The on-going legal fight over the release of Insects in the Backyard hasn’t stopped its director, Thanwarin Sukhaphisit and Am Fine studio from moving on with a new project, It Gets Better. Another transgender love story, this film, too, is poised to be controversial. But, unlike her last disputed flick, Thanwarin shows chooses to show less shocking portraits of sexuality and sexual confusion in these three love stories about transgender females falling in love.
The movie starts with Saitharn (Penpak Sirikul), a transgender lady who falls in love with Fai (Porama “Panjan” Im-anothai). Then Tonmai (Phanupong “Sarim” Waraneksiri), a posh guy from Los Angeles, flies back to Thailand to inherit his father‘s transgender cabaret club in Pattaya. He plans to sell it, but soon grows close to Tonliew (Nuntita “Bell” Khampiranon), a transgender lady in the club who makes him confused about his sexuality. The third story sees Din, a teenage boy forced into monkhood by his father, fall in love with another novice.
Thunwarin keeps audiences fully engaged with her ability to endear them to the characters. And despite the monk, she steers clear of the shocking material that got her previous film banned. She succeeds in portraying the normal lives of transgenders, showing them as regular people who struggle with day-to-day challenges and have deep emotional fabrics—not just entertainers to be joked about.
Thanwarin doesn’t just deliver a well-told love story, but as both a writer and director, she also gives us tremendous cinematography. Every scene is beautifully and carefully crafted, which is hard to find in modern Thai movies. But the best thing about Thunwarin’s flick is how it sends her positive message in an entertaining, non-preachy way.