Hormones (2008)

Country: Thai
Format: movie
Genre: youth, comedy
Cast: Charlie Tairat, Sirachuch Chienthaworn (Micheal), Ungsumalynn Sirapatsakmetha (Pattie), Focus Jirakul, Ratchu Surajaras, Chutima Teepanat, Thaniya Ummaritchoti, Chantawit Thanasewee, Sora Aoi, Lu Ting Wei, Chaleumpol Tikumpornteerawong
Synopsis: When summer vacation comes and school is out, there is place and time for falling in love. The movie shows four stories about love which is controlled by human hormones. Is friendship strong enough to fight with competition over a girl? Can friends become something more? Is it right to ruin perfect relationship for a silly adventure? What is the true meaning behind fan's love? (Detailed synopsis' in the review)
Rating: 3/5
"Hormones" structure is inspired by the format of "Love Actually" (2003, UK) in which the lives of several people are shown. Movie involves 4 different stories about youth struggling with their love life.

First Story: Pu, Mai, Nana or as I said "Oh My Mama". Pu and Mai are best friends as they are the most popular guys in their school. They meet their former classmate from elementary school who used to be a bit more round but now has grown into slim and beautiful girl. The usual playboys realize that they have started to actually like her so it becomes a competition of "who gets the girl".
They look really young, but I think their age should be something 14-15. I had so much disagreement with this segment. Their pick-up lines were way too obvious and I think I will puke if someone will

use them on me. At the same time for a girl who has lacked in self-confidence every compliment means much more than it seems. I have written it before that over-complimenting will fade the beauty of compliments. Fighting over one girl seems rather silly as there is more than one girl in the world. I think it was wrong of them all to go on a dates like that. In a way maybe Nana just wanted to get to know them better before deciding or making them both as friends, but it is wrong to lie about things because in the end it does not bring any happiness. It seems that Mai's feelings to Nana were more sincere than Pu's. It looked like winning the competition became more important to Pu than actually getting to know Nana. No friendship should be put on scale because of a girl or a boy - been there, done that, not happy.

Second Story: Jo and C as I said "Jo to go". Jo is a geek and C is a popular girl, but they are really good friends. As they start to go out more during summer Jo gathers his confidence and confesses to C in a way as Peter confessed to Juliet in "Love Actually". Sadly the real world does not move like movies all the time. Here lies the cruel truth why most of the time it is better to not cross the friendship line. After getting rejected it becomes awkward and difficult go back to just friends. Maybe I would like romantic gestures if they were coming from the right person at the right time, but most of the time these things move me only in dramas, movies and literature. In real life it makes me want to throw up. When girl has said her opinion on this subject, then let go. It is THE end. "Stop trying too hard!" I yelled like most of their scenes. It is not just guys who get rejected and need to walk away. Isn´t it being a nuisance to another person when you keep holding on to her/him? Lift your head up and move on. There are plenty of fishes in the sea - that's what I have always told to myself after getting rejected -  yes, I have been rejected more than once or twice, but I have always moved on. In the end, there is nothing you can do when the other person is not feeling the same. At least you won't regret not confessing. The point of this story was basically that you cannot push your feelings on to someone.

Third Story: Man-stays-man Herm and independent Nual and little sexy Aoi. I liked that segment the most. Herm and Nual are university students who are living together. They are close to their 3rd year anniversary when Nual goes to DJ summer school. Herm as a free man enjoys his time with single friends drinking and partying as much as they can but soon he finds himself missing Nual. He decides to surprise her by arriving a day earlier than they agreed, but on train he meets with beautiful Japanese girl Aoi who invites him with her to Full Moon festival. Having a huge crush on Japanese girls he has difficult time to simply answer "No". It is a story of how human mind leads to lying and cheating (it is for both men and women). Just give a chance to meet the hottest person of your dreams and ask if you would be able to say "no" when he/she is showing a lot of interest in you? I am not talking about having sex with them right-away, but I think that I might be as loyal girlfriend as I can, but I would have hard time if I had to say "no" to just hanging out. It is important to know when to stop - I consider cheating as kissing, having sex and having love-kind feelings toward other woman/man. I do not think there is anything wrong with spending time with other. Same goes to Herm - he thought everything will be fine as long as he does not do any of these things and Nual does not find out about it. He is a  jerk who needed to learn things the hard way. I do not tolerate lying, but in the end I cannot fully label him as a bastard. This incident reminded him who and what was important for him and that honesty has its reasons. I wonder if I would be able to forgive him, maybe if I have over-stepped my beliefs of loyalty. This segment shows how hormones can take over control of our minds and there is only a slight moment when we can think what exactly we are doing.  Sora Aoi is actually pink-eiga actress aka porn-star. She was not mentioned on promotions in order to avoid possible controversy with using actress like her in movie directed for teens. Also a funny fact is that this story is actually based on the personal experience of director friend's.

Forth Story: Crazy little fan-girl Oh Lek and amazingly harassed Didi. Oh Lek is a major fan of

Taiwan's superstar Didi and her dream of seeing him in real-life performing is close to becoming true. She even goes to language school to learn Chinese to understand his songs better. As a fan I really like watching fan-related things. She is so cute, but I wonder why she did not start to learn Chinese before. At least as much as to understand basic conversation (in a way I do not have the right to speak as it has been ages since I last took out my Japanese study books -.- and learning Korean is still only on my "to-do list")   I understand why she was so mad when the song was not subtitled. Songs in music movies play really important role. I felt the same when I was watching "Ai to Makoto" on one festival. Oh Lek also faces the problem of not being understood. Her sister and her friends keep mocking her. I am feeling happy that my family supports my fandoms. Of course they had their doubts at first, but as for now they have realized that Asia plays a big part in my life and even bigger part in the future. I think that for Didi she was the cutest fan ever. Trying so hard to learn his song, even though she ends up singing a cover with really wrong lyrics. No one has said that learning foreign language was easy! The end is like a fairytale coming true for a fan. Focus Jirakul even received several "Best (supporting) actress" awards for this role. Maybe her naive silliness was truly the pearl in the movie.
Movie has won several awards on different award ceremonies and one even in Japan. If I compare it to other Thai movies I have seen then it is rather average teenage movie. It is really great time-filler, but I leave these things for you to decide. 
In Summer 2013 whole same-named drama aired in Thailand directed by the same person, but it has a different and bigger cast (Pattie and Micheal are included)  and different plot. If you are interested then its review is here.