I was really hesitant in watching this movie when my friend told me about it. I never heard of it and I wasn’t even aware it was shown last Sunday on ABS-CBN. Too busy? No. That’s just me. I even forget to watch Glee on ETC(even the replays!). I’m just too lousy with series or TV shows not shown on a daily basis.
Anyway, I was at the office waiting for my shift to end when my friend went to my station and persuaded me to watch it. At first I can’t understand his enthusiasm with this Thai movie. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against Asian movies, in fact I’m a fan. However, watching it in the middle of the night and reading subtitles is not something a workaholic girl would do. I’d rather sleep. (Talk about being workaholic. Ha-ha) Since my friend won’t stop pestering me, I grabbed my headset and started watching it. And boy, I’m very stupid for watching it in the office for I look like a fool laughing out loud and crying relentlessly for the next two hours at my cubicle.
The first 15 minutes of the movie was the introduction of the characters and the situation the characters were in. The story is centered on an average, plain-looking and dark-skinned girl named Nam (Baifren Pimchanok Luevisadpaibul) who is secretly in love with an older Grade 10 guy namedShone (Mario Maurer). Shone, a new student, a rumoured troublemaker and a photography enthusiast, easily becomes a popular student in school because of his good looks and soccer-playing skills.
The plot was very simple but its simplicity caught my attention. It’s not hard not to see myself in Nam. For once in my life, during high school, I was like her.
I was thinking of putting the original trailer with English subtitles but the Filipino version of the trailer is better.
The movie was like a real life adaptation of the Ugly Duckling. Nam was well aware that she has slim chances of being noticed by Shone because of her physical looks, but does not give up easily. With the help of her close girl friends, Nam tries everything to make herself more beautiful and outstanding in school, hoping that Shone will like her someday. Nam’s transformation each year was a refreshing scene you’ll look forward to in the movie. In every change in her look, you’ll wonder if by this time Shone will finally see her efforts and hope that he’ll reciprocate her feelings.
Another character that indirectly helped Nam in her transformation from an ugly dark-skinned girl into a glowing lovely growing up lass was her domineering but comical teacher Inn (Sudarat Budtporm). She was one hell of a comedian. I was laughing so hard every time she has a scene from the movie. She’s likePokwang. Her acting and funny antics were effortless! I can say that she was one of the characters that will sustain your interest in the movie.
Aside from the comical part of the movie, its tear-jerky scenes are really worth your tears. The most painful part for me was when Nam finally had the courage to reveal her true feelings for Shone. However, upon seeing a note in Shone’s shirt that Shone and Pin, a girl from Shone’s class who once defended her from bullies, are in a relationship, she gets heartbroken and weepingly wished Shone and Pin the best. She even fell in the swimming pool! Baifren Pimchanok acting for this scene was awesome. She was able to portray the right emotion needed for the scene. You’ll feel sorry for her and share her pain, and at the same time makes you remember the first time your heart was broken.
This scene broke my heart!
Mario Maurer‘s acting on the other hand, was very consistent. You wouldn’t notice that he’s hiding something from his cool façade. Midway in the movie, I even thought that Nam should just give it up because I think Shone would never like her. There was no hint whatsoever that he likes Nam too. So the twist in the story was a revelation for me. When the POV shifted to Shone’s, it was unveiled that Shone likes Nam since she was an M.1 student. That was unexpected! Of course, I knew that it would have a happy ending since this isromance but I never thought Shone has feelings for her too even when Nam was still not pretty. Ah… The beauty of first love.
Ahh… Look at that!
Okay, I love this movie. But… there are still some parts of it I don’t like. First, Nam’s friends. For the whole of the movie, they look the same. I mean, look at Nam! She developed herself in every step of the way but her friends never even changed-not one bit. They don’t have to make them all beautiful because that will make the movie unrealistic but they could have made them look different for every passing year. It was like they were stuck with their appearance from 1st Grade.
Nam’s friends when they are still in M.1
See the changes?
Second, Shone’s appearance after nine years and again Nam’s friends. The dark-skinned Shone doesn’t look nice. I know they want him to look mature so they curled his hair and made him tanner but for me he turned out “baluga”. They could have made him mature in so many other ways. Nam friends had changed but it was too drastic. I know nine years was a long period but the change in them seems too sudden. They tried to show that one of her friends became a pilot or something but it didn’t fit. If they made the changes throughout the movie, then their sudden change at the end wouldn’t be a shock.
Lastly, I was not contented with the ending. Yes, it’s a happy ending but after all they’ve went through, I was like, that was it?! The ending was okay but it was very brief. It left too many questions. It’s as if the director and the writer just wanted to end the movie and raise the curtains so they made them meet on a television show. I was happy that they met again and their feelings were finally revealed and in national television but again it was not enough. There’s the nine years gap of what happened with their lives and the explanation of the black book. Maybe it was probably even better if they included a little teaser at the end showing what happened after their television appearance. Well, at least there’d be a sequel for the movie so might as well stop bitching about the ending now.
I fell in love with the story. Watching the movie is like riding a train back to memory lane. It made me remember my own craziness in high school. The beauty of first love, friendship and dreams. It was a refreshing movie from what I usually watch here in the Philippines. I just wish we can do something like this—very light but very meaningful.
