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jarabaa

London/UK

jarabaa

London/UK
NightTime thai drama review
Completed
NightTime
13 people found this review helpful
by jarabaa
Feb 10, 2020
3 of 3 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 8.5
I was surprised by the high marks I ended up giving this little 3-episode series. But it's an exquisite miniature. There's a story. A beginning, a middle, an end. Two characters who are on screen almost the whole time. No extraneous plotlines. Often a scene is played out in one very plain room, or sometimes outdoors. Everything about it is modest.

Also the lifestyle of the characters. Unlike so many of our most beloved gay love story heroes in Thailand, they are not rich. Not at all, quite the opposite - at least one of them is poor, very poor, struggling, an orphan. And we see that also in the settings, the streets, the clothes, the props, the absence of any fancy cars. Both actors are absolutely compelling to look at - but they are not spectacularly beautiful. I say that as one who is a great fan of spectacularly beautiful Thai actors - I adore those gorgeous guys. But these two hold our attention because of their expressions and movements: their acting. They look like normal, average, pleasant-looking young men. But I'll never forget the beauty of their faces in many scenes: a beauty which they and the camera create. And the story, meanwhile, likewise modest and simple, anything but convoluted, is interesting, as it starts with the idea of repentance, compensation, a wrongdoer trying to make up for his crime.

Some declare this series low-budget, marked by poor production standards etc. It's not a glossy, high-budget production, no. But praising its modesty and simplicity isn't a way of dressing up its shortcomings as virtues. Not at all. It really IS admirably modest and simple in many ways - which in some scenes are rather breathtaking: the dialogue, the facial expressions and movements of the actors, the wonderful slowness of certain scenes (yet in such a short series), the silences, the moments of love, self-realisation, intimacy and total vulnerability. Also the score, a very lyrical piano accompaniment which reminds one at times of some very classy, famous films. Again, modest and simple and just right.
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