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Deservedly well respected Hong Kong classic, with extra meaning for fans of Thai series
This is the film which means so much to Jim in Moonlight Chicken and by inference to screenwriter/director Aof. So not just a great recommendation for a beautiful film but also a way to more fully understand his character's inner life and the significance of the song he used for the opening theme.Comrades doesn't disappoint. It's set in crowded urban environments but much of it is tightly focused, concentrating on two characters at a time. A conversation in a narrow hall at a party, in a car, the McDonald's queue. Its story isn't complex and, like Moonlight Chicken, has few events external to the key relationships. I first wrote that there's more pain in Comrades but that's not true. Moonlight surrounds all of its pain with so much love while Comrades is far lonelier. Its main characters become close because they're all they have in this city.
The film is calm, gentle, and quietly poignant. It takes its time and it's well worth some of ours.
(Yay, other people have written better reviews finally. I was so noob here, not used to organising my thoughts for a review and still caught up in the emotions of MC. Really do intend to get around to watching Comrades:AALS again, and improving this here, but there's so much to watch I never get around to it.... Anyway, give hearts to the others and let my nonsense fall off the front page na :D It's a fantastic and beautiful film.)
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The screenplay is excellent in how it handles this, giving enough explanation for a beginner to follow while also incorporating greater depth and resonance for those who know the poems referred to. At least this is how it seems to me, new to much of this but willing to look up what I can.
It is set primarily in 1836 - halfway through the 22 years Sunthorn Phu wrote, and wrote, and continued to write his epic web-novel, I mean his renowned 600,000+ word, 48,686 couplet literary poem "Phra Apai Mani." Both the poem and Phu are recurring characters. A story from King Rama II's own dramatic verse "Inao" is also integral to the lakorn.
It's not all arts and performance of course. Discrimination - both of women and of Chinese labourers - is central to the story. Lamjuan, the feisty, smart and independent-minded FL who will do nearly anything to learn how to read and write, stands up for Hoon, the Chinese ML, and he in turn respects and supports her fight against the limitations society and the other men in her life put on her because of her gender. They become steadfast friends.
It's Thai, and Thai PBS, so neither are alone in their struggles. Both have strong, supportive networks of friends and mentors, family and found family. It really is a gentle, lovely lakorn and a very welcome respite from everything going on in the world these days.
There aren't really villains here, more like petty, less capable men who think nothing of using women for their own gain because that's what society has taught them. The primary antagonist has morals and principles, but he is also a wealthy, privileged man in a position of power who always prioritises his own desires over women's and doesn't realise what he is doing.
The combination of these three elements - the pursuit of creativity, the struggles against prejudices, and their supportive friendship - makes for a fantastic story. The writing and story-craft is excellent, as is the acting, production and everything else. I have one small quibble which I'll put in a comment so it can hide under a spoiler. It's the *only* reason why I marked Story down from a 10.
Casting of the two leads, and another minor character, is very much What is age anyway. Cherprang Areekul was 27 when this aired and somewhere around 10 years older than her character. Toni Rakkaen was 41. Which made for a bit of a shock when they gave his age as 22 in 1836 - and after a time skip of 6 years. Hoon was SIXTEEN at the beginning! The impact of what Hoon was going through at such a young age was lessened for me in a few scenes, but Toni was so good at inhabiting the character it wasn't long before he seemed just right for it. More importantly, despite a significant age gap between the leads their characters are only around 6 years apart in age. It's also chastely Thai PBS.
Commendations also for screenwriter Pranpramoon; Pijika Jittaputta as Lamjuan's mother Jampa; Pattarasuda Anumanrajadhon as her rather magnificent mentor Poom, Bussaba of the Ferry; and Molywon Phantarak (so loved the relationship between her character and Lamjuan). Plus we get Rudklao Amradit in a minor role as well? Go on, spoil us some more with the quality of their acting.
Everyone involved - every actor, everyone behind the scenes including set, costumes, writing and everything else - created a fascinating and richly realised world. If I may make this recommendation - don't rush through it. It's a lovely respite to come back to again and again.
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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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This review may contain spoilers
Uplifting
I've seen this three times now. At 32 minutes, it's a beautiful pick-me-up for down days. Every time I see it, I find new interconnections in its meaning. The plot is simple enough but everything else intertwines.This is a small gem with many facets. One of the characters, Kei, is a painter whose home is filled with "her" work (a commenter on youtube credits them to Takuya Sugiyama). They're dynamic and vibrant and make a great setting for this story about creativity, authenticity and belief in oneself. Their confidence is everywhere in the flat. Kei is likewise visually striking, beautiful, stylish and charismatic.
Riko, the other main character, is in contrast to all of this. She is shy, inexperienced and still struggling to find her voice as a writer and, in many ways, who she really is herself.
Together they tell a gentle love story between two women, emphasising how the support of another can help you find confidence in yourself. It's ultimately about taking risks, both in love and art. As befits a story about a visual artist, there's a beautiful, sensuous love scene too, one many directors could learn from.
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Peak's character faces allegations of being a thug, which is strange casting for such an earnest actor. I wonder if that was intentional so as not to damage a young actor's reputation. All of the actors and actresses did well but my favourite was Miusic who sparkled in her role with her vibrant smile and energy.
I did consider dropping it in the first half but it came through in the end so I'm glad I continued. For youth lakorns, I recommend The Rhythm of Life (Peak in a support role there) over this. I preferred the livelier Clean & Jerk (from the same director/screenwriter) but wouldn't be surprised if others disagreed. Clean & Jerk is notable for centring the story around physically strong women. It also had imo more interesting male characters. In this one though, aside from Sun, I found the male characters a bit cliched and much preferred the women. Just maybe something to pay attention to if you're mostly here for one young man in particular.
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This review may contain spoilers
This is a solid, friendly Thai PBS youth lakorn, earnest in that Thai PBS way and progressive in themes and content. On a surface level, it's remarkable only for the literal strength of its centring of women characters.There isn't much need to talk about that in a review - it's all right there. University friendships and rivalries. The community a sport fosters. Young people who get it right sometimes but also get it wrong and learn from their mistakes, with an on-going theme that we can't change what's been done, only acknowledge responsibility and carry on. Supportive adults and those who make their own mistakes too. A range of difficult situations which help them understand each other.
Two BNK 48 idols and a trainee in lead roles but also a team with four young women who clearly lift weights. It may just have been good casting, or writing to fit them, but all of the young women suited the personalities of their characters. I love that we had women on the screen who were there specifically for their physical (and mental) strength. I'll go back to the credits so I can add their names here, or recognise them in a Comment.
Most of the men are supportive (or illustratively not for those three catcalling nobs). They have their own stories but were never allowed to overshadow the women. That was good writing. (Small extra - P'Pond's half smile which let them include a barely spoken story of a supportive phi perhaps, or probably, becoming increasingly smitten instead.)
But it's not just surface. It also does that brilliant Thai thing of embedding a trauma narrative in the plot while still keeping it light. (The BL stans who are primarily here because of one actor have likely seen that before even if they don't realise it.) And they hid a second one in
(continued in a comment even though no one reads them because it came in the last episode so it requires a spoiler).
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Sweet riff on Mae Nak
You will get more from this if you've seen Nang Nak first - the 1999 film is the clearest, most straight forward, classic retelling of the Mae Nak legend available on the internet. The more familiar you are with that story, the easier this one will be to follow and the more its emotions will resonate.Mae Nak has an important enough place in Thai culture that they make films about making films about her story - any way to revisit Nak, Mak and their love. There are dozens of adaptations and it's quite naturally assumed the audience knows the core story already. If you're only here for Krist, or only think about Thailand in terms of BL, can you not spare a couple of hours to learn more about this facet of their rich and complex culture?
My ratings and the rest of my review are provisional until I'm able to watch this subbed. I know I didn't catch a lot of the banter between the filmmaker characters but for the rest it was easy enough to go on vibes, visual recognition of elements from Nang Nak and what Thai I could pick up. Fern Passakorn as Salee was a favourite - I always like the energy she brings.
It's a sweet riff on Mae Nak. There's a lot of fun, plenty of silliness and of course a lot of love. Perhaps some brief commentary on the constraints fans put on actors' personal lives and loves. On its own, the love story between the leads may feel underdeveloped - but this isn't meant to be watched on its own. It's a recent addition to a long lineage of story.
If you short yourself on that background, you're shorting yourself on the emotions this one conveys. The choice is yours.
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This review may contain spoilers
intelligent coming of age
This begins with exaggerated parody of characters and tropes but develops into real growth for all four. It's clever how they did that. Worth careful attention.The Japanese style of loud, physical comedy isn't for everyone. I'm not a big fan but through all of this, I could recognise and appreciate the skill and craft which went into it. If it had continued throughout, I might have thought 'not for me' but wouldn't rate it down - they executed a particular style very well. Moments in it had me laughing out loud too.
More importantly, it set up the female lead and the silly situation she'd gotten herself into well. And there were brilliant moments in there, like when she imagined herself standing up to the bullies but didn't actually say anything out loud.
Through it all, they wove in a lot of truths. You do need to speak up, Hatori was in love with her infatuation and Rita was dependent on her devotion. But through a tropey string of events, they did grow and come to love each other in a significant way. That's the heart of the movie - young people growing and figuring themselves out with each other's help.
There are tropes in there I'm not keen on - the claim that love 'doesn't need reasons' (emotions don't, but relationships do), or choosing the boy who keeps hurting you over the one who lifts you up. But both of those are more grounded than we usually see in rom coms. The love they grow into makes sense, and they give time to showing both its deep roots and the relationship, young but real, it's growing into. Rita gets it together more convincingly than most MLs. He wasn't striking out from his pain, just withdrawn. He took her devotion for granted, not realising it until Kosuke pointed it out. He tried to do the right thing in a situation where someone was going to get hurt whatever he did.
Adachi grows too. Her big scene, that was so well written. If you doubt the intelligence of this film, look there. Kosuke got some growth as well, though he already had a head start on the others.
And yeah, it would be great if sometimes the happily ever after wasn't the 1st leads together. This one though, they convinced me. Kosuke and Adachi are going to be alright as well.
For all of their skill with the over the top comedic exaggeration, for me it was the quiet moments where everyone shone. This is well done, there are layers and it needs attention to keep up as it shifts. Japan is amongst the best for intelligent coming of age, this is part of that tradition.
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Parts of their stories are shortened through dialogue, but the conversations are grounded in everything else. The kind you might have with a friend or a sister after you overhear a phone conversation or something happens. The framework which makes this all work is well-constructed.
Together, it's a film about women's experiences in So Korea. The men don't come off well - it's also a film about toxic masculinity and the ways men bully women, abuse positions of power, or just don't get it. In one storyline, it's also about the ways men bully other men and perpetuate those patterns.
All of that fits with what I've read and heard about sexism and social pressure in So Korea. It's a bit of reality in the face of endless lovely handsome oppa series.
It's not a bleak film however. The end feels a bit out of place but I can understand why. It told its stories and it was time to wrap things up. All that was left to say was the words of three women, supporting and looking out for each other.
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slice of life done as ensemble theatre
The beginning of the film is several vignettes introducing the seven main characters, difficulties in their lives and connections between them. Not understanding what was happening, or being aware that it wasn't conventional film-making, it initially felt disjointed to me until they all began to gather at the party.It will help to understand the second half as ensemble theatre, heightened in emotion by the camera's ability to show close facial expressions. 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us also did this, albeit with a very small cast.
It's slice of life - not everything is explained, nothing is resolved. It's a brief moment in the lives of these characters, individuals who are both themselves and representative of different aspects of gay life within Japan.
If you're open to seeing it this way, rather than conventional movie plotting and development, the ensemble work is excellent - writing, editing, cinematography and performances all coming together to create something which feels like it's approaching chaos but had to have been tightly organised to stay so clear.
(Interview indicates there was some improvisation - if it was in the group ensemble work, that's even more impressive. But it may have been in some of the smaller conversations.)
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the highest form of Khon
Note: Ratings for this were difficult. I considered trying to rate it as a documentary, perhaps with an eye to MDL users who might watch a Thai PBS documentary on classical Thai dance. But respect for the tradition and practitioners is so strong a theme throughout, it feels most appropriate to give 10 for 'Cast' in acknowledgement of their proficiency and expertise, which then means 10s for Story and Music in respect for the tradition. Rewatch value? I’m sure I’ll get more from a second viewing.Thai PBS calls this documentary a ‘deep dive’. I’m not sure about that, perhaps ‘esoteric’ would be a better term (even, if I understand it accurately, within Thailand). There is a lot of information to take in - the beginning is especially dense with names and references to classical Hindu texts and beliefs and their Thai counterparts. Fortunately it slows down as it progresses and the names of Thai dance masters become familiar. Text accompanying the dance performance at the end helpfully summarise key points.
The English title is also somewhat misleading. I knew about Khon dance from Thai PBS’s one hour mini drama, "Dream a Little Dream", where a very determined young boy begins learning Khon dance, so I was hoping for more insight into that. "Dream" is an excellent and gentle introduction, by the way, with a sweet family story. Well worth an hour.
The Thai title of this documentary translates as “Documentary of the Pirap” - a very rare and specialised part of the dance tradition, considered to be the superlative form. Requirements for being allowed to inherit and perform the tradition are strict and complicated, only for those already ordained as monks and skilled in the arts - those with the knowledge are in their 70s and 80s and it’s in danger of being lost. So now my information is Beginners, Supreme Grand Master, and only a smattering in between. The quest continues to fill that in =D
The importance of religious beliefs in arts was what I found the most interesting here. “Arts in the world exist to praise or worship gods.” “Phra Pirap Nah Paht Dance is to invite the highest deity to help eliminate evil.” Phra Pirap is a fierce aspect of Shiva, capable of great protection.
Along the way, they also touch on the music, women dancers, and the making of masks. The masks are also religiously significant.
The last 13 minutes are a performance of the dance.
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it's getting more crazy
I went in not knowing a thing about this so it was a steady stream of surprises and quite engaging. Some good use of music and shadows in the cinematography as well.Only my second 1950s Thai film so it was also interesting to learn a bit more about the history of Thai movie-making, like how many elements I'm familiar with from the last 25 years of Thai films were already there in 1957 and that an exaggerated kRap isn't a modern affectation from cheeky young men.
It's fun, it moves, there's a sense of freedom to it despite the single set, and in the end, the story it eventually finds its way into was good too.
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early gem of a film
The simplicity of this film is its strength, at least for me. I was right there with the main characters' emotions throughout, worried for them, hoping with them. Did help that I hadn't seen any synopses beforehand. Letterboxd's is particularly bad.It's a bit coming of age, a bit melodrama, a bit slice of life - religion, gossip, music, a school bully. Always aware of the prejudices someone with disabilities faces and how they impose additional, unnecessary obstacles. And of course it's a love story.
Some of the background music was a bit over done for me, but either that settled down or I got used to it along the way. Likewise the dubbed voices, especially for the children. But those were minor concerns. Santi's flute, the piphat ensemble, Buddhist chanting, effective use of silence too at key moments, all those mattered more.
And of course, Vina and Santi.
A restored version is available with subtitles on Film Archive Thailand's YT channel.
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oh the melodrama
Algorithms surfaced this while I was searching for something else. With English subtitles no less. Not in the MDL database and almost no information on letterboxd, so the best way to decide if it was worth the time was to just watch it =DWas it worth it? There are better films. It's very melodramatic and feels like it belongs to an era far earlier than 2005. I was initially thinking 1950s, but now that I've seen a few from Film Archive Thailand's holdings, it's very different. What it most reminds me of in feel and tone is the 1959 Mae Nak Phra Khanong, although the only available version of that I've found has a very strange redub so perhaps the (unknown to me) redub date is a better comparison? It doesn't feel like anything I've seen from early 2000s Thailand so far, though I do have some leads for possible comparisons. Apologies for geeking out here. I enjoyed the sense of stepping back in time, not just in the content but in the very style of film-making.
It's not long and it moves at a good clip. Lots of things happen even though there isn't all that much story or depth of characterisation. I like melodrama and learning new things, and found it entertaining, so all in all it was worth my time. Would it be worth yours? If you have a spare hour forty minutes and a curious mind, give it a go and find out =D
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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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