Shooting The Moon, biopic of '80s superstar singer Pumpuang Duangjan

One of the Thai film industry's most anticipated releases this year, Pumpuang (พุ่มพวง, a.k.a. The Moon) is a biographical drama about the revered 1980s superstar Pumpuang Duangjan.

One of 12 children from a hardscrabble farming family in Suphan Buri, the illiterate Pumpuang grew up singing in the sugarcane fields. She worked her way into show business and spearheaded the popularization of luk thung, a form of Thai country music that had mainly only been heard in the rural central plains. With disco beats added and the tempo pumped up, the soulful, lovelorn rural reveries crossed over to become pop hits in the clubs of Bangkok. She went on to become one of the biggest recording artists in Thai showbiz, and made a number of movies. She died from lupus in 1992 at the age of 31.

You can hear some of her music at the MonrakPlengThai blog.

She is portrayed in the movie by Paowalee Pornpimon, a 19-year-old luk thung singer, who, like Pumpuang herself, is from Suphan Buri. Paowalee makes her big-screen debut, and her first album is the soundtrack for the movie. Folks are already raving about her performance.

The director is Bandit Thongdee. He has partnered with producer Prachya Pinkaew on a number of projects, including Brown Sugar and Four Romances. He also directed the superhero action flick Mercury Man. Pumpuang sees Bandit getting back to the roots of his 2002 debut feature Mon Pleng Lukthung FM, a.k.a. Hoedown Showdown, a comedy about a music contest that featured an all-star roster of actual luk thung singers. Prachya and his Baa-Ram-Ewe shingle are producing the release for Sahamongkolfilm International.

The Bangkok Post had a story about the movie on Sunday and yesterday. The Nation has one in today's paper.

And you can watch an English-subtitled trailer at YouTube (embedded below).

The Moon is in Thai cinemas today.