Great Or Good Thai Movies With English Subtitles

[BugJackBaron]

I have yet to sit through any, though I have heard Memory is good..

Others?

[BugJackBaron]

I have yet to sit through any, though I have heard Memory is good..

Others?

Wow. This is pathetic! Not a single movie buff on these forums?

Has Thai culture not penetrated the Western market at all?

Or maybe , unlike Japan, China or even Korea, Thailand has yet to reach

a decent level of filmography?

[donna]

one of my faves was 'the mekhong full moon party'. the movie is about the bang fai festival on the mekhong river and had some great scenery, funny old wives tales, and a wonderful story line.

[Spiny]

My favorites in the last couple of years have been Muan Rare, (the Tin Mine), Fan Chan, and Jot Mai Rak (The love letter)

All told a good story, had enough charisma to hold the attention and certainly tugged at the heart strings a bit

[Jim's_a_Thai_Fox]

'Ong Bak' was fairly original and can be had on DVD with subtighten in Ingrit.

I watched the second installment of the historic epic trilogy with Prince Narusean (spelling?). That was also quite enjoyable and relived a part of Thai history I was unfamiliar with

As a side note, I thought the third and final film was coming out for His Majesty's 80th last December, did I miss it?

[AsiaCheese]

By Pen-ek Ratanaruang:

"Last Life In The Universe"

"6ixtynin9"

[Felixer]

I liked "The Beautiful Boxer"... good in both Thai & English, set in both BKK and the countryside... check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beautiful_Boxer

[Captain Ron]

I liked "The Beautiful Boxer"... good in both Thai & English, set in both BKK and the countryside... check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beautiful_Boxer

Here's a few I found on netflix.com that I enjoyed:

Nang Nak- a classic Thai ghost/love story

The Iron Ladies

The Overture/Hoam Rong-great story about traditional Thai music competition

The Legend of Suriyothai

and Oliver Stone's Bang Rajan.

you can find more on netflix-depends what you like.

[enyaw]

Krasue, so bad it was excellent! A film based on isaan folklore of a ghost which is a floating female head (including trailing intestines) that rampages at nightime through a rural village in search of victims.

[ozsamurai]

Just went down to Tsutaya yesterday to check some of these out... guess what none of them have English subtitles. I even made the guy test play a few of them. Oh well!! back to the drawing board.

[cloudbusting]

*bump*

so last night i got to see Pen-ek Ratanaruang's "Last Life In The Universe" and i'm looking for more good thai movies

any recommendations and where's the best place to find them on dvd

'the legend of suriyothai' is next in line for whenever i have 3 hours to sit down and watch it

[Samuian]

Ong Bak

Prince Naresuan

bit on the pathetic side - but thought at least Prince Naresuan hads ome great shots in it!

[gbt71fa]

I have yet to sit through any, though I have heard Memory is good..

Others?

Tony Jaa movies (Ong Bad 1 and 2 and the others)

Uhm, how about the King Naresuan two-ologies? Prertty good except for the ultra nationalism in it (someone mention that we are thai and and cannot be beaten every five minutes).

I will think of some more...

[nicholasday]

Check out this blog (http://thaifilmjournal.blogspot.com/). Is an excellent English language blog about Thai film. Lots of reviews of Thai films there.

I recommend

Monrak Transistor, Dorm, Shutter (best Thai horror film), Syndomes and a century (very art-hourse thai film), Citizen dog, Tears of the black tiger, 6ixty Nin9, Last life in the universe, The first film of the สี่แพร่ง (sii praeng/ 4bia) compilation, beautiful boxer,

[gbt71fa]

I have yet to sit through any, though I have heard Memory is good..

Others?

What was that movie about the girl and the dog? That ripped my heart out especially the ending. Being an American male, we have a special conneciton to our dogs and I hate to see how they are treated here. That movie really hit home the plight of many thai children by connecting them with the plight of thai dogs. I almost balled my eyes out.

[cloudbusting]

Check out this blog (http://thaifilmjournal.blogspot.com/). Is an excellent English language blog about Thai film. Lots of reviews of Thai films there.

I recommend

Monrak Transistor, Dorm, Shutter (best Thai horror film), Syndomes and a century (very art-hourse thai film), Citizen dog, Tears of the black tiger, 6ixty Nin9, Last life in the universe, The first film of the สี่แพร่ง (sii praeng/ 4bia) compilation, beautiful boxer,

any idea where i can get hold of a copy of monrak transistor and 6ixty nin9?

[gbt71fa]

I have yet to sit through any, though I have heard Memory is good..

Others?

Wow. This is pathetic! Not a single movie buff on these forums?

Has Thai culture not penetrated the Western market at all?

Or maybe , unlike Japan, China or even Korea, Thailand has yet to reach

a decent level of filmography?

Ong Bak 1 did pretty well in the U.S. and they are about to release Ong Bak 2 there. Magnolia Pictures picked up the distribution rights. King Naresuan was pretty good as I stated earlier-only the part about having forein mercenaries in both armies was well-done (except for the scenes of Thai swords penetrating Spanish/Portugese armor, not gonna happen).

[nicholasday]

Well try various video shops in thailand. But can also buy online at amazon or http://www.ethaicd.com/ or http://www.hkflix.com/home.asp

Also to add to my last list is Fan Chan (My girl)

[cloudbusting]

Well try various video shops in thailand. But can also buy online at amazon or http://www.ethaicd.com/ or http://www.hkflix.com/home.asp

Also to add to my last list is Fan Chan (My girl)

that blog you linked to above is great, thanks

i've tried a few shops but it ain't easy finding these films amongst the hollywood crap on the shelves

fan chan is also on my list that i'm looking out for

also, sia dai

[Jimjim]

I loved Last Life in the Universe, enjoyed the original Thai language version of Bangkok Dangerous, and Memory wasn't so bad. Saw two horrible Thai comedies in the cinema in the last five years, and saw two good Thai movies on TV in Bangkok. Both of those I didn't see all of, though, and wish I could somehow figure out the names to finish them. One was a hilarious comedy where a philandering young stud had his penis magically removed by some god as punishment for his promiscuous ways. Hilarious and quite risque, and the movie looked to be from the 90s. Another was of this normal girl who somehow ended up having to dispose of dead bodies in her apartment due to people always being murdered there. It wasn't really a comedy, but had it's funny parts. There are really some good Thai filmmakers.

That said, three of the worst films I've ever seen were Thai productions, the aforementioned comedies and The Kingmaker (well, the Kingmaker was Thai/British, I believe).

[Jimjim]

I have yet to sit through any, though I have heard Memory is good..

Others?

What was that movie about the girl and the dog? That ripped my heart out especially the ending. Being an American male, we have a special conneciton to our dogs and I hate to see how they are treated here. That movie really hit home the plight of many thai children by connecting them with the plight of thai dogs. I almost balled my eyes out.

Nope it was a horror/thriller about how some mother raised her son as a girl. Creepy, yet it was done quite well.

[nicholasday]

The problem with finding Thai films with English subtitles in Thailand is that often the production company will get into a deal with some Hong Kong distributor to sell the film on the international market with English subtitles and part of the deal is that that company will have the exclusive rights to sell the film with English subtitles. This means that they don't want Thai companies selling it for cheaper and then exporting them. Therefore often the only way to get them with English subtitles is to wait until they end up on those websites that i gave earlier.

Although some films never get English subtitles as they don't expect there to be an international market for them so is not worth the cost. In that case you just have to learn Thai.

[wobblyjohn]

Alone (2007)

I watched this a couple of months back, its another scary movie from the directors of Shutter, if I have to sleep with the lights on I might aswell get my moneys worth,

Alone is quite likely the best pure horror film to come from Thailand since Shutter

there is a trailer on Youtube

Edited April 28, 2009 by wobblyjohn

[djlest]

I can second that....

Shutter really affected me after watching it in the cinema in chiang mai a few years back.

In the elevator going down to the carpark at 11pm afterwards gave made me shoot my pants in a major way!

Having said that i watched it again on dvd and it didnt have the same affect, but thats not relevant!

watch it... and dont watch the USA remake - its crap!

[nicholasday]

Haven't seen Sia Dai but Sia Dai 2 is good although kinda depressing. Story of a young thai girl who gets HIV from a blood transfusion. I don't see what the fuss is about Alone. I saw it and thought it was just boring. Nowhere near as good as Shutter.

I don't know Memory, What is it about?

One film i am looking forward to is Insi Daeng (the red eagle) Is the remake of the 1960's series of film staring Thai film legend Mit Chaibancha. Is original Thai comic book style action hero. Is being made by same director of Tears of the Black tiger and Citizen dog so is bound to be good. Is staring Ananda Everingham who I think is very good. He was the lead actor in Shutter.

[cloudbusting]

Haven't seen Sia Dai but Sia Dai 2 is good although kinda depressing. Story of a young thai girl who gets HIV from a blood transfusion.

Sounds very much like the original, depressing but very good supposedly.

Not sure i'm going to find anymore of what i'm looking for in Fortune Tower so will try MBK next time I'm over that direction.

I see Pen-Ek has a new film competing at Cannes this year. Any idea when it'll be released over here?

[jcon]

Alone (2007)

I watched this a couple of months back, its another scary movie from the directors of Shutter, if I have to sleep with the lights on I might aswell get my moneys worth,

Alone is quite likely the best pure horror film to come from Thailand since Shutter

there is a trailer on Youtube

Hottest woman in Thailand, hands down, period full stop. She also won best actress for this movie at the 2008 "Thai Oscars." Good movie. Great actress. Even better singer.

For good old Thai slapstick I gotta say "Jaew" aka "M.A.I.D" (Mission Almost Impossible Done) is a funny movie... you have to know a bit about Thai culture, but I must say I was laughing throughout...

[nicholasday]

Yes very much looking forward to seeing what the new Pen-ek film is like. He seemed to go a bit downhill recently. Ploy was only ok and Invisible waves was not very good. No idea when it is coming out. I hear it is a psychological horror and very different from your average Thai horror. I also recommend his first film of Fun Bar karaoke. Pen-ek (and a number of other thai directors) started out making adverts. Here is a very funny one by Pen-ek:

[David006]

I have yet to sit through any, though I have heard Memory is good..

Others?

What was that movie about the girl and the dog? That ripped my heart out especially the ending. Being an American male, we have a special conneciton to our dogs and I hate to see how they are treated here. That movie really hit home the plight of many thai children by connecting them with the plight of thai dogs. I almost balled my eyes out.

You read my mind mate..watched that in Thai one night when the wife was at her mothers' and it choked me up..was going to post same question! As you said excellent movie re the soi kids and dogs.. post if you get the name as would like my wife to see/buy it.

[njpski]

Jan Dara was interesting