(Love Song)

A well-done co-production.

(Love Song) is a film that took a pretty big risk, simply by being a co-production. With only two cast members that speak both Thai and Japanese with some fluency, putting this film together and it being good it quite the feat. With a Thai director, the Japanese cast members also found themselves bewildered by some cultural differences in the directing, which I saw them talking about in a special cinema-live broadcast interview before watching the film in the cinema.

However, all that aside, this film works. There aren’t any characters who suddenly understand a language they shouldn’t, and there were also smart decisions made with which lines of Thai dialogue got subtitles and which ones didn’t. That is, that in scenes with an interpreter present, you don’t get the subtitles, you get to wait and listen to what the interpreter says, which I quite like personally as an immersive experience.

Now, looking past my initial wonder about how they made the film work linguistically, there is a story of unrequited love, difficulty in expressing emotion, and a solid dose of humour to go with it. The humour also was a good blend of Japanese and Thai-style humour. The comedic relief from the emotional main storyline was also well used. I will admit, I teared up at a couple points in the film, and considering how much laughter I also had to hold in, that is a feat. I spent a good portion of the film grinning, one way or another.

The song was great and the story, while relatively simple, had emotional depth to be appreciated. The film really succeeded by not trying to do too much, and by doing that, it a stand-out in the otherwise mixed world of international co-productions, which often struggle to impress.

I recommend this film to any and all who are interested! As for the cast, they suggested it could be enjoyed alone, with close friends, or even with family (albeit it may be a bit embarrassing).

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