MBaldelli
Covington, LA
I had been more than mildly curious about Drake Sattabut Laedeke since skimming through a bit of Slam Dance and saw he was also in that. When I saw that he had a major role in this piece, I decided to give it a look.
At first it seemed to be going in the right direction, story was a bit cliche and predictable in the BL region, but this story quickly falls apart thanks to poor editing and mediocre writing. There were several parts in the story that made no sense and it left me wondering if I missed some social more I hadn't been taught in my time in the east... Or whether it was simply really **really** bad editing/direction. I went with bad editing and buckled in for as long as I could...
I wanted to sympathize with the environment the characters were thrust into; but simply couldn't because the important bits were either poorly executed, or ended up on the cutting room floor. It left the main characters coming off as either schizophrenic or inconsistent. At episode 5, I remember talking to my family and asking, "was I that screwed up as a teenager?" While my mother laughed and said, "there were times I wondered..." Overall, I can say that with all the things that happened in my life -- at least it was more consistent than this story.
When it comes to the acting, an actor can only take his cues from the director and on-set script direction (writers sometimes, other times it's an assistant to the writer). Both Sattabut and Samthonglai often seem to be uncomfortable with what was being given to them and did their best. This is further exacerbated by the fact that most pieces are filmed out of order, leaving the actors incapable of injecting any personal bias for the overarching story. Because of this, it often felt rushed as they didn't seem to have time to draw their own conclusions or pull from their own experiences as teenagers.
The writing had moments of pure inspiration, but most times I found myself questioning what the point of the adaptation was. Bambi was the worst when it came to character development and seemed nothing more than some window dressing to try to push the plot forward. Sometimes she was a trope villain, other times she was saviour to the weird relationship between Mork and Tee. The fake relationship between Mork and Tee at the beginning was nothing more than a sketch or a farce and seemed to disappear quickly as the story unfolded. Tee's purpose through the whole of the story seemed as mystifying and as confusing as someone trying to herd cats. As for Mork's? Well... And the message of "love knows no limits of gender" was quickly buried in quagmires of traditional and modern dysfunctions against homosexuality. The secondary characters of Morn and Gord were more a bait and switch for the poor story of the main characters and should have either gotten their own story or completely written out.
About the only thing I was left with through most of my watching was, Mokr and Tee have more history than what was hinted at in the flashbacks. And while I see there's a prequel in the works/release... If it has the same director and writing staff; I believe it's in my best interest to leave it to my imagination. At least can put together a better plot.
Sound quality had several serious WTH moment leaving me wondering whether sections of the audio tracks were re-recorded because of poor rushes checking, or whether the production squandered their budget on other things than filming . Because during editing, someone might realized that the dialog was lost to wind or distance. On more than one occasion, I got the distinct impression that the actors were wearing their microphones as the scraping of pillows and other objects they were holding had interfered with the scene, causing me to lose immersion.
Admittedly I gave up at episode 7. The Story telling was too painful for my sensibilities. Those that got to the end, I salute you. This crotchety old critic would prefer something better to watch.
At first it seemed to be going in the right direction, story was a bit cliche and predictable in the BL region, but this story quickly falls apart thanks to poor editing and mediocre writing. There were several parts in the story that made no sense and it left me wondering if I missed some social more I hadn't been taught in my time in the east... Or whether it was simply really **really** bad editing/direction. I went with bad editing and buckled in for as long as I could...
I wanted to sympathize with the environment the characters were thrust into; but simply couldn't because the important bits were either poorly executed, or ended up on the cutting room floor. It left the main characters coming off as either schizophrenic or inconsistent. At episode 5, I remember talking to my family and asking, "was I that screwed up as a teenager?" While my mother laughed and said, "there were times I wondered..." Overall, I can say that with all the things that happened in my life -- at least it was more consistent than this story.
When it comes to the acting, an actor can only take his cues from the director and on-set script direction (writers sometimes, other times it's an assistant to the writer). Both Sattabut and Samthonglai often seem to be uncomfortable with what was being given to them and did their best. This is further exacerbated by the fact that most pieces are filmed out of order, leaving the actors incapable of injecting any personal bias for the overarching story. Because of this, it often felt rushed as they didn't seem to have time to draw their own conclusions or pull from their own experiences as teenagers.
The writing had moments of pure inspiration, but most times I found myself questioning what the point of the adaptation was. Bambi was the worst when it came to character development and seemed nothing more than some window dressing to try to push the plot forward. Sometimes she was a trope villain, other times she was saviour to the weird relationship between Mork and Tee. The fake relationship between Mork and Tee at the beginning was nothing more than a sketch or a farce and seemed to disappear quickly as the story unfolded. Tee's purpose through the whole of the story seemed as mystifying and as confusing as someone trying to herd cats. As for Mork's? Well... And the message of "love knows no limits of gender" was quickly buried in quagmires of traditional and modern dysfunctions against homosexuality. The secondary characters of Morn and Gord were more a bait and switch for the poor story of the main characters and should have either gotten their own story or completely written out.
About the only thing I was left with through most of my watching was, Mokr and Tee have more history than what was hinted at in the flashbacks. And while I see there's a prequel in the works/release... If it has the same director and writing staff; I believe it's in my best interest to leave it to my imagination. At least can put together a better plot.
Sound quality had several serious WTH moment leaving me wondering whether sections of the audio tracks were re-recorded because of poor rushes checking, or whether the production squandered their budget on other things than filming . Because during editing, someone might realized that the dialog was lost to wind or distance. On more than one occasion, I got the distinct impression that the actors were wearing their microphones as the scraping of pillows and other objects they were holding had interfered with the scene, causing me to lose immersion.
Admittedly I gave up at episode 7. The Story telling was too painful for my sensibilities. Those that got to the end, I salute you. This crotchety old critic would prefer something better to watch.
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