The Star (2024)

After trailer - WOW! After actual series - WTF?!

There are many independent production teams that don't have many sponsors or rely on YouTube subscribers donations. There are also many BL movies/series/mini-series worth watching despite apparent small budgets or newbies actors. Unfortunately, The Star is not one of them, and here's why.

Good cinematography is largely about money. Production team, actors, equipment, etc. all require some resources - without that, not a move. You just need money to make a series. But if you think the main problem here is a small budget - better think twice.

For me, the failure of this series is the wrong business decisions. When the trailer consisting of super hot 18+ scenes was released, I thought The Star could aspire to be the hottest series of the year (!). But then I noticed that it's not a series just a movie, which means that international viewers will have to wait several months from the day of release. Tough luck, I'll wait. Then it was change - from a movie it became a mini-series: 2x25 min, and I was like: WTF? How can a movie be edited into two short episodes?

The story itself had potential, but the creativity here was lacking. The lousy first 25 minutes do not encourage you to watch the second part, which (note!) is only 17 minutes long. Why? The remaining promised 8 minutes are "exclusive content" available only to subscribers of the company's YouTube channel at certain levels. You need to pay at least 7(?) dollars to see what they have prepared for us. And guess what? I'm all for supporting young creators and actors as much as possible. Their work is sometimes worth more than the "works" released by well-known studios. But this 8 minutes content - it's just not worth it. This is not an uncut episode as one might expect. It's 8 minutes of cut NC scenes that couldn't appear on YouTube. Yes, the notable sexy scene from the trailer is also there.

If you've already seen The Star - I'm sorry you had to watch it. If you haven't yet - let it go. The low budget stings all the way through, But even money won't help if you don't know how to make the narrative interesting. The actors give it their all, but the dull script, weird editing and general lack of sense don't help the reception of this series. There's nothing interesting here, and it's not a matter of difficult subject matter as some claim, it's more of a really bad execution.

Perhaps I had too high expectations, but this is completely not what I expected. The Star turned out to be one of those productions you look forward to, only to rub your eyes in amazement later, wondering: what am I even watching? It seems that all the potential of the series was stolen by the one-and-a-half-minute trailer, the rest is better left out of silence.

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Could Have Been Better

This is the real thing. Acting that does not look like acting.” – Quote from The Star

There is honestly so much to unpack here in this short series that goes way beyond the plot or story. Reality and fiction merge together to make this series unique. As the abstract states, this series is based on a ‘true story’. Perhaps a more apt description might be closer to a docudrama.

It begins with a hapless and sad young man, ironically named Hope (Night Yodsakon), who sets up his vendor cart selling fried meatballs in front of a BL production company. He looks and acts defeated and forlorn. Yet maintains a sense of optimism outwardly; merely for show. Inwardly, he seems to have given up ‘hope’.

One day he is approached by the owner of the BL production company who asks if he would like to star in a BL series. Indeed, there is something enticing about Hope that draws you to him. His face tells it all and there is something about his demeanor that is raw and organic. If he could learn to act, channel his difficult life experiences into real meaningful and believable enactments, he could evoke a freshness about a series. Hope knows nothing about acting or even what a BL is but is willing to try.

Read the complete article here-

https://the-bl-xpress.com/2024/04/25/the-star-series-review-ep-1-2/

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Good Story But Lacked Credence

There is honestly so much to unpack here in this short series that goes way beyond the plot or story. Reality and fiction merge together to make this series unique. As the abstract states, this series is based on a ‘true story’. Perhaps a more apt description might be closer to a docudrama. We just get to a minimal level of feeling something for them as a couple, and then the series is over. That is too bad. The emotional connections to their characters simply do not go deep enough to make them believable. This production company, overall, has created some solid and wholesome productions in the past. This is not a bad series, but it needed so much more effort. It just feels incomplete and awkward.

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too much of an unlikable character

Overall: I'm generally more lenient on indie productions; however, Wayufilm has been making short movies for several years and they have had some that I enjoyed so I know what they are capable of. However, in this "The Star" they spent the first 20 minutes with a character who was such a jerk to another character that was a complete doormat. Then in the second part, there was a very fast mostly off screen redemption arc. We didn't get to really see their relationship develop/sweet moments. I did appreciate their frank conversation and the condom in the second part. And I understand why the NSFW scenes needed to be cut on YouTube though it made the second part feel choppy.

Aired in 2 parts for a total of about 45 minutes on Wayufilm's YouTube channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOA6_oQmuXGBm-k0qjRmKX3mZLev2M7do&si=ldSLP6IMp8PTcYJf

Content Warnings: bullying, manhandling, threats

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A story closer to real life than the usual BL and an ode to indie cinema

Hope (Night Yodsakon Khamnang) is a fried dumpling seller. Nine (Kong Chindanai Boonruang) is an actor from the Chiang Mai BL production company, who reluctantly accepts a leading role in a new boy love series. The young man is reluctant to the proposal of York (Sak Kidtisag Makongrach), the director of the company, to be part of a new couple to replace the one formed by the main cast, whose members were forced to abandon the film project after the expiration of their contracts.
The worlds of Hope and Nine intersect when the former parks his sales cart in front of the production company and in one of those turns of life the young people meet. The two begin a journey when they realize that they are united by unexpected and uncontrollable feelings.
I highly value series like 'My Star', from Wayufilm Production, for the same reason that others will surely deny it: good execution, level of acting, filming and production, despite its low budget; characters far from the clichés of attractive boys that populate BL series, many of them with nothing to contribute other than their beautiful faces and contoured bodies; simple stories that are much closer to real life, truly passionate actors and a production team in each installment, and a firm determination not to kneel before the giants of the entertainment world with their very common mediocre stories interested only in making money, and whose proposals frequently fail, among other reasons, for not taking their fans seriously.
We are faced with a Thai BL that is not cheesy and unpleasant. The couple has very good chemistry. They are actors who have starred in other projects, such as 'LGBTQ+ Dramas Season 2', 'Our First Time' or 'Midnight Love', among others, and they know each other well.
Furthermore, the editing team chose exceptional music to accompany the miniseries.
I also appreciate the tenacity of the creators to not succumb to the dictates and whims of commercial companies, eager to contribute funds to the production of many BL audiovisuals in exchange for advertising their products, something that we frequently criticize in other series of the genre, thus respecting Wayufilm Production its ethics and principle of being a production company that is committed to indie cinema.
'My Star' can be considered within the name of independent cinema because it has a low budget, is made in more precarious conditions than the so-called official cinema, deals with everyday themes and is closer to the public, lacks mass distribution and, therefore, having fewer possibilities of obtaining large income and being made by a director outside the world of large production companies.
Being able to film without falling into the rigid schemes of the studio system is one of the highest aspirations of every director.
Written and directed by Thai filmmaker Nitchapoom Chaianun, CEO of WayuFilm and founder of MongKlong Studio and GoodJob VDO, 'My Star' joins other dramatized films of his authorship that address issues related to sexuality and gender identity, such as since he debuted with his first short film 'Fresh' (เฟรชเฉิ่ม), in 2006, which was followed by 'Fresh Cool Story 2' (เรื่องเฟรชเฉิ่ม 2).
Determined to delicately portray the diversity of human relationships, dismantling the prevailing stereotypes regarding what is "normal", and contributing to the struggle of Thai LGBT people, Nicchi, as he likes to call himself, has obtained popular recognition with his films and series BL-themed feature films such as the feature film 'My Bromance' (พี่ชาย, RTGS: Phi Chai), 'My Bromance 2: 5 Year Later: The Series', 'My Bromance: Reunion', 'Key Love', 'NightTime', ' The Rain Stories', 'Yantra' (อาถรรพ์ยันต์มหาเสน่ห์), among others.

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