In a closed society like Asia, where one prefers not to speak out his/her own feeling, love is something to be kept at the farthest bottom of heart. Things will be even harder if that love is something that you fall on your best friend. This is the story of Dear Dakanda, based on the country’s bestselling novel The Red Mailbox several years ago, and directed by one of the most awaited director Khomkrit Treewimol. He is one of the six directors whose directorial debut My Girl hit the local box-office jackpot in 2003. Dear Dakanda is his first solo work.
An art student Kaiyoy has kept his feeling towards his best friend Dakanda for all of the four years that they have developed relationship as ‘friends.’ He never tells her and always maintain the relationship at this level. After confessing his feeling, he decides to go southdown. Kaiyoy meets an accident and has to recover himself in a hospital. There he meets a young, nice nurse Nui who later falls on him. But Kaiyoy seems to give his heart only to Dakanda. What is he going to make a decision after Dakanda finds his whereabouts and starts to send him the letters. She has just split from her boyfriend.
Dear Dakanda is a slow piece of work with minimal cinematic components. As love is treated as the top secret by the protagonist, all of the emotions and feelings are deeply kept inside. Most of the scenes are developed only to show Kaiyoy’s internal conflict and pains to hide his true love towards his best friend. But actor Sunny Suwanmethanont is just too new and can not deliver this feeling well enough. His eyes are never really painful. Only the action set by the script and director that tell it. Luckily, the film is saved by the superb performance of supporting actress Maneerat Kamouan, a fellow nurse who is always ready to flirt with someone. She is the Star! Whenever she appears in a scene, it is her who takes the leading role! Parellel editing between Kaiyoy and two girls - him and Dakanda, as well as him and Nui - is perfectly compared in his development of love. Songs also help patch the weakness of undelivered love by Kaiyoy.