Review: Khob Khun Thee Rak Kan (Loving Me, Loving You)

• Directed by Peerasak Saksiri, Putipong Saisikaew, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom,
• Starring Patchai Pakdisusuk, Apinya Sakuljaroensuk, Somchai Sakdikul, Lalida Sasiprapha, Songsit Rungnopphakhunnasi, Phaibunkiat Khieowkaeo, Udom Songsang, Napat Banchongchitphaisan
• Released in Thai cinemas on May 12, 2010; rated G
• Wise Kwai's rating 3/5

Three directors combine for three stories about three family units, each with three main characters, in Loving Me, Loving You (Khob Khun Thee Rak Kan, ขอบคุณที่รักกัน, a.k.a. Love First).

Produced by Pattaya Film and released by Five Star Production, the drama is directed by Peerasak Saksiri, who previously wrote the screenplay to the hit historical musicial drama The Overture; Putipong Saisikaew, who was one of the "Ronin Team" behind Art of the Devil 2 and Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, the lensman for Apichatpong Weerasethakul's features.

In unrelated yet intermingling storylines, the three families deal with various crises.

These are all gentle tales, full of sentiment with lovely cinematography, a lush score and some strong performances. They aim to show different kinds of family love in different cultures in different parts of the country.

Patchai Pakdisusuk, better known as "Pup" from the band Potato, is a talented but egotistical music student. A violinist, he's been kicked out of the orchestra for leading it through a bouncy, hip-hop flavored rearrangment of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. So he's persuaded by an eccentric composer-professor (Somchai Sakdikul) to assist him in field research that involves recording the sounds of nature. Along for the road trip to waterfalls, forests and other outdoor spots is Pup's mentally ill sister. She's played by Apinya Sakuljaroensuk, who nearly disregards the advice of Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder and almost goes full retard. She's uncomfortable with the professor and the new situations, but she copes by dressing up in a pink Energizer bunny costume and hopping around the forest. Donning headphones and listening to the sounds of babbling brooks also helps calm her. While protective of his sister, Pup has less tolerance for the ways of the weird professor, who has him tracing cracks in the earth to compose music on. Will this headstrong young man learn anything from the exercise? Meanwhile, the professor has his own secret.

Another thread deals with the owner of a shoe factory, the man's spoiled college-student daughter and the Thai-Chinese grandfather, a cobbler who adheres to traditional shoe-making methods and lives in his one-room shop. The daughter has done poorly in school, so dad won't buy her car unless she proves herself some other way. So she's tasked with helping out at her grandfather's place. There, granddad will teach her how to make shoes, if she can tear herself away from texting friends on her BlackBerry. Meanwhile, the son has got away from the basics his father taught him and overextended himself.

Perhaps the strongest story has soap star Lalida Sasiphrapha nee Panyopas as the wife of a Royal Thai Army doctor stationed in Southern Thailand. She is angry with her situation and wants to move back to Bangkok, her hometown. Making her even more upset is that her little boy models himself after his dad and wants to be a soldier. Raised in a Buddhist household, he's nonetheless made many friends in the Muslim community and wants to remain in the South. The soldier dad, meanwhile, hovers around but says nothing to try and change Lalida's mind. There's something not right about this picture. Lalida keeps the worried mother act going and keeps the sympathies in her court right up to the end. A shadow-puppet show by the boy and his friends shed light on everything.

Related posts:

• Three family dramas for the price of one in Love First