portraying life in the baba/straits chinese community in Phuket well exceeds what one typically sees in a television series, and it helps give the series a background depth that supports the narrative by vignette storytelling style. The acting is generally good overall, although this being a series there are the occasional moments of under-realized and manneristic characterizations.
The writing is a bit uneven and in places seems to be inconsistent. E.g. Teh and Oh become estranged later in the series after Oh more or less tells Teh the friendship is over. Oh stops returning Teh's calls. And yet towards the end we find Oh asking Teh not to dissappear again.
The main theme music is quite an earworm, and Billkin's performance of it is very well sung and produced.

Read More

It is a well-made BL drama.

This drama was often recommended whenever I looked up Thai dramas, so I decided to watch it to see why it seemed so popular.

I was surprised by the fact that it was only 5 episodes, but because of the short number of episodes, every episode was substantial, filled with emotions yet not exaggerated, things happened fast and not draggy, I didn't feel bored a single moment.

Everyone in the drama acted very well, especially the main leads, despite being relatively young. Teh, one of the main leads, is only 22 years old. Of course, him being only 22 years old, I did not expect perfect acting, but it was good enough, really.

The chemistry between the two leads was also very good. I did not feel any awkwardness between them at all.

Basically, I do not have any negative comments to make about this drama. It was well-made. Details were well taken care of.

After completing this drama, I did not have enough of seeing the two leads' interaction (yes, it was that good), so I was pleasantly surprised to find the sequel 'I promised you the moon', which I will do a separate review on that drama review page.

I have to add, the OST of this drama gives a nostalgic vibe to this drama filmed in Phuket, fits the drama to a T.

Read More

Showing without needing to tell

The subtext is palpable.
The chemistry is electrifying.
The emotions are raw.

I gave this a 10 out of 10 rating before finishing the 3rd episode.

The last 2 episodes could be crap and it would still be 10 stars based on the 3 episodes alone. Of course i waited until i finished before sharing my review. But as expected, still a 10 out of 10.

Instead of seeing stereotypical TV-movie romantic characterizations, both characters act and react in ways you really identify with. Their actions and words always feel like something you've done or thought of doing in real life. They don't rely on conversations with side characters to understand what the leads are feeling. There is no exposition of their feelings. There's no voiceovers. There's no need for it. Their actions are enough to know and feel exactly what they're feeling.

With writing and acting like this, the storyline could be the most boring thing and it wouldn't matter. Tv shows like this let me know that any old plot can make an amazing watching experience if it's written and acted well.

Do yourself a favor and watch this.

Read More

Stunning shots and a beautiful soundtrack

To start my review off, I'd like to say that I really enjoyed the story and it's realistic portrayal of the characters as humans - with flaws and negative traits. And yet, despite that it is one of the best romantic series that I've ever watched and it stands out among the many existing BL-series because of the masterful production, story writing and acting.
Another thing that I really liked was the music that often reflected the emotions that the characters were feeling, which in my opinion allowed the viewers to immerse themselves more in the scenes.
The cast did an amazing job, I praise both of the leads for beautifully portraying Teh and Oh-aew. I need to congratulate the actor, who played Teh on his effort to really embody the character. I loved all his quirks and mannerisms, they added to the realism. (The one small complain I have, would be that the he had a very specific sad-almost-crying face, that to me seemed very fake.)
Lastly, the remaining aspects that make me rate this series so highly - the choice of locations and stunning frames, as well as the color grading. The whole series is a beautiful experience and as a viewer I see how much effort was put into creating it.
(This review was written after my 2nd time watching this season and I'd say I like it even more now)

Read More

The TENSION

This is by far the most mature BL I've ever watched and it was absolutely beautiful. The skinship simultaneously feels the most natural and the most tension-filled, and the angst is just immaculate. The kiss scenes are few and far between but when they happened it truly felt like the entire world stood still.

I know Teh got a lot of flak for the way he acted but I forgive him for all of it; instead, this drama really depicted the fear and pressure of a teenager trying to find himself and coming to terms with his sexuality — it made the story all the more heart-wrenching. And Oh-aew is just perfection.

The friend group and side characters get just enough screentime; they're obviously not the main focus but they add so much to the drama's feeling of youth and nostalgia.

There's still some parts of this that feel really dramatic, or some developments where I wish we could've spent more time on to explain why the leads or fighting, but I understand that it's just a side effect of only having five episodes. Overall, I don't mind the pacing at all because I think this drama did everything else right, including just having absolute gorgeous cinematography.

Read More

Amazing. One of the best coming of age show I've watched.

It is really relatable, and is very different from other MLM series I have watched. It depicts alot of emotions that the community can relate to. Teh's confusion about his sexuality was spot on, really brought me to tears. Oh and Teh's actors were really good at portraying their roles too. This series has brought me a rollercoaster of emotions. It's not a typical love story, it is much more than that. The soundtrack and the cinematography is phenomenal

It is very realistic. The bra scene made me emotional, it really showed the question among gay men is: "Would he like me If I was a girl?"

Actually, alot of scenes made me emotional. The scene on the roof top with Teh's brother was super realistic. I loved how they portrayed the struggles of coming out as bisexual. I loved how Teh had internalized-homophobia, on how scared he was that his Mom would be disappointed and such. Really showed what alot of LGBTQ+ people are struggling with today.

The kissing scene — the kissing under the water was just amazing.

Amazing show. Would rewatch if I have some time. Kudos!

Read More

Heartbreaking in the best way

This show is so insanely well done and beautifully shot. It's devastating and painful to watch. I'm not normally one to cry at a show, but this one deserved it.

The internalized homophobia is portrayed in the most realistic way, to a point of it hurting. As a queer person, watching this was painful. It felt like such a true and authentic representation of a queer experience, even if that meant that it hurt. A lot. I feel like most BLs throw queer characters into an otherwise heteronormative storyline, but ITSAY didn't. It was a beautiful portrayal of what it feels like to realize you're queer, without shying away from the difficult aspects of this. The building of the tension in the relationship was so well done, and the interactions between the leads were almost too realistic. This is a show that I'm glad I watched once, and I don't think I could rewatch.

Read More

Heartbreakingly beautiful

Man... I feel emotionally drained after that roller coaster.. I can't fathom what another season / sequel is going to do to me. But it was so incredibly well done that I don't mind all the tears and pulling at my heart. I see why it's rated so high across the board.

In reading some reviews beforehand, I saw a lot of dislike toward Teh and, while I can see where the dislike is coming from, I can forgive him to an extent due to the fact he was confused and scared about his own feelings which is never a good combination. It stood out to me how much Teh was pacing back and forth in a lot of scenes as if he were lost. He was clearly struggling with his thoughts/feelings throughout the series. You could feel the frustration coming off him.

I definitely loved how Bas was not ashamed to be seen with a boy and I think both Oh and Teh really needed to see that in order to experience it themselves. Bas's monologue at the end of cram school was basically Teh's inner thoughts and feelings only Teh wasn't brave enough to say it out loud and it cost him his chance with Oh. While Bas laid it all out, it was such a beautiful scene because we watched as Teh realized it all too, even though he didn't say a word.

In that respect, I'm curious to see how many pages the script was for this series because I feel like there wasn't all that much dialog for 5+ hours. However all that they said with their expressions was deafening. The actors were really good at portraying their inner emotions.

I usually don't like series centered around high school age because I feel like I'm too old for that.. But this was amazing and I didn't feel like I was watching teenagers, if that makes sense.

Besides the acting, the cinematography was absolutely stunning and I liked that it wasn't set in the city. The music was great and really helped set the tone for each scene, especially the piano version of the song they sang together. A lot of little touches like that really helped with the ache the viewer felt along with the characters.

I'd definitely watch this again and would recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind a bit of frustration to go along with a truly beautiful piece.

Read More