Who Likes Thai Films?

[IamMaiC]

I have the DvD version(US) of "Legend of Suriyothai" I like the movie very much but my version is only a little over 2 hours long Is it true the Original Thai Version was Close to 4 hours long?? Have I missed something important that they don't show in the US Version of the film.

[Girlfrombar]

http://www.mcot.net/sipandin/vdo_archive.php

classic, classic and classic!

u will fall in love with the music theme

[Insight]

"Kun Pen - Legend of the War Lord", by Mongol V.D.O. & C.D. Brilliant, but extremely sad.

Would like to get hold of this one on DVD - went to see it in the flicks. Pretty darn good.

GFB - The quality of what you provided in the links above looks excellent, but I've got bugger all idea what it's all about. Fick, me... Will show it to the g/f for further englightenment.

[RDN]

"Kun Pen - Legend of the War Lord", by Mongol V.D.O. & C.D. Brilliant, but extremely sad.

Would like to get hold of this one on DVD - went to see it in the flicks. Pretty darn good.....

Did you need a hanky?

(I did )

[poolcleaner]

I was a Film Director in UK TV for 30yrs, so I think I can claim to know what I am talking about, when I say that the Acting, and overall Production, in both Thai Films and Soaps are quite excellent!

Having spent ages in the past, trying to get English Actresses to cry. I am very impressed with the ease with which Thai Actors can turn on the Water-works!

The beauty of the internet!

You can just lie your arse off and never be accountable for it.

30 years as a TV director now when at first "I've been making documenataries for 20 years"

You're a joke DavidCharles and I hope no-one is being taken in by your bullshit!

Professional Hypnotherapist as well weren't you?

More like a fast talking cockney on a stall flogging dodgy watches 'eh Arfur?

[RDN]

...30 years as a TV director...

Maybe a typo? '3' and '2' are very close together.

[Team Bukowski]

I've only ever seen one thai film, with an actress by the name of Nong Nat in it. Forget the title of it...maybe it was "A Tale of Two Titties" - wasn't terribly big on plot...or dialogue either, come to think of it.

(sorry...couldn't help myself)

[IamMaiC]

Academy award winning performance eh??

[Darth Bangkok]

enjoyed fah talai jone and bangrajan and kwan riem (obviously a Thai Romeo and Juliet).

but nothing after bangrajan has interested me too much.

[joebuzzard]

Caught Sai Lor Fah a couple of nights ago. At times very funny, other times very grim. Kinda like Thailand.

Story is about a couple of guys who like karaoke. One of the guys, Tao, must sing Asanee Wasan's Sai Lor Fah (Lightning Rod) whenever it comes on. He's a poor singer, so he gets booted from most places.

His friend, Tun, played by Nong Chachacha (who turns in a great, dramatic performance), is kind-hearted and sentimental. He's an expert in amulets.

To celebrate a big win in soccer betting, Tao pays back 100,000 he owed Tun and treats Tun and his friends to a night in Pattaya swankiest karaoke bar. Tun sees a beautiful girl sitting on a barstool singing his favorite song. They sing a duet together and Tun takes the girl home. The girl then disappears. Tun must find her. He finds out she was a hooker hired by Tao. No matter. He still must find her. He pays 100,000 to a ladyboy pimp. But the girl has already taken a job as a 3 million baht a year mistress of a mob boss.

More fun ensues when Tao needs the 100,000 back. He decides on kidnapping the ladyboy. He then grabs another girl and ups the ransom to 3 million.

Lots of familiar faces from Thai TV.

Where this film really scored has increasing my appreciation for Thai popular music. One of the songs, I think it was by Big Ass or Blackhead or Bird Sek, not sure, was really sad. "She crushed me like a cigarette and sucked out all the sweetness. I feel like a mallet has hit my head. I am so naive and stupid."

[joebuzzard]

Caught an advance screening of Citizen Dog. It's by Wisit Sasanatieng, who did the wacky western Tears of the Black Tiger.

Citizen Dog is a modern, urban love story, with tons of color and wild concepts, like motorcycle helmets falling from the sky and a zombie motorcycle taxi driver.

I don't want to say too much else about this film, except that it's one of the best films - period - not just Thai films to be shown in Bangkok this year. I plan to see it again when it opens next week.

[Jai Noi]

Caught an advance screening of Citizen Dog. It's by Wisit Sasanatieng, who did the wacky western Tears of the Black Tiger.

Citizen Dog is a modern, urban love story, with tons of color and wild concepts, like motorcycle helmets falling from the sky and a zombie motorcycle taxi driver.

I don't want to say too much else about this film, except that it's one of the best films - period - not just Thai films to be shown in Bangkok this year. I plan to see it again when it opens next week.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I prefer Tears of the Back Tiger.

[ProfessorFart]

For those of you worried by the lack of subtitles in 'Ai Fak' can read the novel 'The Judgement' by Chart Korpjitti which has been translated in to English and is widely available.

[ProfessorFart]

Just my 2 cents worth. I thought Coppola needed shooting for screwing up Suriyothai. He took the 3 hour original release and turned it into a hotch potch of a film. If anything he should have added to the original 3 hours and done it some justice.

Sadly Suriyothai looks to have missed the boat on the international stage. The terrible DVD release by Mangpong (few extras and god awful subtitles) didn't help either.

Someone asked about the entire Suriyothai. It is 5 hours long and available from Mangpong.

[mbkudu]

My last trip to Thailand I saw three movies total; two in Thailand and one on the plane. On the plane I watched 'Terminal' with Tom hanks. What a waste of time and brain cells. I bought a DVD, 'Kill Bill.' I heard that it was good a long time ago but never got around to watching it. Just a bunch of b*llsh*it really. Stupid story line, stupid dialogue and lots of gore. My last day in Bangkok I went to see 'Jaew'

with a girl friend of mine. I don't usually punish myself by watching Thai flicks, but I must admit this movie was really enjoyable. The girl was laughing all the way through. Even for foreigners whose Thai language skills aren't all that great it's still funny as heck.

[Boon Mee]

My wife and her girlfriends were watching one the other night "Brokedown Palace" where two American girls get busted at Don Mung for possession of Heroin.

Hope the movie hasn't been mentioned in this thread already.

Cought enough of it to form a negative opinion as it portrays the Thai Justice system and the King in a bad light.

Cheap entertainment...

[joebuzzard]

Have watched the following:

-- Killer Tattoo - Purchased by mail-order from the States. Disjointed first film from the director of Sai Lor Fah and Bupparahtree. Didn't do much for me, but now I own it, so will watch again. Mail-order was only way I could get a subtitled version.

-- 6ixtynin9 - Slow-paced black comedy from Pen-Ek Rattanaruang. It's his second film. A US distributor picked it up for release based on the popularity of Pen-Ek's latest film, Last Life in the Universe. It's a decent effort. And it's up for a remake by Disney. Surely the original will be better.

-- Sars Wars - Hilarious zombie movie. Andrew Biggs portrays one of the undead. Comedian Thep Po-Ngam stars and gives a great performance.

Haven't bothered with any of the other movies out there -- The Holy Man, Necromancer, Bullet Wives, Rahtree Returns.

Will probably check out The Tin Mine when it opens next month. And later this year there will be Invisible Waves by Pen-Ek and starring Tadanobo Asano (from Last Life).

[Narachon]

My wife and her girlfriends were watching one the other night "Brokedown Palace" where two American girls get busted at Don Mung for possession of Heroin.

Hope the movie hasn't been mentioned in this thread already.

Cought enough of it to form a negative opinion as it portrays the Thai Justice system and the King in a bad light.

Cheap entertainment...

I saw that film years ago, before I ever came to Thailand, brought home how serious Thailand is about drugs and drug smuggling. I know it was based on a true story, I believe. I myself had no problems with the movie, I liked it, I though it was pretty honest in how things are.

Besides, I was always a Claire Danes fan....

[joebuzzard]

Catch the Tin Mine if you can. It's still at the Lido. Beautiful, nostalgic look back at Phuket when it was mining colony.

Also saw Midnight, My Love, with Mum Jok Mok unusually subdued as a straightlaced taxi driver who gets into a relationship with a massage parlor girl. Been away from the board too long. Sorry I didn't recommend while I was still in the theaters.

Next up, looking forward to Invisible Waves (Pen Ek with Chris Doyle shooting, Tadanobu Asano starring).

[penzman]

The only Thai movie I've ever watched so far from begining to end was about his guy in love with a girl he kept meeting all over Bangkok. At one point she goes beserk collecting plastic bottles, fills her appartment with them and ends up collecting enough that a huge mountain of bottles ends up in the middle of Bangkok. I looked like a romantic movie, couldn't understand enough Thai but was fascinated by the colours and special effects.

Does anyone know the title of this movie?

[poolcleaner]

^

Citizen Dog.

Great movie!!

Edited June 11, 2005 by poolcleaner

[daleyboy]

Tears of the black tiger!!! well funny totally mental but quite amusing to watch. It is available in hmv for about 4 quid what a bargain

[thomasjojo]

of course I didnt read all the tread, so exuse me if u mentioned them, but what I have seen so far, and I like them all,

in cinema BKK this days; Cherm. about a taxi driver meeting a girl who works as a pro. nice and charming movie

Last life in Universe, DVD, very sweet and obscure in a fun way

Ong Bak. fun fighting

Jan Dara, erotic but interesting

The Letter, gonna look one day, no ENG subs, but they talk very little, wife can translate when needed.

SHUTTER, dont have eng subtitles for this, so if somebody have that, please send them to me... I have converted the movie to divX for this reason.

KLONG or box in thai, fun and sweet.

The Eye- thai /HK. scary and nice

what I remember for now..

PS: any expats in BKK in age range 30 - 40 interested in jazz bar hang outs ? pm me then.

Edited June 12, 2005 by [email protected]

[thomasjojo]

Ong Bak and Fan Chan have not been released with subtitles because the producers hope to sell them to the foreign market where the retail prices for movies are much higher than Thailand. If they released them locally at the local price with the subtitles, it would encourage a gray market trade to other countries, undermining the price levels set there.

This is the best explanation I've heard yet about why this happens. It sucks, but I find some comfort in at least knowing what is going on.

I do have subs for Ong Bak, if u want them I can send them to you, its a small textfile, its easy to watch the divx (dvd ripped yes so quality is superb) with running subs on.

[Narachon]

Last Weekend one of the movies that I saw at the New York Asian Film Festival was the U.S. Premiere of "P", which in Thai means I guess means " Ghost "....

It was the only Thai Language film picked to show at the Film Festival.

Here is a brief description from the subway cinema site that sums up the film very neatly:

"A nice young lady from the country heads to Bangkok and winds up as a bargirl. She uses black magic in order to hook more customers, and if you’ve ever seen any movies you know this won’t end well. A juicy, character-driven horror movie that’s steeped in freaky folklore."

Main charcter Dau preforming ancient Pali incantations...

A more detailed description is at the Festival website Here.

As most of you all know,Thailand produces dozens of low budget ghost stories for the local Thai market every year , but very few ever make it outside of the country.

But "P" is a different type of Thai horror movie. It is also unique in that it's one of two Thai language films ever shot by a westerner, Paul Spurrier ( who, if you are old enough like me to remember, was that little kid who played in the "Max Headroom " TV series in the early '80's ).

"P", is very controversal in that it depicts underage prostitution and sex tourism, which though dead - on accurate, met with major obstacles in Thailand. As everyone here knows, the present Thai government is VERY keen on cleaning up Thailand's image around the world, and play down it's reputation as a center of Sex Tourism......

The bad bar girls May and New ( on Stage ) and the main character Dau ( right hand corner ) looking on...

Here is a link to an interesting Interview with director Paul Spurrier regarding his making of the film.

The film had to be produced in secret as a local production, in order to avoid Thailand's censorship laws, which in the case for foriegn films, script submission and approval. I think it's ironic that a movie filmed in and about Thailand won't be shown in the country any time soon, the filmmakers have been told that no distribution company in the country will ever shown the film, at least for now in the current political climate .

It was even mentioned that the film print that was shown here in New York actually had to be actually smuggled via Europe in Director Paul Spurrier's hand luggage to avoid an export license, which the filmakers were warned would be impossible to get...

The film has also caused other controversy, with the main actress who plays the " Awh / Dau " character, Suangporn Jaturaphut, is actually the niece of a very famous Thai soap opera star. After she got the role as a prostitute in a Go-Go bar ( being the age of 17! )in the movie after replacing another actress who got cold feet, she was actually disowned by her aunt and other members of ther family, and risked even being kicked out of her school, Assumption university!

I am not a really big fan of Thai horror films, I find most of them are lacking in originality and very derivative ( a few years ago, I saw the Thai horror movie " Hien" ( the Mother ) back in a Chiang Mai movie theater with some Thai friends, Aferward, I told them that it was a near - ripoff of the Japanese " Ringu " movie. I also wasn't even too thrilled when I with the Pang Brother's " The Eye " either.....

But I have been looking forward to seeing "P" ever since Paul Spurrier first announced his project at a certain Thai - Expat website a few years ago, and was looking for financial backers.I was very intrigued with the unique idea of mixing Ghosts with Bargirls, something that would probably most likely been not have been done with a Thai production. I have to say, I liked the film very much! While "P" is not the best Horror movie I've ever seen, has some problems. Some parts of the movie was pretty amaturish, which is understandable with a beginning director. But trust me it is hands above any local Thai movie of this genre, which is unique in that it mixes fantasy/horror with stark realism - something Thai Horror movies as far as I know don't usually do.

And I actually liked the ending, something never happens when I watch T- Horror! Anyway,I hope this movie would be the begining of more foriegn produced Thai language films about Thailand, in many cases,they are actually better than the locally made ones!

I'm not sure if it will ever be shown in Thailand, but if you are not there, and in your own country, keep an eye out for it if it opens at a "foriegn/art" film theater near you when it will eventually be widely released here in America, Europe and the Asia ( The print that I saw was subtitled in English ). Even though Spurrier now is trying very hard to show this film to Thai audiences in theaters, I would not be surprised in the slightest if one see the DVD being sold on Sukumvit very soon...

To conclude this review, I liked "P" alot, It's a Good Scarey movie - and very funny at points, yet also very sad!

After the movie was over, I talked to other people that saw it at the festival, and they also liked it also. It's getting a good word of mouth here. It's a Thai-language film, but paced stylewise like a good Western Horror movie. If you're interested, The official website of "P" is here.

Hmmm.... This movie will probably defintiely convince foreign guys not go to those naughty Go-Go's in Bangkok!...

[Totster]

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Interesting use of both English and Thai lettering to make " P - ee "...

totster

[baht&sold]

-- 6ixtynin9 - Slow-paced black comedy from Pen-Ek Rattanaruang.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Is this is the one were the down and out girl wishes she had a million baht and presto? (her door # 96 flips over to 69 and the mobsters deliver it to the wrong Apt, setting off a series of events/deaths/dark humour).

If so, easily one of the best Thai movies I've seen (and one of the best "small films" anywhere). Immediately thought if this was transferrable to a 'western' setting then thought it would lose all it's mood.

Where can I buy a copy of this movie anyone? Have looked and looked. Highly recommended.

EDIT; yup, it is the same one- link is here

Edited July 1, 2005 by bahtandsold

[tom yum goong]

I'm not sure if it will ever be shown in Thailand, but if you are not there, and in your own country, keep an eye out for it if it opens at a "foriegn/art" film theater near you when it will eventually be widely released here in America, Europe and the Asia ( The print that I saw was subtitled in English ). Even though Spurrier now is trying very hard to show this film to Thai audiences in theaters, I would not be surprised in the slightest if one see the DVD being sold on Sukumvit very soon...

I wonder if it be available on the copy DVD market in Thailand? If its released as a "foriegn/art" film overseas then probably not. Would like to check it out.

I think Shutter was pretty good as Thai ghost flics go. Some good plot twists.

[britmaveric]

Saw a horrible killer crocodile movie that my gf insisted we see at the cinema. It was bloody awful - choppy editing and budget of 40bht or so it seemed. (least with the crocodile)

[joebuzzard]

Saw a horrible killer crocodile movie that my gf insisted we see at the cinema. It was bloody awful - choppy editing and budget of 40bht or so it seemed. (least with the crocodile)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Thais have a horrible record with killer croc flicks, but this latest one, Brutal River has to be the worst yet. I could tell it was pretty bad from the trailers. I mean, I was laughing out loud, it was so bad. I even got some mean looks from some kids sitting a few rows up. I guess my heckling of the previews interrupted their telephone conversations.