FAST & FEEL LOVE |
★★★★★
5 February 2023
A movie review of FAST & FEEL LOVE.
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Director: Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit.
Starring: Nat Kitcharit, Urassaya Sperbund, Anusara Korsamphan, Keetapat Pongruea, Joshua Ugochukwu Ezunagu, Kanokwan Butrachart, Wipawee Patnasiri.
“Just choose what you think is best,” Kao (Nat Kitcharit)
Competitive cup stacking. The only reason I knew of this was thanks to a show on Disney+ UK called ‘How to Win at Everything’ – an educational programme looking at the science behind doing stuff that will impress your peers. One episode looked at this, er, sport. Does it count? Am sure players and fans are shouting sacrilege!
Starring: Nat Kitcharit, Urassaya Sperbund, Anusara Korsamphan, Keetapat Pongruea, Joshua Ugochukwu Ezunagu, Kanokwan Butrachart, Wipawee Patnasiri.
“Just choose what you think is best,” Kao (Nat Kitcharit)
Competitive cup stacking. The only reason I knew of this was thanks to a show on Disney+ UK called ‘How to Win at Everything’ – an educational programme looking at the science behind doing stuff that will impress your peers. One episode looked at this, er, sport. Does it count? Am sure players and fans are shouting sacrilege!
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Ostensibly FAST & FEEL LOVE is a hilarious metafiction-sports-comedy, but really it concerns being a sh*t boyfriend and general self-obsession and selfishness. When the film is funny it is side-splitting, when it is stirring it is surprisingly engaging. Mawkishness is largely, deftly suppressed.
Opening in 2005 on a school guidance counsellor, who is both depressed and depressing, asking students what their goals are. Some are bizarre based on very little thought, e.g., ice-sculpting champion, something about an ant farm. Kao is unabashed too, much to the disgust of the guidance counsellor. After the session, he and fellow loner Jay (Urassaya Sperbund) bond over being odd. Jumping to 2018, he is an expert competitive cup stacker and they are in a relationship. He needs sponsorship to do this fulltime. If I was to write down the plot intricacies, on paper the film would appear convoluted and unfocused. In reality, story threads and emotionality are juggled impressively.
There is something that hardly any cinematic endeavour touches upon: the feeling that time is being stolen. Not in a miscarriage of justice years lost sense. Chores, admin, things breaking down, having to become an aficionado in a wide variety of spheres so as not to be scammed, etc. wear down humanity. Kao states, “I can’t let drama into my life.” I guess many can empathise with the sense of continually being side-tracked – the imagining being that if only focus is allowed, dreams will come true. FAST & FEEL LOVE looks at the validity of that complaint, without pessimism as to why large swathes of society feel this way.
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A minor negative is the lead. He has comedy timing, but the gulf in the couple’s attractiveness (both physical and personality) is striking. Think of the countless eye-rolling movies where shlubby guys with no money, no power, and no charisma are with stunning women. What does Jay see in Kao? She is a representative of all women taken for granted. Nikki Glaser, in one of her stand-ups, talks about how girlfriends/wives are always more physically attractive than their boyfriends/husbands. Look at your friends and family to see if that is true. The observation seems accurate, and therefore FAST & FEEL LOVE gets a pass.
We learn little about Jay – her work, family, etc. – but her personality zings. Whenever Jay is on screen her droll delivery is another big win for the film. The thing is, FAST & FEEL LOVE is also peopled to the rafters with endearing, uproarious odd bods who all play it dry. Edward (Joshua Ugochukwu Ezunagu), the kid rival to Kao, is another standout.
FAST & FEEL LOVE has the protagonists taking a “sport” so seriously, which to most people does not even register (see also DODGEBALL [2004] and GOLDEN ARM [2020], without the latter’s spoofiness). So much thought and craft are on display. The camerawork has some rib-tickling zooms. There is an incongruous thumping soundtrack reminding of THE DARK KNIGHT [2008]. At times, I was astonished at the score, dialogue, performances, and cinematography in harmony for a gag.
As enjoyment escalated, one kept hoping the creative team wouldn’t drop the ball and they didn’t. (The PARASITE [2019] joke is a doozy.) FAST & FEEL LOVE is more about mutual responsibility than competition. In voice over, the lead promises more action in the sequel. I can see every country remaking this.
