Review: Girl From Nowhere

What would you do if you had the power to reveal everyone’s deepest and darkest secrets? In Netflix’s latest Thai anthology series, Girl from Nowhere, it is the reality for the lead actor, played by Chicha Amatayakul.

The series plays the main plot by following the dangerous and devoted teenage girl, Nanno, who uses her charms to reveal sanctimony by enrolling to various school. Each episode shows a variety of thrilling content, portraying the various aspect of what happens in a high school, which then not only involving friends, but the education system, family, mental health and more. The film is popular, and it is obvious why. The film applies a strict key feature which could relate to ‘silent speaks’ where each different scene has been given a header that gets ruin with internal hypocrisy as soon as the main character sets her position in the area.

After binge watching to whole season in 3 days, this is my view on the film. The film is by far one of the best and most unique horror dramas that I have watched. Subtly yet forcefully, the main character Nanno is seen influencing the lives of teenager at every different environment that she appears in. To my understanding and perception towards the film, it depicts varying and twisted cases of bullying, sexual abuse, rape, paedophilia, academic cheating, and even the dangers of stan culture and hive mentality to reflect on reality and society nowadays. These are issues that are happening everyday yet there is minor exposure and attention that people give towards it. The film undertakes by putting power back into the hands of victims and convey moral value on every episode to voice out on concern topics as mentioned above, which in a way works well in retrospect and is not too overbearing for the audience.

Besides that, I would say that the film is somewhat like American Netflix Series, Black Mirror but it inputs a slight touch in focusing on one main aspect which is the high school scene rather than working the whole series with a bigger coverage. It helps attract a certain party of audience and provides them an easier understanding on what is going on, as minimised content is the most absorbable and compelling content as it is straightforward and clear. What I ultimately like about the film would be the main character, Nanno. She is a trip, funny and creepy at the same time. The mystery girl who takes on a different symbolism and interpretation of who she is has been kept throughout Season 1 and 2 and obviously it is partially the reason why audience are hooked to the film, to finally wait for the release of her background story. This peculiar girl has this crazy hysteria type of laugh that would traumatise everyone in an impactful way which assist in term of creating a memorable impression.

Other than that, the film is not just about the performance by its actor, but its writing and tone helps elevate every character existing in the film. The show rarely messes with expectations or suspense as they hope to let the audience know that every awful person is going to learn a lesson and receive their comeuppance. This gives the main character a huge power, both in fiction and meta sense as then she is pretty much the symbol for all the victims as she is for the audience.

Also, it is particularly impressive in terms of how the film was portrayed too. For example, certain episodes contain a solid amount of artistic tendency as they apply the use of art differently in different episodes and scenario. From one of the episodes known as “Trophy”, it weaves a mix of classical music and included well-known quotes, which is a rare act in Thai drama in general. I would say that by doing so, it makes the film aesthetically pleasing and intriguing. Aside from that, the best thing about the series is that the producer decides to let audience picture a big part of the plot. Those who have watched the first season would understand each episode ends with the mess that Nanno caused and how she painted the people around her as villains as she then leaves and move to another place. It does not end by giving you a direct and straight answer yet, it keeps you imagining what happened at the end. Although it doesn’t make much sense, but clearly that’s what the producers wants us to do, to picture it with our own creativity and imagination.

To be honest, the film has placed a solid impact on myself. It made me reflect that all people in general have bad and negative thoughts but often those thoughts turn into action due to us being manipulated, either by ourselves or others. By that, we must learn to have strict control and faith towards our mindset and actions, instead of easily being influenced by others to do something without learning or understanding the consequences that might happen. Aside from that, I have also obtained the fact that not all victims are innocents. In some situation, even the offender could turn into becoming a victim. Hence, different situation requires different solution. We must go through thoroughly in all aspect before deciding who might be guilty and who might not but also learn to accept the truth that what’s wrong and right differs on different perspective.

To summarise, while the series is typically pessimistic and at times scary, it also portrays an uplifting and optimistic representation of love in all its forms. The whole series is extremely well-suited to an anthological format and is great at really leaning into every tone it settles on. When it wants to be bright and optimistic it is; when it wants to be frightening and disordered, it is that too. Overall, it is clearly a film that you should watch!