Love of Siam leads Subhanahongsa nominees

The Subhanahongsa Awards nominees have been announced, and the top film is The Love of Siam, which has 17 nominations. The action-packed 1970s-set boxing drama Muay Thai Chaiya has 12. The slasher-horror thriller Body #19 has nine, while the homosexual romantic crime thriller Bangkok Love Story has eight nominations.

The Love of Siam, a gay teenage romantic family drama written and directed by Chukiat Sakweerakul has already won awards from Bioscope magazine, Kom Chad Luek and Starpics. It was heavily tipped to be the top nominee for the Subhanahongsas, which are given by the Federation of National Film Associations of Thailand and are characterized as Thailand's Oscars.

The Love of Siam is named in the top categories for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. It has also been nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Art Director, Best Sound, Best Song (two entries) and Best Score.

Notably, Chukiat doubles up on Best Screenplay nods, not only being nominated for The Love of Siam but also for Body #19, which he co-wrote with comic-book writer Ekasit Thairat. The same pair had collaborated on 2006's acclaimed psychological thriller, 13 Beloved.

Aside from The Love of Siam, Muay Thai Chaiya and Body #19, the Best Picture category is rounded out by the schoolboy documentary Final Score and the amnesiac transvestite comedy drama Me ... Myself.

For Best Director honors Chukiat faces competition from Pen-ek Ratanaruang who directed the marital drama Ploy. Pen-ek has always been overlooked for these awards. Newcomer nominees are Kongkiat Komsiri, who made his solo directorial debut with Muay Thai Chaiya and veteran actor Pongpat Wachirabanjong who made his directorial debut with Me ... Myself. Soraya Nakhasuwan made her feature film bow with Final Score.

Possibly the heaviest competition is seen in the Best Actress category, which this year boasts a number of veteran leading ladies: Sinjai Plengpanich for The Love of Siam, Lalita Panyopas Sasiprapha for Ploy, Marsha Wattanapanich for Alone, Woranuch Wongsawan for Perng Mang the Haunted Drum and Suwajanee Chaimusik for Seven Days to Leave My Wife.

Among the surprises was six nominations for Perng Mang the Haunted Drum, which was in and out of cinemas while I was out of Thailand in April. It's a horror film produced by Phranakorn, and has actually been released on English-subtitled DVD in Singapore.

Other films nominated that I didn't see are the romantic comedies Seven Days to Leave My Wife and Seven Days 24 Hours, the tranvestite slapstick fest Kung Fu Tootsie and the ghost story, The House.

One disappointment for me was no nominations for The Sperm, which I thought deserved a mention for Special Effects, or something. Gore hounds will want to check out the Special Effects nominees. They are all horror or action thrillers, including Sick Nurses, which I despised so much I actually have respect for now. I'm also a surprised that the King Naresuan films weren't nominated, not even for best costumes. I guess that Naresuan II was submitted for the Oscars was good enough for the Federation.

The winners will be announced on February 17 at the Siam Niramit Theatre in Bangkok. Hopefully this year the presenters will be tastefully dressed.

Here is the complete list of nominees:

Best Picture

• The Love of Siam (Rak Hang Siam)
• Final Score (365 Wan Tam Tid Cheewit Dek Ent)
• Me...Myself (Khor Hai Rak Jong Jaroen)
• Muay Thai Chaiya
• Body #19 (Sop #19)

Best Director

• Chukiat Sakweerakul (The Love of Siam)
• Pen-ek Ratanaruang (Ploy)
• Kongkiat Komsiri (Muay Thai Chaiya)
• Pongpat Wachirabanjong (Me ... Myself)
• Soraya Nakhasuwan (Final Score)

Best Screenplay

• Chukiat Sakweerakul (Love of Siam)
• Umpira Wongthamma (The Life of Buddha)
• Poj Anon (Phuean Koo Rak Mueng Wa or Bangkok Love Story)
• Kongkiat Komsiri (Muay Thai Chaiya)
• Chukiat Sakweerakul and Ekasit Thairat (Body #19)

Best Actor

• Arak Amornsupasiri (Body #19)
• Ananda Everingham (Me ... Myself)
• Rattanaballang Tohsawat (Bangkok Love Story)
• Witwisit Hirunwongkul (Love of Siam)
• Akara Amarttayakul (Muay Thai Chaiya)

Best Actress

• Sinjai Plengpanich (The Love of Siam)
• Marsha Wattanapanich (Faed or Alone)
• Lalita Sasiprapha (Ploy)
• Worranuch Wongsawan (Perng Mang the Haunted Drum)
• Suwajanee Chaimusik (Seven Days to Leave My Wife)

Best Supporting Actor

• Songsit Rungnopakunsri (The Love of Siam)
• Chetwut Watcharakun (Rak Na 24 Chuamong or Seven Days 24 Hours)
• Komsan Nanthajit (Baan Pheesing or The House)
• Chaiwat Tongsaeng (Bangkok Love Story)
• Sonthaya Chitmanee (Muay Thai Chaiya)

Best Supporting Actress

• Uthumporn Silaphan (Bangkok Love Story)
• Chermarn Boonyasak (The Love of Siam)
• Sangthong Kate-Uthong (Muay Thai Chaiya)
• Kanya Rattanapetch (The Love of Siam)
• Apinya Sakuljaroensuk (Ploy)

Best Cinematography

• Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Muay Thai Chaiya)
• Chankit Chamnivikaipong (Ploy)
• Tiwa Methaisong (Bangkok Love Story)
• Somboon Phopitakkul (Body #19)
• Jitti Ueanorakarnkij (The Love of Siam)

Best Editing

• Sunit Asawanikul (Muay Thai Chaiya)
• Chatchai Katenut and Saranee Wongphan (Final Score)
• Vijja Kojew and Thammarat Sumethasupphachocke (Alone)
• Paween Phurijitpanya, Boonsak Wattanawisit and Surawut Tungkharak (Body #19)
• Chookiat Sakweerakul and Lee Chatametikool (The Love of Siam)

Best Sound

• Ram Indra Sound Recording Studio (Muay Thai Chaiya, The Love of Siam and Ploy - three nominations)
• Kantana Laboratory (Bangkok Love Story and Body #19 - two nominations)

Best Song

• "Parinippan" (The Life of Buddha)
• "Sin Siang Perng Mang" (Perng Mang the Haunted Drum)
• "Suan Nueng Khong Chan" (Alone)
• "Kan Lae Kan" (The Love of Siam)
• "Kuen Un Pen Nirund" (The Love of Siam)

Best Score

• Giant Wave (Perng Mang the Haunted Drum and Bangkok Love Story - two nominations)
• Chatchai Pongpraphaphan (Alone)
• Kaiwal Kulwattanothai (The Life of Buddha)
• Kitti Krueamanee (The Love of Siam)

Best Art Director

• Natsiri Setthakarnvijit (Muay Thai Chaiya)
• Guru Team (Bangkok Love Story)
• Komkrit Chaknum (Body #19)
• Witaya Chaimongkol (Alone)
• Phisute Pariwattanakij (The Love of Siam)

Best Costume Designer

• Chatchai Chaiyon (Muay Thai Chaiya)
• Nirachara Wannalai (Tud Soo Fud or Kung Fu Tootsie)
• Phra Nakorn Team (Perng Mang the Haunted Drum)
• Visa Kongka (Ploy)
• Ekasit Meprasertkul (The Love of Siam)

Best Make-up

• Rarin Soongsood-iam (Me ... Myself)
• Amarit Chokepreecha (Muay Thai Chaiya)
• Siwakorn Sookalangkarn (Body #19)
• Chawalit Siridejmongkolkul (Perng Mang the Haunted Drum)
• Witaya Deerattrakul (Opapatika)

Best Special Effects

• Sura-ek Thongpetch, Weera Sae-ueng, Julien Van Soenacker and Joaquin Nontserrat (Body #19)
• Sawate Eknarong (Perng Mang the Haunted Drum)
• Oriental Post (Alone)
• Triple X CG (Sick Nurses and Opapatika - two nominations)

(Via The Nation and Deknang)

Review: Bangkok Love Story

• Written and directed by Poj Arnon
• Starring Rattanaballang Tohsawat, Chaiwat Tongsang, Weeradit Srimalai,
• Chatcha Rujinanon
• Released in Thailand cinemas on September 13, 2007

A shootout in a Buddha factory.

If all I had to do was write that sentence as a means of critical response to Bangkok Love Story, I would be very happy indeed, because then I could move to more enjoyable matters. Unfortunately, there is a bit more to tell about this film, which will likely gain what stature it can in pop culture as the "Thai Brokeback Mountain" or maybe "that gay hitman movie".

Written and directed by Poj Arnon, Bangkok Love Story, or simply Puen (Friend), is the tale of two young guys who weren't looking for love when they first met. Thrown together in odd circumstances, they are sort of dumbstruck at first by lust, and love comes later -- a lot later.

Poj has said he had the idea for the story long before Brokeback Mountain was made into a smash-hit, Oscar-winning film. But since Brokeback, it's lot easier to get a movie like Bangkok Love Story made, and like it or not, comparisons will be drawn.

Bangkok Love Story is about a loner hitman named Mhek (Cloud), played by Rattanaballang Tohsawat, who supports his HIV-positive mother and brother (Mhok, or Fog) with his assassination jobs. His usual hits are simple, walk-by affairs: sneak up, pull the trigger and run away. But for his next assignment, Cloud must kidnap a guy named It (or Stone), played by Chaiwat Tongsang, and bring him to his scar-faced bosses (including Ong-Bak baddie Suchao Pongwilai).

The confrontation with the bosses goes awry, with Cloud declaring he won't kill Stone because Stone's a good guy and Cloud only kills dirtbags. The aforementioned shoot-out in the Buddha factory occurs, with Cloud taking a bullet, Stone picking up Cloud's gun and returning fire, and then the two guys escaping and eventually holing up in Cloud's rooftop hideaway. Stone then digs the bullet out of Cloud's shoulder, and, while wearing nothing but his undershorts, proceeds to give cloud a sponge bath. The two men hide out, usually wearing nothing but their undershorts. They sneakily stare at one another, and finally get it over with in the rain, on the rooftop, as the skytrain whizzes by.

It's unfortunate that Bangkok Love Story has been marketed as Brokeback Mountain was -- as a gay love story. Knowing that walking in, there's no surprise. It's not a matter of will the guys get together, but when, and how, and who will be the Heath Ledger and who will be the Jake Gyllenhaal (Rattaballung and Chaiwat, respectively, more or less, though Chaiwat takes on some of Ledger's character's attributes later). The movie really has no place else to go after that first bit of PG-13 sex, though it does try for a twist at the end to keep things interesting.

The sexual tension gone, Cloud wants nothing more to do with Stone, and much of the rest of the picture is spent with Stone wallowing in tortured pain at not being able to be with Cloud, and the harmonica-playing Cloud slyly hiding from Stone when Stone comes looking for him. Of course there is the issue of Cloud's fiancee, Sai (Sand) who wonders why her husband-to-be isn't the same since he returned from his strange disappearance. One day Stone turns up with a ragdoll he found in Cloud's room, and spends his nights pathetically hugging it, much as a denim jacket was pathetically hugged in Brokeback. At that moment, Sand knows that Stone is lost to her.

Subplots? Well, it wouldn't be a film without one. In Bangkok Love Story, it involves Cloud's brother, Fog (Weeradit Srimalai), who is HIV positive, and is persecuted for his affliction, and gets revenge by working as a hustler. Both boys were sexually abused by their step-father, who infected the mother and Fog with HIV. It's not clear how the story of Fog really fits in film, other than to just be there and make a well-intentioned social statement about the treatment and stigmatisation of AIDS- and HIV-positive people in Thailand.

Chemistry-wise, the pairing of Cloud and Stone never really gels, beyond a couple of make-out scenes in the rain. By the time they really get together emotionally, it's too little, too late. As a supportive big-brother stand-in, Stone and little brother Fog share more tenderness in the friendship department.

Where Bangkok Love Story falls apart with its storytelling, it makes up for in the style department. Bangkok has never looked so beautiful on film, with super-saturated colours, sped-up motion and jumpy editing. The love scenes are in the rain (did I mention that?), which must be symbolic of something or other. Some colourful Siamese fighting fish figure into the story, too, and I have to wonder if the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Siamese Fighting Fish had a say in any of the proceedings.

At one point, the love-tortured, whitey-tighty clad Stone puts a pistol to his head and pulls the trigger on an empty chamber, clicking it over and over. Running on empty. That was one bit of symbolism that was probably appropriate, for a film about love that left me feeling a bit hollow afterward.

(Cross-published at The Nation weblog)

Bangkok Love Story released on DVD in the U.S.

In addition to The Bodyguard and Bodyguard 2 being released this week on DVD in the U.S., there's Bangkok Love Story, which was picked up for North American distribution by TLA Releasing. After making the rounds at a series of lesbian and gay festivals, Bangkok Love Story will be released on Region 1 DVD tomorrow.

This gay-romantic-action drama about a hitman and his target falling in love, written and directed by Poj Arnon, won the Subhanahongsa Award for Best Script. It also won Best Cinematography for Tiwa Moeithaisong. During an earlier run of international festivals, the film won the Grand Award at the 34th Brussels International Independent Film Festival.

Coffee Coffee and More Coffee's Peter Nellhaus reviews Bangkok Love Story, and says it's a surprising film from the same director of Haunting Me, a comedy about screaming transvestites. Here's bit of what he has to say:

What struck me about Bangkok Love Story is that the man who got some cheap laughs from a parody of Brokeback Mountain made a film that has succeeded with audience and critics, a gay love story that will probably be parodied by other Thai filmmakers, if it hasn't been already. The mawkishness of Bangkok Love Story is stressed by the gushing strings. Imagine, if you will, a vintage Warner Brothers weepie, with Leslie Howard leaving Bette Davis for Humphrey Bogart, to the musical accompaniment of Max Steiner. The effect is an overload of melodrama and beefcake ...

Peter has a theory about Bankgok Love Story, but I'll leave it to you to go read his review. He also finds it encouraging "that a new Thai film that is neither a ghost story nor martial arts adventure has a DVD release in the U.S. Now if only Love of Siam, Me ... Myself and Ploy will follow ..."

Bangkok Love Story is available at at HK Flix and at Amazon.

See also:

• Wet, wet, wet ('Friends', review, spoil) (Bangkok of the Mind)

Bangkok Love Story Region 1 DVD available for pre-order

Bangkok Love Story, Poj Arnon's award-winning gay romantic crime thriller, is going to be out on English-subtitled Region 1 DVD on August 26.

It has been spotted at HK Flix and at Amazon.

TLA Releasing picked it up for distribution in a deal announced last year.

According to TLA Releasing's page about the film, Bangkok Love Story is slated for screenings at the 14th Philadelpha International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in July, the Vancouver Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in August and limited-run commercial screenings in New York, West Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale, also in August.

The story is about an assassin hired to take out a young policeman, but the gunman has a change of heart at the last minute and the two join up to shoot their way out of a Buddha factory and then head to the gunman's rooftop hideaway. The gunman is wounded and the policeman lounges around in his boxers and gives the gunman sponge baths. Well, it starts raining and one thing leads to another.

The story was praised for its sensitive, sympathetic portrayal of a relationship between two straight-acting gay men, as opposed to the usual depiction of gays in commercial films as flaming, effeminate, exaggerated freaks. A subplot about the gunman's HIV-positive brother and childhood sexual abuse added weight to drama.

Bangkok Love Story (Thai title: เพื่อน...กูรักมึงว่ะ or Pêuan ... Goo Rák Meung Wâ, literally "Friend ... I love you") has had a run of film festivals already, including the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, the Brussels Independent International Film Festival (where it won the top prize, the Grand Award in all Categories) and the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.

Writer-director Poj Arnon won the Subhanahongsa Award for Best Script. It also won Best Cinematography for Tiwa Moeithaisong, who also edited the film -- a well deserved kudos, because the imagery of Bangkok was simply stunning. And it won for Best Sound.

Looks like TLA is giving it good treatment in the run-up to the DVD release in North America.

Now, if only The Love of Siam would get an English-friendly DVD release -- the Director's Cut, please -- I think maybe there would be some very happy people indeed.

More information:

• Bangkok Love Story trailer at YouTube

(Thanks Logboy!)

Best of Times tops Star Entertainment Awards

Yongyoot Thongkongtoon and studio GTH's drama Best of Times (Kwaam Jam San Dtae Rak Chan Yaao, ความจำสั้น แต่รักฉันยา) were remembered on Sunday night at the eighth annual Star Entertainment Awards.

Put on by the Entertainment Journalists Association of Thailand, the award for Best Director went to Yongyoot. Best of Times also picked up awards for Best Screenplay and Best Film.

Best Supporting Actor and Actress went to Krissana Setthatumrong and Sunsanee Wattananukul, who portrayed a forgetful old man and a widow who takes a shine to the silver-haired gent in Best of Times.

In all, Best of Times won in five out of the 10 movie categories. It was nominated for nine awards.

Best actor went to "Pae" Arak Amornsupasiri for his role as a convict let out of prison to find a serial killer in Five Star's Slice (Cheun). He was double nominee in the category, having also played the lead in Best of Times.

Best actress was Sirin "Cris" Horwang for GTH's Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story. She's been the winner at all the other awards shows this year.

They also handed out awards of television dramas and music. Lyn's Lakorn Blog has the winners. And Nangdee has photos.

Here's the rest of the winners and the nominees in the film awards:

Best film

• Winner: Best of Times, GTH
• Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story, GTH
• Phobia 2, GTH
• October Sonata, NGR
• Slice, Five Star Production

Director

• Winner: Yongyoot Thongkongtoon, Best of Times
• Adisorn Trisirikasem, Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story
• Paween Purikitpanya, Visute Poolvaralucks, Parkpoom Wongpoom, Songyos Sugmakanan, Banjong Pisanthanakun, Phobia 2
• Kongkiat Komesiri, Slice
• Somkiet Vituranich, October Sonata

Actress

• Winner: Sirin "Cris" Horwang, Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story
• Marsha Wattanapanich, Phobia 2
• Ratchawin Wongviriya, October Sonata
• Yarinda Bunnag, Best of Times
• Siriwimol "Mai" Charoenpura, Meat Grinder (Cheuat Gon Chim)

Actor

• Winner: Arak Amornsupasiri, Slice
• Jirayu La-ongmanee, Phobia 2 (Novice)
• Arak Amornsupasiri, Best of Times
• Theeradeth Wongpuapan, Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story
• Paramej Noi-um, Samchuk

Supporting actress

• Winner: Sunsanee Wattananukul, Best of Times
• Ungsumalynn Sirapatsakmetha, Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story
• Deuntem Salitul, A Moment in June
• Sudarat "Tukkie" Butrprom, Oh My Ghosts!
• Nudtawan Saksiri, Buppah Rahtree 3.2

Supporting actor

• Winner: Krissana Setthatumrong, Best of Times
• Chatchai Plengpanich, Slice
• Jaroenporn "Kohtee Aramboy" Onlamai, Hode Nha Heaw 966
• Somchai Sakdikul, Wongkumlao
• Teerapat Yamsri, Samchuk

Screenplay

• Winner: Best of Times, Nontra Kumwong, Omrapon Paendintong, Vanridee Pongsittisak
• Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story, Benjamaporn Srabua, Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, Adisorn Trisirikasem
• Phobia 2, Sopana Chaowwiwatkul, Chantavit Dhanasevi, Nitis Napichayasutin, Banjong Pisanthanakun, Paween Purikitpanya, Songyos Sugmakanan, Sopon Sukdapisit, Mez Tharatorn, Parkpoom Wongpoom
• October Sonata, Somkiat Vituranich
• Khan Kluay 2, Charoonporn Parapakpralai

Music

• Winner: Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story, Hualumpong Rhythm
• Best of Times, Terdsak Janpan
• October Sonata, Kaiwan Kulavadhanothai
• Khan Kluay 2 Chatchai Pongprapapan
• Slice, Wild at Heart

Makeup

• Winner: Phobia 2 (5 Phrang)
• Buppha Rahtree 3.2
• October Sonata
• Slice
• My Ex (Fan Kao)

Costume design

• Winner: October Sonata (Ruk Tee Ror Koi)
• Slice
• Oh My Ghosts! (Hor Taew Taek Haek Krajerng)
• Best of Times
• Yam Yasothon 2

Still to come is the industry's top kudos for movies in 2009, the Subhanahongsa Awards, set for May 30.

Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story is a hit in Kolkata

Last year's No. 1 box-office hit Rot Fai Faa ... Maha Na Ter (รถไฟฟ้า...มาหานะเธอ) – Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story – recently played at the Kolkata Film Festival, where it played to a packed audience and was enthusiastically received.

I thought by now there would be an English-friendly DVD release of Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story, but I've come across nothing yet except for reports of a fan-subbed version making the rounds on a popular video-sharing website.

Anyway, Lekha Shankar caught the screening of the movie at the Kolkata fest, and she sent this report.


Story and photos by Lekha J. Shankar

A commercial Thai film that was a surprise hit at a serious Indian film festival, was Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story.

The most successful Thai film of 2009, it was a surprise choice at the Kolkata film festival, which is noted for its serious films and intense film culture.

After all, Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, is the city that produced the legendary Indian directors like Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen, the leaders of the great Bengali cinema.

In fact, the Kolkata festival is held at the Nandan Arts Centre, which was inaugurated by the great Ray.

The late director’s never-before-seen documentary Sikkim was the most-talked about movie at the festival, when it was pulled out after a single screening by a court injunction, thanks to not getting the right "permission" to screen it.

Ray’s 88-year-old colleague Mrinal Sen was a prominent figure at this year’s festival, where the opening film was the esoteric Costa Rican film Of Love and Other Demons, based on a novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a popular author in this literary-minded city.

Thanks to a severe budget cut this year, the festival focused more on old retrospectives rather than new, contemporary cinema.

These included the retros of legendary Japanese director Akira Kurasawa, whose 100th birth anniversary is being celebrated this year. His scriptwriter Takashi Koizumi attended Mumbai's MAMI festival last month, which also had a retro of the Japanese director. The Kolkata fest also had retros on directors Alain Resnais and Costa Gavras.

Next to these heavy-weight films, Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story seemed a wafer-light drama.

But may be wafer-light dramas do bring about a balance in today’s film festivals, studded as they are with heavy, introspective and experimental cinematic fare.

The Thai film had a jam-packed audience of young people, at the Nandan 3 theatre. They laughed and responded throughout the movie and broke into a loud applause at the end.

Later, several youngsters came up and said they thought the film was "awesome"!

"It was such an unusual love-story," remarked three youngsters, Debojit, Saurodip, and Moupriya, who said that they were doing a Media Studies degree in Kolkata Varsity. Agreeing with them was Sunipa, Sudipta and their friends, who watched the two-hour movie with rapt attention

Considering the movie was a huge hit with the young audiences of Bangkok, it looks like the youths of Asia have the same taste!

Meanwhile, several members of Kolkata's Tollywood film industry (named after the Tollygunge Studios) spoke fondly of the mega Bangla Awards event (Bangla is for Bengali, which is the language spoken in this region, Bengal) held in Bangkok in June with the support of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

In fact, the Bangla Awards seems to have inspired many Bengali producers to shoot films in Thailand.

Well-known producer R.H. Kampani of Nugget Entertainment Co. said he had shared a warm conversation with the governor of the TAT during the Bangla Awards event in Bangkok, thanks to which he now planned to shoot his next film in Bangkok and Pattaya, starting in April, with two beautiful heroines.

The two Bengali beauties, Parichart and Piyas, stated that they were very excited about their film shooting in Bangkok and they had both heard a lot about the vibrant energy of the city.

Well, the TAT ploy worked. It's not just Bollywood that has discovered Thailand, but Tollywood as well.

Love of Siam, Muay Thai Chaiya top Subhanahongsa Awards

A drama about family dysfunction and gay teen romance, The Love of Siam, won the two top Subhanahongsa Awards on Sunday night.

The Best Director award went to Chukiat Sakweerakul, who thanked his parents for teaching him what love was all about. He also thanked the drama's ensemble cast, saying "this award is not for me alone, but for all who acted in the film." Chukiat, 26, had previously directed the psychological thriller, 13 Beloved, and made his feature-film debut with 2004's psychological horror Pisaj (Evil). He will next be working on a follow-up to 13 Beloved, 14 Begin.

Winning the Best Film award, Love of Siam producer Prachaya Pinkaew thanked Sahamongkol Film International executive producer Somsak "Sia Jieng" Techarattanaprasert "for not allowing commercial gains be the priority in producing The Love of Siam", according to The Nation.

Although the filmmakers made a conscious effort to market the film to mainstream audiences by omitting aspects of the gay romance between the two male characters in the film's posters and trailers, The Love of Siam was still a commercial risk because of its length, of around 2.5 hours. A three-hour director's cut has been showing to sold-out audiences at the tiny House cinema in Bangkok.

The Love of Siam also won Best Supporting Actress for Chermarn "Ploy" Boonyasak's role as the lookalike of a sister who had disappeared. (Or was possibly the sister, but had amnesia - who knows?)

The Best Actress award was an upset, going to Marsha Wattanapanich for her role as conjoined twin sisters in the horror thriller, Alone. This shut out a National Film Association win for Sinjai Plengpanich, who played the troubled mother in The Love of Siam. Sinjai had already won other Best Actress awards for her role, include Starpics and the Kom Chad Luek Awards. This year's Best Actress category was very competitive, though, featuring many fine performances by some veteran Thai leading ladies. Others nominated were Lalita Panyopas Sasiprapha for Ploy, Woranuch Wongsawan for Perng Mang the Haunted Drum and Suwajanee Chaimusik for Seven Days to Leave My Wife.

Akara Amarttayakul and Sonthaya Chitmanee won the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor awards for Muay Thai Chaiya. Akara portrays a boxer caught up in the gritty underground world of Muay Thai in the 1970s, while Sonthaya played Akara's character's loyal friend.

Muay Thai Chaiya won the most awards. In addition to the best actor and best supporting actor nods, it also won for Best Editing, Best Make-Up and Best Art Direction.

The homosexual crime action thriller Bangkok Love Story won Best Screenplay (for director Poj Arnon) and Best Cinematography (for Tiwa Moeithaisong). It also won for Best Sound, and was tied for second place with three awards with The Love of Siam, which won Best Film, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress.

Alone also picked up the award for Best Song, "Suan Nueng Khong Chan", which was sung by Marsha. The Life of Buddha won for Best Score, which was one of the highlights of the animated drama.

The awards ceremony was held at in Bangkok at Siam Niramitr Theatre and was attended by about 1,000 celebrities. From what I gather from the photos of the ceremony, it was a relatively understated, austere affair, in memorium of HRH Princess Galyani Vadana, who died on January 2.

Black was the color of choice for most gowns, Marsha Wattanapanich's red dress (to match her lipstick) being one of the exceptions. There were a few others, too, including some actors wearing all-white suits.

Some of the dresses sported by some of the guests in attendance were a bit too revealing. But there was nothing approaching the flesh-baring, liberating gutsiness that Amy Chotiros showed last year, which caused a huge scandal that saw the actress being harshly disciplined by her university and cut out of a movie role. This year, presenters were under orders to keep their wardrobe tasteful. For a look at some of the celebrities and what they were wearing, check out this gallery at The Nation Weblogs.

Widely viewed as "Thailand's Oscars", the Subhanahongsa Awards are given by the Federation of National Film Associations of Thailand.

Subhanahongsa Awards for films released in 2007

Best Picture

• The Love of Siam (Sahamongkol Film Internationa)

Best Director

• Chukiat Sakweerakul for The Love of Siam

Best Actor

• Akara Amarttayakul for Muay Thai Chaiya

Best Actress

• Marsha Wattanapanich for Alone

Best Supporting Actor

• Sonthaya Chitmanee for Muay Thai Chaiya

Best Supporting Actress

• Chermarn Boonyasak for The Love of Siam

Best Screenplay

• Poj Arnon for Bangkok Love Story

Best Cinematography

• Tiwa Moeithaisong for Bangkok Love Story

Best Film Editing

• Sonit Atwinigon for Muay Thai Chaiya

Best Sound

• Wachai Rawongsarut for Bangkok Love Story

Best Original Song

• "Suan Nueng Khong Chan", from Alone, performed by Marsha Wattanapanich

Best Original Score

• Gaywan Golawanotai for The Life of Buddha

Best Art Direction

• Tana Maykaampoot and Natniti Sotganwijit for Muay Thai Chaiya

Best Costume Design

• Charaa Wanaalai for Kung Fu Tootsie

Best Make Up

• Marit Choakbecha for Muay Thai Chaiya

Best Visual Effects

• Julien Vanhoenacker and Joaquim Montserrat for Body #19

More information:

• Subhanahongsa Awards 2008 photo gallery at Nation Weblog
• Love of Siam takes top Subhanahongsa Awards
• Love of Siam leads Subhanahongsa nominees

(Via Lakorns; Photo: From left, best supporting actor Sonthaya Chitmanee, best supporting actress Chermarn Boonyasak; best actress Marsha Wattanapanich; best actor Akara Amarttayakul, via The Nation/Warisara Wuthikul)

Skytrain of love is coming in Bangkok Traffic Love Story

In the 10 years since Bangkok's skytrain has become a landmark of the city, it's been featured in several films -- whizzing by as two guys make love on a rooftop in Bangkok Love Story, or being a mode of transport rated just slightly better than a crowded city bus for a rash-prone young woman in Citizen Dog -- are just a couple that come to mind.

Now the BTS (Bangkok Mass Transit System) is a focal point and conveyance for lovers who meet cute in the GTH romantic comedy BTS: Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story.The Thai title is Rot Fai Faa ... Maa Haa Na Ter (รถไฟฟ้า...มาหานะเธอ) or "I rode a skytrain to see you." Aww.

After seeing the trailer (embedded below) a few times, I guess it might be okay as far as romantic comedies go.

Cris Horwang, last seen in the rather bizarre role of a young hilltribe woman in Nose Udom's uneven comedy E-Tim Tay Nai, seems more suitably and appealingly cast here. The button-nosed 28-year-old plays a 30-something single Chinese-Thai woman, living with her mother and on the verge of spinsterhood. She sees her chance for love when she meets a guy who works as a railway engineer on the Skytrain. He's played by soap-opera heartthrob Ken Teeradej.

She has to compete with a teenaged rival ("Pattie" Ungsumarin Sirapatsakmetha) to get the guy's attention. "Opal" Panisara Pimpu is cast as Cris' supportive best friend.

It's directed by Adisorn Tresirikasem, one of the "Fan Chan six" who last made the soccer comedy Mak Tae (Lucky Loser). From the rural comedy of the Laotian-set and then not-Laotian-set sports comedy, Adisorn moves solidly into GTH's comfort zone of middle-class Bangkokian romance.

But the movie does have an interesting pedigree. The script has been in the works for two years, and among the writers is indie filmmaker Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, who explained the writing process on his blog.

The script has been changed a hundred of times and it can't be said who is the scriptwriter No. 1, 2, 3 or 4 because we are sharing ideas together so much that I don't know who is the owner of the ideas in each part. But it doesn't matter. I don't care whether the film will be brilliant or just a crap. It's happy for me to experience the character on the paper moving on the big screen with the mainstream audience for the first time.

Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story opens in Thai cinemas on Thursday.



See also:

• On the right side of the tracks (Daily Xpress)
• Ken's 'train of love' has an opening date (Lyn's Lakorns)
• Deknang's page

Teacher's Diary is top Subhanahongsa nominee

Nominees for the 24th Subhanahongsa Awards have filtered out.

The top nominee is The Teacher’s Diary (คิดถึงวิทยา, Kid Tueng Wittaya), the hit GTH romantic drama. With 13 nods in all, it's up for Best Picture and screenplay, as well as actor and actress.

Other Best Picture nominees are GTH's blockbuster comedy I Fine Thank You Love You, Lee Chatametikool's indie romance Concrete Clouds (ภวังค์รัก, Phawang Rak), Yuthlert Sippapak's comeback Chiang Khan Story (Tukkae Rak Pang Mak, ตุ๊กแกรักแป้งมาก) and Plae Kao, a new adaptation of a Thai literary classic.

Reflecting the indie Thai trend in documentaries, a new category has been added. It has three nominees, Somboon by Krisada Tipchaimeta, By the River (สายน้ำติดเชื้อ, Sai Nam Tid Shoer) by Nontawat Numbenchapol and The Master by Nawapol Thamrongratanarit.

Voting for the winners is under a new complicated new process instituted last year. The Nation has more on that.

BEST PICTURE

• Kid Tueng Wittaya (The Teacher’s Diary)
• I Fine Thank You Love You
• Phawang Rak (Concrete Clouds)
• Plae Kao (The Scar)
• Tukkae Rak Pang Mak (Chiang Khan Story).

DIRECTOR

• Yuthlert Sippapak, Chiang Khan Story
• ML Bandevanop Devakula, The Scar
• Lee Chatametikool, Concrete Clouds
• Mez Tharatorn, I Fine Thank You Love You

SCREENPLAY

• Nithiwat Tharatorn, Thosaphol Thiptinnakorn, Suppalerk Ningsanon, Sophana Chaowiwatkool, The Teacher’s Diary
• Yuthlert Sippapak, Chiang Khan Love Story
• Lee Chatametikool, Concrete Clouds
• Boongsong Nakphoo, Wangphikul (Village of Hope)
• Mez Tharatorn, Chaiyaphruek Chalermpornpanich, Benjamaporn Sa-bua, I Fine Thank You Love You

ACTOR

• Sukrit Wisetkaew, The Teacher’s Diary
• Jirayu La-ongmanee, Chiang Khan Story
• Sunny Suwanmethanon, I Fine Thank You Love You
• Chaiyapol Julien Poupart, Plae Kao
• Ananda Everingham, Concrete Clouds

ACTRESS

• Preechaya Pongthananikorn, I Fine Thank You Love You
• Davika Hoorne, Plae Kao
• Jarinporn Joonkiat, Jodmai Khwam Songjum (Timeline)
• Chermarn Boonyasak, The Teacher’s Diary
• Janesuda Parnto, Concrete Clouds

SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Nopachai Jayanama, Timeline
• Natpat Nimjirawat, Chiang Khan Story
• Pongpat Wachirabanjong, Plae Kao
• Prawith Hansten, Concrete Clouds
• Popetorn Sunthornyanakij, I Fine Thank You Love You

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Apinya Sakuljaroensuk, Concrete Clouds
• Piyathida Worramusik, Timeline
• Chanikarn Tangabodi, Chiang Khan Story
• Sinjai Plengpanich, Plae Kao
• Marsha Wattanapanich, Rak Mod Kaew (Love on the Rock)

CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Narupon Chokkanapitak, The Teacher’s Diary
• Somkid Phukpong, Chiang Khan Story
• Panom Promchat, Plae Kao
• Jarin Pengpanich, Concrete Clouds
• Pramate Charnkrasae, Hong Hoon

FILM EDITING

• Thammarat Sumethsupachok, Pongsakorn Chanchalermchai, The Teacher’s Diary
• Chonlasit Upanigkit, W
• Thawat Siripong, Chiang Khan Story
• Lee Chatametikool, Kamontorn Ekwatanakij, Concrete Clouds
• Thammarat Sumethsupachok,  Thanasak Yanajan, I Fine Thank You Love You

ORIGINAL SONG

• Mai Tang Kan by 25 Hours, The Teacher’s Diary
• Yak Hak by Koo Kaen Band, Phoobao Thai Baan: E-San Indy
• Jaikhwam Samkhan by Musketeer, Love on the Rock
• Golden Shower Bloom by Karen musicians of Klity village, By the River
• Walk You Home from I Fine Thank You Love You

SOUND MIXING

• Kantana Sound Studio, The Teacher’s Diary
• Richard Hocks, Rak Luang Lorn (The Couple)
• Kantana Sound Lab, Timeline
• Kantana Sound Studio, Plae Kao
• Kantana Sound Studio, The Swimmers

ORIGINAL SCORE

• Chatchai Pongprapapan, Timeline
• Hualampong Riddim, The Teacher’s Diary
• Origin Company, Chiang Khan Story
• Piti Kayoonpahn, The Scar
• Hualampong Riddim, I Fine Thank You Love You

ART DIRECTION

• Akradej Kaewkote, The Teacher’s Diary
• Patrick Meesaiyati, Plae Kao
• Khacha Ruanthong, Chiang Khan Love Story
• Ekkarat Homla-or, Concrete Clouds
• Siranat Ratchusanti, Hong Hoon

COSTUME DESIGN

• Suthee Muanwaja, The Teacher’s DIary 
• Siriwan Karnchoochor, Chiang Khan Love Story
• Suthee Muanwaja, I Fine Thank You Love You
• Athit Thriakittiwat, Plae Kao
• Cattleya Paosrijaroen, Concrete Clouds

MAKEUP

• Pichet Wongjansom, The Swimmers
• Panparit Suvanaprakorn, Kyu Kittichon Kunratchol (QFX Work Shop), The Eyes Diary
• Montri Watlaiad, Plae Kao
• Sirirat Jamfa, Hong Hoon

VISUAL EFFECTS

• Exhabition, The Swimmers
• The Post Bangkok, Sming
• The Renegade V Effect, Hong Hoon
• Oriental Post,  The Teacher’s Diary
• Nonzee Nimibutr, Timeline

DOCUMENTARY

• The Master
• Somboon
• By the River

The awards ceremony is set for March 1 at the Thailand Cultural Center, where veteran action star Sombat Metanee will be honored with the Lifetime Achievment Award.

Bangkok Love Story in London

The homosexual romantic crime drama Bangkok Love Story is playing at the 22nd London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.

Winner of the best script award at this year's Subhanahongsa Awards, writer-director Poj Arnon's film is about a hitman tasked with assassinating a police informant. Instead, the shooter and the would-be victim shoot it out together and spend a couple of weeks lounging around on a Bangkok rooftop in their underwear and making love in the rain while the skytrain whizzes by. A subplot involving the hitman's HIV-positive brother deals with public perceptions of AIDS.

The film won the Grand Award at the 34th Brussels International Independent Film Festival, has played theatrically in Singapore. TLA Releasing has acquired it for North America, which will mean more festival appearances and/or limited runs and probably an eventual Region 1 DVD release.

More information:

• Review: Bangkok Love Story

(Via Deknang)

Thai-Taiwanese horror in The Fatality

Thai distributor Right Beyond is branching into film production in a joint effort with Taiwan's SkyFilms, The Fatality, a horror thriller directed by Tiwa Moeithaisong, who did The Sisters and Ghost Delivery (starring Ananda Everingham). Tiwa also worked on Poj Arnon's Bangkok Love Story as editor and cinematographer. The visuals in Bangkok Love Story were indeed slick, so I expect more of the same in The Fatality.

Kenji Wu and Pitchanart Sakhakorn star, and a quick look at the film's website reveals at least a couple more familiar faces: Somchai Sakdikul, who will hopefully bring his patented form of comic relief, and Ampon Rattanawong, who most memorably served as the monkey shaman in Buppha Rahtree.

Here is the synopsis,Via 24 Frames per Second:

An unsuccessful man in Taipei commits suicide, only to wake up in the body of a coma victim in Bangkok. His new life is almost perfect - he now has a stable job, a healthy body and a beautiful wife, but as the two souls fight for control of the body they start developing supernatural powers over life and death itself, leaving havoc in their wake.

Skyfilms, by the way, is also a distributor. They have been bringing Thai films to Taiwan, including Bangkok Love Story, Sick Nurses, 13 Beloved and Dynamite Warrior.

See also:

• Taiwanese poster

(Via 24 Frames per Second)

Review: Rod Fai Fah ... Maha Na Ter (BTS: Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story)

• Directed by Adisorn Trisirikasem
• Starring Sirin Horwang, Theeradeth Wongpuapan, Panisara Pimpru, Ungsumalynn Sirapatsakmetha
• Released in Thai cinemas on October 15, 2009, rated 13+
• Wise Kwai's rating: 3/5

Formulaic and predictable they may be, romantic comedies endure because they are easy date movies and comfort food for the lonely, the isolated and the bored, who file into cinemas or plump down for the home video in the hopes that something new will be offered in the form of escapism.

If the rom-coms are at least entertaining, coherent and competently made, like GTH's latest smash hit Rot Fai Faa ... Maha Na Ter (รถไฟฟ้า...มาหานะเธอ), then all the better. The movie, the title of which loosely translates as "I rode the skytrain to meet you", is apparently like catnip for moviegoers, presumably mostly single ladies. It has crossed the important 100-million-baht mark in its first week of release and could be the biggest box-office hit of the year.

With the international title BTS: Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story, the movie celebrates 10 years of Bangkok's BTS skytrain with a story of a 30-year-old single woman staring into the abyss of spinsterhood who finally sees her chance at romance with a maintenance engineer who keeps the tracks polished on the decade-old elevated railway.

Directed by Adisorn Trisirikasem, there is feeling of hopelessness and loneliness that pervades Rot Fai Faa ... Maa Haa Na Ter, even as the movie hits the usual titillating beats of romantic comedies.

It has stars that are so impossibly good looking, it's hard to believe they are in the situation the movie puts them in. These are the Zellwegerish leading lady Sirin "Cris" Horwang -- an appealingly bubbly yet unattached young woman -- and her Tom Cruise/Hugh Grant/Colin Firth stand-in, soap-opera hunk "Ken" Theeradeth Wongpuapan -- a handsome single young man who has to resort to renting porn VCDs to get a thrill.

These movies have to have a goofy grandma who says outlandish things. And for Cris' character Mei Li, a second-generation Chinese-Thai, there's a granny who still only speaks the language of the old country and, through translations from Mei Li's mother, makes remarks that Mei Li's breasts are too small.


Another convention is the heroine's supportive best friend, seen here in the GTH stock company's comic relief, brassy comedienne "Opal" Panisara Pimpru. She's Mei Li's last friend, but Ped has a new chubby hubby and is spending her nights in gender-reversal roles and taking their aging Boston terrier bitch to the breeder to have puppies.

Yes, even the dog is getting more action than Mei Li.

It's Ped's wedding that sets things into motion. Mei Li makes a fool of herself, getting so drunk at the wedding party that she passes out in the newlywed couple's honeymoon bed. She eventually wakes up to drive home, but nearly crashes her car into a roadside eatery. Her car's sideview mirror lands in the early-morning meal of the leading man, who appears as an angelic vision to Mei Li. Here is a plot point that is in danger of becoming a standard of GTH romances -- another one from the studio -- director Yongyoot Thongkongtoon's Best of Times (Thailand's Oscar submission this year) also began with a drunken-driving incident. It's an issue that's treated so casually, it's probably worrisome to social advocacy groups.

Throw in the story culminating on a big holiday -- in Thailand that would be Songkran, April's water-soaked Thai New Year -- and there you have your romantic comedy.

Having grown up in a strict Chinese-Thai household -- she still lives with her parents in a riverside neighborhood shophouse -- Mei Li has mistakenly been under the impression that a woman should not make the first move on a man. Losing her mind over a Nuvo music video when she was a 13-year-old teenybopper, she misheard what her mother was yelling one day and went through her teenage years and 20s without any boys.

She can't get back those wasted 17 years of her life -- gone in a swirling, purple flash -- but she can do something now. Hope shows up at her doorstep, after the family's maid is caught having sex with a neighborhood guy. There to get the young man out of trouble is his "uncle", none other than the angelic leading man whose name is actually Lung, meaning "uncle".


With her car taken away by her father -- ah, consequences -- Mei Li then bumps into Lung again while she's riding the skytrain, and she finally comes up with an angle for hooking this man. And despite her bumbling ways -- every time she meets Lung she breaks something, including his sunglasses, digital camera and laptop -- they somehow manage to make a connection.

Mei Li gets advice on reeling in this big fish from college girl Plern ("Pattie" Ungsumalynn Sirapatsakmetha), who embodies the stereotype of a plaid-skirted co-ed with multiple mobile phones, a bulging collection of toys and charms dangling from those jeweled phones and harem of various boyfriends or "gigs", who each also embody stereotypes. So some comic mileage is gained in riffs about a guy whose jeans are so tight he can't get off his motorbike, a sportscar-driving tough guy and a skateboard-riding, English-speaking hip-hop enthusiast.

Trouble is, in enlisting this girl's help, Mei Li also has gained a competitor for Lung's attention. And Plern imposes herself on the couple's outing for the Songkran water splashing.

But Mei Li's biggest enemy is herself. In her mooning over Lung, she seemingly loses any sense of propriety. Another of Lung's broken things is his old laptop bag, which Mei Li salvages from the trash. She discovers some old photo negatives in that bag and -- putting her button nose in a place it doesn't belong -- has them developed. It turns out that Lung's college girlfriend is a now-famous soap-opera actress named Kob Kavita. And those pictures from college turn up online, thanks to an unscrupulous photo-shop operator. This causes a further strain on Mei Li's and Lung's budding relationship.

This plot point, perhaps a bit of a stretch, serves to satirize the media's fascination with celebrities and their relationships, which are always answered by the celebrities in the same way, "we were seeing each other but we're just friends", etc.

It also allows for the filmmakers to have a soap opera within the movie, and this is a bit of a treat, to see the nightly slap-and-kiss fests satirized. Kob Kavita, played by Tak Sukjarern, is the show's nang-ek (heroine) with Sunny Suvanmethanont from Dear Dakanda as phra-ek and "Peak" Pataraya Krueasuwansiri from Rak/Sam/Sao as the itcha (villainess). At one point, Peak runs Tak's face over a piano keyboard -- an act that's probably not an exaggeration of the type of catfighting that's seen on those shows.

But Mei Li's biggest obstacle in landing Lung is his job. He works nights on the railway and sleeps during the day. She is the opposite, working during the day for a solar-power accessory company (headed by a comically controlling Japanese boss played by Yano Kazuki, another GTH stock-company player).


And when it emerges that Lung is going abroad for more studies, all hope seems to be lost. Another missed opportunity. Mei Li for sure looks like she will grow old, forever unmarried.

After a lively and comical first half, the movie settles in for a second half that is moody, slow and mournful.

Through its rhythms, Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story captures the movement and scenes of the city. In this way, it's an ode to romance in Bangkok. Paris, je t'aime, New York, I Love You and Sawasdee Bangkok, eat your heart out.

And because it celebrates the Skytrain and was made with the cooperation of the Bangkok Mass Transit System, the movie preserves bits of the Skytrain culture, and takes loving looks at the BTS's infrastructure -- from the stations at Taksin pier, Mor Chit terminal in the north and On Nut terminal in the east and the multi-story Siam interchange, to the system's massive car barn and maintenance facilities. There are little details that riders will recognize, like dropping your fare card on the floor of the station and struggling to pry the flat thing back up. The movie also takes in the attractions around various stations. Next station: Ekamai ... Ekamai. And the Bangkok Planetarium.

Never mind that the much of the excitement and novelty that accompanied the skytrain's opening 10 years ago has worn off. The ear-bleeding advertising messages in the stations and aboard the trains don't intrude on Lung's and Mei Li's conversations. The system now extends past Taksin station, across the river into Thon Buri -- a segment of the line not covered in the movie -- and the BTS is now so overburdened with passengers during the rush hours that the older surface modes of transport -- taxis, city buses, songthaews, tuk-tuks, motobike taxis, river ferries and canal boats -- look more attractive.

But at least we'll always have our cute couple -- Cris and Ken -- to elevate us and keep things moving along.

Related posts:

• Skytrain of love is coming in Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story

Sick Nurses, Train of the Dead for Taiwan, Bangkok Love Story to Singapore

Following the trail of Body #19, last year's loopy slasher-ghost comedy Sick Nurses and the Phranakorn horror Train of the Dead, will be released in Taiwan.

Sick Nurses, about a ghost nurse seeking revenge on the sexy, naughty, bitchy former co-workers and the doctor boyfriend who killed her, opens in Taiwan on April 18. I saw this film last year and hated it so vehemently, I want to see it again. Isn't it weird how that works?

I have less strong feelings about Train of the Dead because I didn't see it. So here's the link to the MovieSeer synopsis.

Meanwhile, the homosexual romantic crime thriller, Bangkok Love Story (recent winner of the Suphanahongsa Award for Best Screenplay), will open on March 6 in Singapore. It's rated R21, the highest age restriction for films in the city-state. Ratings. What a concept.

With all these, I would guess that English subtitled DVDs follow the theatrical release within a few months, so there's a few things to watch for, if you're interested.

More information:

• Bangkok Love Story at Yahoo Singapore
• Train of the Dead at Yahoo Taiwan
• Sick Nurses at Yahoo Taiwan

(Via Deknang/Popcorn)

Bangkok Critics award Tukkae Rak Pang Mak

Producer Adirek "Uncle" Watleela takes the microphone to accept the best film award for Tukkae Rak Pang Mak. He also took the stage to accept awards for his friend Yuthlert Sippapak. Nation photo by Tatchadon Panyaphanitkul.

The nostalgic romantic comedy Tukkae Rak Pang Mak (Chiang Khan Story) took the top prizes at the 23rd Bangkok Critics Assembly Awards (ชมรมวิจารณ์บันเทิง) on Wednesday night, winning trophies for Best Film, director, screenplay and acting.

While writer-director Yuthlert Sippapak wasn't on hand to accept his awards, the team of producers from the new shingle Transformation Films was there, among them Yuthlert's long-time collaborator, producer Adirek "Uncle" Watleela.

Released last September, Tukkae Rak Pang Mak chronicled the 20 or so years in the rocky romance of childhood friends in Chiang Khan, the rustic town on the Mekong River in Northeast Thailand's Loei province, where Yuthlert calls home. It was the first release from Transformation, which is a partnership between the producers behind the former Film Bangkok marque and Major Cineplex, Thailand's biggest multiplex operator. It performed only modestly at the box office, so the awards haul was welcomed by the Transformation team.

The actor who played Tukkae, Jirayu La-ongmanee, a former child star, repeated his success from the Thai film industry's "Oscars", the Subhanahongsa Awards. He won the prize for best actor for his portrayal of a young filmmaker who is named after a house lizard. He faces an awkward situation when his first screenplay is to be made into a movie, and producers want his former childhood crush to be the star. But she and Tukkae had a big misunderstanding.

Jirayu's co-star Kongkiat Komsiri was named best supporting actor for his turn as Tukkae's level-headed best friend. Though Kongkiat has appeared on screen before, he's better known as a director of gritty movies like Slice and Muay Thai Chaiya. Hopefully his next one, the historical action drama Khun Pan (ขุน พันธ์ ), will actually be released this year.

Another big winner was Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit's The Master, a documentary about the enigmatic Bangkok movie pirate Mr. Van, whose bootleg videos provided a generation of Thai filmmakers and critics with an education in world cinema in the days before bitorrent downloads. A colorful array of prominent directors and movie critics appear in the film, sharing their memories of Van VDO in talking-head interviews against a simple backdrop. It was named best documentary and was also awarded for film editing.

Another documentary, Nontawat Numbenchapol's By the River, about a Karen village left devastated by lead mining, won for its original score by Karen musicians.

And the GTH studio's hit romantic drama The Teacher's Diary (คิดถึงวิทยา, Kid Tueng Wittaya) took two prizes, for cinematography and art direction.

With nods in nearly every category, the leading nominee was Lee Chatametikool's 1997-set drama Concrete Clouds (ภวังค์รัก, Phawang Rak), which took the top prizes at the Subhanahongsa Awards. At the Bangkok Critics Assembly Awards, it ended up with just one trophy, for best supporting actress for Apinya Sakuljaroensuk.

Lee was also among the nominees for the Critics Young Filmmaker Awards, which were introduced last year. Perhaps the Bangkok Critics were confused, since Concrete Clouds was Lee's first feature as a director, and while he's still a relatively young man, he's been overseeing award-winning editing and post-production for indie and commercial features in Bangkok for more than a decade.

Other Young Filmmaker nominees included Vorakorn Ruetaivanichkul, director of Mother, Chonlasit Upanigkit, director of W., and Krisada Tipchaimeta who made Somboon, all first features from rookie filmmakers. The prize went to Uten Sririvi and Jinnaphat Ladarat, who made the indie country comedy Phoobao Thai Baan E-San Indy (ผู้บ่าวไทบ้าน อีสานอินดี้, or simply PBTB), which caused something of a stir when it was first turned down by Bangkok multiplex operators but became a box-office hit in Thailand's rural Northeast.

There's more on the ceremony in a story in The Nation today.

• Best Film: Tukkae Rak Pang Mak (Chiang Khan Story).
• Director: Yuthlert Sippapak, Chiang Khan Story
• Screenplay: Yuthlert Sippapak, Chiang Khan Love Story
• Actor: Jirayu La-ongmanee, Chiang Khan Story
• Actress: Sucha Manaying, The Couple (รัก ลวง หลอน, Rak Luang Lon)
• Supporting actor: Kongkiat Komesiri,  Chiang Khan Story
• Supporting actress: Apinya Sakuljaroensuk, Concrete Clouds
• Cinematography: Narupon Chokkanapitak, The Teacher’s Diary
• Film editing: Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, The Master
• Original song: “Jaikhwam Samkhan” by the Musketeer, from Rak Mod Kaew (รักหมดแก้ว, a.k.a. Love on the Rock)
• Original score: By the River
• Art direction: Akradej Kaewkote, The Teacher’s Diary
• Best documentary: The Master
• Young Filmmaker Award: Uten Sririvi, Jinnaphat Ladarat, Phoobao Thai Baan: E-San Indy
• Lifetime Achievement Award: Somsak Techaratanaprasert, producer, and Amara Asavanond, actress
• Box Office Award: I Fine ... Thank You ... Love You

Love of Siam gets 'redux' treatment

Following his cheeky shot-for-shot remake of Bangkok Traffic Love Story for last month's "Live at the Scala" performance-art micro-festival, some folks may have wondered why British filmmaker Richard DeDomenici didn't opt for another Thai film that might have been closer to home for "Live at the Scala" – Love of Siam, which had a scene that was actually filmed in the Scala Theatre's spacious art-deco lobby.

Well, before he left Bangkok, DeDomenici rectified that oversight, and sat down on the landmark Scala bench to re-enact a 1-minute scene from Chookiat Sakveerakul's Love of Siam for The Love of Siam: Redux (embedded above).

With DeDomenici taking Mario Maurer's role, and fellow "Live at the Scala" artist Brian Lobel taking Witwisit Hirunwongkul's, the pair acted out a conversation in which Witwisit's Mew and Mario's Tong meet on the bench in the Scala, and Mew ends up inviting Tong over to his house so he can make him a music CD.

Forest Fringe's Andy Field, curator of "Live at the Scala", pitched in as "best boy".

It's a short and simple scene – not near as complicated as the six-minute remake of Bangkok Traffic Love Story, but is perhaps even more valuable as a video homage to one of Thai cinema's great moments inside Bangkok's last remaining single-screen movie theater.

Oh, and if you missed Bangkok Traffic Love Story: Redux, it's embedded below.

Ratana Pestonji: The father of contemporary Thai cinema

[Note: This is the first in an ongoing series about Ratana Pestonji, in commemoration of the centennial of the pioneering Thai filmmaker's birth.]

One of Thailand's most influential and celebrated directors, Ratana Pestonji, was born on May 22, 1908 in Bangkok. Variously called R.D. Pestonji or Rutt (or Ratt) Pestonji, he was the son of a Parsi Indian (ethnic Persian) family. He was schooled at Bangkok's Assumption College and then in India and London before returning to Bangkok. He studied engineering, but was always interested in photography and filmmaking since childhood.

He made his first film, Tang, in 1937, which won a prize at a competition in Scotland, and was given the award by Alfred Hitchcock. His 1939 short, White Boat was shown at the New York World Festival. His professional film career started in 1949, when he served as a cinematographer on Pantai Norasingh (Oarsman Norasingh), for Prince Bhanu Yukol.

He started his Hanuman Studio in 1950, off Wireless Road in Bangkok, and made his first feature, Tukata Jaa (Dear Dolly) in 1951.

In 1954, he shot Santi Veena, a tragic love story that was awarded prizes at the Asia Pacific Film Festival in Tokyo. In one of the earliest examples of the Thai government persecuting its great filmmakers, the authorities imposed a tax on the print of Santi Veena, and noted that the film hadn't been vetted by the censorship board. They also imposed a heavy customs duty on the Mitchell film camera Ratana won as a prize at the Tokyo festival. Subsequently, Santi Veena was lost, never to be seen in Thailand, and any surviving prints are now the stuff of rumor and legend -- it is a Holy Grail of Thai cinema.

Ratana then went to produce and serve as director of photography on Forever Yours, another tragic love story. Like Santi Veena, it was directed by Tawee na Bangchang ("Khru Marut") and co-written by Vichet Kounavudhi. It is the story of a young adulterous couple who are handcuffed together, and it's made all the more iconic by the fact that it still exists.

He then directed four more feature films: The 1957 black-and-white musical comedy Country Hotel; 1958's musical drama Dark Heaven 1961's Phrae Dum (Black Silk) -- regarded as Thailand's first film noir -- and 1964's Namtarn Mai Warn (Sugar Is Not Sweet).

Ratana was a principled artist. His films were different from anything else being made in the Thai film industry. In an article by Kong Rithdee in the Bangkok Post's Real Time section (cache), National Film Archive director Dome Sukwong says:

Ratana's movies were not big successes at the box office. He made a black-and-white film [Country Hotel] while everybody else had gone colour. And he used sound on film, while the audience in those days wanted to hear live dubbing -- the dubbers were the stars, and each province had its own famous film dubbers. Khun Ratana did things in an idealistic way because he believed in it, and that was his greatest quality."

In the face of prevailing industry practices and uncaring, blinkered government authorities, Ratana pushed for innovations, raising the level of camerawork, lighting and editing from merely static elements to enhance the artform of films in Thailand. He was a tireless promoter of the idea that cinema was art, not just mere entertainment or commodity -- a concept that continues to fall on deaf ears today.

Dramatically, he died on August 17, 1970, while giving a speech at the Montien Hotel Bangkok to film industry bigwigs and government officials. Here are his last words, according to "The Man Who Died for His Art", by Anchalee Chaiworaporn at ThaiCinema.org:

When I first started out in the movie business ... Sadet Ong Chai Yai [Prince Bhanu Yugala] had just hired me as a cameraman for a film he wanted to shoot called Phanthaay Norasingh. I've spent every baht I ever earned on my productions and now I have to make adverts just to survive. The foreign film distributors have been preying on Thai cinemas ...

His words trailed off, with other accounts having him saying "I ... feel ... that ..." before he fell to the floor. He was rushed to nearby Chulalongkorn Hospital, but he couldn't be revived. He died of a massive heart attack at age 62.

Ratana's son, Santa Pestonji, has continued in the film business. He directed a remake of Santi Veena in 1976 but has made his career running company that provides film crews and equipment to foreign productions shooting on location in Thailand. Films that Santa International Film Productions has been involved with include Star Wars III, American Gangster, The Beach, Heaven & Earth, The Man with the Golden Gun and dozens of others.

Because his handful of films have survived, Ratana influenced the New Wave of Thai directors, specifically Wisit Sasanatieng and Pen-ek Ratanaruang. In particular, Wisit's Tears of the Black Tiger evokes the production design, color palette, costuming, hair styles, character blocking and acting style of Ratana's films. Pen-ek used a clip from Forever Young in Last Life in the Universe.

Both directors spoke to the Bangkok Post's Kong Rithdee (cache):

The story of Chuafah Dinsalai [Forever Yours] is so strong and the design and cinematography just pull you into that world," says filmmaker Pen-ek, whose recent movies include Invisible Waves and Ploy.

"When I first saw it I really couldn't stand the performances of just about any of the actors, but 30 minutes into the film I was totally taken. The contrast between the outdoor landscape in the first half of the film and the claustrophobic room in the second half was brilliant. That film was almost directed by its cinematography."

But of all his works, Prae Dum (Black Silk) is the movie that manifests Ratana's curious mix of brave avant-garde and Buddhist serenity. A film of surreal beauty, it tells the story of a widow who's always dressed in black silk (played by Ratana's daughter, Pannee) and her troubled relationship with a village thug. In this story about murder and emotional manipulation, Prae Dum also has the existential light-footedness that resembles the French New Wave.

"Prae Dum is the film that remains my single major influence," says Wisit Sasanatieng, director of Tears of the Black Tiger and Citizen Dog. "It's the crown jewel of all Thai cinema. It shows that Khun Ratana was not simply a master storyteller, but that he knew how to use colour, art direction and camera angles to create subtle nuances and charge the movie with strong emotions."

"If I could choose, I would love to remake Prae Dum," adds Pen-ek. "It is so, so, so atmospheric and film noir. The shot when the camera pans from the coffin to the pair of sandles on the floor still gives me a chill. That shot would have made Hitchcock proud."

The Thai Film Foundation is commemorating the centenary of Ratana Pestonji's birth on May 22, this Thursday, with a special event from 4pm to 8pm at the National Film Archive in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, about one hour outside central Bangkok. Activities will include a museum tour, appearances by Ratana's family and film stars and filmmakers and a screening of a documentary on Pestonji's life.

The Thai Film Foundation has Forever Yours, Country Hotel and Dark Heaven available for sale on DVD. It plans to issue Black Silk, Sugar Is Not Sweet and Dear Dolly on DVD this year.

I'll be writing more about the Pestonji centennial and the filmmaker's works in the coming days.


See also:

• Review: Country Hotel
• Wisit's influences
• Ratana Pestonji at Wikipedia

(Posters, from top are Forever Yours, Country Hotel, Dark Heaven, Black Silk and Sugar Is Not Sweet; top photo of wax figure of Ratana Pestjoni at the National Film Archive from the Thai Film Journal Flickrstream)