This Thai film is going for that crime and romance mix inside the BL space, trying to blend coming of age struggles with gritty gang violence thrown in. Honestly, this movie really didn't need to exist. It grabs actors straight out of BL shows that you'll recognize instantly, then tries to drop them into this gritty setting with a story that just doesn't land. Even if there was some kind of heart buried in here somewhere, the way it's actually put together feels pretty amateur. Kheng comes from a rough background and has his heart set on studying in China, so he's grinding hard trying to land a scholarship. We don't get much of his backstory, but he's living with his friend Tai, who I'm pretty sure has feelings for him too, and Tai backs him up in every way he can. One day Kheng witnesses a group of thugs beating up a guy named Boang, who turns out to be a drug dealer, though Kheng has no clue about that at the time. He ends up saving Boang's life an...
The story is simple. Set in countryside we see Mike who works in a small farm and has his close friend Dan working for him. Mike is obviously attracted to Dan and it seems Dan returns the favor. But Dan is to satisfied being and living at the far, . He is a drifter and wants to travel but Mike seems content. We meet Gary, a young teenage boy who lives in the neighborhood with his abusive stepfather who beats him and his brother regularly. Gary is drawn to the camaraderie of the young farmhands in part to avoid his problems at home. When an innocent session of skinny-dipping is misconstrued by the boy's father, the young hired hands soon find themselves unjustly suspected of wrongdoing in a suddenly hostile small town. The boys stepfather suddenly makes everyone on the town believe that two boys are pervert. Mike takes the whole event more seriously and decides it time for him to move on. It's his inability to commit to a longer relationship, once faced with the hostility of the isolated community in which he has found himself, that is central to his film.
The two men spend most of their time half naked working in the farm , hanging out and together making clay objects. The clay work representing images of dwarves, half animal and beast figures, and a large feminine figure with the head of a man clearly spells out the characters’ perception of themselves as possible bisexual beings at home in bodies. As much as the film is about the two men, it is more about the town's silence or indifference to the abuse given the neighbor to his step son and wife. Mike even notices marks on the boy’s body clearly from abuse, and tells Gary that if his father even touches him again to come to them, a statement representing the very kind of offer which Dan has warned him previously can only lead to problems. You can tell from a mile where the story is headed and what can possibly happen. So as much as the film is interesting, it is also frustrating to watch because it never rally address ether the sexuality issue or the abuse issue head-on. This could have been a story about a couple of young gay guys trying to make a life working on a farm, or a coming of age story; but it ends up being neither unfortunately. It lacks making a point. As actors, two men do a good job, look good and hot and have good chemistry. Surely times were different then, but it's a story that could have been so much more than what it gives. (4.5/10)
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