Reviews of Asian BL Series

54 Ending Friend - Less polished, more honest

The BL genre is dominated by productions from Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea, with Vietnamese series also gaining increasing international recognition. Cambodian productions have gone largely unnoticed by the international BL community for a long time, which is unfortunate, because there are actually some Cambodian series and movies that would deserve more attention.

In my reviews of the Cambodian short film "Love of the Sea" (review no. 42) and the series "The Memories" (no. 46) I already stated that Cambodian BL productions have a different colour than e.g. Thai ones – they come across less polished, and thus more honest. This can also be said of "Ending Friend", which is a real surprise as it is the BL debut of director Kim Visal and the lead actors Hengly Kim (Hengly) and Same-Methani Thavrat (Same).

On the surface, the plot is a typical enemies-to-lovers story of two high school boys, but at the same time it depicts the lead characters' coming-of age and coming-out, and the way this is done is realistic and sensitive, thanks to a good script with sometimes beautiful dialogues, to good directing, and first and foremost two main actors who personify their characters very naturally.

Hengly and Same's first encounter is the "almost run over by motorbike/car/bike" trope we've seen in many BL series, but when they meet again, Hengly, a rather lazy and mediocre, but self-confident and popular student, saves Same, a studious, smart and somewhat reserved boy, from a handful of bullies.

They get closer when Same, whose brother is a friend of Hengly's cousin, is hired to tutor Hengly. As they are studying in Hengly's house, Same, who is head over heels for Hengly, misinterprets Hengly's kindness and thinks that Hengly feels the same towards him. But when he tries to kiss him, Hengly pushes him away, and for some time the boys avoid each other.

Whereas Same is completely aware that he likes a boy, Hengly takes some time to realize that he likes Same, too – something the boys' friends and family have long noticed. And it's friends and family who organize a trip to the sea (what would a BL series be without a trip to the sea?) to give Hengly and Same the opportunity to reconcile and get closer.

The trip does its duty, but in a different way everybody had expected: Enters Thanak, who used to have a crush on Same and who would still have him as his boyfriend. Hengly is jealous, which indicates to the viewer and to Hengly himself that he obviously does have feelings for Same.

The scenes involving Thanak are among the best and most moving in this series. Not only doesn't Thanak play the role of the "evil ex", imo one of the most annoying tropes in the BL genre – he actually loves Same so much that he steps back and encourages him to pursue his dream of being together with Hengly. It's also the way Same tells Thanak that he loves someone else that's so moving – so honest, so sensitive, and still so straight forward. And of course this incident, partly overheard by Hengly, paves the way for Hengly and Same to become "more than friends".

I've already mentioned the good script. I suspect that it is partly autobiographic, and if it isn't, the writer is probably not much older than his protagonists so that he knows their way of thinking and acting well. The English translation of subtitles often damages the meaning of the lines spoken, but here they are so good that a lot of the sometimes funny, sometimes deep dialogues haven't been lost.

Making the ex-crush Thanak the catalyst of Same and Hengly's relationship is a brilliant idea, and so much more enjoyable than the artificial drama created by the appearance of an ex which is found in far too many BL series. This is what I call good writing.

Acting – For the main roles in this series two actors were casted who personify their characters very naturally and realistically. There can only be two reasons for the amazing chemistry of the leads – either Same and Hengly are good friends in real life, or they are really good actors. Or maybe both. I don't know anything about Same and Hengly's background, but if this is their debut as actors, I can only congratulate them for their performance. Okay, they could probably practice kissing a little more, but let's blame the dead-fish kisses on the fact that both boys are entering unknown territory.

Good acting of course requires a good director, and looking at the result, Kim Visal appears to be a good director indeed. As the name shows in many parts of the credits, it looks like this series is very much Kim Visal's doing. Unfortunately the credits are only in Khmer, so that the names of support actors, who are all very good, too, and crew members are not known to someone to can't read Khmer.

Technically, the production standard is flawless, another surprise for a debut series. Cinematography is good, as is the sound, which is the biggest problem in many low budget productions. The editing is a little bumpy in some parts, especially in the first episodes, but that's really about all I have to complain.

To sum up – I really enjoyed watching this series as it is the well-acted, realistic story of two boys experiencing the sometimes long and winding road on the way to themselves. I sincerely hope to see more BL productions from Kin Visal and his talented cast.

Country: Cambodia (2024)

Episodes: 7 (à ca. 25 mins.)

Director: Kim Visal

Cast: Hengly Kim, Same-Methani Thavrath et al.