Title: สิ่งเล็กเล็ก ที่เรียกว่า...รัก Singleklek Thiriakwa... Rak
English Title:
- First Love
- A Little Thing Called Love
- Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Language: Thai
Year: 2010
Cast:
- มาริโอ้ เมาเร่อ Mario Maurer
- พิมพ์ชนก ลือวิเศษไพบูลย์ Pimchanok Leuwisedpaiboon
- Acharanat Ariyaritwikol
- Kachamat Pormsaka Na-Sakonnakorn
SYNOPSIS
Nam is a 14-year old dark skinned and four-eyed girl who is at the bottom of her class' ranking in all subjects except English. She has a crush on a senior named Chon and she decides to improve herself in order to make herself more attractive; starting from getting braces to whitening or brightening her skin to losing weight to studying hard and becoming smarter.
Chon is the quintessential ideal guy and more; he not only has good looks, he also has good manners. He is a varsity football player who is good enough to go professional and he is also interested in photography. He always seems to be around Nam, helping her and her friends out whenever they get into trouble.
Nam slowly becomes more beautiful everyday, and she becomes one of the most popular girls at her school. Most of the guys seem to like her but Chon treats her the same way he treated her before she became pretty.
REVIEW
First Love is a light and fun movie to watch. It claimed to talk about first love, which is something most people experience and have fond memories of. It talks about how people change, usually for the better, because they have loved (and are loved in return, whether they know it or not).
I have some issues with the movie though, mainly about how Nam did everything to become beautiful because she has fallen in love with Chon. I wish she had tried to become a better person for herself and not because she wants someone to notice her and to love her. Couldn't she have wanted to be a better person for personal reasons such as self-actualization and personal fulfillment?
It's also disturbing that one way for her to become beautiful is by having whiter or brighter skin. This is an Asian concept of beauty but I can't help but feel that it sends the wrong message to Asians, especially to the ones that naturally have dark skin tones. Besides, I think people can be pretty with dark skin. In Nam's case, she became prettier because she paid attention to her appearance more by being neat and presentable.
Mario Maurer's portrayal of Chon is compelling and this is a great achievement on his part considering that his role has little (perhaps non-existent!) character development. It seems that he is one of Thailand's most promising actors and it's possible that he can achieve worldwide recognition due to his good looks and acting talent (not so obvious in this movie but apparently more so in his other projects).
However, Pimchanok Leuwisedpaiboon's portrayal of Nam is awkward, probably because her mannerisms seem contrived and her delivery of lines seem stilted somehow. The acting of the supporting cast is acceptable but nothing special.
There are several side stories in the movie such as Nam's relationship with her three close friends and Chon's childhood friend Top falling in love with Nam, thus creating a complicated love triangle. One other side story is Nam's teacher's unrequited love for the gym teacher but their story is full of slapstick humor that I did not get and I feel the movie can do without, but that's just my opinion.
I didn't like some of Nam's decisions when it came to dealing with Top because it made their love triangle more complicated when it didn't have to be. I felt she could have made better decisions but perhaps her actions can be attributed to her immaturity due to her young age and maybe lack of romantic experience.
Anyway, the movie's ending is indefinite but it promises the possible continuation of Nam's and Chon's love story. Its open-ended nature is something that satisfies people's desire and expectation for happy endings while acknowledging that first loves don't always last.
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สิ่งเล็กๆ ที่เรียกว่ารัก First Love
