Blue Hour, The

By: Amos Lassen

"The Blue Hour"

A Supernatural Love Story

Amos Lassen

Tam (Atthaphan Poonsawas), a young Thai, is bullied and a loner who is in love with Phum (Oabnithi Wiwattanawarang), a guy he met at a supposedly haunted swimming pool. Phum tells him that his family's land has been stolen and it is on that and that the lovers find peace and quiet. Even though Tam feels haunted by some kind of otherworldly presence, and he struggles to maintain his connection to reality.

The two first met via the Internet and set up a date to meet at the abandoned pool. It is there that Phum tells Tam about the place and his family's land is visited by spirits and slowly, a first, Tam, feels his life changing. He is followed by strange figures and he hears corpses crying out from beneath the garbage dump that sits on land once owned by Phum's family. It becomes unclear what is and isn't real.

This is director Anucha Boonyawatana's first film and with it he introduces much darker genre elements that suggest something of the state-of-mind of the protagonist, whose peers and parents are very unhappy about his same-sex activities. After he and Phum have a nervous and quick first sexual encounter, the two sit around the pool and talk. Tam tells Phum what he has to endure at school on a daily basis and at home where his mother (Duangjai Hirunsri) cries about his father hating his homosexuality. She is unable to see why her son can't have any pity on her and simply ignore his desire to be with men.

The relationship between the two teens really becomes more serious when Phum comes to Tam's home and climbs up to the roof, unseen by Tam's mother. They begin to seriously hang out with each other and on trip to the garbage dump, the film movies into a darker look at young love. Not only do they hear things moving underground but also strange beings make themselves known. Some of these are probably manifestations of Tam's subconscious. Phum told him that there had been ghosts present when they were at the pool.

There's a sense of mystery to Phum, although not enough to immediately to make us think that that is something odd about him. While the main focus is on the boys, the scenes where Tam interacts with his mother and brother (Panutchai Kittisatima), with Hirunsri are interesting in that we see the pain the mother feels about her son's sexuality. This is a story that uses elements from several different genres ? ghosts, crime, and coming of age and the viewer gets quite a dark mixture. The film builds slowly with a feeling of inevitability as things become darker.

We see the closeness between the two teens in a carefully orchestrated sex scene. In a dirty and abandoned bathroom attached to the pool, the boys start kissing. Out of fear of intimacy or pain from his bruised lips, Tam pulls back. The two boys start holding each other delicately and their embrace becomes increasingly confident and passionate as if they are finding spiritual release. Their romance though, is short-lived, because of an unforgiving reality. Tam's sexuality means he will always be a disappointment. In a beautiful monologue, Phum talks about the fact that because of his sexuality, the world expects so much more from him. He has already betrayed his parents, so if he is not successful, it is only doubly shameful. Tam and Phum find solace in each other because normal society does not accept them.

There is a sense of dread built through character and circumstance. The film's horror that comes , from the weight of the social expectations is totally immersive. Through no fault of their own, Tam and Phum will never be safe because society does not accept them. Their role as outcasts, because of their sexuality, not only means they will be targeted but also that there will be no justice served if anything were to happen to them. This strengthens their bond but they are also increasingly alienated from normal reality. Tam, in particular, begins to find himself lost in waking dreams. As his sense of reality starts to waver, so does the audience's, but Phum's presence remains consistent and supportive.