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After Sundown (Thai)

A Thai BL film that combines the elements of supernatural, horror, historical setting and of course a young male couple falling in love. Sounds great on paper, but somehow I wasn't able to connect with the duo (the couple). The whole situation on why the two come together, stay together and fall in love seems all pretty far fetched. But then, when have any of the Asian BL stories felt real. Lol

Rawee is a 21 year old teen who lives with his monk grandfather. The old man's friend Parit comes to visit him and offers an opportunity to Rawee to live in the house. Looking for a better life opportunity he agrees. He stats adjusting in the new environment where almost everyone gives him love. While Rawee grows used to his new home, he begins experiencing scary visions and strange nightmares. Each night, he is haunted by troubling phenomena. Parit has a grandson Phloeng and according to a property, that in his 25th year he will have misfortune. The only way to lift the curse is for him to find a soulmate who meets specific requirements. As luck would have it, Rawee fits all the criteria. He's the ideal candidate to be Phloeng's soulmate. Phloeng and Rawee do not have good first meeting but when they are told why this arrangement has to be made, they both reluctantly agree to please the elders in the family. The duo are now supposed to be together in same room and Rawee realizes that when he is with Phloeng, he doesn't get nightmares. Slowly a beautiful bond starts to develop between the two men and they start to fall in love. They even realize that they had once met when they were kids, which help their love. But the evil spirit continues to haunt Rawee and the spirit eventually gets an opportunity to attack Rawee and almost take his life. This is when some old family secrets about grandpa Rawit and the Rawee's grandfather's relationship come out. All the family members ask for apology and the spirit leaves everyone alone finally moving on.

The one thing very charming about the film is the setting in a village in 60s. Add to that the supernatural element, it makes for an ideal setting and the film is visually pleasing. Every shot looks vibrant and elevates the ambiance. Most actors do a decent job, except that Rawee sometimes gets a little too shy and almost weirdly behaves like a girl and almost too deliberate. If we leave that aside for a minute, he does do a good job when the spirit is supposed to possess him. So in that manner, given the supernatural thriller genre of the film, it does an excellent job of creating the suspense of why this spirit is after Rawee's life who didn't even live here till very recently, and the whole family secret is sort of understandable and believable. Although the backstory seems melodramatic, I was satisfied with this explanation. The conclusion provides enough closure to leave a positive impression. But whey would a spirit wait almost 40-50 years to take revenge is beyond me. The romance between the couple is decently developed, although it does feel a little too convenient. Rawee's character could easily have been a girl and it would have made no difference in the script at all. I wish the film tried to make a little more of a bold statement with the family accepting the union of two males in the 60s.

Overall, it was a decent, time pass, suspense filled film, which I would have liked to explore a little more characterization of the leads. The parallel story of another boy in the kitchen and the driver was so unnecessary. But I guess the BL tropes can't help themselves without showing at least one more gay couple besides the main lead. It could be a casual time pass on lazy free evening. (6/10)

Comments

Sailor Maan said…
Horrible first half, decent second. I got so bored in the first half I fell asleep and had to resume it the next day... tbh I think I resumed it just so I could give you my thougts here lol (ok I wanted to know about the mystery too). And it was worth it because the second half got a lot better, with a nice outcome of the mysterious ghost and past story. The setting was really appealing, a good budget nicely used. All the rest was horrible. The romance comes out of nowhere. You don't know what to do with the second "couple", you can remove those guys and nothing would change. And then Rawee I wanted to slap all the time. Can't stand both the leads actually. Ok I admit I have the worst memories of them in their previous series "Cutie Pie" so I was probably coming with certain... bad expectations. Well they met them all! Seriously, you scratch your knee and you get carried in the arms of the one you had a fight 2s before, because you're a overportrayed poor thing who can't walk, and an ennemies to lovers is a staple in BL. Then you cut your finger and everyone wants to heal your wound, even the driver so it can make your lover jealous. Why the driver and not the other jealous guy who would have at least made more sense? Don't ask me... Haha please kill me right now why am I still watching this.
Golu said…
hahahaha
well thanks to timely intervention from you guys here, I never watched Cutie Pie, so I Was saved form that embarrassment ..
Sailor Maan said…
If you want a fantastic Thai BL, go for "Last twilight". Also quite long but nearly every 1h episode is a little gem for me.
Golu said…
Sure. Adding to my list now. But these 1 hour episodes are literally killing me. Cos there is no way to watch more than one episode a day. But I guess, there is no need for me to rush..

btw: I wonder where is Miisu bro these days?
Sailor Maan said…
Same thing, Miisu, where are you we miss youuu!!

I actually think one episode per day of this series is the perfect timing. Each episode is so good you want to savour it. It's made the same guy who made the great Bad buddy, Moonlight chicken and Gay ok Bangkok. This one touched me even more, went directly in my top3. And the leads aren't even that handsome (... you know I can be all about the looks lol).
If you want to evade long thai BL, I dropped Playboyy after 3 episodes, and Twins has a too messy plot to enjoy the leads (that are touching and cute though). Low frequency is just too slow and boring.

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