CRAZY LITTLE THINGS CALLED LOVE
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 named
Shone (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.
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 like Pokwang.
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!
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 is romance 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 that !
- 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.