One Day (2016)
Review of One Day / แฟนเดย์ แฟนกันแค่วันเดียว (2016), directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun
I’ve been on a strange kick of Thai movies and dramas lately, although before this past month I had literally never seen any entertainment from Thailand. And, suddenly, I’m addicted to it. So when I saw this movie was leaving Netflix next week and I was bored on a Monday morning, I clicked on it and started watching. I should’ve probably read the description at the very least before watching this movie, because it really wasn’t what I was expecting this rainy day.
I’ve said quite a bit already, so let’s dive into this, shall we?
Content
Our main character in this film is called Denchai. He works at an office as an IT worker, and we see a little montage about how no one remembers what his name is. His coworkers don’t know his name, no one talks or messages to him, and not even the street food lady he goes to every single day remembers his order. Denchai seems content with this life, until, one day, one of his co-workers is nice to him and reads his name off of his name tag. And, suddenly, he’s in love because someone out there spoke his name.
He’s kind of a stalker who follows her around, which can be problematic if you squint and think about it. It’s here he discovers she’s engaging with an affair with her boss of all people, who’s married, and when she tries to kill herself, she loses her memory. But there’s a catch! It’s only for a day.
And so Denchai sees his only chance and tells this girl, who has lost her memory, that they’re a couple. Which is also creepy if you think about it because he could’ve easily taken advantage of her if he wanted to, especially considering he’s just stalked her and the guy she’s been having an affair with.
It’s a decent film at the end of the day if you’re really bored, into romance, and don’t care about the ending. I get that the guy is supposed to be awkward, but his behavior honestly is creepy towards this girl to the point where I’m not very comfortable with it. He also steals the identity of someone, but since we’re following his perspective, it’s perfectly okay and even romanticized. It was this moment I realized that the director is male. Of course.
Cinematic-wise, this was a solid film. There’s two main settings, in Thailand and in Japan, and the coloring and setup of the shots fits the tone of the movie quite well. It’s a slightly sad romantic comedy where our protagonist is an awkward IT man. There’s not much nuance you need with that, but the composition of the actual film itself is quite good.
Overall Thoughts
This film has really good reviews, but the behavior of the main character again can be pretty problematic from a specific viewpoint. I’m a woman so I’m particularly uncomfortable with this, especially when it’s romanticized. If I were in this girl’s position and found out my coworker lied to me and did this while I had memory loss, I would go for a restraining order almost immediately. Don’t think this should be romantic at all. But if you’re bored and don’t want to think about it too much, go right ahead. Eat the romance up.
