A beloved work of contemporary Thai literature is coming to the big screen on January 8 -- The Happiness of Kati (Khwamsuk Khong Kati, ความสุขของกะทิ)-- based on the S.E.A. Write Award-winning book by "Jane" Ngarmpun Vejjajiva. The youth novel has been translated into eight languages, including English. It is indeed heartwarming, and well worth a read.
It's the story of a 9-year-old girl who lives with her grandparents in an idyllic house along a rural canal. Her days of nature-filled reverie only make her miss her mother more, and it's about halfway through the slim novel that the girl is taken to a seaside home to visit her mom, who is dying of ALS -- Lou Gehrig's disease.
Set for release by Sahamongkol Film International, this highly anticipated film adaptation is directed by Genwaii Thongdeenok, with cinematography by Tanon Sattarujawong.
Author Ngarmpun -- the sister of Thailand's new prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva -- collaborated on the screenplay with the director. She talks about that and her writing style in an interview with BK magazine.
The movie features young actress Patsorn Kongmeesook as Kati, alongside a couple of stars of 1970s Thai cinema -- Jaruwan Panyopas as Kati's rarely smiling grandmother and Sa-aad Peampongsan as the kindly and wise grandfather. Kati's mother is played by Ratchanok Sangchuto, with Aunt Da played by Kemaupsorn Sirisukka. Nitich Kowsakul is the neighbor boy Tong.
Bangkok Loco and 13 Beloved star Krissada "Noi" Sukosol Clapp is one of Kati's uncles, and another uncle is played by performance artist and Iron Pussy actor/actress Michael Shaowanasai. He plays Kati's flower-arranging Uncle Tong.
There's a subtitled trailer at YouTube, and it's embedded below.
Also, Deknang has a gallery of posters and images from The Happiness of Kati, as well as supplemental material on its Popcornmag forum.
(Via Deknang, MovieSeer)
Now, this is my kind of film! The Happiness of Kati looks wonderful. I knew nothing about it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for revealing to me what the name of this movie is! I kept seeing subtitle-less trailers for it but never saw an English title, I enjoyed what I could suss out from the images though--speaking of which it's got beautiful cinematography.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I noticed about this which I've seen in lots of Thai movies is the weird almost schizophrenic quality of them, where the first half of the trailer seems to be a sweet "coming of age" flick a la My Girl and then the second half is a tear jerker about her Mom dying. Not that I'm suggesting movies should only have one tone, I'm just always surprised watching the trailer to see the abrupt change. Ah crap, thinking about it again just got the song from the second half of the trailer stuck in my head!