Representative of a growing community of freelancers in Thailand, Freelance offers up an unusually nonjudgmental look at one graphic designer’s struggle to find his place in the world.
The studio responsible, GTH, is known for saccharin love stories that play on stereotypes and rigid customs, but short-film director Nawapol “Ter” Thamrongrattanarit’s mainstream debut is a study of one individual’s work obsessed world. The film opens with Yoon, a freelance graphic designer, congratulating himself on going without sleep for five days, all so he can complete his work assignments. Much of the action takes place inside Yoon’s studio apartment on the outskirts of Bangkok where he sits at his desk, retouching photos.
Yoon’s only interaction with others is based around his work: his colleague Je who overloads him with assignments, his friend Kai who we see when he visits him at 7/11 to buy energy drinks. He attends a friend’s funeral but sneaks away to work. Eventually he develops a skin irritation and visits a public hospital, where he meets Dr. Im. It’s at this point that most films would transform into a love story, but the camera returns to Yoon’s computer and stays on course, even though Yoon’s internal monologue, which runs throughout the film, reveals that he’s falling in love with Im.
He returns to the hospital once a month and constantly struggles to fit work in around his treatment. Notably, they never exchange Line IDs and, save for a single conversation outside the hospital, Im shows her affection for Yoon by treating him, not through any self-indulgent profession of love. Nawapol’s direction switches between long, single shot dialogue scenes and choppy, heavily cut scenes following Yoon’s struggles with the work-life balance.
The lingering scenes and focus on one individual character are similar to Iñárritu’s Birdman as are the frenetic jazz drums that pound away during the moments of intensity that Yoon faces.
The freelance lifestyle is one many more tech and media trained Thais are living, this film’s take on that subject is realistic. Little stand out moments like Yoon’s cracked iPhone, last minute demands that swallow up free time, and the sudden yawning chasm of an empty schedule are all based around the director’s own experiences.
The lead actor, Sunny Suwanmethanon, is recognizable from several popular films and impresses as a conflicted 30-something, Davika Hoorne, most famous for the wildly popular Pee Mak, plays Dr. Im but shares the screen with Violette Wautier, a relative newcomer, who plays Je, Yoon’s subdued colleague. The limited screen time for both actresses is telling and points to the fact that this a movie about something that affects an increasing number of people in Bangkok and manages to tell the story without falling back on any basic love story tropes.
A departure from standard GTH films, this is well worth picking up.