Out Of Nowhere - A Good Thai Gay-themed Movie!

[Ponbkk]

I have a little bit of time here this Sunday morning and just wanted to summarize a little research I did at the beckoning of the posts in this thread. I must first explain that I misraed a few things so my post here refers specifically to SRTs and AVI and DVDs of another movie (which I will refer to only as "BLS") and not to Rak Haeng Siam, particularly, but could in a general sense.

First of all let me assure you all that my intent here is NOT to violate forum rules and make a post that would in any possible way encourage or condone movie piracy. I am quite sure that upon reading of the entire thread, anyone, including the overbearing moderators of this board, that piracy is not encouraged here, in fact the proper purchase of copyright/retail non-English-subtitled DVDs is indeed strongly encouraged with possibility of avoiding downloading the "pirate" copy.

In this instance I ran across the following issues 1) availability of English subtitles for Thai movies whose official DVD versions do not have English subtitles, 2) possible inadequacies in the screen formats of the "avi" files that you might download along with the subtitles (warning: downloading this avi file could be "not legal" in Thailand) accompanying/matching the subtitles that you might find somewhere on the internet, 3) how to get, if you found subtitles, a perfectly suitable and legal (well, pretty dam_n close) copy of your DVD with subtitles for playback from your high definition (widescreen 1080/720) television's DVD player.

I found a paired BLS avi/srt (srt = a flat file which contains someone's English subtitles interpretation for the Thai words in the movie). The captions/subtitles in the file are plain text and have "timestamps" for each subtitle that relate to the movie times on the avi). A properly configured PC software media player will read the SRT file along with playing the paired "avi" file and display SRT subtitles at a certain (hardwired) distance from the bottom or top at the correct locations (timings) during playback of the avi movie on your PC screen.

First, let me say that it seems rather odd that Thai movies that MIGHT reach an international audience, are not , as a matter of course, released with the fully qualified by the authors of the movie English-language subtitles, at least (in addition maybe to a couple other west European languages). It just seems that authors would immediately want to protect their interests in guaranteeing the authenticity of the translation to English, still the dominant world market (with China and India soon to supercede) is as they would intend it. <I've just erased some comments here> So, we have the power of the internet that will let some very helpful people provide text translations in order that others without the necessary language skills could enjoy some excellent quality movies, not necessarily limited to Thai movies, on their own. Like having a Thai friend sitting next to you in the theatre :-P~ letting you know what is going on, there is no difference here and if anyone wants to help me with these translations I consider it entirely respectable.

Now a few comments about "avi" files on the internet ... . They are generally of lesser video quality than the DVDs. They are compressed and there is a loss of quality. They might look suitable on your PC. When you play them on your PC and high definition television these and many other deficiencies could be apparent. In the particular case the avi version was letterboxed "down" into an NTSC format sized box that, if you played it on your HD television through your PC's SVideo or RCA/component outputs or burned to XVID, would appear with bands both to both sides and above/below. Letterboxing caused a FURTHER loss of resolution in addition to the compression (I'm quite sure but not 100% certain)! If you would zoom this format properly (maintain aspect ratio), the movie would appear to fill the entire wide screen, but the subtitles would fall off above or below the screen! :-(

The solution:

1) Buy your own copy of the nonsubtitled retail DVD (its only a couple hundred baht). I went to MBK. Third or fourth floor.

2) Download subtitles from somewhere.

3) "Rip" the DVD using a suitable DVD ripper - it is legal to backup your data (well, almost, and maybe not "not illegal" in Thailand - who really knows) and hopefully not mired in region coding difficulties, which are BTW not uncircumventable.

4) Use a suitable DVD authoring program to burn the DVD back to disk and include the subtitles, play it on your HD and ENJOY (yumm!).

Programs to accomplish this are available on the internet in frewware and shareware archives.

The tricky part? It is most probable that the AVIs that the SRTs are matched to has had at least the beginning part of the movie removed (what would be in America be the "FBI warning" - I assume this is similar on the Thai DVDs but I cannot read it as it is written only in Thai). So you may have to do some manual shifting of the subtitles/movies. As far as I know the SRT format does not support time shifts (adding a "shift" line to the top of the file). So you'll have to remove some of the movie manually either during ripping/ an "edit"/ or re-burning. Still, you will have to determine what the time shift is. It could be just the total time of the avi minus the total time of the ripped DVD (then STILL requiring the possibly not "not illegal" download), but THEN maybe the AVI author removed some of the ending credits (NOT a good idea). An error of just a few seconds can be unsatisfactory. I do know that "sub" format subtitles do allow a time shift that could be easily experimented with.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

I just hope you will not feel the brunt in the way i did because some people who have the fingers on the buttons do not have a clue regarding the differences between "subtitle" and "illegally obtained copy of a video", regardless in how lengthy details it is explained. Been there, almost GOT banned, don't give a hoot now as i own every possibly buyable version of the movie legally (and done my own rip WITH subs which nobody can forbid me to do as long as i don't give anyone else access to it, which i don't).

I also wonder WHY does the DVD not contain the subtitles in first place? After all, almost every cinema that showed the movie did so WITH English subs. So these subtitles certainly do exist, right from the recording studio/company.

I guess they (recording studio/company) are, for some reason, scraed that someone abroad might watch the film, hence they don't supply the subs. And hence they release a DVD with a region code (which by the way CAN be circumvented, in fact that's the easiest thing to do - these region codes should be made illegal anyway. I pay for a DVD with my money, they don't care where from i bring that money so why are they attempting to control where i watch the video that i bought??)

I saw this happen with a number of Thai movies, some of which include rather weird subtitle selections (Hebrew!) but no English. Are they really afraid regular Farangs watching them??

Best regards......

Thanh

[lothda]

Hi

...

I also wonder WHY does the DVD not contain the subtitles in first place? After all, almost every cinema that showed the movie did so WITH English subs. So these subtitles certainly do exist, right from the recording studio/company.

I guess they (recording studio/company) are, for some reason, scraed that someone abroad might watch the film, hence they don't supply the subs. And hence they release a DVD with a region code (which by the way CAN be circumvented, in fact that's the easiest thing to do - these region codes should be made illegal anyway. I pay for a DVD with my money, they don't care where from i bring that money so why are they attempting to control where i watch the video that i bought??)

I saw this happen with a number of Thai movies, some of which include rather weird subtitle selections (Hebrew!) but no English. Are they really afraid regular Farangs watching them??

Hi! Please let me comment on these issues:

The subtitle issue is easy to explain - English subtitles for Thai films in the cinema so foreigners can watch them and contribute their money. No English subtitles for Thai films on DVDs released in Thailand because foreigners are not entitled to enjoy Thai DVDs at Thai prices IF there is even the slightest chance that the film rights might be sold to foreign markets. (I really wonder how high the losses would be.)

We probably have the success of Ong Bak to blame for that. There was no Asian DVD release of Ong Bak with English subtitles, not even in Hong Kong where English is usually included in the subtitle choices. It was released in the UK and the US, rather successfully. Nowadays if you see a Thai DVD of a Thai movie with English subtitles it is most probably not a good film! Just browse the cheap horror section at your local DVD outlet and you'll see. From time to time a good film with limited appeal may have English subtitles. I can only think of two 'recent' examples, Me Myself I and Tropical Malady.

Region coding is a similar issue. It was introduced to protect production companies profits because DVD release rights may belong to different companies in different territories. That said, it is obviously overdone and easily circumvented. I don't think you can even buy a Region 3 DVD player in Thailand .

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

For the region coding i can understand - if a film is released worldwide at locally "usual" prices, but ONLY then. Say a DVD cost twice as much in the U.S.A. than here in Thailand. It would make sense to prevent the Thai ones being shipped to the U.S.A. and the U.S. ones catching dust on the shelves.

But if a movie is only released here???

And the subtitle issue, i think all it does is the one thing that should be prevented - it makes everyone willing to see the film flee to the dark side and, instead of buying a subtitled DVD in a Thai shop, thereby contributing to the Thai economy, they download it from a torrent site. Not everyone has the knowledge on "how to find a subtitle" and then make their own rip of the locally bought DVD to include the sub (which, i have to stress again, is a perfectly legal thing to do as long as you keep that rip for your own use only).

Another question - do you by any chance have information on the "release of the doll"? My Boomerang guy has no idea when it will come, or "if it will come at all". Specially that last sentence is quite a bummer.

With best regards.....

Thanh

[lothda]

...

But if a movie is only released here???

...

Another question - do you by any chance have information on the "release of the doll"? My Boomerang guy has no idea when it will come, or "if it will come at all". Specially that last sentence is quite a bummer.

With best regards.....

Thanh

Hello again!

Well, you can never tell if a film will only be released in Thailand. Especially in the case of genre movies, like horror and martial arts which have a worldwide fanbase, it's quite possible that DVD release rights will eventually be sold to foreign territories. The producers want to maximize their profit and prevent foreign sales of Thai DVDs. Having no English subtitles is of course a better "protection" than the region code, but not completely sucessful as we found in our case here .

It also works backwards . Wait until the Thai film is released in the US or UK. Somebody will make the English subtitles available... buy the Thai DVD, which is probably very cheap by then and ... .

Ah, the doll... I can remember reading somewhere that it would be available in June. It was quite some time ago and I don't remember where I got that from. I'm pretty sure it will appear. We paid a premium price for our collector's item, so a big studio like Sahamongkol Film cannot afford to back out of this. I'll be sure to let everybody know when it's available. I'll post a photo as soon as I have it!

Cheers,

L.

Edited May 18, 2008 by lothda

[Ijustwannateach]

Good luck- some people have had bad luck re. similar promises with condo units which never materialised, so a doll would be pretty easy pickings (how many people would actually go through with a lawsuit over it?)- but I do hope you get it.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hey guys

The wait is over!!!! Finally. If you have the "Director's Cut Limited Edition Set", grab your receipt and head for the shop where you bought it to collect the dolls, they are now available

I've got mine

Kind regards......

Thanh

[Ijustwannateach]

Congrats!

[lothda]

Hey guys

The wait is over!!!! Finally. If you have the "Director's Cut Limited Edition Set", grab your receipt and head for the shop where you bought it to collect the dolls, they are now available

I've got mine

Kind regards......

Thanh

Hi Thanh,

congratulations, you beat me this time. And you got the film cell, too. My shop didn't notify me yet. I'll just go there and take a look as soon as possible...

Cheers,

L.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

Yeah, got those as well. First i didn't know what that actually is, but then i saw it's like a piece of film with one picture on it.

About the shop, did you leave your phone number? Because in my case (Boomerang Central Bangna) they had a list with names of people who bought that set in that particular shop, and those that had provided numbers (very few!) were called - the others will have to randomly go there and ask.

"My" Boomerang boy told me that normally to pick up the dolls you need to show the receipt, but in my case (i hadn't gotten one!) i didn't need that, because i'm now well known there - after all i bought many things there to do with that movie. Also, as i ha bought two of the sets, i got two dolls - no questions asked.

If you are planning to put the doll out in the open inside your room, i recommend to keep it somewhere outdoors (but dry) for a few days first - the wood emits a very strong smell, almost like it's been smoked - weird.

Best regards......

Thanh

[Ijustwannateach]

^Probably the incredibly awful varnish they've put on a lot of the touristy wood products here (like puzzles and things)- will eventually evaporate, but as you say should be put somewhere ventilated & out of the way until it's ready.

[nivenj]

Ok.....dont laugh......

If "Anyone" has more than one of these dolls, or if you are willing to sell the one you have...can you PM me.

Stop laughing at the back!!

Edited July 1, 2008 by nivenj

[peekint]

I finally saw this movie.

ugh.

Another Brokeback Mountain.

I'm tired of Gay movies which end with death of one of the partners and/or unrequited love which leaves the partner(s) isolated, alone and rejected.

Thumbs down for another Gay downer.

Are we so starved for images of ourselves that just the fact that two men (or boys) kiss (or make out) on the screen gives us a cause to celebrate?

No thank you.

[noctiluca]

I think you mean "Love of Siam", right?

If so, you may have missed the point of the movie. Besides, it's not specifically a "gay" movie. Granted, the words of mouth from audience seem to indicate just that or they perceive it to be. But if you really think about it; it's not really. The boys are just a part of the movie.

I'm all for happy-ending, especially for our young and cute leading actors, but IMHO it wouldn't be memorable as it is.

Just be patient. I'm positive the time will come for a "qualified" Thai gay movie with happy ending. It won't be long now, since the barriers kept getting shattered. Mind you, I doubt it will have a full blown gratuitous sex scene. <Oh, wait. I think we saw that in Bangkok Love Story, didn't we? Personally, that wasn't even impressive. > I would rather see a well-made, thought-out, heart-warming, sweet and romantic gay movie than a shoddy, half-hearted, sex-filled gay movie any days. If I want the latter, I could easily go get a porn movie.

[peekint]

I think you mean "Love of Siam", right?

If so, you may have missed the point of the movie. Besides, it's not specifically a "gay" movie. Granted, the words of mouth from audience seem to indicate just that or they perceive it to be. But if you really think about it; it's not really. The boys are just a part of the movie.

I'm all for happy-ending, especially for our young and cute leading actors, but IMHO it wouldn't be memorable as it is.

Just be patient. I'm positive the time will come for a "qualified" Thai gay movie with happy ending. It won't be long now, since the barriers kept getting shattered. Mind you, I doubt it will have a full blown gratuitous sex scene. <Oh, wait. I think we saw that in Bangkok Love Story, didn't we? Personally, that wasn't even impressive. > I would rather see a well-made, thought-out, heart-warming, sweet and romantic gay movie than a shoddy, half-hearted, sex-filled gay movie any days. If I want the latter, I could easily go get a porn movie.

Not even sure English-speaking movies are ready for a Gay movie with a happy ending. Lots of art films I've seen, some even very very good, with happy endings. But none that have the reach or exposure of the awful Brokeback Mountain and Love of Siam.

No, Love of Siam is not a "Gay" movie (though I'd argue the boys' relationship is not a subplot, but the main plot), but the end is still the same. ugh.

Incidentally, I speak/read/write Thai, and watched the movie in Thai (I don't know if there even is a subtitled version). I don't think I missed the point of the movie (I'm not really sure there was one single one that could be singled out). I rather think that the English speakers in this forum are assigning more value to the movie than it has, and that the Thai are so starved for Gay self-images other than those of farting, prancing queens and katoey that for them, this is a breakthrough. In a way it is - same as "Boys in the Band" was. That doesn't necessarily make it a positive break through. Yes, young Gay people will find there are others like them, and that they don't have to be stereotyped, but they'll also get the message that it doesn't matter. Their situation is hopeless when it comes to relationships. Great message.

[drftmah4x4]

I could imagine loose/poor translation to English messing up the meaning of what is really being said sometimes. So yea,

My questions is this. While I feel I got the point of "Love of Siam" I was wondering if anyone here can clarify what exactly was said, and at its meaning, at two parts of this film.

1) Right before they kiss, what did Tong say to Mew? do the words have significase outside the literal translation?

2)At the end, after the concert and Tong talks to Mew. What did Tong say? Any meaning outside the literal translation?

I ask because I have seen different translations of these scenes, and for me, those are important parts to understand what Tong was thinking. Although I dont speak Thai, I do speak Finnish, and seeing horrible translations of Finnish to English just makes me wonder. Thanks to anyone who can help! This was actually the first gay film I ever saw. I liked it, but yea, depressing.

P.S. I watched the Directors Cut, I dont know if anything was different in those scenes

Edited August 7, 2008 by drftmah4x4

[bkkguy1970]

if you are in Thailand and have cable/sat TV and still have not managed to see this, tune in to True Film Asia on Tues 23 Sept at 21:00 - don't know about subtitles!

and if you are really desperate Friends/Bangkok Love Story is on True Film Asia on 16 Sept at 21:15

bkkguy

[boitown]

One of the best gay-themed movies that I watched. It tells a story of the innocence of love, and yet, it is sometimes unrequited.

[lothda]

Hey everybody, it's been a long time, but finally "Love of Siam" has been officially released with English subtitles - not in Thailand, of course, but in Taiwan. It seems "Love" was quite successful there. The DVD set is a real treat: a 3 Disc Collector's Edition of the Director's Cut at a very reasonable price. I don't think it's allowed to post commercial links here. I recommend a shop called JSDVD and Google is your friend . Do not buy it from YesAsia - they are ridiculously overpriced, as always. Also do not be deceived by the recent Thai budget re-releases of "Love of Siam". At least some copies stated English subtitles which is NOT true.

Hope more people will enjoy this great film now .

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

Do you have PayPal by any chance? Could you (via PM) let me know your PayPal e-mail? I'll send you the money and you could order that set for me? because that shop doesn't offer PayPal and i don't have a credit card AAAAARGH!!!

About 560 Baht (540 Taiwan Dollars) for the three-disc-set is CHEAP. A "must have" for my collection (i already own everything that was released in Thailand).

Kind regards.....

Thanh

[Thanh-BKK]

Hmm...

Actually that was a temporary brain fart - as we are both in Thailand i can simply transfer it to you from my bank

Thanh

[endure]

Hey everybody, it's been a long time, but finally "Love of Siam" has been officially released with English subtitles - not in Thailand, of course, but in Taiwan. It seems "Love" was quite successful there. The DVD set is a real treat: a 3 Disc Collector's Edition of the Director's Cut at a very reasonable price. I don't think it's allowed to post commercial links here. I recommend a shop called JSDVD and Google is your friend . Do not buy it from YesAsia - they are ridiculously overpriced, as always. Also do not be deceived by the recent Thai budget re-releases of "Love of Siam". At least some copies stated English subtitles which is NOT true.

Hope more people will enjoy this great film now .

I've just received my copy from JSDVD. It cost $540NT for the DVDs and $760NT for shipping

[lothda]

I've just received my copy from JSDVD. It cost $540NT for the DVDs and $760NT for shipping

Yes, their postage rates are a bit high, especially if you're not in Asia. However YesAsia sells the set for about $1940NT with "free" shipping, so...

[lothda]

Good news and bad news concerning Love of Siam on DVD.

Bad news first: when you try to play your first edition Thai DVD (the one in the notebook packaging) you will probably find that it stops playing after a few chapters. It's another case of the infamous 'laser rot' that affects quite a few Thai DVDs, particularly from Happy Home Entertainment. The other editions don't seem to be affected, let's hope it stays that way.

The good news: Strand Releasing announced the US DVD. No release date yet, nor does it say if it's the Director's Cut or the standard version. It's not listed on Amazon yet, so this may be a few months away.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

Have you tried playing it in a different player/computer? I did never open the package of mine and am not planning on doing so however i could imagine it being a faulty player rather than a faulty disc. The amount of broken CD/DVD drives i have seen in Thailand is simply amazing, i myself have changed at least 50 already (on my own, office and customer computers). They always last just weeks over the warranty, regardless what manufacturer. And i have genuine Thai DVD's that are several years old and still play like new (CD's, too).

Still, if you own an original and have the package open anyway - first thing to do is to make a copy. If it is for yourself and you own the original this can not be illegal. Then play only the copy and keep the original somewhere safe. All of my DVD's and CD's have only been played exactly once - ripped, that is, as i watch and listen everything with my computer (hooked up to the television). Or, like with the Love Of Siam, i was able to obtain a rip by other means not to be discussed here and could keep the originals in their sealed packages.

Kind regards.....

Thanh

[lothda]

Hi! Yes, I have tried different players and computers with the same result - the disc stops playing. The reflective layer also shows the clouding typical for this condition. The other versions still play fine, fortunately.

I've had problems with other DVDs also. The Thai version of "The Family Stone" doesn't play anymore either. Something against gay story lines perhaps? Actually quite a few Thai DVDs have problems because of substandard production or packaging. I had a problem with a DVD writer only once, a BenQ that indeed stopped working shortly after the warranty ran out. Local Pioneer DVD players work fine for me.

Cheers!