Mr. Nice Guy & the Lonely Man (2023)

goodish indie short movie

Overall: a decent way to spend 30 minutes. Aired on Wayufilm's YouTube channel https://youtu.be/zFifCdlf9e0?si=SlYCdQQSoMRJF4kV

Content Warnings: homophobia, vomiting, slap

What I Liked
- centered on the two leads with just 2 other characters
- sweet moments*
- good production value for an indie short movie

Room For Improvement
- *I wish their getting to know you/falling in love wasn't done in montages, they could have cut/reduced other scenes (including the time jump) and actually had these scenes with dialogue
- I didn't take off points but I don't think a homophobic parent would have queer movie posters on the wall of their workplace (pretty sure that set is the production's office, however, they could have removed the posters or covered them up)
- because it was a time jump it felt like a very fast/unrealistic turn around for the dad
- using alcohol as a catalyst to their spending time/relationship

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Short but nicely done coming out story

overall pretty good story.
acting wasn't bad. Jaffe was a little over the top with that laughter.
Chai did well.
interesting way to move the story forward, using music and action, but no dialogue in several parts.
mostly easy watch.
warning- their is a hard slap in one scene.
watched on YT. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFifCdlf9e0

SPOILERS
TBH, I'd slapped that girl's hand away much sooner. lol. how annoying.
Bottoms up when drinking is so distasteful. And if you can't hold your drink, don't do it.
Drinking and driving, just don't.
"I'm not going with a gay." uhhh honey, you are in a gay bar. I mean, the place is called BLOW, and there is a rainbow attached to a banana at the entrance. eyeroll
For Jaffe to say it was no big deal, that he's been spoken to like that lots of time, and he's used to it, is really sad.
I hate when parents ask their kid a question, but then don't let them speak to actually answer it. smh

Dang pops, that was one heck of a slap!
I like how they focused on pop's grief. Finding out his son is gay, the dreams that he had for his son, future, family, etc going up in smoke so suddenly. That's a lot for him to handle. But if he'd listen to his son, there is no reason why he can't be happy and understand that the future may look differently, but ultimately it's HIS future to live, and as a dad, he should want his son to be happy, fulfilled, and successful in his own way.

1 yr time skip
Even Yok came around. wow. Love her little cherry tattoo on her arm. :))
as did pops.
and oh what a good wedding kiss. I man, they've been together a year, so I'm glad it wasn't just a lip press. lol

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Message to fight homophobia and internalized homophobia

Chai is a lonely young man who recently graduated. Dissatisfied in his courtship, he ends up with the girlfriend with whom his father, a man who continually dictates to him how to live, hopes that he will marry one day and have a happy life according to his criteria of happiness.
One night, fed up with this situation, Chai gets drunk in a bar where he meets Raffe, a friendly stranger who takes care of him.
'Mr. Nice Guy & the Lonely Man! (ราฟกับชาย), is a Thai LGBTIQ+ themed romantic short film, released on December 22, 2023 by Wayufilm Production.
One of the benefits of the film is to introduce us to two new faces in the BL universe: those of the young Euro Pratchakorn Nokaew, the actor who plays Chai, known for taking on the role of Hope in the miniseries 'Her', and Novel Paruntawatt Wittayarutt, who precisely makes his acting debut with the role of Raffe.
Despite being a simple story and, incidentally, we will know very little about our protagonists, the tension and conflict created advance the story and keep the audience interested.
Scripted and directed by filmmaker Nicchi Nitchapoom Chaianun, the film seeks to make us reflect on parents who accept the homosexuality of everyone, except that of their children.
This is evident with Chai's father, a man who lives or works in a space where two clearly visible giant posters that allude to love between boys hang on the wall. One of them is obviously that of the film 'My Bromance' ("พี่ชาย My Bromance", Phi Chai My Bromance), from 2014, directed by Nicchi himself, in which two young people of the same sex can be seen hugging.
However, this character, played by the renowned actor Pug Raywat Peanpojjananarth, despite being inserted in an environment surrounded by homosexual images and symbolism, does not accept his son's homosexuality.
Other topics addressed are internalized homophobia and acceptance. Chai doesn't love his girlfriend and this is why he argues with his father. Thus he ends up in a visibly gay bar. He is approached by a boy who politely asks if he can keep him company. Raffe's interest is evident as he approaches Chai. After drinking with Raffe, that's the boy's name, Chai rejects him because he is gay.
Then, the conflict, organic and arising naturally from the story, is established: the two characters have opposite desires or objectives.
While Raffe seeks to establish a romantic, or at least sexual, bond, Chai, who tries to erase with alcohol the treatment his father gives him every day, hides himself behind not wanting to be linked to homosexuals.
However, being drunk, he ends up allowing himself to be driven to the young man's house, with whom he will establish a deep loving bond. Chai has overcome internalized homophobia.
What does the character still have to do after falling in love with a boy?
Meeting Raffe will also result in Chai gaining courage and confronting his father, in the most dramatic scene of the short film. And not only this, but his father finally accepts his son.
It is interesting that the film is designed to be narrated many of its scenes without the spoken word, with the support of music and moving images, specifically in some moments of interaction between the two protagonists in which they animatedly converse.
And in that, we understand Nicchi, who, from the audiovisual resources of montage and shot, opts for this structure to advance the story.
Telling a story with limited use of dialogue is a rigorous exercise in cinematographic terms. One of the main resources used in cinema is oral narration, almost always descriptive, and serves to complete what cannot be resolved by visual means.
But in the case of 'Mr. Nice Guy & the Lonely Man! There is even more, because it is a film that breaks down each moment shot by shot, in a fluid narrative and without unnecessary editing tricks. It always prevails a conception of space as a place to be explored by the eye, without cuts and with a lot of imagination.
With good performances, commendable production values ​​and fluid narrative and scenery, 'Mr. Nice Guy & the Lonely Man' leaves us with a profound message of fighting against homophobia and internalized homophobia.

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