Thai Movies

[singa-traz]

Any Thai movie that you did enjoy watching, in the past few years ?

[Estrella]

"FAN CHAN"

[Garry]

The last one I saw, for the life I can't remember its name. But it was about a blacksmith who became a warrior. Awesome movie and with good english subtitles, I was riveted to the screen.

Can anyone give me a hint to it's name.....jeez, brain fade...

[Expat2B]

I second "Fan Chan"(my girlfriend) a great film

[32x]

My Girlfriend,great film..Jack steal`s the show!!

Very funny

[NedKelly]

Bangrajan was a good one about a small village during the Ayuthaya period. Apparently a true story that the village rallied a militia force and repelled Burmese invasion forces a few times before the Burmese sent their whole army down onthem and slaughtered all of them....women fought alongside the men. Suryothai was ok but excellent for the scenes shot in very impressive venues. Worth watching just for that. Again a wat story about Queen Suryothai who fought alongside her husband ( the king) during the Sukothai period ( I think ) . It was along movie and a little hard to follow at times due to all the historical tooing and froing ( spelling). Jan Dara was an interesting one as well. All mainstream.

[The_Eye_Of_Sauron]

Nang Nak

Phra Kanong has changed a bit in the last hundred years (for the worse I might add).

[the gentleman]

Bangrajan was a great movie, also that comedy that came out last year - did very well internationally - anybody remember the name of it?

[GlenTuk]

If you like action/Kung-<deleted>

ONG BAK is an ok movie.

[Pitdog]

The Legend of Princess Suriyothai...5 hours long version...Very, very good movie

[penelope]

Fa Talai Jone. Superbly kitch

[D80]

I really really like 'Fan Chan' too. That's my favourite!! But then I don't get to see many Thai films...

"Jan Dara" is pretty interesting in some ways.... it is a bit heavy though...

"Suriyothai" is good. It was a bit long but interesting nonetheless.

[Roger13]

The Comedy about the Katoey

/Transvestite Netball Team

had the whole audience laughing

most of the time.

It is a TRUE story - the Team won

the Championship.

There was a follow up Film also.

Does anybody know the Film name?

Roger

[Candyflip]

Roger 13,

I think that film called" satee lexx"

My mom loved it!

[rien1968]

Fan Chan is a great movie about 2 kids living as (almost) neigbours

Story about Noina and Jaeb is very funny and lovely to see....

Even available with UK subtitles... release jan 15th on VCD and DVD

Take a look at Sexphone !

Very romantic Thai movie, comes with UK subtitles on DVD and VCD as well

"we are al born in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars"

Oscar Wilde

[frond]

Last Life in the Universe is quite good--I've watched it four times already. It's a totally atypical Thai movie--no katoeys, no "outrageous" gays, ghosts, or shrieking soap opera type acting. It has a very dreamlike plot; beautiful cinematography (by a mainstay of Hong Kong film, Christopher Doyle) employing alot of neutral muted colors, natural light, long composed shots. The dialogue is almost non-existent leaving mood to illustrate the characters' lives. Yes, it's not for those whose film diet subsists on explosions, car chases, etc (nothing wrong with those, of course). The script was co-written with young Thai author Prabda Yoon.

I also liked Fan Chan.

Fake is supposed to be good.

One Night Husband

Jan Dara

Suriyothai

I like the film called Three as well. It's comprised of three films by three different directors from Thailand, Korea, and Hong Kong (C. Doyle is the cinematographer on this one). Unfortunately the Thai contribution is the least interesting.

Frond

[frond]

Oh, yes!

Monrak Transistor (very good)

69

(both by Khun Pen-ek, the director of Last Life in the Universe)

an old Thai movie called Angle Hotel and another called My Wife's Sister. You might be able to find these at Mang Pong or 7-11 (or on the street!)

[tuky]

999 isn't too bad. A bit like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer kind of thing...

[sabaijai]

Mekong Full Moon Party is also quite good, and like Fan Chan it's chock full of interesting little cultural bits.

Pen-ek's the best Thai director, though, and I would have to nominate Mon Rak Transistor as my favorite Thai film of all time. So far that is. His '69' is also great but is not very Thai. Thai friends who have seen it says it feels like a farang film, and in fact it's more or less a toned-down Tarantino copy. But very entertaining nonetheless.

Watching Suriyothai was like being stuck in grade school listening to a boring teacher drone on about one's country's glorious history. All my Thai friends felt the same way about it. At least a third of the audience at the Chiang Mai cinema house where I first saw Suriyothai walked out. Terribly wooden acting as well. I haven't seen the pared-down Coppola version yet, Legend of Suriyothai. Anyone?

'OK Baytong' was a nice try, but Nonsee as usual directed his actors right over the edge into over-acted melodrama. That worked with the gothic Nang Nak but has made most of his movies unintentionally comical.

[cdnvic]

I saw one recently called "The Eye", though not sure if it's Thai or HK in origin. The story starts out in HK and moves to Thailand. I'm not normally one for horror or supernatural flicks but this one was very well done and to be honest, left me pretty creeped out for the rest of the evening. Not a hollywood style blood and gore type, more to deal with Thai/Chinese/asian belief in ghosts. If you like films that stimulate the senses (not the porn-related ones ) you'd probably like this one.

Speaking of porn related stimuli, "Butterfly In Grey" features a naked woman behind bars on the vcd cover, and a host of sex scenes in the trailer, but turned out to be a seriously decent movie. (My wife bought it...honestly!) The cover/trailer were obviously a marketing ploy. The story itself was pretty good, though the editing could have been improved. I had to see it twice to get the story straight as the director time-shifed back and forth leaving me wondering if it was the past or present.

cv

[tuky]

Buttefly in Grey...is that why chilli is called prik?

(My wife bought it...honestly!)

So did mine cdnvic, I agreed of course after seeing the cover.

[Narachon]

Last Life in the Universe is quite good--I've watched it four times already. It's a totally atypical Thai movie--no katoeys, no "outrageous" gays, ghosts, or shrieking soap opera type acting. It has a very dreamlike plot; beautiful cinematography (by a mainstay of Hong Kong film, Christopher Doyle) employing alot of neutral muted colors, natural light, long composed shots. The dialogue is almost non-existent leaving mood to illustrate the characters' lives. Yes, it's not for those whose film diet subsists on explosions, car chases, etc (nothing wrong with those, of course). The script was co-written with young Thai author Prabda Yoon.

Yes, I just saw this movie here in New York last night with my imaginary Thai girlfriend . It opened about three weeks ago here, and I only went to see it after having been recommened to me by a waitress at a Thai resturant !

I really liked this film alot, especially the interactions between The main Japanese character and the Thais... ( but my imaginary Thai girlfriend was completely bored by it... ) I do have some questions about the film, which I'll ask in another thread. Anyway,are there any other "Atypical" Thai films like this one?

[Pudgimelon]

Bupha Ratree is one of the best horror flicks I've ever seen. Spooky, funny, and surprisingly deep at points. Unfortunately, the DVD does not have English subtitles.

The Letter is a great film if you like balling your eyes out and/or having your girlfriend punch you in the ribs and saying, "Seeeee! You should do that too!!"

I-Fak was billed as a comedy, but it is most definitely NOT a funny film. Sure, it starts out silly, but it quickly develops into a serious and passionate indictment of the rumor mill mentality in Thai culture.

Ong Bak kicks MUCH ass.

OK Baytong is a brilliant film, and amazingly prophetic and relevent considering it was released BEFORE the recent troubles in the South boiled over. It's deals with both sides of the issue in a personal and honest manner and comes up with a solution that is both meaningful and sincere. A true gem in Thai cinema.

Hien was a pretty creepy and cool ghost story, up until the cliche' and overblown STUPID ending. Too bad.

Province 77 is hip and cool. Fa-Chan is a great nostalgia flick, even if you're not Thai.

Some stupid films to avoid:

Khun Pi Ma (Man of the Year) is an AWFUL Thai Country musical (is there another kind). But almost worth it to finally get translations of those songs. For example: "What kind of fish doesn't swim? An impudent fish who denies his nature..." or even better: "Oh God, my rice farm is flooded and no girl will have me, why can't you take pity on me?"

Spicy Bangkok Beauty Queen (can't remember the Thai name) is..... ugh.... um.... retarded? Nope, that's not stupid enough to describe this piece of crap.

102 Bangkok Robbery suffers from the universal bane of almost all Thai movies, BAD EDITING! Holy crap was it bad in this film. In fact, it was so bad, it should be used in film schools around the world as an example of how NOT to edit a film. It's almost as if they gave the raw footage to some incompetent film student wannabe, and then after he was finished, handed it off to a coked up monkey for re-editing, and then after he got finished hacking it, they handed it off to the maid for "polishing".

UnHuman is without a doubt, one of the WORST FILMS EVER MADE.