Summary
Quiet and empathetic, this gently observed coming-of-age story captures adolescent friendship and class divides with subtlety and care.
Thai filmmaker Jirassaya Wongsutin has long been drawn to the themes she explores in FLAT GIRLS, her first feature-length film. The delicate portraits of adolescent friendship in the collaborative project Lost in Blue and the exploration of multiple families living under one roof in the television series One Year both find new expression in this meditative coming-of-age story.
The film centres on Jane (Kirana Pipityakorn) and Ann (Fatima Dechawaleekul), two daughters of police officers living in the same flat complex as hundreds of other families. In this intimate environment, they have been virtually inseparable since birth, but their bond is tested by the arrival of Tong (Pakorn “Boy” Chatborirak), a handsome young officer.
Wongsutin’s film is in no hurry to reach any grand destination, nor does it seek one. In her broad exploration of class divides and the turning points in young lives, she revels in the small moments: lingering over games of badminton, the pleasures of ice cream and bok kia, or sneaking into a neighbour’s flat to steal some booze.
This claustrophobic world contains multitudes, and Wongsutin’s perspective recalls filmmakers like Ken Loach and Andrea Arnold. Her leads yearn for escape but can scarcely imagine a life beyond their lifelong confines. Outsiders briefly brush against their world, such as a privileged tourist who buys street food and moves on, while the girls sport T-shirts emblazoned with the names of faraway places like Harvard. Fleeting glimpses of other worlds, seen from river ferries or through distant fireworks, are always just out of reach.
While the film’s slower pace may keep some viewers at a distance, Pipityakorn and Dechawaleekul are compelling leads. Their relationship transcends simple friendship or attraction, with Wongsutin lightly touching on the latter as the girls begin to question what love means. Their growing awareness of the forces that divide them — family struggles, money, and their emerging desires — forms the heart of their emotional journey. Chatborirak is well cast as the young officer, though, as the title suggests, this story firmly belongs to the flat girls.
Wongsutin offers no dramatic conclusions or sweeping resolutions, but there are subtle tonal shifts that hint at change. For one girl, a new life filled with uncertainty awaits elsewhere; for the other, life remains rooted in place. FLAT GIRLS marks Wongsutin as a filmmaker with a deft, empathetic hand for intimate storytelling.
2025 | Thailand | DIRECTOR: Jirassaya Wongsutin | WRITERS: Jirassaya Wongsutin | CAST: Kirana Pipityakorn, Fatima Dechawaleekul, Pakorn Chatborrirak | DISTRIBUTOR: Cine Asia | RUNNING TIME: 129 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 1 May 2025 (Australia)
