New Movie Reviews NO SPOILERS

Ketaru · 10-31-2009, 03:21 PM

Decided to do one more for now, since that will have covered all the Thai films I've seen so far, though I definitely intend to see more. Some on my list are Dear Galileo, 5 Phrang (Phobia 2) the sequel to 4bia, and maybe one day Tears of the Black Tiger.

Rak Haeng Siam ("Love of Siam")- Love of Siam is often credited by people the last few years as their first exposure to Thai pop films. Part of the buzz was credited to its intentionally misleading marketing (think Bridge to Terabithia kind of misleading). Initially, it was marketed a fluffy, summer teen romance flick.

Love of Siam begins with young Tong and Mew. Mew is a stubborn child that is picked on one day in the bathroom at school and Tong saves him from the bullies. After that, they are best friends. One day, Tong's family is taken on a short business trip. Tong's sister, Tang, does not wish to go on their trip and instead to join her friends on a camping trip. Their father, Korn, lets her, despite protest from their mother, Sunee. Her friends are separated from Tang some time during the trip and nobody is able to find her. In grief, Tong's family movies away, ending his and Mew's short friendship.

In senior year of high school, Tong and Mew meet again in Siam Square. Mew is now the singer and songwriter of a band, August. Mew has a neighbor, Ying. Ying has unrequited affections for Mew. Tong has a girlfriend he is slowly growing distant from because of his troubled home life. Korn continues to blame himself for letting Tang vacation with her friends, and drowns his sorrows in booze every day. Sunee is beginning to feel the pressure of having to provide for and hold the family together all on her own. To add to Tong's confusion, Mew is starting to show feelings for Tong that are not mere friendship.

There's a lot the marketing people didn't tell the audience, which I brought up in the second paragraph of my description of the movie. The movie is not just about teenage relationships. It is also a family drama, and also follows the friendship between the various characters. Oh, and if you caught the last part, the teen couple of the movie is not a boy-girl couple. It's a pretty heavy movie, high on drama, no on comedy. Any attempt to describe the movie honestly betrays the impact and contemplation that many viewers experience after watching Love of Siam. My only complaint about it is that, clocking in at slightly under 3 hours long, it inevitably drags at some points.

I am posting 2 different places to buy it because each set has different pros and cons about them.

Love of Siam at Amazon.com
Love of Siam at Amazon.com

Pros: Subtitles are better (I presume). The aspect is correct.
Cons: This is the theatrical release, not the Directors cut, so you'd be missing out on some scenes that explain some things about the movie (they are not merely exposition material). Also, I don't own this myself, but by all indication, the set doesn't seem to have any Extras.

Love of Siam at YesAsia.com
Pros: Directors Cut release. This set has all the extras of the original Thai release.
Cons: The subtitles are not always good and some can only vaguely pass for English. But my biggest complaint is that the video is actually the wrong aspect ratio. It's fine to watch on the computer because my computer can fix the aspect ratio, but my DVD player cannot (I think some can, but mine can't).

Ketaru · 11-18-2009, 05:58 AM

After a week or 2 of thread resuscitation, it seems I must share again. But before I do...

Has anybody seen Precious? I thought about watching it, but I want to hear it from other people first if it's worth traveling 3 towns over just to see. It's not showing at any local theaters in my area. Or what about Pirate Radio?

If You Are the One- The first film in China to outgross Titanic ($50 million vs $47 million) is a subdued, low-key romantic comedy. I don't remember where I read about it, but it is worth its time in 2 hours.

Fourty-something year old Qin Fen is a bald, prospectless bachelor who suddenly strikes it rich when he sells a proposterous invention patent to a naive investor. With money troubles out of the way, Qin sets out to find a wife and does so by posting an internet personal. Qin seeks a traditional (but not too traditional) Chinese woman and describes himself as a "Three Strikes" kind of guy: No company, no stocks, no degree. The woman must not resemble Angelina Jolie, to avoid mutual disappointment. What follows is a string of blind dates with eccentrics. One date is with a flight attendant named Liang "Smiley" Xiaoxiao. She reveals she is secretly dating a married man and she is clearly out of Qin Fen's league. The two agree that they are not meant for each other. But they are also not quite able to bid each other farewell. What follows is Smiley cheering and jeering at Qin's blind dates, a tense confrontation with Smiley's clandestine love interest, and a tourist's fantasy trip through Hokkaido in Japan.

I liked If You Are the One, though I'm not sure why it would outgross a film like Titanic since it is hardly an event movie of any sort. There is no computer generated ocean liner, but some of the visuals are certainly beautiful, especially of Hokkaido. The movie resists falling into melodrama- the two leads don't even kiss, with all the contemplations of adult relationships played out in dialogue. Much of the humor, mostly revolving around the eccentric blind dates, is intelligent. Though, political snark is also fair game and there is one particular below-the-belt jab at a certain country's methods for selecting a white or a black president. If nothing else, a few years from now, at least we'll know exactly when If You Are the One took place.

If You Are the One at Amazon.com
If You Are the One at Amazon.com

Region 1 with English/Chinese Subtitles

Balfree · Yesterday, 07:03 AM

Pirate Radio

Best film for me this year. Sorry if I'm not sticking to this thread's guidelines, this movie just did it for me, its like sex in picture format, somewhat.