Most documetnaries about the idol industry fall into one of two types. They first type involves sensationalist works that exoticize their subjects. Some even go as far as to strip them from their humanity and dignity, presenting them either as automatons without agency who are abused by their production companies (“9 Muses of Star Empire“) or creepy hustlers who use their clueless, and equally creepy, fans (“Tokyo Idols“). The other type speak about the friendship within the band and the difficulties the different members have gone through in order to become great at what they do. As such, they function more like movie-length ads than anything else. What the two types of idol documentaries share in common is that they seldom treat their subjects as complex human beings. Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit manages to overcome this dichotomy in his documentary about the Bangkok iteration of one of the Japanese idol franchise band AKB48 “BNK48: Girls Don't Cry”.
The documentary's narrative follows two lines. The base one traces the history of BNK48 from its inception, auditions, unveil of the first generation of idols, endless rehearsals, and finally – success. It is a pretty typical story of giving it all in the shadow of a looming failure. It is also probably the most tighly controlled by the BNK48 production company aspect of the movie. Most of the girls tell basically the same story that feels a little bit like the typical answer idols give in interviews.
The second narrative line follows the subjective experiences of the girls and is by far the most interesting and worthy aspect of the documentary. As the long interviews with the members of the idol group progress, the girls begin opening up to us, showing parts of their personality outside of the image created by their producers. They speak about inter-band tensions, the jealousy some of them feel towards Cherprang, a seemingly natural born idol who effortlessly gains the fan's love.
“BNK48: Girls Don't Cry” is visually minimal. The interview scenes take up the bulk of the runtime. Each of them is shot against the same backdrop, a light brown box, and with the same soft light. The girls look directly at the camera and talk. There is also some footage from concerts and rehearsals, that punctuates the interviews and functions as a visual explanation of what the idols are talking about. But the documentary never feels boring or monotonous, precisely because the honesty of the idols Thamrongrattanarit interviews. They open up in front of him and us and feel human and vulnerable. That is something few documentaries about the pop music industry, and especially its idol iteration, manage to do.
