Elisheva

Far too many toxic elements in the story

Spoiler heavy. This could have been so much better. Cinematography and technical aspects were good. The mismatched friendship had promise at the beginning and could have been a good start but only to a completely different story. Ai Di's story could have been great if he'd been allowed to stay away and rebuild a better life.
Instead we start with someone barely above the legal age limit but very inexperienced in relationships and an older mafia underling (actors' age gap is 10 years and if the novel made the characters' less it wasn't mentioned in the series) who really should know better. He gives some token resistance on age - enough to show he understands that it is wrong - and then dives in. He doesn't even do that on the risks his criminal family will bring to the kid he repeatedly calls Kiddo.
Add in (fake) amnesia, (not fake) short term memory loss (which they keep saying is temporary but show no signs of that), time jump for prison cause the kid was coerced by the mafia to take the blame for a murder he didn't commit*, another young man who gets free from the mafia but is carried back in literally kicking and screaming but it's all fantastic because the man who dicked him around for years finally decided to kiss him.
Seriously? All for an absolute kitchen sink mess of a plot which says EVERYTHING will be forgiven for a first love.
The fandom really will ignore any red flag situation or behaviour if there are cute boys kissing.


*And don't give me that BS that this was somehow ok, or it justified the character's age - he was literally too young to be given an adult sentence. Stop and think that through. He wasn't old enough for the rest of it either. Wake up too - going to jail in the name of "love"? That's not romantic, it's part of an abuse dynamic. Oh but cute boys kiss. Swoon.

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Acceptance of difference and problems caused by those quick to judge

Cho-san has both learning disabilities and autism, needs his routines and works in a supported facility. He also has a great mum and difficult neighbours.

Every bit of this rings true with my experience working and volunteering with people with learning disabilities, including the complicated decisions aging parents make to ensure their sons and daughters are settled.

Please don't watch this to be heart-warmed. Please watch this to better understand a bit more of the extra difficulties so unnecessarily created by those who see difference and look for reasons to condemn.

(The tags currently include mental illness. There is no mental illness depicted in this film. The distress felt by Cho-san and some of the housemates when confronted by loud noises, angry neighbours or disruption to their routine is part of their learning disabilities, not mental illness. These are distinct things.)

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Addictive emotional work-out

Technically, much of this is excellent. I'm going to put my But's... in comments hidden by a spoiler tag because even alluding to them vaguely gives things away.

Since this is available via GagaOOLala, there are gay characters and many English-orientated viewers tend to equate Thailand with BL, I'll say this very clearly at the top - this is NOT BL. If you want BL, look elsewhere. If you need to see male actors acting in intimate ways, expect a lot of fast-forwarding or just look elsewhere, there are plenty of other choices. A central character is gay and it very much matters that he is gay and closeted in a predominately het world, but this isn't a gay story. Some of the choices Gaga makes on what to air confuse me, this is one. I watched it in part because I'm interested in how each Thai channel has a somewhat different flavour to their lakorns and I hadn't run into any from Channel 8 before.

It is a tropey lakorn. The first five hours alone gave us an entire lakorn's worth (41 ep x 45 min version on Gaga). If you don't know lakorn tropes, it's probably best to start with something else. This one lays them on thick and fast and it really helps to understand context. Like the way historical lakorns criticise out-dated attitudes while also mining them for melodrama. Things like men controlling women, masters controlling servants, those with wealth and status controlling those without.

Within that framework, the acting is excellent. Everyone does exactly what they're supposed to and does it very well. There are quieter moments of significant emotion, all of it intensified by the exaggeration of what's led up to it.

There were editing choices which undermined that at times, but for the most part it delivers. Its pacing is a big part of making that work. It ricochets from one thing to another and changes focus several times - tropey horror to tropey tropey tropey new mistress/2nd wife nightmare to forbidden romance to, well some of these will be spoilers so I'll stop :) - and that allows it to go in for BIG emotions without, for the most part, becoming overwhelming. IMO this isn't one to binge.

It is addictive though. I tried to drop it a few times and didn't succeed. Now that I'm through it, I'm not sure how I feel about that.

For nearly all of it, they got the emotional truths right - why characters do what they do - and that is always the key to a successful lakorn. This one packed in a dizzying array of complicated, often layered, emotional truths.

They did drag it out though, like the writers were too addicted to throwing one more thing in.

Shifting to a comment so I can hide it under a spoiler. Will try to write it so it gives as little away as possible.

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Club Friday - BL Industry

This is more or less a niche version of Club Friday, the long-running anthology series - multiple stand alone minis branded as a unit, with plots full of betrayal and angst and infidelity - originating with callers' stories to a phone-in radio program and thus purported to be 'based on real stories'. I'm not a Club Friday fan, the ones I've seen are condensed versions of the side plots I put up with for the parts I enjoy in lakorns. The series has been running forever though, obviously many like it.

So I wasn't surprised by the sparsity of HEAs in War of Y or how it often felt heavy and over-bearing, without the zing and zip of a good lakorn, just the angst.

Using the Club Friday approach to 'expose' secrets of the BL industry while also reveling in many of them makes some sort of sense. It also clutters up what was true, what was invented and what was exaggerated for the sake of Drama. Some were clear lakorn stereotypes, like making a middle-aged woman the villainess in one, but yeah, there probably are managers like that and it does seem to be a woman and katoey-dominated field so IDK.

There were times I felt like I should stop supporting the industry altogether, which is a difficult rabbit hole to go down because it doesn't ever end. Corporate entertainment industries exploit actors and musicians, marketing and controlling them as products in order to manipulate and exploit fans' feelings and wallets. Like that Big Spender thing in one of War of Y's stories. If that's not invented, it's literally manipulating fans into directly giving money to already-wealthy corporations, not because their products are any good but because a young actor is doing his job of invoking fans' feelings well. Same with pay-to-vote schemes.

I don't know how much of the toxicity they depicted from the fandom side was accurate. I've seen enough to fear that this largely was. Why is it tolerated? Because that's how social media works these days? Because both haters and defenders get attention and a dopamine rush and that keeps it all going? Because young people get their own sense of self wrapped up with parasocial strangers so it all becomes very personal? I don't know. But the toll it must take on young actors and musicians, being tossed around for other people's agendas. It doesn't have to be this way. Isolate those doing it, don't give them oxygen or reward them with your attention. It's what they're after.

There was a lot of NC. It was manipulatively clever to effectively double up on NC scenes by including those from the fake series being filmed, as well as fake content, as well as the oh they're secretly in love after all scenes, including straight boys going bi/gay for you ::face palm::, and then throw in a few comments criticising the emphasis on NC over plot (you literally did exactly that), or show characters being uncomfortable about doing them.

Where they were just hooking up, and it seemed like it was sex for sex's sake, that was at least believable within the story. But of course every story had to fuel shippers' dreams that their treasured fantasies about strangers' orientations and sex lives might actually be true even while it depicted the manufactured nature of fan service and shipped couples.

For myself too much angst, poor editing/writing and the true/not true approach meant that even when I did get caught up in a character's story line, when it came to the romances with their ships my brain bailed right out. These are actors trying to make careers and doing what they're told to do, playing actors trying to make careers and doing what they're told to do, all of it driven by people looking to make money from fans chasing fantasies about strangers' sexuality.

There were quiet moments, especially in the first two stories, which were quite good and *some* of the acting was impressive. Seng (Pan) and Paper (Fern) were the two who stood out most for me. But when the drama got loud and messy, the editing and scripting often did as well and the overall results suffered. I'm not sure why I put myself through this.

tl:dr Support actors for doing their jobs well under demanding circumstances, but don't buy into the corporate shite or make the circumstances more difficult for them. They're dealing with enough already. Fans can do at least this much. Corporations and managers might contractually 'own' them, but we're not entitled to act like we do as well.

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If you only watch one het love story this year...

I'm careful in what I watch by way of het romance and initially We Made a Beautiful Bouquet wasn't high up my list for this year's JFF Online. A J-drama fan I follow on social media had seen it before and I liked what he wrote about it so I gave it a go.

It doesn't do the things I dislike about most het relationship story lines. The FL isn't cutesy or ditsy. Shared enthusiasms are central to the dynamic between the two characters and the framing is also balanced between their POVs. It's one of the most equal relationships I've seen. There's something else I want to compliment it on but that would be a spoiler.

All in all, it's an excellent film. Solid writing and acting so natural I managed to forget I was watching a film during some of it. Oh right, this isn't happening. If someone said, "I'm willing to watch one het love story this year" this is one of two I'd suggest.

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Spell-binding

This is a story about women.

Parents having to deal with and overcome cultural homophobia is at its core, and there's a beautiful romance between men, but these complicated, determined women using whatever resources they can find to negotiate life within the constraints of cultural sexism carry the lakorn. Li is ferociously strong, Jia's knowledge of herbs is magic, Chan is whatever the moment needs, and sometimes that's a touch of comic relief, Bua's strength is in her gentleness, Pin is plucky and resourceful, Cai is always paying attention.

It's melodrama so everything is exaggerated. Settle into its rhythms, it's a wild ride and well worth it.

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quietly perfect

10 stars across the board is usually the sign of someone a bit delulu and in the throes of an oxytocin rush after finishing a title. But honestly, I'm not going to take any of them away.

Second time through and I love it every bit as much. The soundtrack is unobtrusive and right for each moment. The closing song (by 25 hours) has been on my repeat lately. Not going to link to it, save the video until you've seen the movie. And do watch the movie if it holds any interest for you. It's quietly excellent.

The story is great. It's not earth-shattering, but that's the point. It's told in that fantastic unrushed Thai way. There's humour, and heart. And kindness. So much kindness. Small cast, and they're all perfect for their roles, including the kids.

Seriously, why change a thing in this film? They got it exactly right.

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Educational comedy

As a short series, this is light, fun and engaging. The second episode repeats itself a bit much, though it does go quickly enough so it's more an observation than a real complaint. The end wasn't a surprise but I got it wrong on how they got there. Extra point for the oh right, of course misdirection.

As informal educational material, it's excellent. Its lessons about several kinds of scams and what to watch out for are mixed with comedy and an engaging low-stakes plot capably delivered by the actors. There are moments where a viewer can pick up something (and get a boost from that), and others where not knowing is shared by some of the characters - it never puts anyone down for not knowing these things. I learned from the series too and also appreciated seeing things I'd only read about. It's the kind of television the cool kids I used to work with would pretend to scoff at - while paying close attention and giving themselves away with their laughter. That's valuable.

And around that, a pleasant wee series with engaging actors. I enjoyed it.

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needs a ghost

There's a sort of Thai movie I often adore - an unrushed two hours, with the first half or so exploring the wee world they've created before they start to reveal its poignancy. Add in a ghost and maybe it's about grief and loss. Not crowded or heavy in the way of many western films, but gently making space for those emotions and surrounding them in kindness and warmth.

Love Stuck follows that general pattern - the set-up of two people wandering around the city showing each other cool things was perfect for that - but the delivery of its emotions in the latter half felt in your face and saccharine. Not the acting, that was fine. Or the way the Big Thing was telegraphed well in advance. But the music which was both cloying musically and had lyrics that spelled everything out - in English, granted, but it wasn't the way Thai production companies tend to use English lyrics. Some of the dialogue and other directorial choices. Thais usually do this sort of thing so much better.

I watched the US original to see if this remake was following its lead there. A few things really leapt out watching them back to back. One was how the early events they showed each other involved bad things happening to other people, which was commented on - "We really shouldn't laugh at other people's misfortunes" "But it is objectively hilarious" (they weren't). Does it say something about Thais and US Americans that the Thai remake chose to stay well clear of that? I'm an outsider looking in at both cultures so I don't know. Given how much else the movies had in common, it felt pertinent. Also the amount of casual destruction the US pair wreaked to amuse themselves.

Another bit I don't know what to make of is that while both wrote the young woman as the smarter/better in school of the pair, the US version included language like "Mark was right"/"I was wrong" from the young woman, with no reciprocity from the young man, and had the solution to their problem solved by his early input, information gathering and suggestion + her working alone to bring it about whereas the Thai handling let it be her smarts + them working together. There was more, including a bit in their romantic arc. All in all, her being smart was a threat to the man in the US version but not the Thai.

The music in the original wasn't so obvious about what we were supposed to feel but the beginning was more cynical. It's like they (Amazon execs? director and screenwriters?) just picked up the entire emotional arc of Love Stuck as a whole to move it away from the cynicism (that much is understandable for a Thai remake) even though it turned the second half poignancy to syrup. I'm at a loss for how else to explain or understand this. I've not seen anything from Thailand make its emotions so trite or saccharine. Perhaps the whys are US corporate execs looking to cash in on interest in Asian dramas? - the English language lyrics does suggest it was intended for a US audience.

Thai filmmakers and scriptwriters can handle emotion so well. Why they didn't in this, why it was more cloying and thus superficial than the US original feels very strange. From the other comments and some of the reviews, it works for many. But I can't recommend it. Not when there is so much better cinema from Thailand.

This needed a ghost - metaphorically - and the grounded, gentle Thai way of revealing the layers of emotions in this sort of story.

(Mid-level marks for "Story" because I had nowhere else to specify that my criticisms are about the way it was handled, rather than the plot itself.)

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journey of memories, food edition

The synopsis is misleading, not in terms of events but in terms of pacing. The two-episode story isn't anywhere near as rushed thankfully. It's a wee road trip around central Thailand, focusing on the themes of memory, aging, love and food - and the ability of food to evoke memories and connection. With lots of cooking, local specialties, two temples, a cheeky elderly uncle who's always joking, a serious young man, two notable older actresses and another who I'm guessing is a noted Thai singer (will have to go back to get her name).

If you get on with the Thai PBS way with a short story, these two episode series are a lovely way to spend some time and get to know something about another part of Thailand and its many cultures.

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Well worth seeking out

in 1998, mining waste contaminated with lead spilled into the Klity River in Kanchanaburi, western Thailand.

This documentary is about the consequences for the people of a rural village 15 years on from the contamination. They are Karen, an ethnic minority, and depend on the river for food, water and their livelihoods. The river is their only source of water. We see their lives, their children, their land. It's shown in a gentle, beautifully filmed slice of life manner which makes it quietly powerful.

There have been clean-up efforts but news reports indicate that the river is still contaminated.

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More tragic love story than horror

The first half focuses on village life, Nak and Mak meeting and their early married life. The second half is a mix of comedy-horror, supernatural and tragic love story. The copy I found to stream was (re)dubbed and included strange "space-age" sound effects and much later music.
The end, where they stopped speaking, I found more affecting. I'd very much like to see this with the original sound though that may no longer exist.
Overall though, it was worth watching as part of the history and glimpses into early Thai cinema and how, in 1959, they presented life in the previous century.

Having seen Nang Nak (1999) first made it easier for me, with only rudimentary Thai, to follow the story in this version of the legend. The auto-generated English subtitles sometimes clarified, sometimes confused.

This mix of original and redub makes it hard to choose ratings, so I just gave it 7's across the board. The music in the redub was inconsistent - some of it was traditional and effective, some of it western and out of place. Likewise, I'm inclined to rate the original acting higher, but the redubbed voices lower. I watched this out of interest in the different ways stories are told and this mixture has its own place in that.

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Cinematic poetry

This is both a family drama of changing times in early 20th century rural Japan and a beautiful, poetic melodrama depicting a romanticised and idealised version of the life of an idealistic young man who, after his death, became one of Japan's most loved poets and writers. It feels a very fitting tribute for Miyazawa Kenji.

So far in JFF Online I've seen three films which include arts and creativity - The Lines That Define Me (sumi-e ink painting), Single8 (1979-era amateur movie-making) and this one. In all of them, characteristics of the art form shape and inform the ways the stories are told. If Miyazawa Kenji had been a different writer, this would have been a different film.

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An ancient dance tradition, a gentle but determined child, and his family

Because there's no synopsis, I'll start with one.

A shy young boy, Orca, becomes interested in Khon traditional dance because of a school art project. His mum is raising him and his sister Fern on her own so money is tight. She also knows how difficult this style of dance is as her mother was a teacher and she has painful memories of that time. Orca is determined nonetheless.

The young actor who plays Orca is delightful. It's a sweet story about the value of traditions, love and family. As Orca learns about the dance, so do we.

Information about Khon dance, which dates to the 1500s if not earlier, via this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khon. It is based on the Hindu Ramayana and its style of masked dance combined with music and narration.

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Nakak = Masks

This is going to be a bit vague and brief. I haven't figured out how to touch on its themes without diluting its poignancy or giving important things away. If you're considering watching it, just go ahead. It's only two hours and, in my opinion, well worth the time.

*This review is also written from the point of view of a western viewer who pays attention but still has much to learn. Some of my sense of disorientation came from the combination of a short story's brevity and it clearly being made for an audience who readily understands context I had to piece in from elsewhere, like SOTUS hazing, or wonder about. None of this was a deal breaker by any means - that sense of old but new-to-me things to learn about is lovely - and everything which needed to came clear in the end.

The beginning is uneven. A 40 year old actor plays a 1st year uni student in flashbacks. His SOTUS seniors look like they have lived. A lot. It skips around so it's not clear if it's a bit of a ghost story or what's really going on.* There's a brief touch of tourism promotion for the Dan Sai district (Loei province, NE Thailand) and a decent amount of education about one of their customs, the masks of its title.

As the series progresses though, it more clearly becomes a moving and poignant short story. I'm not telling you about what. If you want to know, watch :)

Perhaps it is also a love letter to the Dan Sai people. I hope to learn much more about them.

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