Four boys and four girls form the ensemble cast of Pidterm Yai…Huajai Waawoon, which is literally "Summer Vacation's This teen-oriented romantic comedy-drama is directed by Songyos Sugmakanan, and it is his sophomore solo effort after 2006's well-received ghost story, Dorm (Dek hor). Songyos was one of the six directors making their debut with the smash-hit 2003 childhood romance, Fan Chan.
Hormones has Songyos working with some familiar faces from both those films, as well as a surprising bit of casting for this squeeky clean teen comedy from GTH.
Charlie Trairat and Michael Sirachuch Chienthaworn, both from Dorm, play a pair of schoolboys who are vying for the heart of the same girl. And Focus Jirakul, who co-starred with Charlie in Fan Chan, plays a teenybopper who is obssessed with Taiwanese pop singer Ting Wei Lou. Focus was sent by the director to learn to speak Mandarin to make her portrayal more authentic, according to the Daily Xpress.
In a bit of stunt casting, former Japanese AV star Sora Aoi is cast as a Japanese backpacker on a train. Her low-slung jeans and peeking panty waistband catch the eye of a young guitar guy (Chantawit Thanasewee) who's going to meet his girlfriend at the Full Moon Party. The Japanese woman and the Thai guy awkwardly try to make a connection speaking in broken English. In a heart-melting scene in the trailer (see below), Sora has stepped off the train and pleads with the guy, in her Japanese-accented English: "Why don't you go with me?"
The casting of Sora Aoi has been kept quiet. She doesn't appear on the posters (that's the guitar guy's Thai girlfriend, not Sora's character), though she does appear in the trailer, and her character's name is conveniently Aoi. You'd have to know what she looks like to know who she is, and since pornography is illegal in Thailand, well then, nobody knows who she is, right?
The actress is now pursuing a straight career and has been appearing in regular films and TV series in Japan. But it wasn't until recently that her presence in the cast was officially mentioned by GTH. ThaiCinema.org has more on that. With the cat out of the bag, the Daily Xpress reported recently that GTH hopes to bring her to Thailand for some promotional appearances to support Hormones.
So let's see. That's three guys and three girls. Two guys fighting over the same girl. Another girl in love with a cardboard cutout of a Taiwanese pop star. And another guy meeting cute with a Japanese tourist.
Rounding out the octet is a geeky guy with glasses trying to capture the heart of a popular girl on campus. In the trailer, he's seen trying to woo her with a sack of bamboo sticks filled with sweet sticky rice - a delicacy that would normally be welcomed by anyone, but at the moment, the girl is trying to shop for cosmetics in an upscale boutique and isn't in the mood for sticky rice. They guy is so sad at the rejection, he goes home and takes a shower with his clothes on, while sobbing.
Hormones opens in Thai cinemas on March 20.
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If you want a more literal translation, "huajai waawoon" หัวใจว้าวุ่น means roughly "heart aflutter", which of course is a reference to the confusion and excitement of summer love. :)
ReplyDeleteOne of the girls in the trailer looks to be Chutima Teepanart from 'Seasons Change'. Judging by thaicinema.org's press conference report she's now blonde - in a inadvisably '80s kinda way. Panisara Pimpru also seems to have a fairly radical haircut. What's she been doing recently?
ReplyDeleteI actually miss seeing these people on-screen ...
Well spotted Rob. In a switch from her Seasons Change girl-next-door character, Chutima plays the popular-girl love interest for the geeky guy. Last I saw of Panisara was in the promos for last year's Bedside Detective, which I didn't see. I don't know what else she's been doing.
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