Present Perfect

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Audience Member Have you ever watched a movie that has such an impact that it stays with you long after it's over? Yesterday I watched such a film, a 2017 movie, "Present Perfect" -- Thai with English subtitles -- that came up recommended on my Prime Video home screen. It started off slowly, but the writer/director built the story brick by brick until by the end I found myself emotionally drained and wanting more. It's a heart-wrenching love story, and as it develops you realize that at its core is the theme of a universal age-old struggle of one forced by conscience to choose between one's emotions and what one knows is right. With a contemporary twist. The main characters, Toey and Oat, have wonderful chemistry and their portrayers are both good actors which helps make the story so real and believable. Toey in particular has such an air of naiveté and innocence, and at times the character projects such a doe-eyed vulnerability that it makes the viewer want to hold him, protect him, and fall in love with him. The same way that he affected Oat. The direction of the film is both thoughtful and beautiful. There are times when Toey and Oat are talking and there is a long pause in the conversation. That is used so effectively, because those brief periods of silence between the characters itself speaks volumes and adds to the emotion and impact of the scenes. In fact, the way that the whole storyline is developed and woven into a beautiful tapestry slowly and inevitably draws us in and makes us care. The direction is really quite wonderful. I love that the protagonists are gay (or maybe bisexual), but finally there is a film with gay characters where the focus is not on their homosexuality. Homophobia does not even enter the picture and their sexuality is not an issue. They are simply accepted for who they are by those around them; the fact that the people falling in love are two young men is almost incidental to the storyline. The challenges that they face in their relationship are the same that could challenge heterosexual lovers. in any movie about love and romance. This film affected me. I felt the love, the joy and the pain. I think this is the first movie that I have ever watched three times in a row, and each time I understood more and more of each character's personality and motivations, and each time I was moved to tears by both the happiness and the sadness of the situations. I was so happy when I found out that there was a 2020 sequel, "Present Still Perfect" which ties up many of the questions left by "Present Perfect", and which I also watched that three times. And taken as a whole, the two films are nothing short of stunning. Simply stunning Just a note: Another reviewer said that there is hard-to-understand "unnecessary English spoken between Thai characters". I believe that reviewer misunderstood. In the movie, Toey is Thai and his friend Yuri is Japanese. English was the language that they had in common, ergo the necessity for their heavily accented English whenever they spoke to each other. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Present Perfect

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