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Best of Times
Movie

Best of Times

2009 • Unknown

Woke Score
1
out of 10

Plot

When friendship deepens into what veterinarian Keng hopes could become love, he learns that beautiful Fai still harbors feelings for her ex-husband who also happens to be Keng's best friend.

Overall Series Review

The Thai romantic drama, 'Best of Times' (2009), centers on two heterosexual love stories across different generations: a young man and his high school crush amid her divorce, and an elderly couple finding romance in a nursing home. The narrative is universally focused on the complexities of love, loss, and second chances, building on emotional and human themes without resorting to ideological frameworks. Character development stems from personal history, emotional choices, and inter-generational connection rather than political identity. The film is a product of Thai culture, showcasing local settings and social dynamics, and does not contain any material that attempts to lecture the audience on Western-centric political theories of identity, gender, or civilization. The story is a straightforward exploration of human connection, marriage, and personal happiness as its core conflicts. The overall lack of any of the defined woke themes places this film firmly at the non-woke end of the spectrum.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics1/10

The movie is a Thai production with an entirely Thai cast, focusing on personal romance and family dynamics. The narrative avoids all discussion of immutable characteristics, racial hierarchy, or the vilification of any ethnic group. Characters are judged strictly on their individual merit, character flaws (such as infidelity in a marriage), and emotional vulnerability.

Oikophobia1/10

The film is set in Thailand and lovingly portrays the country's culture, including the vibrancy of Bangkok and the beauty of the Thai countryside. It integrates local cultural constraints and social customs as part of the story's texture. There is no element of civilizational self-hatred, as the context is non-Western, and the tone toward the depicted society is warm and appreciative.

Feminism2/10

Gender dynamics are traditional for a romantic drama, focusing on a man's unrequited love for a woman undergoing divorce and an elderly woman finding new love. The female lead, Fai, is dealing with a husband's infidelity and divorce, which is not framed as a 'Girl Boss' triumphalism but a complex emotional reality. The older female character, Sompit, asserts her right to happiness late in life despite familial resistance, which is an assertion of self-determination, but it does not come with anti-male or anti-natalist messaging.

LGBTQ+1/10

The core relationships in the movie are explicitly heterosexual: Keng and Fai, and Jamrat and Sompit. The narrative centers entirely on traditional male-female pairings and the dynamics of the nuclear family unit (even in divorce and remarriage). There is no presence of alternative sexual ideologies, centering of non-normative sexualities, or lecturing on gender theory.

Anti-Theism1/10

As a romantic drama centered on aging, memory, and personal relationships, the film does not engage in a critique of religion or spiritual systems. The moral framework is rooted in personal ethics, loyalty, and the pursuit of emotional truth, acknowledging an objective moral law in human relationships (e.g., infidelity being a source of conflict) without pushing a moral relativist agenda. The movie is secular but not anti-theistic.