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The art direction shows the intentionality of the filmmaking, with its shifts between organic and artificial. The colours are over the top and glorious, the violence is over the top and fake, sometimes comedically so. The music though, that keeps grounding it back in reality.
And there are so many details to notice along the way. For all that the result feels exuberant, chaotic and free, clearly a lot of care went into it. This is fascinating work.
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The other is an elephant - a large, expressive presence with his own mind and inclinations. Bong isn't in the MDL database and I'm not sure how Adrien would feel about adding him in, but the film itself appropriately recognises him as 2nd lead in the credits.
The movie is set entirely in Thailand, with Thai cast, crew and dialogue, but Singaporean screenwriter/director Kirsten Tan brings a different tone to it. She's also lived, worked and studied in several countries so perhaps this film doesn't truly belong to any one country. The film-making itself is quite capable (it's her debut feature-length). Aside from the elephant, the story is solid but unremarkable - it's a road film. The people they meet along the way are a mix of generic and more realised individuals, though the individuals are also types.
The more realised individuals are treated with respect. As characters, they're both unconventional and obvious, in that indie road movie fashion. I'm of two minds on this - Tan could have done more, but the familiarity of the types also brings a sort of calm normalcy to it, like the mundaneness of a job-induced moment of mid-life crisis and the way life is full of individuals if we bother to take the time to notice them.
At times there's a gentle, dry, slightly absurdist (because elephant) humour. The overall indie vibe tone is familiar - in many ways, I wanted something less generic and a distinctly Thai feel, especially the freedom and spark we see from many Isaan directors. But this is solid indie fare.
With an elephant.
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And the emotions in this are exquisite, sometimes painful, sometimes beautiful, always grounded and real. Score and pacing are superb, acting excellent - everything working together to give it richness and depth, everything coming exactly when it needs to. I really do love the Thai way with a story, especially their two hour movies.
If I could see one piece of media over again for the first time, it would be this.
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Letterboxd reviewers can be quite cynical on gay indie films, while MDL tends to be more generous. But for lesbian indie, it's quite the opposite on both sites.
It's a good indie film, telling 4 short stories, each showing different aspects of relationships between women. The first three are somewhat similar in tone but with distinctive stylisation. From mainstream US-centric reviews, it seems many watched it very superficially, even the fourth which looks at women who seek out dysfunctional, toxic relationships. The tone shift in that was jarring at first with its violence, cartoonish but still disturbing. It doesn't excuse that behaviour, but it does offer compassion for the women caught up in it, those who will never let themselves be happy because they're convinced they don't deserve it.
Together, the four stories ask the question What do you need to be happy, and what's standing in the way of that? A mismatch, society, yourself?
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This review may contain spoilers
This is just gathering some thoughts as to why this comedy-lakorn/series didn't quite work for me despite a VERY promising start and offered here for others who may share them or are trying to work out their reactions. If you haven't finished it yet or adore it, feel free to pass this by. There aren't actual spoilers but I've marked it as such to reduce the chances of prejudicing anyone before they've seen it. There is a lot to like and it will work for many.The physical comedy in the first episode was a delight, especially when it was a giant wink at tropes and conventions and fully committed to the spoof. It settled down of course, that sort of writing is hard to sustain. A strong female lead character, but also a nearly entirely male cast and a heavy lean towards young men's humour and let's call it a western amount of cleavage, swimsuits and ogling camera shots which they kept returning to. Clever play with product placements. And some of the moments which leant into the absurdity of the situations were good fun.
The lakorn set-ups and short-cuts mostly played for laughs mostly worked well initially. But two things stopped it working for me. The easy one to explain is the shift from fun, comedic violence to tense and 'serious' violence with the winks relegated to the denouements. Many will love the action of course but I found the quantity and pacing of it tiring. There was just too much for me, and more and more densely packed as we approached the end. Plus it took up a lot of a very short run time. All of the characters needed to have their moments with it I guess.
(Please note that I recognise action is a popular genre with many fans. If you've decided to take offence because I don't get on with it so well and I am talking about that in public, please don't.)
The second thing is harder to put into clear words, and ultimately more important. Because there was a full lakorn's worth of characters crammed into 8 hours, and a crazy twisty plot, and a fair bit of that was some combination of tropes as short cuts and played for laughs, I never really became invested in the characters. There were moments, but then it would race on to something else. I love lakorns for the characters and emotions, not the plots. The actors played their roles suitably to each moment, there was just too much crammed into 8 hours for me.
Maybe I'm at the wrong level of viewing, I've seen enough there were no real surprises here, including everything to do with the ghost, and the crime/police sides, and the backgrounds/motivations...but not enough to, I don't know. I sincerely hope that the majority love this. If you want to respond, I'm interested to read what you have to say as well. Please spoiler comments if there are specifics.
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It was a wild ride alright.
***
Two days and twenty five minutes later - I remembered a particularly daft scene of a man spanking a fish (literally) and laughed so hard I had to get myself up out of bed to pee so I am very glad I watched this nonsense even if I have no idea how much was parody and how much was a genre with self-parody built in.
***
Trying to work out both plot and intent helped keep me engaged throughout, but its entertainment value was high regardless. I will be watching again, probably on a dark winter night when I need some laughs <3
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young dreams in crowded Klong Toey
Local, personal and real. Well-crafted documentary about life, school and young dreams in Klong Toey, where life is crowded by densely packed neighbours and the very narrow priorities of the education system the young rappers collide against, especially 18 year old Book.The film-making is simple in style but clear and focused, making space for them and giving us time to understand them, or what they understand of themselves.
Very much worth seeking out.
To help that, Director Wattanapume Laisuwanchai has made a public appeal to get School Town King added to Netflix. More information and a link to request the film are in this article.
www.bkmagazine.com/entertainment/director-klong-toey-rap-documentary-wants-your-help-to-get-it-netflix/
If anyone knows how Book and Non are faring now, would you kindly let me know. Thanks. Wishing them well.
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gentle melodrama
Watched en route to adding it to the database, with only an autotranslation of autogenerated Thai subtitles. It's gentle melodrama though, with a simple story told somewhat unconventionally, so it was easy to go on vibes, recognised phrases and words from the autotranslation. Then I found a summary (in Thai) which filled in the rest - I got most of it.The movie shifts tone, feel and focus as it progresses, reflecting (I think) the movie-making of the period each part was set in. Perhaps even to the extent of using vintage equipment. It begins with a father's love for his green vintage Vespa, then his daughter, a misunderstanding and argument, a boy who's like his son and a promise. There's a long road trip, a moving conclusion, and then a silly one, like an outtake added on. Chiang Khan in Isaan Province and several places in the Northern region feature, including Thailand's "Mt Fuji." The ever-present and much loved scooter ties it all together.
If you love Thai film-making or are just interested in seeing more of the northern province and the north of Isaan, this is worth seeking out. Look for it under Rak Kham Khan. The 'official' English title will only get you to a trailer - and don't read the synopsis under the trailer because spoilers. This gentle melodrama is perhaps a bit too Thai to have gotten whatever international attention its makers may have hoped for. And for some of us, that's its appeal.
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This review may contain spoilers
high school scars and scared teenage boys become men
This feels more coming of age than conventional BL, which may be why it worked for me. Given how split opinion is, maybe it's worth it to throw my read into the mix? I found both of the leads believable, even if puppy Natsuo was a bit exaggerated. There's a lot going on under the surface.Major spoilers below. I wish we had the option to spoiler bits out in reviews.
We see three sides of bullying in this (I'm including the classmates he meets again briefly, the ones who didn't change.)
Hiro went through high school in defensive mode and hasn't let it go. For all he's changed himself in appearance, learning a fashionable skill and developing confidence in that area (but not others), that hurting kid is still at his core. I don't think he actually wants revenge, certainly not in the way a few of the reviewers were after. More like seeing Natsuo again brought all of that back. Natsuo wouldn't go away so to protect itself, the scared, scarred, hurting part of Hiro's psyche came up with a plan of 'revenge'. And yes, it was never going to work because Hiro was never truly vengeful. It was also a way for Hiro to be near Natsuo and soak up his puppy energy, affection and enthusiasm without acknowledging it to himself.
Natsuo makes sense as a kid who didn't pay much attention in school. He could learn when he tried but he had no one at home encouraging him. (IIRC Hiro described their high school as being mostly delinquents - perhaps everyone had written the students off already and the teachers weren't really trying either.) Being gay, not the brightest bulb, with absent parents, he was very vulnerable and ill-equipped to cope with peer pressure.
I don't think I'm reading this into the story. There's a lot in this that's understated but still present. Maybe it helps if you watch enough coming of age? Japan makes some excellent CoA films, the best country in the genre IMO.
Hiro trying to force himself on Natsuo felt out of place to me. The whole tone changed so much, dark melodrama. The only way I can make sense for its inclusion is that the traumatised part of Hiro's psyche (which developed to protect him from previous danger and is still holding onto that purpose) felt severely threatened by the disclosure - but because the series is short and there was a lot going on (all of those side stories some complain about as 'filler' have purpose in developing the characters) it was abbreviated. I'm not in any way justifying that - if they were going to cut clear resolution short for time, it would have been better to drop this bit altogether and find another way.
Following this interpretation, perhaps Natsuo submitting later reflects his continued vulnerability to peer pressure. If so, these dots should have been connected in dialogue. He's grown but maybe not in this way. He's still very much a kid who needs to be loved.
So that's how I see it, a story of two teenage kids, lonely in different ways, now become young men and finding in each other what they each need to grow.
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Shinmai Kisha Torokko: Watashi ga Yaraneba Dare ga Yaru!
1 people found this review helpful
shifting comedy
I'm still trying to work out how to describe this. It begins as a coming of age centred around high school problems taken very seriously by those involved in them. Too seriously as it shifts into stylised exaggeration (let's call it 'dry melodrama'), a bit tongue in cheek. Before it ends there's overtly comedic exaggeration countered by earnest high school students up against all odds.A lot is told rather than shown, it feels like a close adaptation of a novel. The acting suits the moods of the various strands, creating an engaging mix of flavours. It will help if you're willing to just go with the flow as it shifts. I wasn't sure at the beginning but by the end I really enjoyed it.
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no talking heads, just people
Four documentaries which flow into each other look at rural life and social issues in the Nang Non river area of Chiang Rai. Each section focuses on the daily life and concerns of an individual. It's not about the 2018 cave rescue, although that is part of the background.As such it's slice of life. There are no talking heads, just people. Some of the conversations between them are probably somewhat staged, others probably not.
I went in not knowing anything about it so it took a while to understand the format. I found it interesting and absorbing in its own quiet way. It's not the kind of documentary where you come away with a list of facts or details. It's more like I spent some time with people I would never meet otherwise and I'm glad I did.
The title is available to stream internationally on Thai PBS with English subtitles baked in. So no CC button like we're used to looking for. Fortunately I was looking for info to add it to the database so I hit play....
(That breakdown of ratings really doesn't work for this, so I just used my overall 7 for the parts as well.)
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fairytale
one31 fantasy lakorns like this have a charm of their own. They may throw in plenty of nonsense along the way, but they're good fun. In those I've seen, the more nonsense, the more they can commit to it, and the more they commit to it, the better it all works. Personally, I would have liked them to embrace that more fully here.(And I sincerely hope there's a katoey comedy movie with a sassy fan-waving martial artist, the fun they could have =D =D =D Pingpong camping it up with a fan and AtTiTude, Pompam as a swordmaster afraid of sharp, dangerous, pointy things. Jennie Panhan as magnificent sorceress and head of the guild. With lots of sword jokes.)
And of course the key for a successful lakorn is how well it handles the emotions of its plots. Again, I would have liked more there for most of the lakorn, especially in the primary romantic arc. Add in a very villainous modern-world villain with a plot line full of cliches and for a lot of this, I rated it a middling one31 fantasy lakorn with some good moments. I like the sub-genre though, and it was easy enough to set aside critiques and just go along for the ride.
There were winks along the way, like the amusing integration of a product placement inhaler and one character reminding another that the imagined novel within the story is just entertainment and not to be taken seriously. They have to, but if you insist on taking this lakorn seriously, you'll just upset yourself. If you get something from that though, go for it.
But if you're happy to give some time to the nonsense of this fairytale, it's fun. It's an easy watch with short episodes and a lot of energy as it merrily speeds over every plot hole.
The male leads are green flags. The gently stern gravitas with a wink Bright brings to Wang Yitian works well, though the female lead roles are mostly written and acted with the flighty manner of rom coms. It wouldn't have taken much for the director to add some depth earlier through changes there.
In the last two episodes though, it commits more fully to its premise and finds more depth in its emotions. So maybe it's better than middling after all. I enjoyed it.
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everything serves a purpose
Perhaps this is less a youth film and more for those who are older and have been broken by life. Will leave it to young people to decide how well it works for them.Its symbolism is well-integrated - the sound of the foghorn, signalling departure but also moving forward, and its corresponding note on the piano. Where each of the main characters tends to go - Nazuna seeking out high places like the school roof, Satoru walking home with his brother, Kashiwagi lost in grief along the low shore. Voices silenced by self or others, or death, and what comes from being heard. Or someone saying those lost words. Everything in this film serves a purpose.
Yes, the concentration of situations they're in tend towards melodramatic, but each of them alone is realistic and there is plenty of balance in small details of daily life for the students. And yes, the timing is convenient. That does tend to happen in films. It's all serving the larger purpose. The key to good melodrama is always in the emotions, are they realistic and accurate for the situation. In that, in the tender vulnerability of the children, in Aragaki's understated portrayal of grief, the importance of being heard as one's authentic self, in the power of connection to make life just a bit easier, this beautiful, gentle, hopeful film rings true.
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mellow drama
A field of fluffy fairy floss and a historical lakorn of dubious accuracy took a walk in a river of chamomile tea and had a brood of handsome gay babies. This is their story.Overall it's light fare, though it does have substance layered in. The villain is a lakorn trope, but rendered as a petulant child with outdated attitudes. It does the historical lakorn thing of using the past to dramatise and pour emotion into the need for current social change, with the younger ones leading the way out of homophobia and class inequality. The narrative pairing of those together, and how one allows certain characters to find empathy for the other, was a strength. And the matriarch's final scene.
I'm not keen on gentle-washing the past but recognise that here it's in service to the present, with crystal clear calls for equality and acceptance which need to be repeated and told in every way possible. The creators chose to make this a calm quiet sugar-spun fairy tale. As such, they and the actors did well.
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Writing women into a historical framework
Two things increased my appreciation for this, and thus my rating. The ending. And reading up on the history. The long (and so very Thai <3) disclaimer at the beginning states that an aim is to "encourage viewers to take an interest in history...[and to] seek additional knowledge from experts or historians to gain an accurate understanding of Ayuttaya history."It did succeed in getting me interested in the history - primarily what is recorded of Sri Sudachan. There isn't much and it's disputed. We don't even have her name or the names of the other concubines, only their titles. A starting trawl through Wikipedia though shows that the framework of men this story is built around is taken from historical records - Chairachathirat and his connections with Portuguese mercenaries and their war tech, Worawongsathirat and his many titles, Yotfa, Sri Sin, Phirenthorathep, Chan, Ratchasaneh.
And also things written about Sri Sudachan herself, or rather the fictionalised versions others chose to tell.
Part of me wishes I'd waited as I spoiled a few things for myself near the end, but it also brought the creators' intentions into sharp, crystal clear, unquestionable focus - this isn't a "historical" fiction flight of fantasy - it's very much about filling in gaps and creating a space for women to exist in that history. One woman, in particular, whose existence was recorded by those who benefitted from making her a villain.
Some of this short lakorn is difficult - war and brutal actions are depicted, sometimes on screen, a few thankfully implied. It's about power, corruption and conflict. It's condensed melodrama too, which will throw some off, especially those who are used to epic long Chinese court intrigues. That's just a different way of telling a story.
Through it all are the women - concubines, confidantes and servants, armed women guards and their leader - their conflicts with each other and struggles to figure out how to get by in a world where they are pawns with limited power and room to move, who they truly love and who they can truly trust.
For these few days, this woman - whose name the men couldn't be bothered to record - was alive again. They did a fantastic job with bringing her, and all of the complicated emotions of a woman in her position, to life.
Links in a comment under a spoiler for those who want to read more. So far it's just Wikipedia as they're understandable summaries and even within these few pages, it's clear how each one takes a different view of Sri Sudachan. I recommend waiting until you've finished the lakorn.
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