BLISS RATING: ★★★★★
“Love is space and time measured by the heart.” – BrainyQuote
This series is going to hook you from the beginning. Initially, it seemed unfocused, confusing, and mixed reality with a sort of dream-state existence. It will keep you off balance and perhaps make you want to draw your own conclusions before it reaches one itself. While the techniques to draw you into the story are not necessarily unique, the placing of these dream sequences literally forces you to want to know, “What is this?” It was brilliant and amazing editing. You must follow all the nuances of this story for it to make sense but when it does, it will be like a bolt of lightning striking you. It was a mystic act of astonishing storytelling.
In the beginning, we observe a little boy pensively telling his mother he has had that ‘dream’ again. While his mother dismisses him, he is obviously deeply troubled by it since it is a recurring dream. Eventually he gives up telling his mother. Yet, throughout his life, he has the same unchanging dream. The dream is that he sees ‘two love birds’ together sharing a love that is so deep and profound. Over and over the same dream. A handsome boy is smitten by the beauty and charm of a young lady. They are smiling constantly and pursue each other at every opportunity and when together, are inseparable. Both becoming so madly in love with one other.
Now older and in school, Moe Nyi Nyi (Minh Set Thit) brushes past a student that he is intrinsically drawn to for some reason. He is stunningly handsome and is eerily like the guy in his reoccurring dream. While in the library, Moe Nyi Nyi falls from a stool and is caught serendipitously but perhaps destined to, by this same guy from his dream named Di Par Maung (Sithu Oht Soe). When their eyes meet, something magical happens. The two feel and sense they are connected, know they are meant to be together, but do not understand how or why it is that way.
Moe Nyi Nyi falls deeply in love with Di Par Maung. Their friendship intensifies and they are almost inseparable until Moe Nyi Nyi one day sees him with a female whom he mistakenly believes is Di Par Maung’s girlfriend. Realizing that he cannot stand in the way of his happiness, Moe Nyi Nyi tries to avoid him. Moe Nyi Nyi is so distraught and his mother senses it. When she comes into his room to talk to him, she sees a picture of her son and his new friend. Suddenly she screams and cries out “Linn Maung”. The son is confused as his friend’s name is Di Par not Linn. She explains this incredibly moving and sad story. It is a story of a past love of her best friend and her suitor. That love has now crossed time and finds itself manifested in a different way from then. The love transcends all time and space and gender.
The symbolism is just phenomenal in this series. Sometimes tragedy begets triumph and this story manifests that axiom. It traces a past life to the present, realizing that both men sense and know they belong together. Both men have had the same dream. But fate has chosen a different path for how they are to reconnect. A simple basic watch left behind crosses the bridge of time and helps fulfill the journey of a disrupted love through an eon.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. the series? I am making the highly unusual move by naming the story and its actors for this distinction. Not only is this story expertly told in a new and creative way, but it is also a story as old as time. It takes a story that is tragic and sad and turns it into hope and perhaps redemption with maybe just maybe a chance for its society to begin to redefine its own definition of love. It took all the actors and actresses who made this series to give it not only its human element, but its path, its pain, its pathos, and finally its place in the sun. They all showed real genuine emotions and connections and had such chemistry that at times it felt like you were watching a documentary. Minh Set Thit was astonishing real with his emotions and when he cried, I cried. This by no means diminishes the acting of the others; he was more its central focus. When Moe Ni Ni, played by Chuu Sitt Han, died with the watch in her hand, I felt the pain of the love that was never going to be, and I mourned, and I was disconsolate. And I cried sorrowfully for Linn Maung. Just when you think none of this ties together, at the end, you understand the title and its significance to the story.
One other aspect of cinematic beauty is also in its title. Through most of this series, it appears as stretches of time are ticking away. But that is not so. It is the watch that turns out to be of profound comfort and the direct connection from one love to another. It was a uniquely beautiful way to represent how magical ordinary personal keepsakes can have so much meaning, attachment, and be so powerful. This series is worth watching just for that experience of seeing how a simple watch ends one relationship only to begin a new one in a profoundly different direction. Love knows no bounds. It is stunningly moving and so beautiful in its simplicity.
While I know little about Myanmar’s culture and customs, I believe that story reflects both in a beautiful way. And in a sense, challenges the countries stance on gay relationships. Kudos for the courage to make this series not only beautifully but with grace, charm, integrity, and story that everyone can understand and relate to. What makes this story so powerful is its incredible acting and just brilliant story line. This series rivals anything in other countries and its production value is top notch as well.
This is unquestionably one of the Best BLs I have seen for this year and is an esoteric artistic masterpiece.
Leave a Reply