Like the characters of two lead actresses who are reconciled with each other along the journey back home, first-time director Tongpong Chantarangkul needs time and experience to reshuffle the team in crafting his directorial debut before an ultimate reach of uniqueness. I Carried You Home becomes a should-be-good if it is their second or third film. The film might be everyone’s debut, except the two lead actresses.

The story itself is a little gem. Two young sisters-in-silent-conflict try to understand each other along the way they carry their mother's body back home in the south. Pinn cannot fly back from Singapore in time to see her mother on the deathbed. As the journey and rituals start (in carrying the mother corpse from Bangkok to the south), we learn to experience their earlier lives while the two sisters share the burial chores. Yes, we know something happened before then, actually between all the three characters including the mother. The film walks along two events - the day before and two-day after the mother's death, with an unexplained incident as a backdrop. And when it is revealed, it is so plain that we feel the lack of power. There is no need to be an emotional moment but at least something like going back home with victory, suffering or whatever, introspectively or cinematically.

A lot of camera methods were used to identify with the characters and the film's theme of journey. Shots were kept close to the three lead characters - Pann, Pinn, and the mother, sometimes at their backs, to reveal what are in their minds. Several tracking shots were repeated from left to right, or right to left, in the hospital or outdoor scenes, signify the film's road-trip atmosphere. And then we see deep-focus, hand-held, and sometimes out-of-focus, which I am not sure if intentional or coincidental. Like most young beginners, they want to experiment on everything which sometimes may not work out.

Most performers, including those minor roles like the aunt, need some more training. Akumsiri Suwannasuk as Pinn could not convince us of her long-kept scars and secrets, revealed at the end. The singing scene of the mother is simple but powerful. Yes, her voice is nothing special. But it is so natural with that beautiful song. Suddenly I almost burst into laughter, seeing the cause of her fatal accident. The ritual of carrying the body back home is perhaps the best part of the movie - simple, indigenous, but heartbreaking.

I Carried You Home might not be perfect, but Tongpong proves that he has some bright future if he has more budget and has worked on more films.