Is Thai film industry, the weak pillar of the soft power edifice, on the cusp of better days?

[webfact]

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin recently led Cabinet members to watch a popular movie, Sup-pa-rer (The Undertaker), as proof of his commitment to promoting Thai soft power in general and the film industry in particular.

 

Critics dismissed his move as hype, and a publicity stunt to gain political mileage from the current national fever embracing the record-grossing movie.

 

Targeted industries

 

The previous Prayut Chan-o-cha government had promoted five industries — “5 Fs”  — as part of efforts to promote Thai soft power on the global stage.

 

The “5 Fs” —  food, film, fashion, fighting and festival — were considered by the Prayut government as having the potential to increase economic value for the country. For example, Thailand is one of the leading food exporting countries and many Thai dishes, desserts and tropical fruits are recognized worldwide. Muay Thai kickboxing is also quite well known globally as a Thai martial art. But Thailand has not had much success with fashion and films.

 

Top picture: The Undertaker

 

Full story: Thai PBS 2023-11-02

 

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[Henk Langeweg]

Looked for it but can't find it.

Anybody?

[John Drake]

Netflix has a wonderful Thai movie out, Once Upon a Star. I haven't seen The Undertaker. People don't realize just how small the Thai industry is. Even if you only work around the edges, you'll soon know everybody involved. It's small because Thai language films struggle to support themselves with a domestic box office or TV/online distribution. Thai films, with an exception every now and then, just don't export well. Fact is, the industry has been dependent on (primarily) American productions seeking cheap offshore locations that cut corners (see people wearing flip flops on set, instead of steel toed boots, lights rushed up without sandbags in order to squeeze in extra setups). I suppose the companies still dominating things are Living Films, Grand Elephant, and Kantana. There' s an American owned production company, Greenlight, that's also fairly active. The rest is mainly boutique production houses, with many for animation piece work. Thai film directors still need to work other jobs to earn a living. It all lacks a certain amount of focus.

 

Here's what Thai filmmakers do well: cinematography, set design, art direction. They make good horror films. Less well are acting and especially sound. Frankly, I'd rather watch old Thai cinema from the 50s, 60s, and 70s than most of the stuff put out today.

[Brickleberry]

Trouble is the quality of acting, scripts and cinematography. Basically the whole package is a turd sandwich that is copying Chinese and South Korean movies & shows. 

[kingstonkid]

5 hours ago, Henk Langeweg said:

Looked for it but can't find it.

Anybody?

https://www.majorcineplex.com/movie/sup-pa-rer

[proton]

Not all Thai films are sub standard

 

 

[Henk Langeweg]

13 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

https://www.majorcineplex.com/movie/sup-pa-rer

 

13 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

https://www.majorcineplex.com/movie/sup-pa-rer

I am looking for a download site who offers this movie. Maybe TOO early.