Nha Harn (2022)

A sincere, heartfelt depiction of rural Isan teen life

To understand where Nha Harn is coming from, one needs to know the social background of Isan, Thailand's impoverished northeastern region. It's home to a third of the country's population, but is mostly left behind by economic development. For the common folk living in rural areas, opportunities are rare, their futures uncertain.

Most depictions of Isan have tended to either sensationalize or romanticize its people's struggles, but Nha Harn does neither. Instead, it just tells personal stories of teens living the typical rural Isan life, through non-judgemental lenses that amount to their own views. Building on a trend since 2014 of successful indie comedy films by Isan creators targeting Isan viewers, Nha Harn was originally made as a movie in 2019. TV Thunder's series adaptation, by the same director, Chantana Tiprachart, re-packages the story with more mainstream aesthetics and production values, while remaining faithful to its origins.

Nha Harn The Series is a sincere, heartfelt depiction of rural Isan, a rare spotlight on the regular lives of kids from poorer families so commonly overlooked by mainstream media. It beautifully showcases the charms of the region, from the dialogue, which is almost entirely in the Isan language, to the exquisite locations and scenery, to the music, which infuses mor lam and luk thung influences throughout.

This is on top of a very solid (though not perfect) production. Technical quality is consistently good. The actors, many of whom are on camera for the first time, portray the characters very believably, even if their delivery isn't always on point. While the plot isn't the most original, and the early idyllic storylines might not capture attention by themselves, this is more than offset by the subject matter. The series doesn't try to make itself into a piece of social commentary, but when it does touch on the pains of hardship faced by the people represented by its characters, it does so with such a raw, searing intensity that it's impossible not to feel for them.

Nha Harn might not exactly be Hormones' counterpart for the working class, but it comes quite close. And for successfully depicting Thai society's marginalized kids in such an appealing manner, it is highly recommended.

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It's BL-Light with a worthy cast in a worthy new world

I watched this for the BL element but quickly understood that this is set in a world that sometimes feels like exploring a culture of small towns, farms, and places you want to leave when you grow up.

Let's start with the BL light, without offering spoilers the scenes seem more like a bromance experiment and don't qualify as a romance or even love. It just happens and then it disappears like leftovers you toss away. The character played by
Frank Thanatsaran Samthonglai looks like a supermodel who wanders into the village and nobody says anything about it. His acting here is convincing as a figuring-it-out way. If there was a true BL spin-off maybe this Frank couple could have potential as a couple that has a shot. It has hints of a BL couple in the making...but that doesn't show up here...

Overall, the Music and other stories are authentic and equally confusing because romance seems very low on the list of things this show wants to showcase. And that's okay too.

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