Bangkok Love Story
I've just watched Thai film Bangkok Love Story and I want to get my first impressions down "on paper", I might come back to them later for a second pass. (Edit: I've since realised that the translator on the youtube video I watched has given the characters Chinese names for some reason. Apologies if this gets confusing.)
Summary: Assassin-for-hire Yun barely eeks out a living from his job, and has to support his mother and brother Wu who are both terminally ill. Fed up, he decides he will quit and take his family with him to hide out in the country. He is given one final assignment to kidnap a young military officer Shi. When handing over Shi to his employer, Yun is horrified to discover the truth behind the kidnapping and things turn very ugly. Yun and Shi have to escape together and hide out in Yun's squat. Facing certain death at the hands of Yun's employer if they go outside, the two men are forced to live together for an extended period, and soon fall deeply in love.
This movie is tragic almost beyond belief. And not in a good way. Everything that can go wrong, does. I once even found myself laughing in disbelief at the relentlessness of the tragedy. It really is that heavy-going. It takes itself extremely seriously. There isn't a single joke made in the entire movie - an experience I don't think I have ever had before in either a film or TV show. It's melodrama on steroids.
The only thing that holds onto its tiny flame of hope is the love the two men find with each other. Shi in particular reaches a point in his feelings for Yun that elevates him beyond all the destruction going on around him. (It definitely helps that Shi is played by Chaiwat Thongsaeng, an actor of luminous beauty. Photo below, before he took up excessive bodybuilding.) We know instinctively that he will love Yun for the rest of his life. It's definitely the finest and most appealing aspect of the movie. The two actors have a so-so chemistry and most of their scenes together hold your attention.
However almost everything else concerning the depiction of the central relationship falls into a heap upon closer inspection. I wish there was more that's positive to say about it, as I really did get invested in seeing them do well. Unfortunately the sex scenes are just ridiculous, trying to look passionate and ravenous, but they merely come off as uncomfortably forced and very awkwardly directed. The two main actors do their best, but they aren't served well by a wafer-thin screenplay that gives them almost nothing to work with, especially in the first part of the film during the hideout. There's no reason at all for the boys to fall in love, except maybe Stockholm Syndrome. The second half ramps up the action sequences and violence, but it also plays a pointless game with Yun, Shi and Wu. They are repeatedly caught up in a vicious karma of searching for but not quite finding each other at various locations around Bangkok, and thereby suddenly ending up alone and suffering a cruel catastrophe. It's an odd trick for screenwriters to play on their characters - not just once but several times. It frustrated me deeply. It's fair to say that this movie takes some well-worn tragic plot devices and then stretches them beyond any sensible breaking point. The way the writers deal with Yun's mother and Wu's illnesses is particularly heartless, and the reason for their illness is truly repulsive. And the final grandiose set-piece will, quite frankly, destroy your faith in humanity and the gods.
This was a very different viewing experience to the one I had anticipated. I had read online that this is one of Thailand's most loved queer movies. I didn't dislike this movie but I was completely disheartened by it. I certainly would never watch it again.
Rating: 10 out of 20
Ending: Tragically bad.
Best scene: Shi yells out his declarations of love over the rooftops to a hiding Yun.
Summary: Assassin-for-hire Yun barely eeks out a living from his job, and has to support his mother and brother Wu who are both terminally ill. Fed up, he decides he will quit and take his family with him to hide out in the country. He is given one final assignment to kidnap a young military officer Shi. When handing over Shi to his employer, Yun is horrified to discover the truth behind the kidnapping and things turn very ugly. Yun and Shi have to escape together and hide out in Yun's squat. Facing certain death at the hands of Yun's employer if they go outside, the two men are forced to live together for an extended period, and soon fall deeply in love.
This movie is tragic almost beyond belief. And not in a good way. Everything that can go wrong, does. I once even found myself laughing in disbelief at the relentlessness of the tragedy. It really is that heavy-going. It takes itself extremely seriously. There isn't a single joke made in the entire movie - an experience I don't think I have ever had before in either a film or TV show. It's melodrama on steroids.
The only thing that holds onto its tiny flame of hope is the love the two men find with each other. Shi in particular reaches a point in his feelings for Yun that elevates him beyond all the destruction going on around him. (It definitely helps that Shi is played by Chaiwat Thongsaeng, an actor of luminous beauty. Photo below, before he took up excessive bodybuilding.) We know instinctively that he will love Yun for the rest of his life. It's definitely the finest and most appealing aspect of the movie. The two actors have a so-so chemistry and most of their scenes together hold your attention.
However almost everything else concerning the depiction of the central relationship falls into a heap upon closer inspection. I wish there was more that's positive to say about it, as I really did get invested in seeing them do well. Unfortunately the sex scenes are just ridiculous, trying to look passionate and ravenous, but they merely come off as uncomfortably forced and very awkwardly directed. The two main actors do their best, but they aren't served well by a wafer-thin screenplay that gives them almost nothing to work with, especially in the first part of the film during the hideout. There's no reason at all for the boys to fall in love, except maybe Stockholm Syndrome. The second half ramps up the action sequences and violence, but it also plays a pointless game with Yun, Shi and Wu. They are repeatedly caught up in a vicious karma of searching for but not quite finding each other at various locations around Bangkok, and thereby suddenly ending up alone and suffering a cruel catastrophe. It's an odd trick for screenwriters to play on their characters - not just once but several times. It frustrated me deeply. It's fair to say that this movie takes some well-worn tragic plot devices and then stretches them beyond any sensible breaking point. The way the writers deal with Yun's mother and Wu's illnesses is particularly heartless, and the reason for their illness is truly repulsive. And the final grandiose set-piece will, quite frankly, destroy your faith in humanity and the gods.
This was a very different viewing experience to the one I had anticipated. I had read online that this is one of Thailand's most loved queer movies. I didn't dislike this movie but I was completely disheartened by it. I certainly would never watch it again.
Rating: 10 out of 20
Ending: Tragically bad.
Best scene: Shi yells out his declarations of love over the rooftops to a hiding Yun.
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