LOW SEASON (สุขสันต์วันโสด) (2020)

Genre: Romance/Comedy
Director: Nareubadee Wetchakam
Cast:  Mario Maurer, Ploypailin Thangprapaporn, Kidakarn Chatkaewmanee, Akkarin Akaranithimetrath, Sriphan Chunechomboon  
Runtime: 2 hrs 10 mins
Rating: PG13 (Horror)
Released By: Clover Films
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 13 July 2020

Synopsis: Lin, a young girl who can see the dead broke up with her boyfriend and decided to leave the city for a break. She heads to the faraway resort in the North alone during the so-called “Low Season”, confident that she won’t have to meet the ‘tourists’ that will get on her nerves. Ironically, she meets a group of ‘weirdos’ from different walks of life. They share a common aim – to heal their ‘wounds’ during the low season period. Lin’s plan of ‘lonesome chillin’ out’ is hindered by their company. Lin is joined by Put, a young screenwriter who seeks inspiration for a horror story. Unknowingly, Lin becomes the source of material for his writings. They embark on an adventure to escape from the ghost and gradually falls in love…. But is it love? Lin can see ghosts but can she see Love for what it is? 

Movie Review:  

This is a Thai rom-com that talks about the relationship between a girl who can see ghosts and a boy whom she has just known for days.    

Lin (Ploypailin Thangprapaporn), a city girl who works at a call centre decides to head to a mountainous resort in Chiangmai to clear her head after she broke up with her superstar boyfriend, Tor. There, she meets a young man named Puth (Thai heartthrob Mario Maurer from Pee-Mak and Jan Dara: The Beginning), an aspiring screenwriter who is in the process of writing a mainstream horror story.

Though the two don’t see eye-to-eye initially, Puth starts to fall in love with this quirky girl with a mismatched fashion sense after a few misadventures together. But when Tor calls to patch up with Lin, will Lin grant her former flame a second chance?

Low Season is first and foremost a rom-com rather than a ghostly thrilling love story. The so-called ghosts are mostly setup for a few funny laughs. Take for example, the eerie prologue which has Lin being nearly scared to death by a ghost who ended up helping her to catch a lizard in her room. And a couple of quiet ghostly figures who turned up here and there to generate some unnecessary loud jump-scares. But liked mentioned, the ghosts are merely here to assist with the storytelling and essentially a tool to shape the character of Lin, a girl who has to supress her ability to see ghosts in order to be with the man she loves.

Is Lin’s strange ability part of a psychological condition? Or is it because she is exceptional sensitive to the environment? Given Low Season’s goofiness, we probably will never know more about Lin’s true condition. But director Nareubadee Wetchakam sure knows how to get the plotting going especially a sequence which has Lin and Puth getting stuck overnight at a fellow villager’s creepy hut. We don’t really want to spoil the fun for you but trust us, Wetchaka has what it takes to stir up some wacky fun with his cast.    

And talking about cast, Thangprapaporn who makes her first big screen leading feature here is very much likeable as the vulnerable Lin. Part goofy, innocent and harebrained, Lin is a joy to watch opposite Maurer who is kind of stuck playing the all-so good looking and all-so perfect male character. Similar to Lin, Puth is dumped by his long-time girlfriend and is now nursing a broken heart by immersing deep into researching his script. Sad to say, Lin is a much more interesting character to watch as not much is said about Puth except he makes a living as a beauty blogger. 

Yet you can’t deny that the two of them actually exudes plenty of charisma to melt our hearts along the way. Be it their clumsy attempt at riding a bike, losing their way in a dense forest or simply staring sweetly into each other’s eyes. Besides Thangprapaporn and Maurer, Low Season is also supported by a bunch of wholesome cast members who plays the group of lovelorn people who stayed at the “Low Season” resort. They might not be familiar faces to us but their lively banter and antics wins us over everytime they get a chance to be onscreen.

Of course, no rom-com is complete without the inclusion of sappy catchy pop tunes. Yet there is a sweet appeal to them despite the language barrier. Since the movie is released by Sahamongkol Film, the leading Thai movie company who awed the world with Tony Jaa’s Ong Bak, the flick is blessed with excellent cinematography though the cheap-looking makeup and shoddy visual effects are intended more for laugh than scare.

If there is one lesson to take away from Low Season, it is to accept whatever flaws the person you love has. In this case, Lin is not a sick person, she just needs someone to accept her for what she is. There’s nothing complicated about the narrative nor is it a horror comedy. At a time where the world is consumed by the existence of a terrible virus, perhaps watching how Lin and Phut falls in love might makes you feel at ease and happier.

Movie Rating:

(A romantic comedy that has ghosts in it? Sign us up because the chemistry between Mario Maurer and Ploypailin Thangprapaporn is far more consuming than ghosts!)

Review by Linus Tee