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Wow
This is both a gorgeous pair of love stories and a crime mystery that's so intense it's difficult to watch at times. It goes deep on all the emotions, but it's worth trusting in it and giving it time, attention and patience.The writers, film editors and cast made a complicated plot line harmonize beautifully. I keep trying to talk myself out of writing that it's the best thing I've ever seen, but honestly, I can't think of another. Can't recommend it highly enough.
The site wants 500 words and I have many to go :) So things I really liked about it: great use of the theme music to underscore key emotional moments; that I could feel both Wu Yu's love for Tan Jiao and how she felt being in that love; the secondary characters who had their own growth and change; that as uncomfortable as the lowest lows were I've forgotten about them for the happiness and love; the gentle emotional sensitivity of many scenes.
I've not rewatched it yet but I gave it a high rating because there's plenty of complexity and things to watch out for through all the twists and because I really liked spending time with the four main characters and the music <3
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I'm honestly not sure what to make of this.
Legend writ enormously large around a real person who may not have contributed much, if anything, aside from his name, his job and the location.
A Thai take on westerns - like it belongs in the lineage of Tears of the Black Tiger, though not as far afield. Violent, very violent and very stylised, muted browns and dirt, the use of water. Parts felt almost surreal, which is one way of making supernatural powers real within a film, like this was just normal in their world, rare but known.
It was difficult and I took a few breaks, looking this or that thing up. It's like the opposite of the two hours + Thai movies I love, where they wander around exploring their wee world before revealing their poignancy and it's gentle and comforting. Only here it's the hour 38 minutes of a Thai action movie, traveling through the violence of its world. And then it shifts, surreal but grounded within the language of the film, and ends in something else. It gave some sense of meaning and closure, satisfying in the moment, but perhaps not all that deep. Exhausting to get there too. Maybe it felt worth it, in the end.
But there were clearly layers I do not have the knowledge to feel, even if I can think my way through some of them. Sometimes my sense of being an outsider is particularly sharp. This is one.
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The plot may gleefully leap into and over plot holes, but the characters are consistent and well-delivered, This, and its abundant energy, is what makes it work - whether it's zinging through one nonsense or another, slipping into lakorn parody, or bringing the family closer together.
There were moments when Carissa and Pingpong were having so much fun bouncing off each other I wouldn't be at all surprised if the entire premise (4 half-siblings with mothers from different countries) was devised simply to let them play phi nong. Kao and Punpun are calmer in their roles, giving it some balance.
It's a VIU Original and available on all of the sites for the different countries they serve. If you're lucky enough to live in one, or have a VPN to pretend you do, look there.
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Some faithful, some reworked. War movie with OTT violence, and then one love story and another, success, betrayal, loyalty, magic, mythical sea creatures and special effects of dubious merit.
This isn't one to watch critically, better to just go along for the ride.
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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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