Carla Do
I Feel You Linger in the Air
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The most beautiful period Thai Queer series of the decade
It is only September as I'm writing this review but I believe it's safe to say I Feel You Linger In The Air (IFYLITA) is the BEST Thai series of 2023 for me. Everything from story, plot, pacing, acting/cast, music, rewatch value. 10/10. IFYLITA deserves all the hype in the world and it was absolute worth the wait of over a year since the cast announcement back in March 2022, the actual production period spanning over 8 months from November 2022 to July 2023.STORY
Being transported back in time isn't an unfamiliar fantasy trope but this is the first time I've seen Dee Hup House pulled out all the stops for their production. Based on the popular novel "The Fragrance of Love" (หอมกลิ่นความรัก) by Violet Rain, IFYLITA tells the story of Jom finding the true destined love of his life in the most unexpected circumstance and after being heartbroken by a cheating ex. Even though I've been a fan of the novel, I think the series is outdoing the original work because it's been able to adapt the novel to fit with the pacing of a series without losing the spirit of the novel. The supporting characters who pretty much disappear by the time Khun Yai and Jom get together in the novel are all now given their own background stories and subplots. The team has done so much world building to create an immersive experience but still shows respect for the original work (especially the iconic dialogues between Khun Yai and Jom have been adapted exactly as is). So far, everything has been perfect. The drama in each episode just gets better and better as the plot starts to unfold for every single characters.
ACTING/CAST
Nonkul and Bright are absolutely phenomenal in their respective roles of Jom and Khun Yai. Nonkul has been playing mostly "alpha" brooding male roles in his more recent works so it was refreshing to see him in a completely new light as a shy, heartbroken, gay little architecture who just wants to find love. Bright is bringing Jane Austen Male Lead A-GAME for his FIRST ML ROLE EVER. You can tell Bright practiced a lot to portrayed Khun Yai as close to the novel as possible (the way Khun Yai walks with hands behind his back, his posture, him speaking in the different local dialect but at times speak in the dialect that Jom can understand...). From their acting alone,one could tell how much love Nonkul and Bright have for the original novel and the amount "homework", care and dedication they have to crafting their characters to be as close as possible. It is not easy to act with so little dialogues but their lingering gazes, the subtle touches, the micro-facial expressions... absolutely immaculate acting to make their characters come alive so vividly. I won't go into details about the supporting characters but I do want to point out how incredibly detailed the production team is in the casting to have everyone speaking in that old local dialect to accurately portray Chiangmai in 2023.
MUSIC
IFYLITA has some of the most beautiful OST songs. I love how every time Khun Yai and Jom has their cute, lovey dovey moment, the OST 'Jom Kwan' by Asia7 starts playing! The lyrics are so lovely because it's written from the perspective of the lovesick Khun Yai who's so endeared by Jom that I just melt into a puddle every time. As the Plumeria/Frangipani flower is a huge symbol of the show, I love that the most important moments are accompanied by the OST 'Plumeria' by Cocktail. In addition to the OST, the scoring and sound editing is excellent as well. IFYLITA has very dramatic score and I can honestly say some thrilling scenes are hard-carried by the horror-movie type score and sound effects.
REWATCH VALUE
I think I will come back to watch this series every year. It's the perfect series for autumn weather and it's one where you can fully immerse yourself to be transported back to Thailand in the 1920s. There's just so much cultural, historical lessons one can get from this series. IFYLITA feels really authentic and invested. Honestly speaking, IFYLITA is like the famous time-traveling Thai lakorn Love Destiny but make it BL, get rid of the CH3 lakorn editing and infinitely better cinematography. Like they are COUSINS to me.
PRODUCTION
Gorgeous, beautiful cinematography, color grading, brilliant writing. There are so many things to praise about the production of this series but if I had to choose one thing, it would be the excellent details of this production. Making this queer period series is an ambitious project for Dee Hup House. Nonkul mentioned in an interview that one of his biggest worries for this series was the visual effects because in order for this book to come alive, it would have to be much invested for everything to look nice and Dee Hup House DID IT! Every shot is dazzling, cinematic like watching a Netflix-level budgeted period series. Small details like props, outfits, cultural events are also paid great attention with a view to craft Thailand in 1927 as close as possible.
OVERALL
While IFYLITA is enjoying moderate popularity in Thailand, I still think it's an underrated gem for a queer series that deserves much more international recognition. I think anyone who is looking for a well produced, invested period series with two eye candy for the leads, should give I Feel You Linger In The Air a chance. If you're looking for a fast-paced, plot-driven queer series, IFYLITA may not be the series you're looking for but it is the perfect one if you're in need of a refreshing multiple queer romances plot with decent pacing and looking to be transported back to Thailand in 1920s with our protagonist, Jom.
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Ready, Set, Love - a colorful mini series for Valentine's Day
Netflix Thailand really opened their 2024 with a fantastic original work. Ready, Set, Love is a dystopian romcom miniseries (6 episodes) with a LOT of comedy, a hint of thriller, the cheesiest and corniest writing but also a lot of heart. The perfect Valentine's Day binge in my opinion.STORY
Set in a dystopian world the female population outnumbers the male, our protagonist Day (Belle Kemisara) got selected into a government-sponsored reality competition called "Ready, Set, Love" where women compete to win the affection of five "Gentlemen". While the premise is original, I thought the execution of the story was a little bit of cliche and predictable at times. I definitely feel like I caught many references to The Hunger Games and Divergent and other popular dystopian genre works (Eve Capital????). But besides the cliche writing, there were a LOT of LGBTQIA+ positive messages sprinkled throughtout the dialogues and LGBTQ+ representation. I was so happy to get a scene where our supporting lesbian couple having an ultrasound of their baby. Althought the series promoted itself as a romantic comedy series, I think Ready Set Love is was much darker than I had expected for a Valentine's Day release. But with a tight-pacing, the series did well to tell everything in the span of 6 episodes while covering all the characters' subplots as well as not leaving any loose threads (BUT THAT CLIFFHANGER POST-CREDIT SCENE? @NETFLIX BE SERIOUS). The series got very dark all of a sudden in the last episode but I thought it was a reasonable writing choice.
ACTING/CAST
Our ML is Son, the most popular and handsome Gentleman, played by Blue Pongtiwat. I think the romantic scenes between Belle Kemisara and Blue Pongtiwat were believable but not crazy insane, just decent enough because they're two incredible actors. I think the supporting characters definitely stole the series a little bit more for me. I particularly love Paper (the youngest Gentleman), May (Day's younger sister) and Valentine (Day's bestfriend) and Chun. The actors for these supporting characters were delivering top-notched performances even with the little scenes they had. The miniseries did very well in giving all the supporting characters of the series a lot of room to fully portray and tell their stories.
MUSIC
The score is bubbly and fun. I love the jazzy opening intro and the graphics fit it perfectly. There's this song that the character Chun (played by Kunchanuj) sings and I absolutely adore it. Music is a huge part of Paper's storyline and I love the songs seletion for this series.
REWATCH VALUE
This is one of those series where I don't think I'll rewatch because the mystery plot only really works the first time that you watch. But I do think I'll rewatch certain episodes for the cinematography because the color palette of this series is so vivid and vibrant, I was in awe the wholetime. It reminds me of the color palette of Pushing Daisies, which is a favorite series of mine.
PRODUCTION
This was such a high value production from Netflix Thailand, I'm surprised by how bad they're marketing this. I keep mentioning the colors of the series but I'm not kidding at all, it is truly beautiful and so gorgeous. The set, the costume, the visual effects. You can FEEL the high budget for this series from just the first episode because the fictional world they've created is honestly very realistic.
OVERALL
If you're looking for a high-value, fast-paced, quirky campy romcom Thai miniseries (6 episodes) with a dash of dystopian and thriller element, Ready, Set, Love is definitely a must-watch Netflix Original.
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Definitely an underrated gem among 2023 BL series
Incredible cinematography, great special fx, superb writing and incredible color grading. Gawin is absolutely phenomenal as our charismatic love interest Pisaeng while Krist once again proves his impeccable comedic charms as our dorky protagonist Kawi. Both male leads are very likable and easy to empathize with (even when they make bad decisions or say things they don't mean T.T). If people are willing to come to this show with an open-mind, I think it's really easy to fall in love with the series and its characters. Be My Favorite has one of the most promising premises in the roster of 2023 BLs and I think it's definitely a hidden gem and being overlooked despite it being a GMMTV BL series.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Lovely healing mini series
I did not expect that Bake Me Please would end up as the only November premiered series that I caught up with but alas here I am, writing down a review for this series.I will not lie, I came to this series with super low expectations. Not because most are still rookie actors (except for Ohm), but because this was CH8 so I honestly braced myself for the worst thinking this is gonna go down the lakorn route, super melodramatic and average tv lakorn-style cinematography.
Never was I more elated to be proven wrong. The cinematography is not like earth shattering excellent but it's really beautiful and well done (especially the mouth watering pastries shots). The production value is much higher than I expected but I guess maybe it's thanks to the Toyota money 🤣 (I gladly accept those random Toyota car scenes).
The story is simple, so cliche and cheesy. sunshine boy meets cold ice prince, they fall in love, they change each other lives. It was predictable no doubt. Yet, I came back every week, fully engaged and determined to see how things played out. Guide Kantapon is just such a charming actor, although a relative rookie. His smiles completely melt me (as well as Shin's heart).
Ohm is once again playing the typical stoic cold tsundere male lead. Even though, Ohm may be type casted into these roles, I think he plays them extremely well. Shin just fits him like a glove. It's really nice to see Ohm playing opposite Guide too, which is totally different chemistry from OhmFluke but equally as charming and endearing.
I love all of our supporting actors Poom, Prame, Atom but if I had to give the MVP is definitely Poom Phuripan and his incredible performance as the heart throbbing second male lead - chef Guy. Guy's pain from losing his best friend, his unrequited affection for Peach, his pettiness. I felt every single emotion Poom was delivering. It breaks my heart to know Poom was hospitalized after filming his scenes with Prame in the final EP because he had caught influenza but he still persevered and gave it his all 😭.
I will miss waiting for Sunday every week for Bake Me Please so much. If you're looking for a cheesy as heck BL series about a bunch of baker boys in love, please consider checking out Bake Me Please.
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A movie that broke my heart into million pieces
I'm writing this as my tears are still not yet dried from all the bawling I did because of this movie.STORY
Road trip with a dying cancer patient isn't exactly the most original plot but the director has executed this story in the most original way possible. I love the way Aood's (girlfriend) stories gradually travel backward eventually leading up to how Boss and Aood's friendship was formed. They're all touching in different ways and all had me bawling my eyes out. However, the most tearjerking element was Aood's dad's death and the use of his dad's narration through out the film. I was bawling my eyes out by the time we got to the end. The ending was so bittersweet. 10/10 for writing. Not a single redundant dialogue. Everything was perfect from start to finish.
ACTING/CAST
Ice is absolutely incredible as Aood and you really feel our protagonist's pain as he goes on a journey to ask for forgiveness from people whom he's hurt. Tor really proved he got chops in the second half of the movie when the story of Boss and Prim unfolds. Violette and Tor has been in past projects together so there was no doubt they would have perfect chemistry and they absolutely delivered.
MUSIC
I fucking cried every time Aood opens a cassette tape from his father's radio show and as his father introduces the song, montages of Aood 's stories start unfolding. The music selection for this movie was top tier and immaculate. The director, the music score and composer were truly out for blood with the soundtrack for this movie and they did it. They shattered my heart into a million pieces with every song played in this movie. This film is a good example of how important soundtrack and film scores are to elevate the narrative being told.
REWATCH VALUE
I think it'll be hard for me to come back to watching this movie. It's quite a slow movie that's absolutely gonna break your heart so I would save this for sad rainy day because it's meant to be enjoyed fully from start to finish.
PRODUCTION
As expected of a GDH production, beautiful cinematography, ingenious transitions, brilliant writing. There are so many things to praise about the production of this film but if I had to choose one thing, it would be the excellent mise-en-scene of this film. Every shot is dazzling, intentional and fill with metaphors. It was truly beautiful.
OVERALL
It's an underrated gem that I think everyone should give it a try on a rainy day or when you're feeling down and you want to cry your heart out to a film, One For The Road is the perfect film for such a day.
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An interesting take on religion as profitable business
STORYThe Believers tell the story of three friends (Win, Game, Dear) who attempt to pay the debt from their failed start-up by running a temple. The first half was so fast-paced, sometimes almost too fast so I feared it would drag in the second half and it kind of did when they introduced the crime-esque plot into the story. It feels cliche but also not at the same time because there are definitely moments where I felt it predictable but not at the same time.
ACTING/CAST
I am very biased so when I first saw that the trio was led by Peach Pachara and James Teeradon, I knew they would deliver. I think this is Ally's first leading role so I could understand her acting left a lot to be desired. Even though James was arguably the protagonist, I think Peach's acting in the second half of the story was a top notch performance and I think he should keep being cast in these kind of charming/kinda psychotic roles. BUT... the performance that left greatest impact on me was probably Patchai in the role of Monk Dol. Imagine my surprise when I found out he's not even actor but the front man of Thai rock band Potato. I was just heartbroken on behalf of his character and I only wish his character's happiness, no one else.
MUSIC
I don't think there were original theme songs composed for this series but I love the song selection. My favorite is definitely the recurring song "Saa-tuu" by Milli, TangBadVoice playing whenever their money making scheme works. It is surprisingly fresh yet fitting for the series.
REWATCH VALUE
I don't think this has too much of a high rewatch value because of a certain plotline that I felt kinda unneccesary in the second half of the story but I LOVE the scenes with Monk Dol so I think I'll come back to a few scenes quite a bit to gif/screencap them. There are quite few social commentaries sprinkled throughout the series that I really enjoyed as well. One of my favorite quotes is "It's true that love brings happiness, but happiness and suffering often come together. If you decide to love, you need to be prepared for suffering." sighs... Monk Dol, you are truly my beloved character.
PRODUCTION
I am in love with the camera work from this series. There are a lot of much wide symmetrical shots as well as outdoor shots which showcase the beauty of Thai temples. At the beginning, there are a few scenes where the humor is relied on the framing of a scene, which is so stylistic of Thai cinematic works.
OVERALL
It's a crime drama series that can feel flat at times but hard carried by the acting performances of the actors in this series so I would recommend this to anyone who's interested in the subject topic or fans of Peach, James, Ally or Patchai.
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Trillion Game - an exhilaring fun ride from start to finish
I watched like four Japanese series in 2023 so I'm not sure I'm qualified to rank anything but for me personally, Trillion Game is the BEST Japanese series of 2023. The story and solutions felt cheesy at times but pacing, acting/cast, music, rewatch value. 10/10. I am so happy I decided on a whim to watch this after being in a slump of not being able to truly enjoy any series after I finished another drama which I considered my favorite series of 2023.STORY
We follow Haru (Meguro Ren), an extremely charming communicator and Gaku (Sano Hayato), a brilliant IT engineer as they encounter obstacles on their start-up journey together. It is VERY fast paced drama with each episode following a certain formula that you'll figure out by the second episode. For the majority of the series, each episode starts with present Gaku, CEO of Trillion Game, reminiscing his and Haru's past adventures in the early days of their start-up business. While each episodes may seem formulaic, the stories are never boring and I found myself binging everything from start to finish, not being able to stop for a second. We've seen the unhinged genius x sane down-to-earth duo a bazillion times before but I think what makes this particular story so charming is the characterization of Haru who is self-proclaimed "the most selfish man in the world" but all his actions are completely contradictory, always self-less and putting everyone's needs above his. I love Haru so much. I don't know what they laced in the series but I am down bad for Tennoji Haru and I get why Princess Kiri wants Haru so bad as well, like same here sis.
ACTING/CAST
Meguro Ren and Imada Mio are just the most enigmatic actors, truly powerhouses. From edits on Youtube on Tiktok, you'd think these two have a lot of screen time together but they DON'T. Regardless, even when acting separately, they are bringing everything to the table and when they get scenes together, the chemistry is CHEMISTRYING. The sizzling tension between Haru and Princess Kiri are just top-notch. Sano Hayato and Fukumoto Riko are also just the most adorable nerds as Gaku and Rinrin. I love our four main leads so damn much. There's this one scene from Episode 2 where the first thing Haru does after receiving their initial 30 million yen investment is to bath in money and I remember thinking this is so nonsensical but at the same time found myself with the stupidest grin on my face watching Haru pushing Gaku out of his comfort zone to do all these insane things with him. I LOVE THEM. Meguro Ren is truly an enigmatic powerhouse in this one. I have only seen Meme in like three other dramas but Haru is definitely my top favorite Meguro Ren role ever.
MUSIC
The score is so energetic and fun. I love the main theme song of the series which is Dangerholic by Snow Man. The song is SAUR good I haven't skipped single outtro of any episode just to listen to this song. I watched a lot of series this year but Dangerholic is probably taking the crown as my favorite OST of 2023 in this very last minute race. As previously mentioned , Trillon Game has very exciting and energizing score and I'd argue that many business/office scenes are hard-carried by the score and excellent editing.
REWATCH VALUE
This series get a 100000000 for rewatch value because I just finished it and I'm already considering for another rewatch just because of how much fun I had watching it. But also because each episodes are so self-contained, Trillion Game will be fairly easy to rewatch any random episode in this series because you don't really need to the past episode to enjoy one, a recap at the beginning of each episode will do just fine. The tension between Haru and Princess Kiri is so insane even though there's no explicit romance going on. I think I need to rewatch it just for THEM.
PRODUCTION
This was definitely a low budget drama but TBS definitely made do with what they got. I understand if Princess Kiri's wardrobe alone was where most budget was allocated to. Like deserved! Trillion Game's strength lies more in the acting and story department so I wouldn't say this was a high value production but I will say I love all the rooftop scenes between Haru and Gaku. Those rooftop conversation scenes between them are just beautiful and heart-warming.
OVERALL
I love Haru with my entire heart. WATCH TRILLION GAME FOR HARU PLEASE.
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a beautifully poignant modern romcom
one of my favorite romcoms of 2022. it's a very classic boy meets girl, unrequited crushes, bad-timings, friends to lovers trope indie-esque romcom (ironic because gdh is one of thailand's biggest film production companies).i like that there's a lot of subversion to romcom clichés. regarding characterization, ml was a morally grey character and simping throughout the whole movie but i'm a sucker for him. there's references to the problematic nice guy tropes through out this film and i love it. i like ml's self awareness to a certain degree that he's not that nice guy.
many stellar comedic moments where i laughed out loud. like the humor is poignant and there's great comedic timing from both leads. really incredible performance from sky and june (ml & fl), especially with the plot line on missed timings. i liked how they did the open-ish happy ending which didn't feel rushed.
sky has been my absolute favorite actor since his tv series my ambulance and i knew june from bad genius series so i was really looking forward to their chemistry and they did not disappoint at all. 🫶
the story was told through ml's perspective so i'm kinda bummed we didn't get a full fleshed carved out character of what fl was like other than she was clueless and not knowing what to do with her life (which now that i think about, may be an intentional point from the director)
there are a lot of heartfelt moments in the film. my favorite supporting characters are probably ml's sisters. they really lighten the film's mood and make you root for ml despite ml makes a lot of dumb decisions. the most warm hearted moment is when ml just broke up with his ex and the sisters comfort him, like the whole cinema went 🥺.
the film has gorgeous cinematography. the director utilized a lot of filming techniques to get the message across and i particularly am impressed with the zoom-in-from-afar shots for comedic effect. very wes anderson-y.
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i love that ml & fl made some "terrible" decisions but the story handled it so well that all decisions make sense & the call between ml/fl to wrap up/resolve the conflict is really beautiful (i almost cried T.T).
OMG! is from the same studio that made the super popular romcom Friendzone (2019) (which starred Baifern and Nine) and both romcoms share great similarities premise-wise (unrequited crush, simping ml, friends to lovers, missed timings) but i think love OMG! more. although OMG! has less couple moments between fl and ml, i felt OMG! has more heart and better cinematography for me than Friendzone so I left the cinema feeling more satisfied for OMG!
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A gripping series that keeps you hooked until the very end
This series is so much better than the movie because it was able to develop upon the original premise of the show, retcon the illogical elements in the original movie and showcase the characters' flaws and growth perfectly.Acting/Characters
The casting of our quartet is perfect. They really look like high school students and each actors portrayed their characters immaculately. Lin (plays by June) is the most fleshed out character and I love that Lin from the series is a bit more soft-hearted than Lin from the movie. Jaonaay is definitely a show stealer, he delivers our ML - Bank's struggles excellently. Watching the show, you really empathize with Bank but you can also see his slow descent into madness because of this grand heist they're pulling (once again kudos to Jaonaay because he perfectly portrayed that). Nana and Paris must have played their respective characters Grace and Pat very well because those are the most lovable yet obnoxious characters I see on screen.
Plot/Pacing
With only 12 episodes, the show moves quite fast and doesn't drag on for too long. They give enough room to explore in depth the background story of FL and ML and was even able to add a cute romantic subplot between the two. The bittersweet ending is completely justified but I think I like it better than the movie's ending because it ended on a much hopeful note for our ML and FL rather than the bleakier ending of the movie.
Production
You will never be disappointed with a GDH production. Its cinematography is very reminiscent of GDH cinematic works so you may feel like you're watching a movie when you're binging this series.
Overall
I'm writing this review after wrapping my 2nd time binging this show after 3 years from my initial watch. It's really a 10/10 series with tight writing, sharp dialogues and gorgeous cinematography that I think everyone should check out.
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Unintentional Love Story
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One of the most wholesome K-BLs ever
it's such a heartwarming story and i'm so sad i waited so long to watch this. i binged all 10 eps in one night and it's just so wholesome. the drama is like a warm cup of milk. it's not fast pace but it also isn't too slow. some plot points unbelievable but it's fine this is a bl drama. im obsessed with how sunshine/sunshine protector the main couple is, soooooo 100% my fave trope. some stiff acting at first but it gradually gets better and i love gongchan's portrayal of wonyoung so much (i will protect you in gothic font). i really like how the drama emphasized some of the key traits in this couple (wonyoung's earnest sincerity, brightness and hardworking, taejun's protectiveness, his journey to overcome his past of being betrayed/used by his ex and his slowly falling for gongchan who's completely from his ideal type). all in all i love the drama so much. if you're feeling down on a rainy day (so many rainy scenes with the main cp I LOVE IT), i would 100% recommend this drama.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
