imaseed

And if one day I could count 1,000 stars, I would certainly wish to watch this film again, with the original emotions of the first time. "A Tale of Thousand Stars" tells a beautiful story like a fairy tale with melodious tones from the mountains of Northern Thailand. At first impression, surely everyone would exclaim that the film's title is so beautiful, full of dreamy and mystical colors, and usually the title portrays the nature of the film as clearly as possible. And indeed, the film has created a story as beautiful as a painting, not the noble beauty of princesses and princes, nor solely a dreamy pink color, but a beauty full of poetry and feelings emanating from the flavor of mountains and forests, love, heart, and soul of each character.

The film isn't simply about a prince meeting his knight, about the "puppet" and the "green giant"; the fairy tale in the film tells about their village, about life, focusing on beauty from the farthest hills. Everything originates from the heart of a volunteer teacher who died in a traffic accident and was given to Tian's body. At first, such a trope gives the feeling of a tragic and tense body swap story - but the moment he decides to return to the mountainous area with "Hill of a Thousand Stars" to fulfill the wishes of the heart's original owner in his body, I knew that "A Tale of Thousand Stars" would be a truly bright fairy tale, bringing light, heading towards light, and radiating light like stars.

In a place where electricity is scarce, where you have to go to the stream to bathe, where you have to go to the market in town to buy goods, a beautiful love story blossomed. Indeed, "the brightest star shines in the darkest sky" - difficult circumstances make the warm human connection of all the villagers shine brighter, illuminate the eyes of ethnic children, the sense of responsibility to protect the country of the forest rangers, the sacrifice of everyone to protect the peace of the village.

In the end, after many events, amidst the gloomy sounds of mountains and forests and many imminent dangers, viewers, like the young volunteer teacher SeeTian, see the sky clearer, see that difficult mountainous region more beautiful, see that the shortages here are nothing compared to the happiness he received. And then, along with 999 other stars, Phupha found his final star, the brightest one, coming from the city. Just like how Tian accomplished the most difficult task, more difficult than apologizing and recognizing mistakes: deciding to forgive himself, returning Torfun's fairy tale book to her to write his own story; both he and his Chief opened their hearts - "If you want someone's heart, sincerely give yours first."

Hidden in the love story born and grown from misunderstandings, reassurance, and the purest emotions, the love that sparkles like starlight bringing healing flavors to both, "A Tale of Thousand Stars" also speaks about other humanitarian ideas such as forgiveness, faith, self-acceptance, sacrifice, responsibility to the homeland, happiness lying in dedication to life. After watching the film, I suddenly found life more meaningful, warmer, and brighter. The film reinforces viewers' faith in life, like healing. "If you are confident that what you did today was right, then you don't need to worry about tomorrow's mistakes" - the film teaches us to slow down, enjoy every moment in life, find joy and ourselves from the smallest things, about how to find passion and pursue the right direction.

I like the film's storytelling, very everyday, familiar, rustic, and gentle, also mixed with some humor. The climactic situations of the film aren't exaggerated, resolving conflicts quickly mainly because the characters' personalities are very good. The character building is consistent and appropriate, the chemistry is super stable, and, oh my, Mix's acting superbly conveys emotions. At the end of each episode is a small quote, not too grandiose but good and familiar.

Finally, "A Tale of Thousand Stars" is a very complete fairy tale, about the film's atmosphere, characters, story, humanitarian meaning, ideology, and the ending that points towards a very sparkling future. However, sometimes the film wasn't very engaging for me (probably because each week only one episode was released, so at that time I got tired of watching, who knew I would drop it right before the climax episode, I have to say I also like the sadder episodes a bit more), the pace of the film isn't slow and is just right but maybe when I watched it I needed something "faster." The music is good, truly ethnic yet melodious, suitable for both sad and happy moments, and the dialogue, oh my, so cheesy but adorable.