This review may contain spoilers
Save the best for last
2023 has given us a huge number of BL series and movies – Thailand alone has produced over 50 series. Unfortunately, quantity doesn't necessarily mean quality, although there have been some outstanding series (see the list of my 15 favourites, with synopses, short reviews, and links here: https://www.wattpad.com/1408052397-my-bl-lists-favourite-series-favourite-movies).But as they saying goes, (one of) the best has been saved for the last. MindTrio, the Thai company that always produces high quality series like ”On Cloud Nine” and the wonderful ”Once in Memory” movies, have waited until the last two days of the year to give us a precious little gem of a short film entitled ”You And My Stars”.
The short film, which aired in two parts on Dec 30 and 31, tells the story of three boys – Win (Poom Jittipat Suwannaluck) has a secret crush on Time (BM Chanatip Aumpu), who has fallen for Win's best friend Hunter (Photo Patawee Klamudom). Win has low self-esteem and thus doesn't dare to confess his love to Time, whereas Time asks Win to help him confess to Hunter by giving him 999 paper stars he has folded. Win does help Time, and he is heartbroken as he sees Time and Hunter together.
Hunter, however, later rejects Time in a brutal way, because he knows about Win's secret crush, and he doesn't want to hurt him. The way Hunter speaks of Time earns him a beating from Win. As Win and Hunter reconcile later, Hunter offers Win his support for his flirt with Time. Finally, Win gives Time 999 paper stars, and the two boys have a very frank conversation about their feelings. Time not only accepts Win's proposal, but tells him that he wants him to be next to him forever.
The plot of this movie doesn't sound too unique – after all, it's just the story most young people experience when they fall in love for the first time. There are, however, several elements that make this short film so heartwarming and lovely.
First and foremost, it is the sensitive way the author makes us see what's going on through Win's eyes. His inner monologues, but also his shy actions make the viewer feel his fears and inhibitions, and his comparisons of himself and his two friends with the stars are pure poetry. And the movie does without any of the annoying BL tropes like accidental kisses, artificial drama based on misunderstanding, or evil exes, to name just a few. So kudos to the scriptwriter!
The next element is the focus on the three main characters. There are no unnecessary side couples or yaoi fangirls. This allows for a profound characterization of the three boys which some long series don't accomplish. For example, Hunter appears as a superficial casanova at first, but turns out to be a thoughtful and selfless best friend. Time comes across quite dominant and disrespectful at first, but then is a nice guy who is shy, too, when he sends Win to Hunter for his confession.
And then there are the actors! MindTrio has once again succeeded in casting three boys who aren't only very handsome, but at the same time have huge acting talent. Whereas Poom has already had a main role in the beautiful ”Move to Heaven” movie, BM (who I find breathtakingly beautiful) and Photo are obviously rookies, but I bet we'll see all the three of them more often in future.
As we have seen time and again in BL series, actors can only act as good as the director makes them act, and Keereeboon Siridol, who also directed ”Move to Heaven”, appears to know how to make young actors shine.
The cinematography is nice, especially the scenes with the night sky and at the pier, and the background music is never intrusive and matches the story. There are some minor flaws of the sound, especially toward the end of part two, but they aren't so bad that they disturb the overall wonderful atmosphere of the movie.
What I love about MindTrio's short films is that they are able to tell a story and make the characters come to life in half an hour. So I say thank you to cast and crew of this wonderful movie for saving (almost) the best of this BL year for the last.
You find all my BL reviews, including those of series from countries not covered by mydramalist like Vietnam, Singapur, Myanmar, and Cambodia, here:
https://www.wattpad.com/user/DominicKebre
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This review may contain spoilers
A Delectable Slice of Life
Short and Sweet, Coming of Age Story!!“You and My Stars” is a Thai BL miniseries about three boys who are experiencing their first crush, first love & first confessions where you feel shy and worried (basically it is a depiction of puppy love at it’s cutest). The webseries is so sweet and short that you can watch it without thinking too much. Win (Poom Jittipat) has a crush on his classmate Time (BM Chanatip Aumpu), who instead has crush on Win’s best friend Hunter (Photo Patawee), who is a casanova. To confess his love to Hunter, Time asks Win to deliver 999 stars he handcrafted to Hunter. Even though Win feels heartbroken, he delivers them without any negative thoughts. Hunter in my opinion is a very good friend and Win, even though in love with Time does not show any negative emotions towards anyone which depict a healthy and positive personality. Time’s struggle with his first heartbreak and his emotional turmoil is well portrayed; the actors, who actually do look like high schoolers, did a good job in acting shy and awkward.
Read the complete article here-
https://the-bl-xpress.com/2024/01/20/you-and-my-stars-series-review-ep-1-2/
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Beautiful short story
This is a fairly economically-written story in which more happens than in some longer series, and with an emotional authenticity often sorely lacking in BL.The reactions of the three characters are very realistic and age-appropriate, experiencing heratbreak, longing, jealousy, love, and especially loyalty in non-pathological ways. Loyalty is an important theme in the story, prioritizing it over attraction, and making it a primary characteristic to be attracted to. Poon has a fight with his best friend in which he even punches him, but it doesn't break up their friendship because the best friend understands Poon's motivation and even values it. It's obviously wrong to hit someone, but nobody, especially high school boys, has perfect self-control, and he apologizes and they discuss it like good and mature people.
It's a really beautiful story, wonderfully acted by very attractive boys and well filmed and edited. My only criticism is that there is too much flashback for such a short story. One is excusable as it's from the previous part, but there are others that are from the previous scene, which is tiresome and unnecessary. Also, Rachmaninoff needs royalties for the score, but it works well with the story.
I can highly recommend this - Mind Trio is batting 1,000 at this poiint.
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Done by Adolescents Making It Special
How can you possibly not love or at least fall in love with this sonnet of adolescent love defined by the sparkle of the light from stars in the sky? The story is as old as time perhaps and to a degree overdone but still manages to capture our hearts, especially if it has a modicum of sincerity to its presentation. And this does. Mainly because the actors are so young themselves and their lives are so full of anticipation that it is reflected in their acting. It is surprisingly well done and very believable. This is a cute and adorable series that is just a joy to watch. The editing is a little suspect to me, and I do wish they would have made the transition between the scenes a bit cleaner and clearer. Things changed so abruptly that it was hard to follow at times. The sound on occasion was a bit uneven as well. But it is well worth your investment to watch this short series and take note of three rather outstanding young actors who are on their way up in the BL world.Was this review helpful to you?
slice of life with some angst
Overall: I thought it was a fairly well done slice of life short indie series but it could have used some improvements. Two parts, 27 minutes total. Aired on Mind Trio's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHWvrNIJL6cWsd5_gigdAGHlGQAC4UYCUContent Warning: punch
What I Liked
- a realistic confession and running away
- a few cute moments
- production value
Room For Improvement
- voice over exposition dumps
- flashbacks in such a short series
- at first I was confused that there were 3 characters, having a scene with all 3 of them would have been helpful before they had separate scenes
- timeline/how much time passed was confusing, also that extra scene at the end of the 2nd part, was that a flashback or did it take place after the series events?, because it doesn't seem like a lot of time passing and Time seems very fickle with his love
- the punch was not needed
- wish they had just focused it on 2 characters
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