Only recently we shared the announcement that GagaOOLala the largest queer Asian streaming service has now gone global making it the first and only queer Asian video-on-demand service in the world . (https:// queerguru.com/the-first-global-queer-asian-video-on-demand-service-is-launched/)
Now hot on the heels of that Queerguru has just received two movies from new-wave Thai filmmaker Aam Anusorn Soisa-ngim : Present Perfect from 2017 and his new sequel Present Still Perfect. With a limited experience of queer Thai Movies ….. we’ve seen the award-winning How To Win at Checkers, + Bangkok Love Story, The Iron Ladies and Fathers, …. we are always very interested in how our community’s stories are told around the globe.
Present Still Prefect continues the story of the Anosorn’s first movie of a rocky romance, but this time the setting is on an idyllic small Thai Island in the quiet off-season. From where we are sitting, it looks like sheer paradise.
Toey (Ice Adisorn) is looking for solitude to finally get over his lover Oat (Joke Kritsana) who he has not seen for 4 years now, although they still occasionally text each other. Besides a Japanese tourist named Kenta (Ohmi Ryota), he is the only guest at the resort and the madcap busybody receptionist Jen (Darina Boonchu) makes a point of instantly claiming him as her friend.
She’s thrilled when Oat suddenly turns up announced to declare his love (in a very restrained way, which we can only assume is a Thai trait). However her enthusiasm soon dissipates when her nosiness uncovers that Oat is already a husband and a father. Thinking that Toey must be unaware of the fact she hilariously tries to alert him of the situation.
Soon its time time for Oat to leave and so Toey says his goodbyes as the taxi takes him to the Ferry and back home to his family. However both men change their minds and they agree that Oat should stay for another 3 days. The question is, what will happen when it comes time for him to leave for good?
Even though the film is dealing with issues like the dilemma of being the spare wheel in a relationship and also with Oat’s wavering sexuality, it does so in the most gentlest of manners devoid of any hysterics. There is an almost old-fashioned feel to their courtship and romance with it’s overwhelming goodness. Even when the two men are being sexually intimate Oat very politely asks if Toey will ‘turn over’ which naturally he does without question.
The film also deals with the issue of same-sex marriage which is a hot topic in Thailand right now as even hosts one of Asia’s large communities of LGBT people LGBTQ marriages and civil unions are still not legal.
Anosorn is blessed with some perfect casting . The two leads have just the right balance of chemistry that adds such an authenticity, Adding the Jen and Kenta to the mix for a healthy dash of humor keeps the plot from getting too deep and serious.
With a running time just 6 minutes shy of 2 hours makes it way too long by usual standards elsewhere but maybe queer Thai filmmakers just do not like to be rushed.
The very entertaining Present Still Perfect is a refreshingly different take on a queer love story that may not suit everyone, but we have to confess ti being quite smitten.
P.S. Both Present Perfect and Present Still Prefect are streaming on both GagaOOLala and VIMEO ON DEMAND
Labels: 2020, love story, Thai
