Writer: Lai Swee Wei

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Effects: NA
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Watch this if you liked: "Love, Actually", "Paris, je t'aime"

"Hormones" has a storytelling technique that is inspired by the British romance flick "Love, Actually" (2003) whereby there are four different stories involving different people who have no connections whatsoever, other than the fact that they are bound by one thing - love. It even includes the oversized cue card gimmick from "Love, Actually" where Colin Firth's character silently bares his feelings to the girl of his dreams.

In this Thai romance, the stories can be sometimes funny, sexy, adorably cute or heartbreakingly sad, but it's still a pleasure to watch. As the stories weave in and out of each other, they are entwined as each of the main characters end up watching the same Taiwanese love flick, "Remember... I Love You".

Spotting an interesting character in the film is the famous Japanese pornstar Sora Aoi. She converses in English despite her not being not very fluent in the language. Wearing an orange string bikini in a scene, she poses in front of a man whom she met on the train and seductively fans herself with her hand and says "It's so hot". With her reputation, such scenes like this are to be expected.

It's hard not to fall in love with all the characters in the film because somehow the feelings and emotions running through them attract you. The most interesting character to look out for is Oh Lek, the huge fan of Taiwanese singer-actor Titee who would be set off on a screaming frenzy by just seeing a cardboard standee of him. She goes through a lot of effort to learn Chinese for Titee's concert in Bangkok, which includes some funny translations involving his mother and her liver. However, some parts which are very cliche. Then again, what is a romantic film without a few cliches here and there?

The soundtrack for this movie changes from upbeat and groovy one time to hopelessly romantic in another. The songs make the scenes more exciting to watch and are great to listen to despite me being a Thai-illiterate.

Overall, the movie was entertaining through and through. Coming from the land that loves making horror films more than anything else, this is good!

Cinema Online, 12 December 2008