Quarantine Stories (2020)

We've had no shortage of quarantine-themed content popping up in the past few months, but this anthology series, which zeroes in on relationships in the days of social distancing, really shines by acknowledging how much things haven't changed at all on that front. Admittedly, everything is heightened by our awareness of the pandemic's existence and the best of the bunch is stuff that directly tackles the feelings that come out of that (loneliness, anxiety, survivor's guilt), but each story stand on its own even without the threat hanging overhead.

Since its exploration of human behaviour is grounded in familiar themes, there's something for almost everyone here: romance (heterosexual and homosexual), horror, comedy, family and friendship. The cast is all great—even with the limited timeframe, you'll come to love the characters as if you know them in real life—and the smart production knows how to sell each event that unfolds.

Even if you only watch these few episodes, they hopefully won't be a waste of your time:
1. Day 10 (Ep. 4) - The only one to tackle its theme in an offline state, featuring a feel-good story about the beauty of human connection.
2. Because We Know You Still Have to Leave The House (Ep. 6) and Mother Distancing (Ep. 7) - These two aren't related, but both tackle the anxiety children face over their parents possibly contacting the virus, so having them back-to-back feels crucial to me.
3. Talk2DaHand (Ep. 3) - The shortest of the bunch and the one that owes itself the most to the weird state of communication in a COVID world. This one has an excellent punchline that stays with you long after you've first witnessed it.

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10 unrelated short films dealing with starting, maintaining, rekindling, and/or ending of relationships during the COVID-19 quarantine. Nine of the ten episodes were uniquely filmed in a video chat/vlog style with the actors actually filming their part separately from presumably the location they are Quarantining at due to COVID. The outtakes from the episodes provided by Nadao Bangkok confirm this. This style of filming is appropriate to what is happening to all of us in 2020

Director Kriangkrai Vachiratamporn - who has directing, writing, or production credits on the Hormones trilogy, ThirTEEN Terrors, and Project S: The Series - does an excellent job of producing a series under challenging circumstances. The storylines for each of the episodes are done well and the acting is solid as he enlists familiar veteran faces from the three other projects that he’s worked on in the past. Since each film is unrelated, it doesn’t matter which episode you watch first. Their short run times, simple storylines, and solid veteran acting make them easy and enjoyable to watch, Take the time.

My top Five Episodes. I don’t want to do a spoiler to explain more so just the titles.
1. Episode 6 - Close Friend
2. Episode 8 - Mother Distancing
3. Episode 10 - What Happened Last Night
4. Episode 5 - Pumpkin
5. Episode 2 - Lovers on the Street

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