He She It (2019)

Deserves more recognition

For a show with only 3 short episodes, I was really surprised how emotional and how well made this was. Compared to some of the more popular dramas, the acting in this was brilliant.

I admit I often dislike the whole bisexual-boy-cheats-on-girlfriend-with-male-friend, but for some reason I actually liked this, in a angsty way, if that makes sense. I think the supernatural theme made it more ‘enjoyable’ (for lack of a better word).

There was genuine emotion poured into this, and I would have loved a longer series, but at the same time, the short 3 episodes worked.

Read More

A delightfully dark surprise

Word of advice: go into this show as blind as possible. If death and light horror aren't your thing, then just take this as your queue to pass on this one. But if those are your jam, DO NOT watch any trailers or read any reviews, including the rest of this one.

Ok, did you watch it? Good. Have you still not watched it but are ignoring my above advice bc you're a masochist for spoiler-induced trauma? Well, you're a monster, don't say I didn't warn you and proceed if you must.

Basic premise of the series for context: Mike and Peem are students in an acting class, they're also secretly hooking up despite Mike also having a girlfriend. Another person in their friend group, Mean, finds out about the secret affair and then tells the girlfriend about their hookups, causing her to break up with Mike on their anniversary. Mike is much more devastated and angry than anticipated, but he doesn't know who told her and jumps to the conclusion that Peem did it in order to break them up. This misunderstanding leads to violent and tragic consequences that both Mike and Mean have to live with.

First thing you'll notice about this is of course the performances, and performing is somewhat of a theme in the story so the actors' choices are always intertwining with the writing in such a unique way. Obviously, Gameplay and Jeff have absolutely pitch-perfect chemistry in everything they do and this is no exception. Though, if you're looking for the same dynamic they had in Ingredients unfortunately this is not the show to you. A brilliant combo of writing and performance from Jeff makes you really unsure throughout the first episode and a half whether Mike is a good or bad guy. It's clear that he cares for Peem, but he's also still not willing to break up with Pear and even treats her so sweetly at their anniversary despite having very recently had his tongue down Peem's throat (and from the spicier shots we get who knows where else). Is he being manipulative and leading Peem on bc he selfishly wants both, or is he genuinely just confused or not ready to openly date a man? You really don't know, and with Peem's almost demonic appearance/disappearance at the end of episode 1 it almost leads you to believe that maybe he's the villain.

But then in episode 2 Mike is writing a song for him and Peem is confessing his love and they're sweetly making out and you're back to thinking they're both just dumb kids in love who are bad at relationships. Until Mike blows up after Pear breaks up with him. Not only does he blame Peem without evidence and refuse to listen when Peem denies it. Not only does he tell Peem he only loves Pear and never loved him. Not only does he push Peem into the pool after it was already established that he can't swim. He watches Peem drown. No panicked run for help or confusion about whether he's faking it. He knows Peem will drown without intervention and he watches it happen. It's horrifying in a way you just don't expect.

Finally we get Ghost Gameplay and holy shit is he scary. I'd only ever seen him play pretty sweet-natured characters before, so it was truly wild to see him be so imposing and terrifying. But another surprise was Pom Runn as Mean, his complete terror at being haunted by Peem is so visceral without feeling over-the-top. His confrontation with Mike is a gem of a performance too; after Mike finally figures out that he was the one who actually told Pear, Mean is so damn smug in response. He punches right to the point and says exactly what we're all thinking: Mike doesn't really have a right to be angry bc he was the shithead who cheated and fucked his friend, all he did was reveal to Pear what a shit person Mike really is. Jeff gets across Mike's storm of fury and guilt so damn convincingly, you can see him ripping himself to pieces inside. And then after terrorizing Mean for a bit, Ghost Peem has to go and cry on Mike's shoulder while Mike sings their song in a voice that breaks with pain and tears. Goddamn you Jeff Satur and your emotionally manipulative voice, and damn you Peem for still loving Mike even after he fucking murdered you.

After you're done trying to decide which character is going straight to hell, go back and rewatch to appreciate the cinematography. This was obviously a very, very small production but they 1000% made the best out of what they had. The lighting in particular is so emotive, soft when we need to believe the romance and haunting when we need to piss our pants in terror. There's a scene in an empty school building that's particularly good, with almost total darkness punctuated by bright strips of fluorescent lights, as well as that really sudden fade to black that ends the final scene.

And with that fade to black, don't expect to have everything wrapped up in a neat little bow, or get answers to even some of your questions. It's not that kind of story. Think of it more as a narrative experience than a linear tale. What happened to Peem's body? What did Mike tell his friends and the police about how he drowned? Is Ghost Peem really trying to kill Mike and Mean as revenge or just scare them? What the hell was that deal with that acting coach? Was that acting class in the first episode before or after Peem's death? You can argue and hypothesize about these questions for hours after finishing the show, and that's the real beauty of it for me. It's a little 45 minute long bubble of intense relationships and jump scares and haunting visuals and Ghost Gameplay, which is as close to perfection as almost any show I've watched.

Read More

The Best Part Was the First 7 Minutes

The second best part was the end scene.

The tone change is pretty sudden in episode one. Honestly I would've preferred if they stuck with realism because the nonrealistic doesn't add anything. In fact it seems to detract from a dramatic story that could've stood on its own.

It feels like the emotional story was written and then someone else required them to add something "extra" to make it unique. But the weak attempt at making a unique plot simply weakens the meaningful parts of the rest of the story.

If you're into somewhat experimental filmmaking and whatnot, it might be worth a watch, otherwise you could probably save yourself 50 minutes.

I will say the kiss scenes were well done, if that's all you're looking for.

Read More

Interesting

This short film/series - whatever it's considered was weird. Not in a bad way but definitely weird. In just three episodes we manage to cross so many different themes and genres. Drama, romance, bl, thriller, horror, tragedy. THREE EPISODES. Add in Jeff's music which either entirely supersede the series altogether or uplifted it higher than it was deserving, and it just adds to the strangeness. But at the same time, there was something quite amateurish and charming about it. It's clear there was very little budget. I wonder if these actors even got paid. But they still did their best and carried the emotional weight of this strange show for the most part. I wonder what this could have been with the same leads but more script, production value, money, and time.

Read More

Not what I expected and so much more

I just happen to find this short series. I will admit I am glad it was only three chapters. I am not sure I could have handled a long series of this. A really intense show. There is so much to like about this. The actors were really good all of them.

I will admit I am still confused about some of it mostly the drama teachers reactions. Maybe I will read other reviews and understand it.

Loved the idea of the storyline. However, I really am a romantic at heart so these kinds of series are hard for me to watch and come away with a good feeling. But the acting was well done the storyline was great. The actors were great. I definitely recommend it just don't expect a happy ending. The music is great. And listening to Jeff sing in English was well worth the watch in of itself. However watching him sing in Thai was also great. He has a really good voice.

Other info:
I have to say I learned that Jeff Satur was a composure of the music for it. Really amazing. He is a very well rounded actor, singer, etc. He also was really good in this show. His acting is great. I am watching KinnPorsche where is also acting but they have not really had him in much so his acting in this is not yet showing through. I expect we will see more from him in future episodes. I hope he gets to sing more in KP.

I have seen Gameplay in other series and I really like him. He is a great actor as well. He was very good in this also.

Read More

A different taste but MARVELLOUS

"In the real world, we don't know who is acting. In the world of performing, we don't know who is real. Sometimes, we can't tell them apart at all."

The dialogue above is the key to understand the events in this mini series. This series is very short but it is pretty good. You need to pay attention to the dialogues and the acting of the casts, their eyes, their body languages, etc. to understand the events and the characters.

This series is a horror or supernatural genre BL drama which tells us the story about the relationship between the two students of the acting class - Peem and Mike - played by the same casts of the sweet BL mini series "Ingredients". However, this series is the polar opposite of ingredient and it went darker. Actually there are several LGBT couples like them in real life, so I would say this story is close to the reality. This drama is entertaining as well as educational in another way. The OSTs are very nice. I appreciate how they did such excellent job in this little mini series. This would give you a new taste of BL world.

Read More

all horror movie villains should be waylaid by hot boys on guitars

I am not entirely sure how I ended up here.

This has some college production vibes going on here - I chuckled when they both somehow managed to put all their electronics on a table next to a pool, clearly one or both of them was going to go in.

It's short and I honestly found the acting to be pretty solid - specifically from Jeff and Gameplay. I can see why they both have had more work since then, they honestly sold this pretty well for me. The lines they were given to deliver were pretty bad to be honest - also telling a dead person that your romance is a comedy is kind of funny but only in the fact that it's inherently untrue.

It's a solid 45 minutes, if a little melodramatic and it made me want to watch more from the two leads at the very least.

Read More

watch it for a lesson?!

I don't want to spoil it because it is only under one hour. So don't hope it as a romantic story or review it as something related to relationships. but watch it keeping in mind that "each individual character have life"...

tbh, learn lesson from it from whatever perspective you can understand it.

and you should hang still the last song by Jeff himself. because, i guess that's what the most important part in the whole series.

And acting was really admirable, JeffGameplay .. they did it again, again, Jeff really surprised me with his natural acting I'm highlighting just him is only becz he's been my bias(?).. but really did Gameplay acted really his best..

and there's few things i didn't understand but almost the whole thing was really great.

Read More

Sombre romance

Je venais juste de finir Ingrédients, et je me suis dit : "chouette, je vais revoir le couple JeffGameplay !", j'avais beaucoup aimé leur alchimie dans la précédente série. Mais là, changement radical d'ambiance !

J'ai été un peu perplexe en visionnant les épisodes et je me suis demandé.e s'il y avait une façon de les regarder dans un autre ordre, mais en fait, la chronologie n'est pas suivie, non seulement entre les épisodes mais aussi à l'intérieur de ceux-ci. Ce qu'il faut faire c'est tout simplement les regarder dans l'ordre où ils sont sortis car on voit très vite qu'il se complètent et s'expliquent les uns les autres suivant les éléments révélés.

Pour une meilleure compréhension de l'œuvre, une théorie développée sur YouTube, que je mets en partie SPOIL dit que :

ATTENTION SPOIL
Dans « He » quand Peem a été sorti de la piscine par Mike, celui-ci a demandé s'il jouait la comédie et Peem lui a fait croire qu'il faisait semblant de se noyer. Quand Mike l'a poussé dans "She" alors qu'il était en colère, il pensait que Peem jouait à nouveau et c'est pour ça qu'il est parti. Il aimait Peem et bien qu'il ne soit pas prêt à sortir avec, il ne voulait pas le tuer. Il ignorait donc que Peem était un fantôme quand il est arrivé dans la classe d'acting. C'est pour ça qu'il a eu cette réaction au baiser. Peem lui a fait ressentir ce que c'était que de se noyer et puis il a su que Peem était mort et qu'il l'avait tué.
FIN DU SPOIL

cette théorie est la plus plausible effectivement et c'est aussi le constat que je m'étais fait de l'intrigue. Bien que je ne m'explique pas complètement la réaction du professeur, j'ai tout de même quelques théories

ATTENTION SPOIL
comme, par exemple, que c'est un fantôme "vengeur" elle aussi mais dont on ne connaitrais pas les buts réels.
FIN DU SPOIL

L'ambiance est sombre mais surtout triste, la tristesse de Peem, sa rancœur envers Mike qui n'a pas le courage d'accepter ses sentiments. Je dois d'ailleurs avouer que je n'ai vraiment pas aimé le personnage de Mike, ce dernier est lâche, égoïste et emporté, il s'énerve et part directement dans la violence, il aime réellement Peem, mais n'a pas le courage d'accepter leur relation et il se sert de lui comme de Pear, sa petite-amie, pour préserver sa petite bulle de bonheur personnelle sans se préoccuper de la douleur qu'il inflige autour de lui. En cela, l'acteur Jeff Satur a magnifiquement joué son rôle.

Je conseille vraiment cette série à tous.

Maintenant, à vous de vous faire votre avis.

Read More

O primeiro terror que ganhou uma nota boa minha

Essa série definitivamente merecia ter mais episódios, pois muita coisa ficou subentendida, e no primeiro momento passa despercebida. O primeiro EP, "He", mostra o relacionamento entre Mike e Peem, num primeiro momento, mostra a cena da aula de teatro, onde Mike está aterrorizado com medo de Peem, e a cena se mistura aos flash backs do romance entre eles na piscina, é uma cena que só será entendida depois. Nesse cena da piscina, Peem se afoga e Mike o salva, mas o que é dito é que Peem estava fingindo um afogamento, o que mais tarde descobrimos que não é verdade.

Precisamos falar da atuação de Jeff e Game, que pra seu primeiro trabalho, simplesmente arrasaram, e isso com a narração da professora de teatro, o que deixa tudo mais sombrio.

No segundo EP, "She" entendemos que Mike tem uma namorada há 3 anos, mesmo mantendo seu relacionamento com Peem. Interessante o fato de que nesse EP Peem fala sobre espíritos que ficam na terra para se vingar de alguém... Um amigo fofoqueiro, as troco aparentemente de nada, grava várias cenas de Peem e Mike, e as entrega a sua namorada. Faço um aparte para dizer que a a direção da série está de parabéns, a personagem feminina, mesmo traída, manteve sua dignidade e optou por simplesmente sair de cena. Meus sentimentos sobre Mike daqui por diante são contraditórios...ele afirma amar a namorada, mas ao final me parece que ele apenas queria alguém para mostrar a sociedade sem constrangimento. Ah, mas ele deixou Peem morrer... Será? Pq no primeiro EP ele acreditou que Peem apenas fingiu não saber nadar, e Peem não negou. Eu vi ele sofrendo mais pela morte de Peem e pelo vídeo que viralizou, do que pelo fim do namoro. A revolta dele é por ter sido tirado do armário à força, e a saudade dele, é apenas do namorado. Achei justo que o fofoqueiro fosse punido, já que as séries raramente punem legalmente quem comete os crimes, que venha um espírito e resolva a parada.

Quando eu falei que algumas coisas ficaram mal explicadas, me refiro também ao primeiro EP, na cena do teatro, em que Mike está aterrorizado e Peem parece um espírito ruim, mas depois vemos que o espírito de Peem não faz nada de ruim para Mike e essa cena ficou sem sentido. Enfim, o maior presente dessa série, além desse Ship de quem fui e sou fã, é a voz de Jeff Satur na música "Comedy", que até hoje está na minha playlist.

A série não parece ter um orçamento gigante, mas os atores em sua maioria são bons, a ost é perfeita e tem de tudo, fogo, terror, suspense. A filmografia é boa, e eu realmente verei de novo várias vezes.

Read More