Director: Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit

Writer: Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit

Starring: Nat Kitcharit, Urassaya Sperbund, Anusara Korsamphan, Kanokwan Butrachart, Wipawee Patnasiri

Rating: ★★★★ 

Fast & Feel Love is written and directed by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, and follows the story of Kao (Nat Kitcharit). His entire life revolves around competitive cup stacking. At school he had no prospects, with poor grades since too much of his time was devoted to cup stacking. Now that he’s an adult everything is still about cup stacking.

Kao’s girlfriend, Jay (Urassaya Sperbund) is very supportive of Kao, making his life as simple and as easy as possible in order for him to succeed. She pays the bills, does all of the chores, and makes him meals, believing that just being part of his success is enough. Things start to go wrong in their relationship when Jay starts to realise that she wants a family, and Kao isn’t on the same page, as all of his time and energy is focused on an upcoming tournament.

The film mixes together sports, comedy, and drama together to create something that’s completely unique. It’s clear that writer/director Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit has a lot of passion about the story, as everything shines in the film, especially the characters who are all great and you instantly really care about them.

At its heart this is a story about growing up and sacrifice. Kao has always been looked after by Jay, but once she leaves the house, he must learn to look after himself. Everything is a massive challenge for him, that he struggles to overcome. Throughout the film both Kao and Jay must sacrifice their relationship to follow their own dreams. It’s very emotional at points, as the characters seem so well written that you want them to be happy.  

Becsuse of this Kao turns to others in his life in order to achieve his dream. He realises that he can’t do everything alone, and turns to a bunch of odd characters to help. All of the side characters are funny and quirky in their own ways. There’s his new housekeeper Metal (Anusara Korsamphan), who seems to have stepped right out of Parasite as she gets Kao to hire people, she knows to carry out jobs for him. Por (Wipawee Patnasiri) is the manager at the stacking school that Kao teaches at, and is behind Kao every step of the way, although that may be due to her betting on him to win. There are other smaller characters as well, and they’re all brilliantly written with great performances.

Parasite isn’t the only reference in the film, with plenty of callbacks to classic films throughout. There’s a lot of referential humour in the film, but it’s not relied on too heavily. It’s subtle and if you don’t get the reference, it doesn’t matter. It also breaks the fourth wall a few times, in a way that never feels jarring. Kao makes reference to how the trailer for this film had more cup stacking in at one point, and he also turns to the camera to comment to the audience. It’s not overused but really drives home the fun style to everything.

A film about cup stacking shouldn’t be this good, but it’s pure brilliance. It’s funny and sweet, while also being dramatic and sentimental. There’s something here for everyone. 

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