Three stories of love in Chookiat's new film
Movie 'Love of Siam'
Although most movies in Thai While cinemas are full of violence and TV soap operas are full of fights, there are also Thai directors who make more interesting films.
The best known is of course Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who won the prestigious Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2010 with his somewhat puzzling film 'Uncle Bonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives'. This week premieres a film by another director that seems equally interesting judging by the description in the newspaper: Home Khwam Rak Khwam Sook Khwam Songjam”, simply translated by The Nation as 'Home' by Chookiat Sakveerakul.
Home
Home is a triptych of short stories that are loosely connected. The northern dialect is spoken in the film, which is quite exceptional. I assume the film is not subtitled in English; the newspaper says nothing about it.
In the first story, a high school graduate takes pictures of his school all night and shares his school life with a younger friend. When the sun rises, the two separate.
The second, most harrowing story is about a 50-year-old woman who loses her husband to cancer of the larynx. She has trouble picking up the thread again. In the northern culture, it is customary for a widow to pray every Buddhist holy day for the deceased in his next life. This belief binds the woman to her deceased husband.
In the last part, a man from the South marries a woman from the North. The wedding day is quite chaotic. Chookiat shows how couples who really want to be together find a way to overcome the many problems on their wedding day, ending the film on a hopeful note.
Pisaj
Chookiat made his debut with 'Khon Phee Pisaj' (Pisaj), in which a girl suffers hallucinations after her parents were killed in former Prime Minister Thaksin's war on drugs. His second film '13 Game Sayong' (13 Beloved) was a cynical drama about a deadly reality TV game that sharply criticized materialism in contemporary Thai society.
This was followed by 'Rak Hang Siam' (Love of Siam), a tender romance of two gay teenagers, a film that was met with stormy reception.
The action film 14 is planned as a sequel to 13. We are waiting for sufficient funds to finance the film.
(Source: The Nation, April 15, 2010)
I'm glad to hear something about a good Thai movie. I know they exist but often can't find them. I'm going to buy this one from Chookiat tomorrow, and maybe the others too. My experience shows that the good films are often simply not available. No question, I guess. The Thai title of “Home” translates as “Love, Happiness and Memory”.
The channel with the better Thai films can be found on the Mongol channel, you really have the better Thai films on there, everything is in Thai, but that is good to brush up on the language if you already know the language a bit. At least you are powerful. Western films are also regularly broadcast, but most of the stuff is Thai. I do watch Mongol Channel regularly.
I'm currently watching the movie King Naresuan 2 (2007)… It's a war movie, but it's very colorful and you really get the atmosphere. What I also find interesting to see is the way the normal population was (mis)treated..