Works as Teasers but Fail as Standalone Short Movies
“If I Love a Boy” is a set of 5 unrelated short stories with a BL theme. They were released as four separate short films with “Everybody Run” and “Night Before Everything” released together with each of these two storylines cutting back and forth between the two stories. At first, I thought that these short stories were prequels to the “Thank God It’s Friday” series which was marketed by the same production house, at the same time, with the same actors as the If I Love a Boy films were released. That of course is not the case as TGIF has a completely different storyline and the actors play entirely different roles.If the stories in “If I Love a Boy” we’re in fact prequels to a future movie or series then you could forgive the ambiguous and in one case, bizarre endings to the stories. As standalone short films they do a decent job of character development but they don’t capitalize on that by giving them satisfactory endings. Each story leave more questions that could be answered with another 5-10 min of development or again using them as a stage as prequels for a longer movie or series, as each are good teasers but not much else.
Maybe the storytellers we’re trying to leave the audience with some profound thought or dilemma to ponder. The titles of the movies come in like breaking news headlines for a news broadcast. If that’s the case, what message or profound thought are they trying to convey or make you think about? Maybe they were trying to make you think what would you do in that situation? What ever it is, it doesn't come out clearly.
The production values for each of the films are surprisingly high for storylines and acting that are arguably at the level of a student project. So there was some money placed into this project which makes you think that there’s a greater purpose to the films. Speaking of acting, it’s very obvious that each of the actors are new and green. Not necessarily a knock as inexperience can give a natural sense of innocence and genuineness that more polished actors sometimes lose. It will be interesting to see how they develop moving forward. Ball and Poori in “Everbody Run” seem to be the least green of the group with their acting being the least wooden of the group.
Overall, I think these short films are a missed opportunity that I’m hoping that the producers will jump on as the next project for this set of actors after TGIF. Each story wets the appetite but they need to follow through on filling the belly.
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Think Back to When You Were Young.....
I am reticent to call them BL but they do involve the blossoming of very young feelings of romance between juvenile boys. I am not sure what the reason for their production except for simply giving these young actors an opportunity to hone in on their acting talents. They are simple stories of bromances, or maybe simple connections of friendship between boys, or even ‘puppy love’. There is nothing elaborate here nor is there is there any deep hidden meanings. It is just what happens sometimes with young boys when they realize that they may be ‘different’ or they now think differently about some of their friends or guys in their age group.Sure, these small vignettes are not very long and are not particularly well acted (they tended to be very wooden) and do look more like a training rehearsal for more roles for them, but that is not what made these stories very entertaining and effective. While they are raw, there are some spurts of genuine emotions able to break through and shine in each of them. They are soooooo young and I can imagine that roles like this would make them perhaps uncomfortable. However, they did a pretty good job of showing that in subtle ways they are attracted to another guy. We know it is ‘puppy love’. The production value of these tiny snippets is surprisingly good and so is the camera work. If you like, you can read my full review of this charming series at ppbongi.medium.com.
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The stories didn't seem to have any point to them. Or maybe I just didn't get the point?
Overall they weren't bad. The production quality is pretty good. And the actors are really young, but they've done a decent job. I always find young thai actors who are in BL roles are very awkward. I don't know what the production process was, but they should have maybe worked more on breaking the ice between the actors some more. Because some of the characters were long-time friends, but their interactions seemed very stilted and new. Not like old friends. If you know what I mean. That being said, they were all really adorable in their roles.
Watch to support if nothing else, because it is an interesting watch, and it isn't very long. I think each episode is 15 minutes. and the last two are combined so it's 30 minutes.
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This review may contain spoilers
Mixed feelings
These are solid festival style shorts, though the author/director is very terse about what they tell us and what they want us to figure out. Unfortunately, their directorial choices do leave those of us not used to thinking like an author somewhat in the dark. The long silences of actors told to continue an inner feeling while the camera lingering for what feels a bit like an eternity gives these an opacity that leaves us unsatisfied. One can figure out what the director intends to be telling if one is familiar with the types of story lines these are... but many will be left confused.That said, the young actors, though a bit stiff still in their early careers, are adorable to watch, and sincere in their work. Each actors own personality is flavorful and delightful to take in. The production values are high.
It is simply that the narrative is a bit hard to discern. The visual storytelling misses some important moments that want to be clearer. We are not sure if the runner, Ball, has encountered two friends or boyfriends. When we finally make a guess at which, we still don't know the feelings of the one he met toward him, we are unsure.
Folk ( who I could watch reading an excel spreadsheet and be happy) and Petch (also always watchable) their story is one of the clearest. I absolutely adore Pluggy and will watch his career with enthusiasm. Son is a fine actor and I look forward to him in roles that give him much more range to express. Understanding this one and the one with Taro and Nokia, one finally discerns that the author wants to tell us stories about being a teen and figuring out the mess that is early love and early relationships., not unlike their theme in "Thank God It's Friday" to which these are companion pieces. Once you get that, they all make more sense, though the storytelling remains cloudy.
One thing that would help the storytelling would be better editing. Relying on the long silent pensive shot of actors is not working here. It worked in Love Sick, but not here (it's even worse in TGIF which left me yelling at the TV screen several times). It looks like an example of a director thinking something is a good idea in their head rather than it being organic to the story. Over-thinking, in a sense.
A tip to the actors: acting is not u=just the look on your face from what is inside: it is what you DO, the actions you take... so take actions. If the director does not give you any (and doesn't object) improvise your own going on the script and your character and relationship to the other characters.
The biggest lack in the story telling is Love. There are too few expressions of kindness, caring and love in the stories that are about burgeoning love for us to really feel its presence. (this is why the ones about failed love seem clearer) There are terse, small demonstrations of it.. but here I feel the director is being spare and coy as if a minimalist .. thinking "You don't hit the audience over the head with it." That is a noble idea, but it is equally true that you don't invite the audience to have soup and feed them rice water. This is a bit like rice water in the Love department. We watch to witness and evoke Love. Give us more Love, please. We need it. That is one of the great gifts of art.
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