Angrienka
Czech living in South Korea
This review may contain spoilers
Family is politics.
Cinematography, storytelling, casting and acting, symbolism, the simple, yet complex nature of this drama is simply mesmerizing. It will pull you in, won't let go and break your heart in the end, because nothing is more complicated than human nature. This show is about how one person influenced the lives of another three people that keep dwelling on the past and keep hurting each other in the process, leaving their scars open and gapping, instead of tending to them.
“People keep saying they are okay with you being gay - but it’s not acceptance, just tolerance.”
N O T S P O I L E R F R E E / N O M A J O R S P O I L E R S
Sasiwimol and her son Wang are influenced by the loss of their dad, husband Siam. Sasiwimol doesn't like to talk about him, since she's not able to reminisce on the good things, so Wang has to find someone, who knows his father well and is able to tell him more about the person he lost and the one turns out to be an old family friend, In. In the span of a few days, Wang uncovers more than he maybe would wish for...
180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us shows us how powerful unresolved trauma and regret can be, how expressing our feelings and being truthful to ourselves and others can hurt so much so to heal means cutting people out of your life.
The Great Sasiwimol, successful producer and mother of Wang, always energetic and with a sharp mouth, yet a carrier of trauma of her husband passing away drunk driving. Sasiwimol keeps hurting herself and her son, sending him to boarding school and seeing him only during the weekends, not really listening to him or accepting his opinions, because her own opinion is the only one that matters. Maybe she can't listen to him, as Wang resembles his father too much and it's painful for her just to look at him, or she's simply ashamed of being a single mother, not introducing Wang to any of her friends, lovers, not mentioning him during her speech. She projects her insecurities onto Wang, keeps being homophobic, toxic to her suroundings, gaslighting people into doing things she wants them to do.
Wang, who lost his closest person, his father, was backstabbed by his mother for sending him away, bullied and defending others from bullies during his school days and figuring out his own sexual preferences he could never talk about with anyone, especially not with his mother. The suddenly missing father figure pushes him closer to In, who keeps wallowing in the sadness and who doesn't want to get on anyone's bad side by playing a diplomat, which doesn't help anyone. Wang, even for being only 20 years old, is the most mature one in this doomed triangle.
Lastly In, who shut himself away from the world. He likes to say he likes his quiet, but maybe he's just running away from his problems which used to be Sasiwimol and her husband, later on his own feelings of betrayal, hurt and regret, that haunts him now in the form of Wang. Wang who is too much like his father, like In's best friend, his idol he abandoned when Siam needed him the most. When Wang's father was there for him, but In wasn't there when he realized his and his own feelings, that could tear Wang's parents apart. And now, years later, he serves as a catalyst between Wang and Sasiwimol.
There's no good way of handling the situation those three find themselves in. Someone will get hurt and it will only get worse, before it gets better. But the change needs to happen, if they like it or not.
“People keep saying they are okay with you being gay - but it’s not acceptance, just tolerance.”
N O T S P O I L E R F R E E / N O M A J O R S P O I L E R S
Sasiwimol and her son Wang are influenced by the loss of their dad, husband Siam. Sasiwimol doesn't like to talk about him, since she's not able to reminisce on the good things, so Wang has to find someone, who knows his father well and is able to tell him more about the person he lost and the one turns out to be an old family friend, In. In the span of a few days, Wang uncovers more than he maybe would wish for...
180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us shows us how powerful unresolved trauma and regret can be, how expressing our feelings and being truthful to ourselves and others can hurt so much so to heal means cutting people out of your life.
The Great Sasiwimol, successful producer and mother of Wang, always energetic and with a sharp mouth, yet a carrier of trauma of her husband passing away drunk driving. Sasiwimol keeps hurting herself and her son, sending him to boarding school and seeing him only during the weekends, not really listening to him or accepting his opinions, because her own opinion is the only one that matters. Maybe she can't listen to him, as Wang resembles his father too much and it's painful for her just to look at him, or she's simply ashamed of being a single mother, not introducing Wang to any of her friends, lovers, not mentioning him during her speech. She projects her insecurities onto Wang, keeps being homophobic, toxic to her suroundings, gaslighting people into doing things she wants them to do.
Wang, who lost his closest person, his father, was backstabbed by his mother for sending him away, bullied and defending others from bullies during his school days and figuring out his own sexual preferences he could never talk about with anyone, especially not with his mother. The suddenly missing father figure pushes him closer to In, who keeps wallowing in the sadness and who doesn't want to get on anyone's bad side by playing a diplomat, which doesn't help anyone. Wang, even for being only 20 years old, is the most mature one in this doomed triangle.
Lastly In, who shut himself away from the world. He likes to say he likes his quiet, but maybe he's just running away from his problems which used to be Sasiwimol and her husband, later on his own feelings of betrayal, hurt and regret, that haunts him now in the form of Wang. Wang who is too much like his father, like In's best friend, his idol he abandoned when Siam needed him the most. When Wang's father was there for him, but In wasn't there when he realized his and his own feelings, that could tear Wang's parents apart. And now, years later, he serves as a catalyst between Wang and Sasiwimol.
There's no good way of handling the situation those three find themselves in. Someone will get hurt and it will only get worse, before it gets better. But the change needs to happen, if they like it or not.
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