Out to pasture

Covering Thai cinema and living in Thailand for the past decade or so has been an illuminating experience, one that I'm not sure whether I'll regret.

I started this blog when the Thai film industry was in the midst of an upswing, and was being discovered by the movie-going public around the world. After university studies in music and journalism and then a career in small-town Midwestern American newspapers, I took a sudden, prolonged sojourn to Southeast Asia. It led me to seeing Thai films, more Asian films and rediscovering film in general. This blog was a way to enter the wide world of cinema and to record my becoming acquainted with Thai and Southeast Asian film culture.

Over the years, I have seen the region's film industry go through cycles of growth and contraction. Now, as the scene enters yet another period of what will hopefully be growth, maturation and an acceptance of new and different voices, I have reached a point where I am struggling to find new things to say about it all. While Thai and Southeast Asian filmmakers will continue their struggles, for me it is time to move on, seek greener pastures and other rewarding opportunities. Although the blog will hopefully remain online, this entry will be the last.

My reasons for this move are mostly personal. If pressed for more details, I will give my official answer, which is to say I hope to spend time researching His Majesty King Bhumibol's sufficiency theories and putting them into practice.

Thanks first to the readers. Also thank you to former colleagues at The Cambodia Daily, co-workers at The Nation in Bangkok, as well as the filmmakers, festival programmers, experts, academics, critics and fellow enthusiasts who have shown me kindness and been patient with me all these years.

I hope that my devotion to you all has somehow been reflected in my writing.

Farewell.

Festival, festival (and awards)! The Forest in Udine, Thai Pitch in Cannes, honor for Patong Girl

Paul Spurrier, the Bangkok-based British filmmaker who makes Thai films, has been making the rounds of the festival circuit with his new feature The Forest (ป่า), a thriller about a former monk who takes a teaching post at a rural school and becomes involved in a conflict with corrupt local officials.

The story also involves the friendship between a mute girl and a mysterious boy who lives in the woods. Those two kids, Wannasa Wintawong and Tanapol Kamkunkam, are first-time actors who lived near the remote filming location in Udon Thani, and were picked from a field of around 400 or schoolchildren.

The cast is additionally burnished with a pair of well-known Thai screen talents, Vithaya Pansringarm from Only God Forgives and Asanee Suwan, an actor who best known for his breakout performance in Beautiful Boxer.

Already screened at Cinequest in San Jose, California and the Palm Beach fest in Florida, The Forest is among the Thai selection at the 18th Far East Film Festival, running fomr April 22 to 30 in Udine, Italy.

A micro-budget indie project, which the multi-hyphenate director-cinematographer-writer-propmaster Spurrier made with his wife Jiriya recording sound, The Forest will play in Udine alongside a couple of Thai studio releases from last year, Nawapol Thamrongtattanarit's award-winning Freelance.. Ham Puay Ham Phak Ham Rak More (ฟรีแลนซ์.. ห้ามป่วย ห้ามพัก ห้ามรักหมอ, a.k.a. Heart Attack) and Runpee (รุ่นพี่, a.k.a. Senior), which marked the return to the scene of Wisit Sasanatieng.

The Forest, meanwhile hasn't been released in Thailand, and Spurrier is still in the hunt for a local distributor. He has some censorship concerns, owing to the film's sexual subject matter and some nudity. Worth noting, Spurrier's debut feature, the Thai horror P never got a release in Thailand. And I still haven't seen it. I hope The Forest doesn't suffer the same fate. I mean, even if The Forest doesn't get a big-theater release in Thailand, Paul could always show it at his own private film club.

There's more about the Udine fest at Twitch.

After Udine, the next big thing is the Cannes Film Festival, which has announced the line-up for the 69th edition.

It includes the latest by Filipino Cannes fixture Brillante Mendoza, Ma'Rosa, in the main competition. And Singapore's Boo Junfeng returns to Cannes with The Apprentice in the Un Certain Regard program.

And while no Thai films have yet been included in this year's official selection, there will of course be Thai filmmakers there, thanks to the Culture Ministry, which is flying three directors and their producers to France for the annual Thai Pitch or, more awkwardly and officially, the Thai Pitching Event. This year's trio of directors vying for funding will be Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, Anucha Boonyawatana and Rutaiwan Wongsirasawasdi.

With producer Pacharin Surawatanapongs, Nawapol will seek to follow up his multi-award-winner Freelance with Die Tomorrow, which according to The Nation, will be six segments that are inspired by the grisly death photos that are splashed on the front pages of the mass-market Thai daily newspapers.

He has even come up with a concept poster, which is a newspaper page with a photo of young women staring and giggling at the their cellphones. The headline tells what happens to them: "Overloaded boat causes death of three schoolgirls".

Anucha, who had a great year with The Blue Hour storming the festival circuit and winning awards, will be pitching Malila, a Buddhist-themed drama that is being produced by John Badalu and Donsaron Kovitvanitcha.

And, finally, veteran industry hand Rutaiwan has To Become a Butterfly, a drama about a mother devoted to raising an autistic boy. Rutaiwan is perhaps best known for directing the 2005's comedy-drama Wai Onlawon 4 a.k.a. Oops ... There's Dad. She's been a long-time guiding hand behind the scenes at various film companies (she has a cameo as a music-video director in 2011's SuckSeed). Lately, Rutaiwan has been assisting Pen-ek Ratanaruang, working on his made-for-TV effort The Life of Gravity and his new film Samui Song, which everyone assumed would be showing in Cannes, but no. So maybe Venice?

Back in Thailand, the local press has been reporting on Patong Girl (สาวป่าตอง), the Thai-German indie romance about a young German man who falls head-over-heels for a mysterious Thai lass while on vacation in Thailand.

Though the winners were announced sometime back, the Grimme Prize ceremony was held in Marl, Germany, last weekend, with Thai transgender actress "Amp" Aisawanya Areyawattana appearing on German television to accept the award for Patong Girl in the best fiction/special category.

Directed by Susanna Salonen, Patong Girl is getting a release in Thai cinemas on April 21.

There's an interview with Salonen in an article in The Nation today.

Actress Aisawanya Areyawattana at the Grimme Prize ceremony on April 8 in Marl, Germany.

Freelance wins eight prizes at 25th Subhanahongsa Awards

Subhanahongsa winners, from left, Best Supporting Actress Violette Wautier, Best Actor Sunny Suwanmethanon, Best Actress Davika Hoorne, Best Director Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit of Freelance and Best Supporting Actor Ingkarat Damrongsakkul of P’Chai My Hero. Nation photo by Chalinee Thirasupa.

Like pimples on its main character's back, more trophies are popping up for Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit and Freelance Ham Puay Ham Phak Ham Rak More (Heart Attack).

The indie writer-director's first directorial effort with a big studio swept up most of the prizes at the 25th Subhanahongsa Awards, the Thailand National Film Association Awards or Golden Swan Awards, which are Thailand's industry equivalent of the Oscars.

Freelance won best film and best director. Sunny Suwanmethanon was named best actor for his role as a freelance graphic artist who works so hard he comes down with a rash. Davika Hoorne took the best actress prize for her turn as the achingly lonely young resident physician at a public hospital who treats Sunny's overworked worker. And Violette Wautier took the supporting actress prize for her disarmingly droll turn as Sunny's character's graphic-arts agent and best friend.

Freelance also took the prizes for best editing (by up-and-coming young filmmaker Chonlasit Upanigkit, who also edited Nawapol's Mary Is Happy and 36, and was a double nominee this year for editing The Blue Hour).

But the screenplay prize was split between Freelance and another leading nominee and critical favorite, indie writer-director Kongdej Jaturanrasmee's Snap.

The tie was the likely result of an experimental new voting system instituted for the awards by the Federation of National Film Associations of Thailand. The Nation has more on that.

Snap also won for Recording and Sound Mixing (by Sarawut Phantha and Akrichalerm Kalayanamitr) and Art Direction by Rasiguet Sookkarn (another up-and-coming young filmmaker).

Another leading nominee was the indie coming-of-age comedy-drama How to Win at Checkers (Every Time) a.k.a. P'Chai My Hero. It won the supporting actor trophy for the remarkable performance by child actor Ingkarat Damrongsakkul, who was essentially playing the lead.

And much-deserved kudos were given to Uruphong Raksasad for The Songs of Rice, which won best documentary and, of course, best cinematography.

Another winner was the teen horror thriller Runpee, which shared the best song prize and won for visual effects. The movie marked the return to the industry by veteran director Wisit Sasanatieng.

Here's the list of winners:

• Best Film: Freelance Ham Puay Ham Phak Ham Rak More
• Best Director: Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, Freelance
• Best Actor: Sunny Suwanmethanon, Freelance
• Best Actress: Davika Hoorne, Freelance
• Best Supporting Actor: Ingkarat Damrongsakkul, P’Chai My Hero
• Best Supporting Actress: Violette Wautier Freelance
• Best Screenplay: Kongdej Jaturanrasamee, Snap, and Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, Freelance
• Best Film Editing: Chonlasit Upanigkit, Freelance
• Best Cinematography: Uruphong Raksasad, Phleng Khong Khao (The Songs of Rice)
• Best Recording and Sound Mixing: Sarawut Phantha, Akrichalerm Kalayanamitr, Snap
• Best Art Direction: Rasiguet Sookkarn, Snap
• Best Original Score: Hualampong Riddim, Freelance
• Best Song: Ther Dern Khao Ma from Runpee and Sud Sai Ta from The Down
• Best Documentary: The Songs of Rice
• Best Costume Design: Sukanya Maruangpradit, F Hiliare
• Best Make Up Effects: Methaphan Pitithunyapat, Phi Ha Ayothaya
• Best Visual Effects: Alternat Studio, Runpee
• Best Documentary: Songs of Rice
• Lifetime Achievement Award: Jaroen "See Thao" Petchjaroen

Festival, festival! Forgotten masters in Vesoul

Rarely shown classic Thai films, some that were believed to be lost, will be shown in next month's International Film Festival of Asian Cinema in Vesoul, France.

Among those nearly-lost masterpieces in the festival’s "Forgotten Masters of Thai Cinema" is the so-called Citizen I (Thongpoon Khopko Rasadorn Temkan), MC Chatrichalerm Yukol’s 1977 drama about a poor taxi driver from Isaan struggling to retrieve his stolen cab from Bangkok thugs. It’s been compared to the Italian classic The Bicycle Thieves, and it spawned a sequel, Citizen II, which is more commonly in circulation, thanks to a home-video release in Thailand. The newly restored version of Citizen I will make its world premiere in Vesoul.

Programmed by Bastian Meiresonne, who was assisted in tracking down his titles by the Thai Film Archive and some studios, particularly Five Star Production, the "Forgotten Masters" range from 1940’s anti-war historical epic King of the White Elephant (พระเจ้าช้างเผือก, Prajao Changpeuk), produced by statesman Pridi Banonmyong, up to Wisit Sasanatieng’s 2000 homage to 1970s Thai action films, Tears of the Black Tiger (ฟ้าทะลายโจร, Fah Talai Jone).

Both those films, as well as Citizen I and many others, are listed in the Thai Culture Ministry’s Registry of Films as National Heritage.

Others at Vesoul include 1957’s rollicking comedy Country Hotel (โรงแรมนรก, Rong Raem Narok), by pioneering auteur RD Pestonji and Permpol Choei-arun’s Muang Nai Mhok (เมืองในหมอก, a.k.a. A Town in Fog), a taut 1978 drama loosely based on Albert Camus’ The Misunderstanding.

Permpol’s 1978 followup, the drama Pai Daeng (ไผ่แดง , a.k.a. Red Bamboo), about a monk in conflict with his communist childhood friend, will also screen, along with another socialist-leaning tale, 1981’s On the Fringes of Society (ประชาชนนอก) by Manop Udomdej.

Celebrated auteur Cherd Songsri will be represented by his gender equality story from the Rama IV era, 1994’s Amdaeng Muen Kab Nai Rid (อำแดงเหมือนกับนายริด, a.k.a. Muen and Rid), and writer-director Vichit Kounavudhi will have his 1982 rural drama Luk Isaan (ลูกอีสาน , a.k.a. Son of the Northeast).

And among the directors in focus is Euthana Mukdasanit, who will be part of the international jury. His films include the at-one-time-banned 1977 socialist drama Tongpan (ทองปาน), his 1985 Deep South childhood tale Butterfly and Flowers (ผีเสื้อและดอกไม้, Peesua lae dokmai) and the rarely seen 1978 musical romance Angel of Bar 21.

Others taking part in the festival will be South Korean director Im Sang-soo as jury president and Thai producer Donsaron Kovitvanitcha on the Netpac jury. Thai Film Archive deputy director Sanchai Chotirosseranee will also be on hand.

The Vesoul International Festival of Asian Cinema runs from February 3 to 10.

Stayed tuned for another "Festival festival!" entry on the newer films making the rounds in places like Rotterdam and Berlin.

(Cross-published in The Nation)

Top 10 Thai films of 2015

Zombies shuffled, independent films delighted and a favorite studio released two more winning entries before closing up shop, helping to make 2015 another memorable year for Thai cinema. Here, mostly in the order viewed, are some of the best Thai movies I saw in Bangkok cinemas last year.

Phi Ha Ayodhaya (The Black Death)

Just as my interest in Thai film had hit an all-time low, MR Chalermchatri “Adam” Yukol reinvigorated my passion with Phi Ha Ayodhaya, the first honest-to-goodness Thai zombie film.

Made with the same props and costumes as the “Suriyothai” and “Naresuan” historical epics of his father MC Chatrichalerm Yukol, Adam’s “Phi Ha Ayodhaya” was set in 1565 and covered what’s possibly the first historical instance of zombies. As the dead come shambling from the battlefields with a hunger for brains, a disparate band of survivors hole up in a brothel and fight back.

With plenty of cartoonish action and a decent helping of cinematic gore, the familiar tropes of George Romero’s “Dead” franchise mixed with the stately pageantry of “Naresuan” and “Pantai Norasingh” to create something refreshing.

Y/our Music

Indie filmmakers David Reeve and Waraluck Hiransrettawat Every begged and borrowed cameras as they shot their documentary over the course of several years, during which they explored the divide between urban and rural folk and examined contrasting Thai music scenes – mostly-unheard-of indie musicians in Bangkok and almost forgotten country stars in the Northeast.

I got to see Y/our Music twice, and both times the film demonstrated its power to move usually reserved Thai movie audiences into spontaneous applause, as if it were a live concert.

P’Chai My Hero a.k.a. How to Win at Checkers (Every Time)

Korean-American director Josh Kim brought much-needed fresh perspective to the scene with his debut feature, a sweet, multi-layered comedy-drama about an 11-year-old boy and his relationship with his openly gay teenage older brother.

At the heart of the story is the Thai military’s unusual lottery-drawing draft, which Kim had previously dealt with in his short documentary Draft Day, covering transgender draftees. Checkers is adapted from the short stories of noted Thai-American writer Rattawut Lapcharoensap, and adds more observations about the class divide. It was one of two major Thai premieres at the Berlin fest and Thailand’s official submission to the Academy Awards.

Freelance .. Ham Puay Ham Phak Ham Rak More (Heart Attack)

Exploited workers and the rickety state of public-health services become unlikely sources of comedy in indie filmmaker Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit’s directorial debut with the big studio GTH.

He had previously made the abstract romance 36 and wrote screenplays for the hit GTH films Bangkok Traffic Love Story and Top Secret. Nawapol’s quirky deadpan indie style was burnished with the backing of GTH, which provided its bankable stars, leading man Sunny Suwanamethanon as a freelance graphic artist who pushes himself too hard and gets sick, and Davika Hoorne as the lonely young overworked doctor who treats him.

Subverting the “feel good” style of most GTH films, Freelance turned out to be one of the two last films from that company, which broke up at the end of the year. Freelance now provides one possible template for the reformed company, GDH 559, to follow.

Onthakan (The Blue Hour)

Representing the best that Thailand’s burgeoning indie gay cinema movement has to offer, Anucha Boonyawatana directed this remarkable thriller about a bullied gay teenage boy who arranges to meet another young guy. From their initial rough coupling in a forbidden place, their relationship leads to even darker territory.

The other major Thai premiere at Berlin last year, The Blue Hour had a foreboding atmosphere and electrifying performances from the young lead actors, Atthaphan Poonsawas and Oabnithi Wiwattanawarang.

May Nhai .. Fai Raeng Fer (May Who?)

The final film made by GTH before it broke up and then reformed as GDH 559 is more in keeping with the youth-focused slate of films from that company, with its story about a high-school girl with a weird condition that causes her to generate a powerful electrical charge.

The sophomore feature from Chayanop Boonpakob, who followed up his 2011 rock ’n’ roll romance SuckSeed, May Who? was highlighted by a domineering performance by Sutatta Udomsilp as the electrically afflicted teen. Full of positive energy, the picture was further polished with manga-inspired animated sequences, giving May Who? the colorful feel of a comic book.

Vanishing Point

The lives of two men in the midst of existential crises converge in Jakrawal Nilthamrong’s arthouse drama, which won the Hivos Tiger Award at the Rotterdam fest.

Bringing Vanishing Point to Bangkok, Jakrawal chose a rundown porn cinema in Klong Toey for the Thai premiere, creating a visceral connection between our sin-filled realm and the world of the movie, which had things to say about materialism, merit-seeking and willful self-deception. Quietly released in a handful of mall multiplexes, Vanishing Point had much more to say about Buddhism than did another Buddhist-themed drama Arpatti, which created controversy with its trailer showing a novice monk nearly kissing a girl. The film was briefly banned before the filmmakers trimmed the scenes that offended censors and clergymen.

Runpee (Senior)

The year just kept getting better with the unexpected return of New Thai Cinema Movement leader Wisit Sasanatieng, who came back after a five-year hiatus with Runpee, a teen horror comedy released by M-Thirtynine.

Similar to May Nhai, Runpee also had a strong young superpowered heroine. Played by Ploychompoo Jannine Weigel, she’s a Catholic schoolgirl who has the ability to smell ghosts, and teams up with a boy ghost to solve a 50-year-old murder.

It has all the hallmarks of Wisit’s earlier works, including Fah Talai Jone and Pen Choo Kub Pee, with spooky Gothic settings and inventively stylish (and funny) horror sequences.

Sway

More fresh perspective came from Rooth Tang, a US-educated Thai-American filmmaker, making his feature debut with a story about dysfunctional romances in three cities.

Sway was filmed over the course of several years, starting in 2010 in Bangkok with Ananda Everingham and Sajee Apiwong as a couple trying to figure things out.

Subsequent segments filmed in Los Angeles and Paris provide a look at the developing style of a new filmmaker, whose cultural views about East vs West are coincidentally similar to other Western-educated Thai filmmakers, particularly Aditya Assarat and Lee Chatametikool.

Snap

Another New Thai Cinema figure, Kongdej Jaturanrasmee, combines quietly snarky commentary on social-media oversharing with anxiety about the junta in this contemporary romance, which is still playing in Bangkok cinemas following its premiere in competition at Tokyo.

The multi-layered story is about a young woman who spends her days plugged into social media, sharing her heavily filtered and hashtagged photos of everything. But the realities of life come crashing down as she attends the wedding of old friends, reconnects with her high-school boyfriend and has second thoughts about marrying her current beau, a junior Army officer. And it’s all taking place under the cover of martial law.

(Cross-published in The Nation)

Review: Runpee (Senior)

• Written and directed by Wisit Sasanatieng
• Starring Jannine Wiegel, Phongsakon Tosuwan, Sa-ad Piampongsan
• Released in Thai cinemas on December 3, 2015; rated 15+
• Wise Kwai's rating: 4/5

After a five-year hiatus from commercial filmmaking, Wisit Sasanatieng has been coaxed back to the director's chair by the studio M-Thirtynine with Runpee (รุ่นพี่, a.k.a. Senior), an artfully directed ghost comedy that successfully merges old-fashioned horror thrills with contemporary teen romance.

Penned by Wisit, the story is about an outcast weirdo at a Catholic girls' boarding school. She has a special nose. Unlike the kid in The Sixth Sense, the olfactorily gifted girl Mon (Ploychompoo Jannine Weigel) can't see dead people, she smells them. More specifically, she can sniff out the troubled spirits who are still lurking in our realm.

Her unique talent leads her to develop a connection with a boy ghost (Bom Phongsakon Tosuwan) who was a student when the place was a business school in the 1980s, before it was a church convent. Together, they investigate a murder that occurred there some 50 years before, when the school was the palace home of a princess, who was found beaten, bloodied and very much dead in her swimming pool. Her gardener took the fall for the death, but there was more to the case than met the eye.

It's an old-timey Thai setting right out of Wisit's 2000 debut feature, Fah Talai Jone (Tears of the Black Tiger), and that western's trademark raspberry-jelly blood splatter is evident in key scenes. Runpee also has echoes of Wisit's 2006 Gothic horror Pen Choo Kub Pee (The Unseeable), plus the wry observational humour of his satiric Mah Nakorn (Citizen Dog).

With false scares and other cinematic sleight-of-hand tricks, Wisit keeps the audience guessing as he suspensefully strings along the story of Mon and her ghost friend Runpee, whose name means simply "senior".

Mon's abilities to sense ghosts has made her an outcast among her school's other girls. Everyone already thought she was a bit weird, but since Runpee came on the scene, she's especially bizarre, since she's given to carrying on conversations with her ghost pal, who almost no one except the audience can see. So it appears she's walking along, talking to herself. There are even street scenes, which I'm not certain were filmed on a closed set, in which passersby naturally react with perplexity to the odd girl who is flailing her arms and talking gibberish to an invisible friend.

At one point, Mon is talking and flailing during her French lessons, and the stern nun teacher punishes Mon by having her wear a sign and stand with her arms outstretched. Even then, she continues her conversation with Runpee.

The laws of physics are different in the ghost world, Runpee explains as they sleuth around the school property, searching for clues to the 50-year-old murder. For example, ghosts can't walk walls if the walls were built after they died. Industrial-like animated diagrams help illustrate. And, there are exceptions, of course. It's not quite Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, but then thank goodness it isn't.

Aside from the main story of the old murder case, there are other issues to pad out the tale and give weight to the characters. There's an annoyingly cheerful young doctor friend of Mon's (DJ We Raweeroj) whom Mon strings along long enough for him to be helpful to the murder case. Another subplot has Mon developing a selfie-fueled friendship with the school's other outcast, Ant (Kaykai Nutticha Namwong), who is shunned by the popular clique because she's been seen getting close to the male chemistry teacher – way too close in fact. He's a jerk, and gets what's coming to him in a vividly memorable scene that has him haunted by millions of eyeball-like CGI spirits.

Ant's story has parallels to the 50-year-old murder, which is intertwined with the school's history and the mysterious figure of "Baby Daeng", the heir to the princess' estate and the cause of conflict. What happened to Baby Daeng? That's the question that keeps coming back to haunt Mon and Runpee as they circle ever closer to a truth that was right in front of their eyes to begin with.

Figures from the past include an elderly doctor, portrayed by stage and screen veteran Sa-ad Piampongsan, who is a hoot to watch as he chews up scenes that grow meatier and meatier with each appearance.

Onward and upward, the action reaches its heights with Mon atop a bell tower, rescued by her personal Jesus Runpee.

It's a mix of actors from a bygone era of classic Thai genre films and fresh-faced youngsters making their debuts, which is something of a trademark for Wisit, who has a knack for plucking up fresh talents and dropping them in as the leads of his films.

Here, singer-actress Ploychompoo is an endearing heroine, rebellious and strong, placing her in good company with another superpowered young actress, Punpun Sutatta Udomsilp from another Thai movie this year, May Nai (May Who?), about a high-school girl who releases a strong electrical charge if her heart gets racing. Maybe one day Mon and May could team up to solve more crimes.

See also:

• Spirits and the soul [The Nation]

Related posts:

• In Thai cinemas: Keetarajanipon, Khun Thong Daeng, Runpee

In Thai cinemas: Keetarajanipon, Khun Thong Daeng, Runpee

On the occasion of His Majesty the King's 88th birthday this Saturday, there are films inspired by the monarch's deeds.

In general release is the animated feature Khun Thong Daeng: The Inspirations, which pays tribute to His Majesty's favorite pet dog with three stories about lovable pooches determined to make a difference.

And back for a special screening this weekend is Keetarajanipon (คีตราชนิพนธ์), which was first released in May. It's a compilation of four devotional stories that are in part inspired by musical compositions of His Majesty.

Since its May release, it screened last month at the Hawaii International Film Festival, and the updated poster is also sporting official selection laurels for next year's East Winds Film Festival in Coventry, England. Update: The film won the Audience Award in Hawaii, according to IndieWire and Film Business Asia.

The absolute highlight is the dramatic biographical account of the late conservationist Seub Nakhasathien. It's directed by Parkpoom Wongpoom and stars Nopachai “Peter” Jayanama. Well-known directors of other segments include Nonzee Nimibutr, who has story of elderly female singers bonding at a temple old-folks shelter, and Yongyoot Thongkongtoon, who has a tale of a bratty boy learning to do his duty.

Keetarajanipon is screening until Monday at Major Cineplexes, where free tickets are first-come, first-serve and are handed out at special table an hour before the shows. Check Facebook for details.

His Majesty the King's pet dog Khun Thong Daeng is paid tribute in the animated omnibus Khun Thong Daeng: The Inspirations (คุณทองแดง The Inspirations).

Produced by music-festival promoter Vinij Lertratanachai, with concepts overseen by movie-marketing strategist Dr Head, The Inspirations has three stories about pooches from three animation studios.

Imagimax Studios has Mah Wad (Mid-Road), about a tough injured stray who is adopted by an elderly monk, and unites the temple's dog pack to protect the place from thieves. The Monk Studio contributes Tong Lor, which deals with the relationship between a blind girl, her grandmother and their pet dog. And Workpoint Studios is still in the world of robots, similar to the company's animated feature Yak a few years ago, with Little Copper, about a boy robot who gives new life to his robot pet.

The three tales are tied together by live-action segments involving a girl who wanted her uncle (comedian "Nong" Choosak Iamsook) to buy her a foreign pure-breed, and he instead came up with a Thai mutt, played by the talented four-legged actor Richard, who has been the canine star of many Thai movies, TV shows and commercials. There is more about the movie in an article in The Nation. Rated G

The end of the year also brings the long-awaited return of writer-director Wisit Sasanatieng. The screenwriter of the classic Nang Nak takes on a teen ghost romance for the M-Thirtynine studio.

It has the rather curious title of Runpee (รุ่นพี่), but it's not the movie-going toilet application but simply Senior, as in older "brother". Though it could also mean ghost, a different-sounding word but also pee.

It's about a Catholic boarding school student (Ploychompoo Jannine Weigel) who has a special gift for smelling out ghosts. This leads her to meet a mysterious senior ghost boy and they investigate a murder that happened at the school 50 years before.

It's the first feature in five years from Wisit, who has largely been absent after he took a break from the film industry following a studio-budgetary ordeal making the action film Red Eagle. There's more in an article in The Nation.

Two films by Lav Diaz are screening in Bangkok, thanks to Filmvirus with generous support from the Japan Foundation. They are his Locarno prize winner From What Is Before, showing on Sunday at House, and the Typhoon Yolanda documentary Storm Children on Monday at the Chinatown art space Cloud. The screenings were announced late last week by the Filmvirus crew and spaces went fast. Monday's event, which includes a talk by Diaz himself, is full, but the Sunday film screening still has a few spaces left. Check the Facebook post for details.

More new releases in cinemas are covered at the other blog.

In Thai cinemas: Mard Payak, Siam Yuth

Nation Multimedia Group’s Now 26 TV channel breaks into film with Mard Payak: The Great Muay Thai Fighter (มาดพยัคฆ์), a documentary on boxer Samart Payakaroon.

Winner of four national weight-class titles and the 1982 World Boxing Council featherweight champ, he was a fearsome pugilist who was known as the "Jade Tiger".

Made with Samart’s support, it includes dramatized scenes from his upbringing and career, with actors portraying him at various ages. The documentary also covers a 1986 bout in which Samart avoided almost 20 punches from opponent Juan Mesa. There's also his controversial 1987 loss in Australia to Jeff Fenech.

Along with Now 26, it's produced by Local Color Films, a production shingle formed a few years ago by Pawas Sawatchaiyamet, a.k.a. Saksiri Chantarangsri, the veteran production designer who worked closely with Wisit Sasanatieng and Pen-ek Ratanaruang. Norachai Kajchapanont directs.

You can read more about the film in an article in The Nation. It's at SF Cinemas.





Two-fisted swordfighting shirtless youngsters fight for honor and country in the historical-action epic Siam Yuth: The Dawn of the Kingdom (สยามยุทธ).

It's been on the release schedule for many months, but has been repeatedly postponed for reasons I'm not privy to.

But now, I guess the time is right for a jingoistic war flick. To arms!

The story, near as I can make out, deals with a tight-knit group of friends who take up the fight against a local warlord in ancient Siam.

For other offerings in Thai cinemas this week, please see the supplementary blog, Bangkok Cinema Scene.

Review: Chalui Tae Khob Fah (Lost in Seoul)

• Directed by Adirek Watleela and Suchart Makhawimarn
• Starring Mek Mekwattana, Nachat Juntapun, Zuvapit Traipornworakit, Nichkhun Horvejkul
• Released in Thai cinemas on June 4, 2015; rated 13+
• Wise Kwai's rating: 3/5

Rags-to-riches stories of struggling musicians looking for their big break are a dime a dozen, so journeyman producer Adirek "Uncle" Watleela got a real bargain with Chalui Tae Khob Fah (ฉลุย แตะขอบฟ้า, a.k.a. Lost in Seoul), which is a remake of a movie he first did in 1988.

The original, about two country lads looking to take Bangkok by storm, is repurposed for the K-pop era, and sends the bumbling heroes from Bangkok to Seoul, where they dream of bringing Thai rock to the uptight corporate ranks of South Korea's entertainment machine. Their big inspiration is a fellow Thai, Nichkhun Horvejkul, who is famous as the Thai guy in the boyband 2PM.

The story starts off in a dream sequence with Nichkhun as a pizza-delivery guy. Uncle and co-director Suchart Makhawimarn seem to be taking their cues from Christopher Nolan as they aim to keep things as off-kilter as possible, with a rapid succession of dreams, flashbacks and sight gags to propel the action as they introduce the two lead characters – long-haired guitarist Pong (Mek "Jessie" Mekwattana) and his singer pal Tong (Nachat "Nicky" Juntapun).

Amid this rapidly moving shell-game of a comedy, one thing becomes quickly apparent – Pong and Tong are no-talent hacks. But they're nice enough fellows, and their enthusiasm makes up somewhat for their lack of finessed dance moves. But behind their earthworm-like shimmying, it's all empty – they are lipsynching to a recording, and their instruments, which are just hollow shells, are unplugged.

But it doesn't matter. Uncle, well-versed in the art of showbiz hocus-pocus, manages to keep up a breakneck level of energy. The Thai Blues Brothers continue to practice their music on their rooftop and dream of their big break, with support from their endlessly cheerful comic neighbor (Phongthep Anurat), who becomes their manager. The suspense comes from the wonder of how long can the energy be sustained, and, will these sad clowns somehow have what it takes?

Uncle, as always, can't resist inserting references to his other movies. So the boys, in their apartment decorated by a Black Sabbath vinyl clock (points added), a Good Charlotte poster (points deducted) and toilet stool for a desk chair (points added), pop a DVD into a portable player. It's Tears of the Black Tiger, the melodramatic western by Wisit Sasanatieng that Uncle co-produced. It's a scene where two male characters pray together and seal a blood bond.

And, I'm pretty sure that's the two actors from the original Chalui Tae Kob Fah (literally Touch the Sky) popping up in another scene to give the younger lads encouragement. Later on, Pong and Tong find a DVD for Yuthlert Sippapak's Chiang Khan Love Story, which Uncle produced only last year. And watch for Uncle in a cameo as a cop.

Like the movie's characters, Chalui Tae Khob Fah gets by on sheer amiability. The boys are guys you wouldn't mind hanging out with for a night, and the movie is like that too. It spends roughly half its time goofing around in Bangkok before jetting off to Seoul, and I hardly noticed an hour had gone by.

Once in Seoul, where the production values are eyepopping, the boys rapidly go through the usual succession of adventures – getting mixed up with mobsters, street hoods and bent cops. Only the Illinois Nazis are missing. They lose their money and passports and then fumble their way into another situation that leads to them making friends with colorful locals.

There's the usual succession of nods to Korean culture, which have become stock-in-trade for Thai-South Korean productions. The gold standard of these remains GTH's blockbuster romance Guan Muen Ho (Hello Stranger). Others have included Poj Arnon's Kao Rak Thee Korea (Sorry Saranghaeyo), Wisit and Michael Shaowanasai's short Iron Pussy: A Kimchi Affair for the Busan-backed Camellia and Prachya Pinkaew's Bangkok-set South Korean martial-arts comedy The Kick.

Thanks to Oldboy, we must have a wriggling octopus, and I'd be disappointed if there weren't any octopuses. But there's also Korean theater and music, thanks to a young woman named Meehwa, her mother and their friends. Of course, she turns out to be half-Thai, and can serve as the boys' translator, helping them get jobs and fast-talk their way out of sticky situations. If it seems like she's everywhere, it's because she is. It's singer-actress "Baitoei" Zuvapit Traipornworakit in a dual role as Meewha and as Bangkok neighborhood doll Tukdta. So there's enough of Baitoei to go around for both of the guys.

One convenient situation after another befalls Pong and Tong as they try to land an audition with an executive at a Korean record label who they first met on a drunken night out in Bangkok. Boyband member "Buck" Nichkhun turns up again, and agrees to help the guys, because they are fellow Thais. Because that's overseas Thai code. Or something.

Soon, we're all singing along to a street-performer backed rendition of the anthem "Arirang", complete with classical Korean instruments, a bicycle drum set and crunchy Thai rock-guitar power chords.

Chalui Tae Khob Fah is the third release for Transformation Films, the new company formed by the former Film Bangkok producer pair of Uncle and Sa-nga Chatchairungruang. Other features so far have been last year's award-winning Chiang Khan Love Story by Yuthlert and this past February's romantic comedy Single Lady Phror Khoei Me Fan, directed by Thanakorn Pongsuwan (Fireball).

Like the others, Chalui Tae Khob Fah has performed very modestly at the local box office, with earnings of 1.5 million baht in its first week, trailing far, far behind the Hollywood behemoths Spy, San Andreas, Tomorrowland and Mad Max: Fury Road. At last count, Chalui had only doubled its first week's earnings, but it remains in theaters thanks to Transformation's partnership with Major Cineplex, Thailand's biggest multiplex operator. If it were anyone else's film, it would have been booted out after a few days.

Despite iffy box-office prospects – hardly anyone in Thailand is watching Thai films these days unless they come from GTH – we'll likely be seeing more of this type of thing. Also backing Chalui Tae Khob Fah was the Korean entertainment mega-firm CJ E&M Film Division, which is separately joining up with Major Cineplex in a three-year 10-film deal for more Thai-South Korean co-productions, likely from Transformation, or the half-dozen or so other Major Cineplex-backed production companies.

See also:

• CJ enters joint venture with Major Cineplex [Film Business Asia]

Cannes 2015: Wisit's Suriya back in the ring at Thai Pitch

Wisit Sasanatieng's long-in-development Suriya is among a trio of projects vying for backers at the second edition of the relaunched Thai Pitch, which takes place on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival.

Others taking part in Thai Pitch 2015 will be veteran helmer Sananjit Bangsapan with Uncle Ho and indie talent Wasunan Hutawet with Sydney.

Suriya is a biographical drama about an infamous Muay Thai fighter whose ingeniousness in the ring was contrasted by personal struggles outside. It could potentially be a Thai boxing version of Raging Bull, and would be Wisit's first feature since 2010's Red Eagle. It also marks a return to Cannes for the Thai New Wave veteran. Wisit's directorial debut, 2000's Tears of the Black Tiger, was the first Thai film to be officially selected for Cannes; it competed in the Un Certain Regard line-up. Athimes Arunroj-angkul (Phobia 2, Karaoke Girl) is producing Suriya, which has been pitched at other project markets over the years.

Sananjit, meanwhile, is seeking to make his return in the film industry. He previously did the gritty gunman tale Hit Man File in 2005 and the women-in-prison drama Butterfly in Grey in 2002. His Uncle Ho follows the exploits of a young Ho Chi Minh, who briefly lived in the northeastern city of Nakhon Phanom in the 1920s. While doing some organizing for the Communist Party in Thailand, the young Ho is targeted by a French assassin. Supong Javanasundara (Hit Man File) and Nakorn Veerapavati are producing.

And with Sydney, Wasunan, an alumnae of the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2012, seeks to make her feature directorial debut. It's the story of a young woman from the countryside who moves to Bangkok full of hope but soon falls into despair. Soros Sokhum (Wonderful Town, So Be It) and Parinee Buthrasri are the producers.

The Thai Pitch was relaunched in 2013 after a five-year absence from the Croisette.  It is coordinated by producer Raymond Phathanavirangoon (Headshot, Tokyo Sonata) and will be held at the Thai Pavilion.

The three film projects will bolster a growing Thai presence at this year's Cannes Film Festival, which is headlined by the return of the 2010 Palme d'Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul with his new feature Cemetery of Splendour. It is in the official selection for the Un Certain Regard program. It will be Apichatpong's fourth time in competition in Cannes, where he won the Un Certain Regard in 2002 with Blissfully Yours, the jury prize in 2004 with Tropical Malady and the Golden Palm in 2010 with Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.

And actress-model "Chompoo" Araya A. Hargate returns for her third consecutive year as camera fodder for the red carpet. Among the many products she pitches, Chompoo is a spokesmodel for cosmetics brand L'Oreal, which has sponsored her trips and handled her designer wardrobe for appearances at Cannes since 2013.

More coverage of this year's Thai Pitch can be found at The Hollywood Reporter, Screen Daily and Film Business Asia.

Relaunched Silpathorn Awards honor Kongdej

Award-winning writer-director Kongdej Jaturanrasamee (คงเดช จาตุรันต์รัศมี) will add another piece of hardware to his trophy shelf – the Silpathorn Award – announced yesterday during a press conference at the Culture Ministry's new Ratchadamnoen Contemporary Art Centre in Bangkok.

The Silpathorn, honoring mid-career Thai contemporary artists, was inaugurated 10 years ago by the ministry's Office of Contemporary Art and Culture (OCAC). It was presented annually until 2010, and has been on hiatus for the past four years.

For Kongdej, the Silpathorn adds to his haul this year for his latest film, Tang Wong (ตั้งวง), an indie drama that critiqued contemporary Thai culture with a story about four teenage boys who have to learn a traditional dance in order to fulfill a vow to a spirit-house shrine. Made with the support of the OCAC, Tang Wong premiered in last year's Berlin fest, and went on to win several awards at home, including four Golden Swans at the Subhanahongsa Awards, as well as gongs from the Bangkok Critics Assembly and the Thai Director Association.

Tang Wong was Kongdej's second feature as an independent director, following his quirk-filled 2012 psychological drama P-047, which was also a big award winner. His 2003 debut feature, the coming-of-age sex comedy Sayew, was released by Sahamongkol Film International, as was his sophomore effort, the comedy-drama Cherm (Midnight My Love), in which comedian Petchtai Wongkamlao made a dramatic breakthrough as a lonely taxi driver who strikes up a relationship with a massage-parlor girl. Kongdej then jumped over to GTH for 2008's Kod (Handle Me with Care), about a three-armed man on a road trip with a large-breasted woman.

Kongdej has also penned numerous mainstream-industry screenplays, including 2004's weepy romance The Letter, Tony Jaa's lost-elephant adventure Tom-Yum-Goong, the amnesiac Ananda Everingham drama Me ... Myself, Nonzee Nimibutr's high-seas swashbuckler Queens of Langkasuka, Kantana Animation's Echo Planet (for which he also provided voice talent and an original song) and last year's teen horror Last Summer.

His latest efforts, Tang Wong and P-047, were independent, with Soros Sukhum as producer. Their next project is So Be It, which has been picked up by the new Thai indie outfit Mosquito Films Distribution.

Previous Silpathorn film honorees are Pen-ek Ratanruang (2004), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (2005), Wisit Sasanatieng (2006), Thunska Pansittivorakul (2007), Nonzee Nimibutr (2008), Pimpaka Towira (2009) and Aditya Assarat (2010).

The Silpathorn Award's 10th anniversary was commemorated earlier this year with a performance series that included a screening of a shortened version of Thunska's The Terrorists.

According to The Nation, other Silpathorn Award honorees this year are conceptual artist Surasi Kusolwong, actress-playwright Jarunan Phantachat of B-Floor Theatre, architect Suriya Umpansiritatana, writer Rewat Panpipat, conductor Vanich Potavanich, typographer Pairoj Teeraprapar and product designer Chaiyut Plypetch.

Each winner receives 100,000 baht and a commemorative lapel pin.  The awards presentation ceremony will be held on July 17 along with an exhibition that will run through July 27.

Hi-Jaa! Where is he now? Plus Protector 2 in U.S, TYG2 in China

Better not let your elephant see you tinkling those ivories. Via Tony Jaa Official Facebook page

This is another installment of the occasional feature of this blog that catches up on news of Tony Jaa.

Tony Jaa recently wrapped a globetrot that took him to Hollywood, where he schmoozed with celebrities, and to Switzerland, where he performed handstands in a ritzy hotel lobby.

After a brief stop back home in Thailand, he jetted off again to start production on his Hong Kong action debut, SPL II, which will see him clashing with Wu Jing. Pou-Soi Cheang directs this sequel-in-name-only to 2005's SPL, which was directed by Wilson Yip, who's now producing. Original SPL leading man Simon Yam also stars.

You can follow all of Jaa's moves on his official Facebook page.

Meanwhile, Tom-Yum-Goong 2 opened over the weekend in select U.S. cinemas as The Protector 2. Reviews aren't pretty. They include the New York Times, Village Voice, New York Daily News, the AV Club and The Hollywood Reporter. A number of them say it's his "comeback" following his controversial "meltdown" during filming of Ong-Bak 2 and Ong-Bak 3, but really it's his swansong with studio Sahamongkol, which he left in the midst of making TYG2 during a contract dispute.

Now he's on to the next phase of his career, as an international action star and man of mystery.

Still, Sahamongkol is wringing Tom-Yum-Goong 2 for all it's worth, with a "wide release" recently in China – some 2,500 screens, the biggest yet for a Thai film. The Nation's Soopsip had more details about that, including a red-carpet appearance by Jaa's co-stars, Jeeja Yanin and Rhatha Pho-ngam.

A Blu-ray release for The Protector 2 is set for July 29.

Finally, it's the early 2000s again as Tony Jaa gets a mention in the newly reconstituted Kaiju Shakedown, the blog by Asian film raconteur Grady Hendrix. Now at home at Film Comment, Hendrix looks back at all the main figures of Thai cinema's boom days of the late '90s and early aughts, wondering "where are they now?"

Jaa, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Ekachai Uekrongtham, Banjong Pisanthanakun, Chookiat Sakveerakul and Nonzee Nimibutr – they've all been right here, steadily working. Just one of the stalwarts of the New Thai Cinema Movement mentioned – Wisit Sasanatieng – has faded from view. Perhaps Wisit could get his long-gestating Muay Thai biopic Suriya out of development hell with help from Jaa and a host of international backers?

Rhatha Pho-ngam and Jeeja Yanin on the Beijing film fest red carpet for the Chinese premiere of Tom-Yum-Goong 2.

First Cannes contender, Oscar hopefuls and royal home movies join Heritage Registry

The first Thai film selected for the Cannes Film Festival, Tears of the Black Tiger, is among this year’s additions to the Registry of Films as National Heritage by the Culture Ministry and the Thai Film Archive.

Established in 2011, the Registry of Films as National Heritage aims to select entries based on their historical and artistic value and influence on society, and make them a priority for preservation. With 25 entries selected each October, this year’s listing brings the registry’s number to 75.

Other notable entries this year include three films submitted to the Academy Awards and films by King Rama VII.

The earliest addition this year is from 1901, Visit of the Prince of Siam. The two-and-a-half-minute clip by British film company Mitchell and Kenyon shows the then-Crown Prince Vajiravudh on a trip across the Mersey during a visit with radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi. The Oxford-educated prince was crowned King Rama VI in 1910.

The Royal family were among the first filmmakers in Thailand, with Vajiravudh’s brother, Prajadhipok – King Rama VII – a keen lensman. Two of his films were added to the registry.

One is 1929’s Magic Ring, a home movie the monarch made on a trip to Koh Pha-ngan. The 25-minute short with silent-film intertitles is about a cruel stepfather who abandons his children on the island. One of them meets a nymph who gives him a magic ring that can grant wishes.

“All the actors are the royal family and King Rama VII shot the film himself,” Chalida uabumrungjit, the Film Archive’s deputy director, says in The Nation.

The other entry from the King Rama VII collection is 1930’s Mon Ram Phee at Pak Lad, the monarch’s recording of a traditional Mon dance.

From 1927 is Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness, the oldest surviving Hollywood production made in Thailand (or maybe it was made in Laos). It’s directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, who later made King Kong. The documentary-style silent adventure, complete with deaths of multiple species of wildlife, depicts a rural Isaan family beset by a marauding herd of elephants.

The newest entry is 2005’s The Tin Mine (Maha’lai Muengrae), an expensively mounted historical drama directed by Jira Maligool and produced by GTH. Thailand’s submission to the Academy Awards in 2006, it’s adapted from the semi-autobiographical short stories by Ajin Panjapan, of a university dropout sent to work in the tin mines of southern Thailand in the 1950s.

Another Oscar submission is 2004’s The Overture (Hom Rong), directed by Ittisoontorn Vichailak. Loosely based on the life of palace musician Luang Pradit Phairoh, it follows a ranad-ek (xylophone) player from boyhood in the late 19th century to the 1940s. The film sparked a revival of interest in Thai classical music and the ranad-ek.

And Thailand’s first Academy Awards submission, 1983’s Story of Nam Poo, makes this year’s list. Directed by Euthana Mukdasanit, the factual drama is adapted from the book by award-winning writer Suwanni Sukhontha, which she wrote after her son died at age 18 of a heroin overdose. Singer Amphol Lumpoon stars as the son with theatre doyenne Patravadi Mejudhon as the mother.

More social issues are depicted in 1973’s Khao Chue Karn by MC Chatrichalerm Yukol, about the problems encountered by an idealistic young physician in the countryside, and 1979’s Mountain People (Khon Phu Khao) by Vichit Kounavudhi, depicting the lives of hilltribes in the North.

The lighter side of Thai teenagers is shown in a pair of classic comedies on this year’s list – 1976’s Wai Ounlawon by Piak Poster and 1988’s Boonchu Phoo Narak by Bhandit Rittakol. Both spawned series of teen comedies by Five Star Production, which rebooted the Boonchu franchise in recent years. Another popular entry is 1990's Pook Pui, a childhood drama by Udom Udomroj.

And from the Thai New Wave period of the late 1990s and early 2000s is director Nonzee Nimibutr’s feature debut, 1997’s Daeng Bireley’s and Young Gangsters (2499 Antapan Krong Muang), a stylish, fact-based drama about James Dean-obsessed teenage hoodlums in 1950s Bangkok.

Scripted by Wisit Sasanatieng, it was the start of a movement of films that revitalised the local film industry and brought widespread attention to Thai cinema on the world stage.

Wisit made his directorial debut with another entry on this year’s list, 2000’s Tears of the Black Tiger (Fah Talai Jone), which was the first Thai film to be selected for the Cannes Film Festival. It competed in the Un Certain Regard category.

A hyper-colourful western with six-gun-toting bandits on horseback, Tears of the Black Tiger was an homage to an earlier era of Thai film – the action movies of the 1960 and ’70s – like another entry on this year’s list, 1966’s Operation Bangkok (“Petch Tad Petch”), a Hong Kong co-production featuring superstar leading man Mitr Chaibancha and Hong Kong starlet Regina Piping.

Films as National Heritage 2013

• Visit of the Prince of Siam, 1901, Mitchell and Kenyon
• Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness, 1927, Merian C Cooper and Ernest B Schoedsack
• Magic Ring (แหวนวิเศษ), 1929, Nai Noi Sorasak (pseudonym of King Rama VII)
• Mon Ram Phee at Pak Lad (เสด็จทอดพระเนตรมอญรำผี ปากลัด ๑ มีนาคม พ.ศ. ๒๔๗๓ , 1930, King Rama VII
• Giant Swing Ceremony (พระราชพิธีโล้ชิงช้า), 1931, HRH Prince Rangsit Prayurasakdi, Prince of Chainat
• Acquiring Torpedo Boat (การรับเรือตอร์ปิโด), 1935, Luang Kolakarn Jan-Jit (Pao Wasuwat)
• Ruam Thai (รวมไทย), 1941, Prince Sukornwannadit Diskul
• Sand to Glass (ทรายมาเป็นแก้ว, 1950-51, Tadsong Satiensut
• Silpa Bhirasri (อาจารย์ศิลป์ พีระศรี), 1951
• Our Bangkok, Capital City (กรุงเทพเมืองหลวงของเรา ), 1957, United States Information Service
• Boribool Balm commericial (โฆษณาขี้ผึ้งบริบูรณ์บาล์ม ชุดหนูหล่อพ่อเขาพาไปดูหมี), 1958-62, Sanpasiri Agency
• The Site of Lue’s Grave (หลุมศพที่ลือไซต์ ), 1962, Somboon Wiriyasiri
• Operation Bangkok (เพชรตัดเพชร, Petch Tad Petch), 1966, Vichit Kounavudhi, Promsin Siboonrueng, Prakob Kaewprasert
• The Conqueror of Ten Directions (ผู้ชนะสิบทิศ, Phu Chana Sib Tid), 1966-67, Naramitr (Amnuay Klatnimi)
• Dr. Karn (เขาชื่อกานต์, Khao Chue Karn), 1973, MC Chatrichalerm Yukol
• Nora Khunoupthamnarakorn (โนราขุนอุปถัมภ์นรากร), 1973, Songkla Teachers College
• Wai Ounwalon (วัยอลวน ), 1976, Piak Poster
• Mountain People (คนภูเขา , Khon Phu Khao), 1979, Vichit Kounavudhi
• Naam Poo (น้ำพุ ), 1983, Euthana Mukdasanit
• Boonchu Phoo Narak (บุญชูผู้น่ารัก), 1988, Bhandit Rittakol
• Pook Pui (ปุกปุย) 1990, Udom Udomroj
• Dang Bireley’s and Young Gangsters (2499 อันธพาลครองเมือง , Song Si Kow Kow Antapan Krong Muang), 1997, Nonzee Nimibutr
• Tears of the Black Tiger (ฟ้าทะลายโจร , Fah Talai Jone), 2000, Wisit Sasanatieng
• The Overture (โหมโรง , Hom Rong), 2004, Ittisoontorn Vichailak
• The Tin Mine (มหา’ลัยเหมืองแร่ , Maha’lai Muengrae), 2005, Jira Maligool

Review: Pee Mak Phra Khanong

• Directed by Banjong Pisunthanakun
• Starring Mario Maurer, Davika Hoorne, Nattapong Chartpong, Kantapat Permpoonpatcharasuk, Pongsatorn Jongwilak, Wiwat Kongrasri
• Released in Thai cinemas on March 28, 2013; rated 15+
• Wise Kwai's rating: 4/5

The Thai film industry has its first bonafide monster hit in awhile with “Pee Mak Phra Khanong” luring viewers into cinemas like moths to the flame.

The horror-comedy earned around 21 million baht on its opening day, setting a record for the GTH studio (only Sahamongkol's Ong-Bak has had a bigger opening, at around 30 million baht). It reached the benchmark 100-million-baht in its first four days in cinemas, and was still packing them in at a midnight screening at midweek.

But the real news is that Pee Mak is actually pretty good. Distinguishing itself from most other Thai horror comedies that are loosely structured, this one follows an actual script, which is smartly co-written by director Banjong Pisunthanakun. The production values are slick as is usual for the GTH studio. And there are strong performances, including a sweet and surprisingly funny Mario Maurer as Mak and the well-cast Davika “Mai” Hoorne, whose expressive eyes put across the fierceness of her character.

It’s yet another version of the famous Mae Nak Phra Khanong ghost story that’s been told on the big screen dozens of times. Other versions have included the 1999 hit Nang Nak by Nonzee Nimibutr and screenwriter Wisit Sasanatieng, as well as the lackluster 3D version of the tale last year, starring Bongkot Kongmalai as the long-armed ghost.

Everyone knows the story by heart. Set 100 or so years ago, long before the rustic river village of Phra Khanong became part of Bangkok and was paved over with condos, the young man Mak goes off to war, leaving behind his pregnant wife Nak. While Mak battles for his life in the trenches against whomever it was the Siamese were fighting back then, Nak struggles to give birth but both she and her baby die. However, the love between Mak and Nak is so strong, her spirit survives. When Mak returns home, he doesn’t see that anything is wrong even though the villagers are all in hiding, cowering in fear of the powerful ghost.

I laughed at a gorgeous scene of a thumping spider, a shot lifted from Nonzee and Wisit's version. But Banjong adds other critters, like centipedes, to give you the sense that even the insects are running for the hills in fear of Nak.

Pee Mak has just enough twists to make it interesting and it keeps you guessing by hinting at the various what if’s that might race through your mind, such as, for example, “what if Nak isn’t the one who’s dead?” It also plays on the assumptions that perhaps Mak (and by extension Mario) is a bit dimwitted if he can’t see that his wife is a ghost.

Pee Mak Phra Khanong adds four characters to the usual tale, army buddies of Mak who accompany him back home. They almost immediately figure out that something isn’t right, but have trouble finding the right moment to clue Mak in without making Nak angry.

The four guys are the bespectacled Ter (Nattapong Chartpong), moustachioed Aye (Kantapat Permpoonpatcharasuk), trendy-haired, goateed Puak (Pongsatorn Jongwilak) and the top-knot-haired Shin (Wiwat Kongrasri). The actors are the same four goofballs who went camping in director Banjong’s comedic segment of GTH’s Phobia. They also featured in the comedy segment of Phobia 2.

As in the Phobia films, the lads offer up a plethora of pop-culture references, even if such things as movies like The Last Samurai (or maybe they said Bangrajan) or magician David Blaine didn't exist back in Mak and Nak’s time. At one point, the boys holler at Mak, accusing him of bad acting and asking if he’d been coached by “Mom Noi”, Mario’s director ML Bhandevanov Devakula on the critically assailed, box-office-bombing Jan Dara epics (the English dubtitles say “Ang Lee”, which makes no sense – stop with the dubtitles, please).

The humor works better when the cultural references are potentially appropriate to the era or there’s no translation needed, like when one of the boys doesn't realize he needs to look backwards through his own legs to see that Nak is a ghost.

But there is a clever moment when Mak explains his name is really “Mark”, and as his four chums try to wrap their tongues around that, Mak tells how his father was a missionary from the US, making Mak a luk khrueng, or "half-Thai". Of course the joke is that Mario himself is half-Western, as is his co-star, the big-eyed Davika. I'm not sure how that joke will play in other countries, if Pee Mak does indeed find overseas buyers.

The fun really gets going when Mak takes his wife to a temple fair. Never mind that they probably didn’t have Ferris wheels or electric lights back then. On the run from the vengeful Nak, the four buddies hide out in the carnival’s haunted house, and disguise themselves as other spooks from Thai folklore – Nang Tani, the banana-tree ghost; Phi Krahang, the flying ghost; Krasue, the flying head-and-entrails ghost, and Kuman Thong, the little-boy ghost.

After a terror-filled boat ride, the guys end up taking refuge in the Buddhist temple with the monk, and the truth finally comes out.

But while other Mae Nak stories have ended tragically, this is a GTH movie, and even GTH’s sad movies make the audiences leave with smiles on their faces. Plus, given the windfall of cash Pee Mak has brought the studio, perhaps they’ll find a way to make a sequel and create more smiles.

Related posts:

• Terror for teenyboppers in Pee Mak Phra Khanong