The Rain Stories (2016)

At times nuanced, sometimes muddled

A collection of 3 different stories loosely linked by the motif of rain.

Story 1: Disabled boy falls in love with schoolmate

This is probably the best of the three. The story is easily summarized: a disabled and overweight gay boy (Nana) falls in love with a younger schoolmate (Gent). A mutual friend finds out about the crush and tells, without malicious intent, the Gent about it. Feeling disturbed, Gent begins to behave coldly towards Nana. Despite saying that he just wants to continue being friends, Nana continues expressing his love. On Gent's part, he seems more concerned about hiding his friendship with than anything else.

To its credit, the film portrays Nana to be a very human character complete with flaws and not merely as someone we can sympathize with. Posting a picture he has taken with Gent on Facebook despite having promised Gent not to do so doesn't seem right. As for Gent, despite his willingness to be friends with Nana, he seems embarrassed about being friends with him too--but only after he is being teased about it. We can understand both the characters: it's not easy to simply erase one's romantic feelings for another person even if you agree to just be friends; it is also difficult for a young person like Gent to ignore teasing by others and be assertive.

Then again, Gent can also be a bit of a jerk. He wants his friendship with Nana, but he also wants to avoid teasing. When no one is watching, he gets close to Nana, even possibly with a hint of romantic affection. Nevertheless, he does tell Nana emphatically not to tell anyone about their outing and not to post on social media photos of them together, so it isn't right for Nana to do so.

At its best, this segment is sensitive and sympathetic while being nuanced in its portrayal of the characters. Unfortunately, the nuances may also make the film seem a little confusing because too little time is spent on the exposition of the characters' inner struggles, particularly Gent's (because the story is told from the perspective of Nana).

Story 2: A boy discovers that his biological father is transgender

This story could have been interesting but for some reason is too short and ends too abruptly, making it the weakest of the three segments. Bas is best friends with Boy. Bas' mother is dying of cancer, and she introduces him to his "aunt" who turns out to be his father. I have the impression that the father is transgender and has transitioned although the subtitles use the term "ladyboy". Unable to accept the truth, Bas leaves home and then . . . um, realizes that his parents love him and Boy loves him. Bas and Boy kiss in the rain and they return home the following morning, holding hands.

Story 3: A eighteen-year-old student develops an ambiguous relationship with a man he almost prostitutes himself to

I really want to like this story more. It's the longest segment, and he story is more developed than the second segment, but it might as well have been given less time.

Tae is in debt and considers prostituting himself to gay men (his friend claims that he won't earn money prostituting himself to women; I'm not sure if this involves some sort of stereotype). He ends up contacting Nont online and agreeing to sell himself for 20,000 baht. But when Nont sees Tae, he gives Tae the money to pay his debt and asks that he stops gambling, without asking Tae to have sex with him.

Tae is quite an asshole. He goes back to Nont who indulges him with more and more money. This is inexplicable given that Nont is obviously not stupid, but fine . . . perhaps he has a soft spot for Tae, and he has plenty of money anyway, so who are we to judge him for giving away his money like that?

Did I say Tae is an asshole? Apart from getting money from Nont, he has sex with girls, secretly films the footage and apparently even blackmails them. But when he sees another guy coming out from Nont's house after not seeing Nont for some time (the sort of transaction that Tae has never fulfilled has just taken place), he gets jealous and is so upset that he prostitutes himself to another gay man swiftly. If he simply wants Nont's money, he could tell Nont that he has done this to manipulate Nont, but he actually does it while feeling miserable. Sure, Tae has possibly developed some affection for or dependency on Nont who has been so indulgent, but it does not seem like his affections would make him so jealous and possessive that that he would prostitute himself to someone else (note that he hasn't even had sex with Nont until this point, after getting lots of money from him).

Somehow, Nont seems apologetic for being unfaithful to the prostitute who has never fulfilled his part of the transaction, and the two of them make up. Tae starts living with Nont (but they never have sex despite sharing the same bed).

The character of Tae is one muddled mess, intentionally or not. He wants Nont to stop smoking for the sake of his health so that they can spend many years together. (How sweet! Or is he just afraid that the sugar daddy who expects nothing will die too quickly?) For a while Nont and Tae seem to be really happy together. but Tae seems to be continuing with the same old heinous tricks with women.

Nont eventually realizes that Tae is in love with someone else and decides to end the relationship. (Ah, finally!) At the same time, Tae's ex-friend exposes his shenanigans and general assholery to this girl he is in love with. Devastated, Tae calls Nont, clearly his greatest source of consolation (and money). He is unable to get through, and later discovers that Nont has decided to sell the house. When Nont eventually meets him, you might think that he would show some appreciation for this person who has been treating him so well all this while. But no, he tells Nont that he can't love Nont anymore because he is in love with someone else.

Fine, maybe Tae has come to his senses and decided to come clean and be honest to Nont finally? No. When Nont says coldly that he has known that Tae is in love with someone else for some time already, he starts accusing Nont of being rude and not caring for him. Nont then leaves him for good. The story ends with Tae crying in the rain, supposedly a very sad scene. Hey, if nothing else, it seems like a sadder ending for Nont, who is at least a flawed person with some goodness in him.

Perhaps the story is a tale on human fallibility and how we might take the people who care about us for granted until it is too late. But for the story to convey this, Tae would need to much a lot less of an asshole who thinks that he can expect Nont's continued love and care even after he tells Nont that he is unable to love him. Unlike in the first segment where Nana is a flawed character whom one can sympathize with, it is hard to feel sad for Tae at the end of the third story. It's hard to believe that he is truly in love with the girl or that he is truly sorry about what he has done to Nont. Unless "a bastard loses the best sugar daddy he can find" sounds like a good pitch for a tragedy to you, the ending might even put a smile on your face.

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