What begins as a run-of-the-mill story about an ostracized gay teen finding comfort in a new romance morphs here into a much more unpredictable tale of questionable reality and madness, with gothic elements. Tam (Atthaphan Poonsawas) is a Thai high school kid regularly bullied and bloodied at school. His home life isn't much better, thanks to an unsupportive martyr of a mother, a cruel older brother, and a threatening dad. Tam finds understanding in the company and arms of Phum (Oabnithi Wiwattanawarang), another boy he meets online for sexual hookups. The Blue Hour co-writer and director Anucha Boonyawatana serves up the expected sex scene, but the film takes a decided turn to the weird when Phum brings Tam to a garbage dump one night and explains that the land beneath was stolen from his family. The boys think they could live together on that land one day, but strange forces seem to be at work: corpses are hidden beneath the trash, and something is moving creepily below the debris. An abandoned swimming pool where the duo first met is similarly haunted, with bloodied bodies tucked into shadows. Boonyawatana blurs the line between the real and the imagined in this film that crosses genre boundaries, featuring ghosts along with a sympathetic portrait of a tormented gay teen. Recommended. (T. Keogh)
The Blue Hour
Strand, 97 min., in Thai w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $24.99, Mar. 8 Volume 31, Issue 3
The Blue Hour
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