Thai movies/drama thread

[Red_Tirak1099]

SUTEERAK1099 pls read this!!! Respect TS pls!!!

Originally Posted by JWNY

No flame or personal attacks in this thread. Those who want to contribute movies and lakorn, can post their thoughts and links. Those who want to create trouble, please got to another thread.

JWNY

[JWNY]

OK - let that be the end of it

Now we can come back to the thread

Anyone got nice drama serials to share?

JWNY

[pussyman72]

Originally Posted by JWNY

OK - let that be the end of it

Now we can come back to the thread

Anyone got nice drama serials to share?

JWNY

hmm there is one drama series i like very much. need to find out what is the name.

The story is about a guy who lost his family after that he give up everything n move around in the streets. he found a baby boy and he brought him up till he think that the boy need a better family and leave the boy with a good family.

the boy later become a doctor when he learn about his foster father is dying. he try to come back to see him and try to take care of him till his foster father pass away. it a very sad and touching story.....

will try to find the name

[Red_Tirak1099]

Originally Posted by siamcutey

MON-RAK Transistor

A very meaningful movie on a young man's venture with his wife and kid waiting for him back home.

Sorry, one more question on this movie....What does MON-RAK means? My long hair dictionary told me but I forgot. There is a song Mon-Rak Look Thong too. Think if can get my hands on the movie soundtrack be great....the theme song is an old song "Mai Luem".

[JWNY]

Originally Posted by Red_Tirak1099

Sorry, one more question on this movie....What does MON-RAK means? My long hair dictionary told me but I forgot. There is a song Mon-Rak Look Thong too. Think if can get my hands on the movie soundtrack be great....the theme song is an old song "Mai Luem".

Mon to my understanding is appeal or allure (charm) - มนต์ ~ could it be "magical or attracted love" ?

JWNY

[Red_Tirak1099]

I am surprise no one mention this movie yet. It was very popular in Asia due to its universal theme. Anyone know what happen to the girl actress Focus Jirakul who played Noi-Naa?


Fan Chan (Thai: แฟนฉัน, English: My Girl) is a 2003 Thai romantic comedy film offering a nostalgic look back at the childhood friendship of a boy and girl growing up in a small town in Thailand in the 1980s. It was the debut film by six young screenwriter-directors, Vitcha Gojiew, Songyos Sugmakanan, Nithiwat Tharathorn, Witthaya Thongyooyong, Anusorn Trisirikasem and Komgrit Triwimol. With a soundtrack that featured Thai pop music of the era, Fan Chan was the top domestic film at the Thailand box office in 2003, earning 140 million baht.

Plot
Jeab, a young man working in Bangkok, receives word that his best friend from childhood, Noi-Naa is to be married. While driving back to his hometown, the memories of his friendship with her come flooding back, and their story is told in a flashback.

Jeab and Noi-Naa live in a small city. Their fathers are rival barbers, with shops situated next to each other, with only a sweet shop to separate them. Jeab's father favors efficiency and uses an electric trimmer. Noi-Naa's father, meanwhile, has a more contemplative, artistic approach, and uses scissors. Jeab notes that the results of both methods seem to be the same.


Jack and his friends play Chinese fantasy characters after schoolThe school holiday is ended. Jeab is notorious for oversleeping, so that each day he misses the school bus and must be driven part way by his father on a motorcycle. By taking a shortcut, Jeab and his father are able to catch up to the bus, but only just in time.

On the bus, other boys are introduced. Their ringleader is an overweight bully named Jack. On the bus, the children talk about what they are going to do after school. The boys decide they will play Chinese fantasy characters, while the girls plan to play "house".

Because Jeab must cross a busy street to play with the boys, and he fears getting hit by a car, he stays to play with the girls, which makes him the target of much taunting by Jack and the other boys.

Then, one day, Jack and his friends are playing soccer against a rival neighborhood gang. They are one player short. Jeab happens to be hanging around, and he's asked to join the game, proving his abilities.

He earns the trust of Jack's gang, and passes various tests in order to join. But the one thing he must do is sever his ties to Noi-Naa. Jeab does so, quite literally, by cutting a rubber-band jump rope, which Noi-Naa is skilled at playing with.

From that moment on, Noi-Naa refuses to talk to Jeab. Then, one day, Jeab gets word that Noi-Naa is moving away. And, of course, on the day she is to leave, Jeab oversleeps and misses the chance to say his final goodbye to Noi-Naa. Jeab then gets Jack and his friends to commandeer a delivery motorcycle and pursue Noi-Naa and her family in their moving truck. But the motorcycle breaks down, and the truck rolls out of sight. Jeab is to never see Noi-Naa again ... until her wedding.

[theUnforgotten]

Great thread! TS,

Personal Comment : Soundtrack of this movie is very popular in bkk malls and its constantly playing, right now even playing while I am typing away this review at the free hotspot , near my apartment here in Ratchada. It's an interesting movie and the posters are very provocative.I have yet to watch it , though I may do so later , if my date is up for it.

Even though its a movie about Gays, It's entertaining enough and I must applaud the makers and directors for making this movie and its subject matter.



Bangkok Love Story

Stars: 3/5

The first half of Bangkok Love Story climaxes with a hot rooftop sex scene; in the second, its protagonists fail to establish a relationship. The catch is that the lovers are both men: a fresh Police Academy graduate and a hitman with a conscience.
How all this goes does down is more Bollywood than Brokeback Mountain. Get ready for buckets of tears, torrential rain when people kiss, and some really bad luck in the form of AIDS, abusive thugs, a molesting stepfather and a dying mother. Despite Chaiwat Thongsang “Tob” and Ratanabanrang Tosawat “A” being the most drop-dead gorgeous things on screen this year—their acting suffers from the melodramatic unrequited relationships (think Thai soap opera) director Poj Arnon puts them in.

Two things save Bangkok Love Story from disaster. The first is the photography (by director of photography Tiwa Maithaisong). It turns Bangkok into a character in its own right, and elevates many of its features (the Chao Phraya and Wat Arun, the Giant Swing, derelict moldy concrete buildings with rusted front grates, the BTS and the skyline) beyond banality and into icons like New York's Brooklyn Bridge and fire escapes; or Paris' quays of the Seine River and slate rooftops. Visually, Bangkok Love Story will remain a landmark in Thai cinema.

The movie’s second saving grace is the audacity to make a gay gangster flick in Thailand. If you can cut past Arnon’s melodramatic style, the story he tells is quite interesting. The character of the cop embodies Thailand’s establishment: he’s rich, he has graduated from the Police Academy, he is destined to be a high-ranking officer and is about to marry into a good family. The true divide between him and his gangster crush is class, not that they are on opposite sides of the law, or even that they are having a secret gay affair. In an effort to close the gap, the cop helps his friend fight through the quagmire he finds himself in (disease, poverty, the brutality of the underworld) but systematically fails. In the end, Arnon makes a better case for hitmen who need to feed their families than for the Royal Police’s elite. That he chooses to do it through a gay love story is all the more remarkable.—Gregoire Glachant

[suteerak1099]

Last Life in the Universe (Thai title: เรื่องรัก น้อยนิด มหาศาล, Ruang rak noi nid mahasan) - another of my favorites, an award winning, enigmatic story of a the male lead (an ex-yakuza) seeking death for a relief, in hope to accelerate & move on to the next incarnation... finds himself entangled in a new found friendship, while the ending poses a choice for viewers to linger & ponder about

i give it 4½* out of a possible 5*

(the jazzy-bosanova presentation of the OST soothing to the ears as well)

Directed by: Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Produced by: Wouter Barendrecht, Nonzee Nimibutr
Written by: Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, Prabda Yoon
Starring: Tadanobu Asano, Sinitta Boonyasak, Laila Boonyasak
Music by: Hualumpong Riddim
Cinematography: Christopher Doyle


Synopsis
Kenji is a mysterious librarian with the Japan Foundation in Bangkok. Living in an obsessively neat apartment full of precise stacks of books, he is convinced that death will be a pleasant nap between lives, but finds his half-hearted attempts to kill himself continually interrupted by the people around him. Kenji's most notable obstacle is his self-absorbed brother, Yukio, who may be a yakuza, or Japanese gangster. Yukio is on vacation from Japan to escape the wrath of his employer, whose daughter he slept with. Yukio's friend Takashi suggests that if it were his daughter, he would have the despoiler killed, but Kenji's brother laughs this warning off. Yukio frequents a club where he can enjoy the attention of a bunny-eared hostess, a local girl named Nid. Nid's sister, Noi, is furious at her sibling for having slept with her ex-boyfriend, Jon.

One day in the library, Kenji spies on Nid, clad in a school girl's uniform. Soon after, he discovers that his brother has hidden a pistol inside a teddy bear. He is about to shoot himself when Yukio is slain by Takashi, who was apparently hired by Yukio's employer. Takashi sees Kenji, who appears hopeful at his impending death, but suddenly Kenji shoots and kills the assassin. Not long after that, Kenji is about to jump off a bridge when Noi and Nid, driving past, have an argument. Noi throws Nid out of the car, then reconsiders. Nid, distracted by Kenji sitting on the railing of the bridge, is struck by another car and slain.

Kenji and Noi, both having lost a sibling, form a tentative friendship. The introspective Kenji asks the extroverted Noi if he can stay with her, unwilling to spend time with the two corpses in his apartment. Noi agrees, and invites the fussy Japanese man into her disastrously unkempt beachside home. As Kenji begins cleaning, Noi prepares to leave for Japan to further her career. Surreal elements creep into the film; Noi sees the house magically cleaning itself, while Kenji watches Noi transform into her temptress sister. The couple, in some ways polar opposites and in some ways mirror images, form a semi-romantic relationship. Meanwhile, the abusive and promiscuous ex-boyfriend Jon begins calling, angry that Noi thinks she can leave him. Three yakuza are also dispatched to find out what has happened to Takashi.

In the final segments, Kenji drives Noi to the airport, then decides he will join her. He returns to his apartment to gather his things and purposely knock over a stack of books. While he is in the bathroom, first Jon, then the yakuza arrive. Jon is slain, and Kenji apparently escapes out the window. The movie then cuts back and forth between two apparent endings: one, in which Kenji has been arrested for some unspecified crime, and another in which after been arrested briefly, he re-united with Noi in Japan.

Throughout the movie are images of the furtive gecko who lives in Noi's house, as well as The Last Lizard, Kenji's children's book about a reptile who wakes up to discover he is the final member of his species. The fictional lizard realizes that even being with his enemies, the other lizards who picked on him, was preferable to being alone.

Interpretation
Some people, perplexed by the ending, have suggested that Kenji is indeed reunited with Noi, after a brief detainment by the authorities. Others claim that he is merely dreaming about her, which is a much healthier fantasy than killing himself. Whether he was arrested for killing two people or five is also up for debate. Still others suggest that the entire movie is structured like the famous story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, a could-have-been life flashing before Kenji's eyes in the instant before he successfully hanged himself or was slain by Takashi.

Another complication is the possibility that Kenji, despite his bookish demeanor, is actually a former yakuza himself. The elaborate tattoo on his back seems to support this view, though some claim that Kenji and Noi are merely imagining themselves as becoming more like their deceased siblings, as evidenced by the sudden revealing of Kenji's elaborate back tattoo (some have also speculated that Kenji's brother is in fact his Yakuza brother or "Aniki" and not his blood relative) and the scenes in which Noi is actually seen as the image of her sister, switching actresses and costumes in between shots of the same scene. However, it would be hard to argue that Kenji's skillful use of a firearm in the dark, in the beginning of the film, as well as his strength when he attacks Jon after Jon assaults Noi, was imagined.

Awards
Last Life in the Universe was awarded in Thailand two times by the Thailand National Film Association Awards and the FIPRESCI Prize (Bangkok International Film Festival). It also received the Upstream Prize at the Venice Film Festival and the AQCC Award and Jury Prize in Fant-Asia Film Festival. It was also chosen to be Thailand's official submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2003.

source for reference

[Red_Tirak1099]

Originally Posted by JWNY

Anyone got nice drama serials to share?

JWNY

Originally Posted by JWNY

Mon to my understanding is appeal or allure (charm) - มนต์ ~ could it be "magical or attracted love" ?

JWNY

I get the rough idea thanks....my level of thai not up to the standard to be able watch thai drama serials yet but getting there

[JWNY]

This film was nominated for the 2005 Golden Kinnaree Award for best film at the Bangkok International Film Festival and has won various awards at smaller festivals around the world. Watch with your tiraks at night!

JWNY

Shutter - ชัตเตอร์ กดติดวิญญาณ

Directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun / Parkpoom Wongpoom

Produced by Yodphet Sudsawad

Starring Ananda Everingham / Natthaweeranuch Thongmee / Achita Sikamana

Plot:

While driving home one night after a gathering with friends, Tun (Everingham) and Jane (Thongmee) accidentally hit a woman who is crossing the street. Shocked, Jane wants to see if the woman is alright, but Tun insists they flee the scene.

Sometime later, while taking pictures of a graduating class, Tun notices a horrible-looking face standing between the graduates. When he has the pictures developed, he notices the faint profile of a face in one picture. While looking closer, the face turns in a flash, revealing a haunted face with a fierce gaze.

Tun continues to have strange experiences and eerie encounters with the entity from the pictures. He has a persistent neck-ache since the accident, but a doctor finds no physical cause. Tun also has a bizarre encounter with his friend Tonn, who sneaks into Tun's apartment and claims that he needs the photos Tun has hidden away or else "she" will kill him.

Jane, who's been sensing strange things as well, decides to investigate the school where the ghostly images were taken. She soon discovers a photo of the girl in Tun's pictures, and looking in a yearbook, discovers a picture of her with Tun.

Meanwhile, Tun checks on Tonn at his apartment, but finds the place a wreck, and the table is covered with pictures which show ghostly blurs like those in many of Tun's pictures. At that point he turns to see Tonn jumping off the balconey to his death. He then learns from Tonn's wife that his other two close friends have also committed suicide.

Jane finds out that the girl on the photos was Tun's ex-girlfriend, Natre (Sikamana). Tun says that his friends used to think Natre was strange, so he kept his relationship with her a secret. When Tun broke-up with Natre, he says that she threatened to kill herself, so his friends said they would take care of the situation for him, after which time he never heard from her again. They decide to pay a visit to Natre's hometown to see what became of her.

On the trip Tun sees Natre standing behind them on the road in the rear-view mirror, so he speeds away from the intersection at 120 km/h, but Natre appears outside the passenger window, then on the trunk of the car, which causes Tun to swerve off the road. When they arrive at Natre's mother's house, they notice a foul stench, and they soon find Natre's decaying body in a bedroom upstairs. Tun and Jane persuade Natre's mother to have her remains cremated so her spirit can finally rest. They discover that she committed suicide by jumping off a hospital roof after a failed attempt to overdose on pills.

That night in their hotel room, Tun is haunted by Natre, who chases him down the staircase and then out onto the fire escape. She causes him to fall off and he wakes up in hospital the next day. Jane tells him that Natre is to be cremated that day and that their troubles are over.

However, when Jane has her vacation photos developed, an extra roll of film (which shot itself prior to their leaving to go to Natre's house) has also been developed, and in the photos she sees a visage crawling across their living room floor. Jane orders the pictures sequentially and sees that the visage is slowy crawling towards the bookshelf.

In the bookshelf she finds negatives which she develops, and discovers that Natre was raped by Tun's friends, while Tun himself took pictures and refused to help her. In disgust, Jane leaves Tun, who then begins burning all of the pictures in which Natre's ghost has appeared.

Tun calls upon Natre and asks if she really loves him and if her love is really everlasting. He begins taking pictures of the apartment to find out where she is, but can't find any trace of her so he throws the camera down in anger. However, the Polaroid takes a snapshot automatically while pointed at him and Tun looks at the image as it develops. To his horror, he sees that Natre was actually with him all the time: on his shoulders. This explains his neck pain, his sudden weight gain on a scale and other events in the movie.

Natre covers his eyes, blinding him, and Tun backs up and falls out the window of his apartment, but luckily he survives. Jane visits him at the hospital where a reflection on the glass on the door to his room reveals Natre still sitting on Tun's shoulders, showing that so long as he lives, Natre will never leave him alone.

[suteerak1099]

noticed a coincidence, lately movie script writers seem to use road accident in their movies... amnesia for some movies too

last life in the universe - rd accident led to the lead roles to know each other
shutter - couple conversing, hit a girl crossing the road
me, myself - female lead driving while on the phone, hits the male lead on the rd
... i guess there'd be more...

[yinyang]

Anybody saw an acclaimed thai movie 2005/6 on some boys boarding school (excuse my forgetting title)?

Interesting story on a boy growing up in boarding school away from his family, and befriending a dead boy (drowned in pool). Reading porn mags under blankets and all silly stuff boys amuse with. Headmistress and dad guilt ridden (former with pool fatality). Touching movie, I thought.. different from usual horror, accidents genre.

[Red_Tirak1099]

Originally Posted by yinyang

Anybody saw an acclaimed thai movie 2005/6 on some boys boarding school (excuse my forgetting title)?

Title is DEK HOR...I remember coz watched 3 times with 3 different Thai birds

[issan_madboy]

Thank you brother JWNY for starting such an informative and interesting thread.hopefully we can keep out the flame wars that have been plaguing this forum.

Originally Posted by siamcutey

Art of the Devil I is better because the lead actress is more chio

Originally Posted by Red_Tirak1099

Back to Thai movies....Watched a DVD with my Thai gf the other day, "Art of the Devil II"....dont know the Thai title. I dont go for horror movies much but this one was not so bad. Story about Black Magic gongtao.

Brother SC i prefer art of the devil II cos got more gore.i like to see blood spill and missing body parts.

Originally Posted by Red_Tirak1099

This one I watch b4 too.....touching story. Funny part when his gay manager brought him home & tries to rape him....

I like the part where he sang in the army camp.very touching.





How about the legend of queen suriyothai?francis ford coppola's epic production.was the movie that kick started all those gigantic historical epics like king nauresan.The film describes historical events in the life of the heroine, Suriyothai, the queen of King Mahachakrapat. from the age of 15, ranging from love and attachment, royal wedding, resettlement in the capital, court life, intrigues, and sustenance of royal dignity.

Year: 2001
Director: MC Chatri Chalerm Yukol (a.k.a Than Mui)
Cast: M.L Piyapas Bhirombhakdi, Mai Charoenpura, Pimolrat Pisalayabutr, Johnny Anfone, Sarunyu Wongkrachang, Chatchai Plengpanich, Pongpat Wachirabunjong, Penpak Sirikul, Wannasa Tongviset, Sorapong Chatri, Suphakit Tangthatswasd, Saharat Sangkapricha, Ronrittichai Khanket, Sombat Medhanee, Paveena Hongsakula, Pisan Akaraseni, Supakorn Kitsuwon, Ampol Lamppon, Sinjai Plengpanit, Suchao Pongwilai, Varuth Waratham, H. M. The Queen of Thailand Sirikit Kitiyakara

[Red_Tirak1099]

Dek hor (Thai: เด็กหอ, also Dorm or My School) is a 2006 Thai horror-thriller-drama film about a shy boy who is sent away under mysterious circumstances to a spooky boarding school. It is co-written and directed by Songyos Sugmakanan, one of the six directors of the 2003 hit Thai film, Fan Chan, and stars Fan Chan's male lead, Charlie Trairat. Veteran Thai actress Chintara Sukapatana co-starred as an emotionally disturbed teacher. The film was critically acclaimed in Thailand, where it won more honors than any other film from the various awards bodies, including best picture from the Bangkok Critics Assembly.

Cast
Charlie Trairat as Ton
Chintara Sukapatana as Ms. Pranee
Sirachuch Chienthaworn as Vichien
Suttipong Tudpitakkul as Ton's father
Jirat Sukchaloen as Peng
Thanabodin Sukserisup as Doc Nui
Pakasit Pantural as Pok
Nipawan Taweepornsawan as Ton's mother

Plot
In Thailand, the young Ton Chatree is sent to a boarding school by his father to study harder and have less entertainment with television. Once in the school, Ton feels outcast and misses his family and friends. He becomes scared with the ghost stories his new schoolmates tell about a boy that died in the swimming pool and a young pregnant woman that committed suicide. He becomes a close friend of the also lonely boy Vichien, and later Ton realizes that Vichien is the boy that drowned in the swimming pool, and his death repeats every night. Ton tries to find a way to help his friend to rest in peace.

Reception

Box office, critical reception
The film was screened at the 2006 Bangkok International Film Festival and opened in wide release in Thailand on February 23, 2006, and was the No. 1 film that weekend, earning nearly US$544,000. The film was had theatrical releases in Singapore and Malaysia and at other film festivals, including the Pusan International Film Festival.

It received praise from critics for the performances by the child actors and Chintara as well as its color-drained photography and the production design of the old boarding school.


Awards
2007 Berlin Film Festival – Crystal Bear Award for best film in Generation Kplus competition, awarded by 11-member children's jury.
2007 Fajr International Film Festival – Crystal Simorgh for best director in the Spiritual Films Competition.
Thailand National Film Association Awards
Best editing
Best art direction
Golden Doll Awards
Best actor (Charlie Trairat)
Best actress (Chintara Sukapatana)
Best script
Bangkok Critics Assembly
Best picture
Best director (Songyos Sugmakanan)
Best script
Best cinematography
Starpics Awards
Best picture
Best supporting actress (Chintara Sukapatana)
Best script
Best editing
Kom Chad Luek Awards
Best supporting actor (Sirachuch Chienthaworn)
Best supporting actress (Chintara Sukapatana)