Naruebet Kuno | แปลรักฉันด้วยใจเธอ Side Story (Last Twilight in Phuket) / 2021

two boys in love say goodbye

by Douglas Messerli

 

Naron Cherdsoongnern and Naruebet Kuno (screenplay), Naruebet Kuno (director) แปลรักฉันด้วยใจเธอ Side Story (Last Twilight in Phuket) / 2021 [14 minutes]

 

In this Thai film, directed by Naruebet Kuno, it is Oh-Aew’s (Krit Amnuaydechkorn) last night in the Thailand city of Phuket where the two boys grew up. He is on his way to Bangkok and a new world. His best friend Teh (Putthipong Assaratanakul) is determined to take him on a tour of their favorite places throughout the city.

    The movie immediately establishes that these two boys are also lovers, who sleep together and have been friends for much of the lives.

     There is not much to the rest of the film, except a visually splendid short work that takes these two boys through their own splendor of the city they know so well, and which few Americans might ever even have heard of.

    Like so many Thai films, there is a true naturalness about their sexual relationship, no difficult angers or problems with their sexuality. In a sense this film becomes a beautiful tour guide through the city they both have experienced every day. If there is any sadness, it lies in the boys losing one another and the nostalgia of both of their lives which they experience throughout the day.

     They do find that the school they passed by every day has now become a house, that their favorite private beach is now closed off. At the shrine they visit, the fortune for Oh-Aew reads “Happy days with fade away.”

     When he begs Teh to kiss him in public, he proves to shy to do so.

     The general beach is still bustling and they sit on the sand and swim for a while. Finally, they do hug in public at the beach.

      Later, Oh-Aew is sad as the sun sets: “My last sunset in Phuket is about to disappear.”

     Teh simply tells him that he loves him, something he sadly admits he has never told in all these years, not once. And Oh-Aew tells Teh that he loves him too. Is the confession of their love too late?

     Finally, it’s the end of the day, Oh-Aew suggesting that since there is no sun to watch any more, perhaps they should gaze at the moon.

 

    And with a stolen kiss on the cheek, they ride off to say one last goodbye to their own childhoods and loves with a grand musical score by Hualampong riddim to send them on their way.

 

Los Angeles, October 2, 2026

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (October 2026).