Monday, April 30, 2012

Laddaland, Headshot the big winners at the 21st Subhanahongsa Awards

Best supporting actor Kuck Wannasak from Mindfulness and Murder, best actress Piyathida Worramusik and supporting actress Suthatta Udomsilp from Laddaland and best director Pen-ek Ratanaruang from Headshot wth their Golden Swan trophies. Photo by Anant Chantarasoot, The Nation
The GTH horror Laddaland and Pen-ek Ratanaruang's upside-down hitman thriller Headshot pretty much evenly divided the spoils at the 21st Subhanahongsa Awards (รางวัลภาพยนตร์แห่งชาติ สุพรรณหงส์) last night at the Siam Paragon's grand Siam Pavalai theater.

Headshot took four awards, winning best director, best actor for "Peter" Nopachai Jayanama and cinematography for Chankit Chamnivikaipong, as well as sound. Headshot, which recently made its U.S. premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, has dominated the other awards this season.

But the leading nominee Laddaland, a tale of family dysfunction in a haunted housing subdivision, took more Golden Swan trophies, six in all, including Best Picture for GTH, the screenplay by director Sophon Sakdaphisit and co-writer Sopana Chaowiwatkul, best actress for Piyathida Worramusik, as the mother, and supporting actress for Suthatta Udomsilp, who portrayed the teen daughter.  It also won for editing, and makeup.

Best supporting actor went to well-known stage performer "Kuck" Wannasak Sirilar for his role as a suspect monk in the Buddhist-themed detective story Mindfulness and Murder.

Other prizes went to Rashomon remake The Outrage for costume design and visual effects; the thirtysomething romance 30 Kamlung Jaew, a.k.a. Fabulous 30, for original song, “Man Kong Pen Kwam Rak” ("Is It Love?") by "Stamp" Apiwat Euthavornsuk; the Thai traditional dance drama Kon Khon for score; and Pumpuang (The Moon), the biopic of the late luk thung singer Pumpuang Duangchan, for art direction.

Adul Dulyarat, a veteran actor and director, perhaps best known for his lead role in the 2004 musical historical drama The Overture, was given this year's lifetime achievement award. His career goes back to 1961, when he acted in the musical romance Ruen Pae (The Boat House)

The lavish ceremonies for the Thai film industry's equivalent of the Oscars were held in the grand Siam Pavalai theater at Paragon Cineplex. Half of the multiplex's lobby was blocked off as the red carpet was laid for attendees in formal evening wear to be photographed on as they walked to the escalator on which they ascended to the theater. But despite the security tape, a few ordinary movie-goers in baggy shorts and T-shirts could be spotted trodding on the red carpet in their flipflops.

Update: The Nation has coverage of the ceremony, plus a recap of Pen-ek's humorous and sarcastic acceptance speech.

(Via @ornpp)

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Pen-ek, 'the Hitchcock of Thailand' and censorship of Headshot

Freaky Deaky director Charlie Matthau and Pen-ek Ratanaruang on the Tribeca Talks panel, "Based  on the Book". Photo via  DNAinfo.com.

The Tribeca Film Festival in New York wraps up today, and as a quick follow-up to an earlier posting, there's more press coverage of Pen-ek Ratanaruang and his upside-down hitman thriller Headshot.

The Wall Street Journal's Southeast Asia Realtime blog has an interview with Pen-ek, headlined "Hitchcock is alive and well in Thailand,".

In the article, Pen-ek reveals that censors objected to the opening scene when the hitman Tul is posing as a Buddhist monk on his morning alms rounds and he pulls a gun out of his alms bowl.


“It’s sensitive to Thai people,” Mr. Pen-ek says in an interview. “The food bowl of the monk is a sacred object.”

Thailand’s censors took notice and forced him to alter the scene when the film was released there in October.

“We [digitally] had to erase the gun from the bowl,” he says.


Pen-ek sat on a panel, "Tribeca Talks: Based on the Book", according to DNAinfo.com. Headshot is adapted from the "film noir novel" of SEA Write and Silpathorn Award honoree Win Lyovarin, Fon Tok Kuen Fah (ฝนตกขึ้นฟ้า), which means "rain falling up to the sky".

Here are links to several reviews of Headshot:


  • Film School Rejects takes Pen-ek to task for not using the upside down effect enough, a criticism Pen-ek responded to in an earlier video interview.
  • Epoch Times was more forgiving, issuing a glowing review, with high praise for the pacing and the performances by lead actor Nopachai Jayanama and actresses Cris Horwang and "Dream" Chanokporn Sayoungkul.
  • Slant Magazine is positive as well, giving Headshot 3 out of 4 stars.
  • And Wildgrounds offers a mixed view: "Too focused on being contemplative, confused, symbolic to depict the wandering of a lost soul."

On DVD in Taiwan: Yes or No? So, I Love You

You might notice in the sidebar on the right that a "popular posts" feature has been added to this blog, and one of the most popular entries is the review for the lesbian college romance Yes or No? So, I Love You. It continually gets comments from viewers who think it is so darn cute.

I'd imagine many of those viewers have been watching the English-subtitled DVD of that movie. It's available at YesAsia.com. Here's the synopsis:


Billed as Thailand's first lesbian romance movie, Yes or No breaks taboos with lighthearted steps. Directed by Sarasawadee Wongsompetch, the cute youth romance about first love and opposites attract follows the popular romcom genre formula, but this time the budding, feuding couple are both girls.

On the first day Pai (Sucharat Manaying) moves into her dorm room, she almost mistakes her new roommate Kim (Supanat Jittaleela) for a guy. Turned off by Kim's androgynous looks, Pai divides the room in half and warns Kim to stay out of her life. Over time, the girls get over their differences and become good friends. But when friendship turns into something more, Pai and Kim must face themselves and their feelings for each other.


It's another DVD that was released a few months ago, but I only just now discovered it when I was rummaging around at the YesAsia site looking for other recent English-friendly DVDs of Thai movies.

The Taiwanese release has the Thai soundtrack and English and Chinese subtitles. It's NTSC format, Region 3.

SuckSeed on DVD in Taiwan, donates prize money to charity

The cast and crew of SuckSeed donate 150,000 baht to the MIirror Foundation. Photo via Thai Rath.

The teen rock 'n' roll romance SuckSeed is out on English-subtitled Region 3 DVD in Taiwan. It's listed at YesAsia. In fact, it's been out since January, but I'm pretty slow when it comes to English-friendly releases of Thai films on DVD, which are a rarity these days, but occasionally they do happen.

SuckSeed has been reviewed at Coffee Coffee and More Coffee, which notes that "while SuckSeed is not the Thai equivalent to A Hard Day's Night, it is, by turns both funny and charming."

In related news, the film's cast and crew have donated some of the prize money they won in Japan to a Thai charity, according to news reports.

SuckSeed was voted winner of the audience's Laughter Award at the recent Okinawa International Movie Festival, a prize that came with a 2.5 million yen purse, or about 900,000 baht.

Chayanop Boonprakob, his lead actors Patchara Chirathiwat and Jirayu La-ongmanee and other cast members turned right around and gave a portion of that money, 150,000 baht in the form of a big check, to the Mirror Foundation in support of its charitable efforts to support a children's hospital. "Moo" Chayanop was once a volunteer teacher at the Mirror Foundation.

They're open to suggestions about other worthy causes to support.

Previous award-winning GTH films have also donated to charity. The romantic comedy Guan Muen Ho (Hello Stranger) picked up two prizes at last year's Osaka Asian Film Festival, which occurred right around the same time as Japan's earthquake and tsunami disaster. They donated 100,000 baht to the Osaka Consul for victims' relief.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Tony Jaa is getting married

Congratulations are in order for action star Tony Jaa, who's getting married on May 3. That's the news being reported today in The Nation's Soopsip column:

The 36-year-old star of Ong-Bak and Tom-Yum-Goong has out of the blue announced that he's tying the knot with Rayong native Piyarat "Boongyi" Chotiwattananont, 22. (Who knew they've been dating for almost three years?)

Sahamongkol Film chieftain Somsak "Sia Jiang" Techarattanaprasert has agreed to preside at the nuptials at the Royal Navy Hall and even picked the date – May 3. No, he didn't consult a fortune-teller. He just found a date on the Official Show Business Calendar that had no other massing of the celebrity tribes.

Sia Jiang seems happy despite the wedding stalling production on Tom-Yum-Goong 2. It's 40 per cent done anyway, so the studio can spare Jaa a few days off for a honeymoon.


Presumably, Jaa met his bride when he was filming Ong-Bak 3 in Rayong. Anyway, their marriage fulfills a wish that Jaa's mother made when he entered the monkhood.

On the invitation, he refers to himself as Jaa Panom, not Tatchakorn Yeerum, which he'd changed his name to awhile back.

Update: Twitch's Todd Brown picks up on this news, and he's not especially happy to hear about the delay of Tom-Yum-Goong 2.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The Cheer Ambassadors leaps for VOD release

The Thai team poses with members of the Norwegian squad at the World Cheerleading Championships.

The Cheer Ambassadors, the documentary about Thailand's scrappy cheerleaders overcoming the odds to be recognized as one of the leading squads in the world, has opted for a video-on-demand release at Prescreen.com.

Check out the page, and you might see a blurb from a familiar blog.

Director Luke Cassady-Dorian told me on Twitter that it's a "60-day Internet pre-release".

Since it screened at the Salaya Doc festival in March, The Cheer Ambassadors has been making the rounds in the press, at film festivals and other functions, including a screening in Singapore and the the 60°N Os International Film Festival in Norway.

Meanwhile, a Bangkok theatrical release is still hopefully in the works.

While more appearances are being lined up, take the time now to cozy up with your computer screen and stream the movie live.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Pen-ek wears cool sunglasses, talks about Headshot


Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Headshot (Fon Tok Kuen Fah, ฝนตกขึ้นฟ้า) has made its U.S. premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, from which the film has been mentioned in the U.S. press, including the New York Times.

Huffington Post has a video interview with Pen-ek (embedded below), recorded at the offices of Kino Lorber, Headshot's U.S. distributor. In it, Pen-ek is wearing cool shades as he talks about the decisions to not show the upside-down world of the hitman so much.

Headshot is also screening in the San Diego Asian Film Foundation’s Spring Showcase.



Thursday, April 19, 2012

Apichatpong-a-rama: Mekong Hotel for Cannes, plus Rocks, Walker Art and Quattro 2

Swinton and Apichatpong at a Bangkok press conference last month ahead of the Film on the Rocks festival . Nation photo by Anant Chantarasoot.

The French Riviera will get another blissful dose of Apichatpong Weerasethakul next month. In the announcement today of the main line-up for the 65th Cannes Film Festival, Apichatpong's Mekong Hotel is listed among the non-competitive Special Screenings.

Heavy on Hollywood titles, this year's Cannes line-up has only a handful of Asian films, Film Business Asia reports.

Mekong Hotel has been a long-gestating project, with Apichatpong talking about it more than a year ago, saying he'd long wanted to make a film about "water", specifically the Mekong. And there was a mention of Tilda Swinton somehow being involved.

“It’s definitely not going to be a film that will just have a foreign movie star for the sake of it," he was quoted as saying back in February 2011. "It’s going to be an exchange of ideas, of images, of ... I don’t know. It’s like a game for me: the river, the pigs, and Tilda Swinton.”

It should come as no surprise that Mekong Hotel has been selected for Cannes, where Apichatpong has a long relationship, going back to 2002, when he won the Un Certain Regard prize with Blissfully Yours. Then came the main-competition Jury Prize in 2004 for Tropical Malady, a spot on the main jury in 2008 and finally blowing up big time with the Palme d'Or top prize in 2010 for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.

However, at this point, I am uncertain whether Swinton is actually involved in Mekong Hotel.

But earlier last month, Apichatpong and Swinton finally collaborated on a project, having stoked their mutual admiration of each other through lengthy e-mail correspondence. The British actress had invoked the filmmaker's name in her 2006 State of Cinema address.

That collaboration turned out to be Film on the Rocks Yao Noi, an exclusive little festival at the luxury Six Senses resort in Phang-nga Bay near Phuket. With only a 100 or so people invited, mainly artsy high-society types, the quirky event seemed designed mostly to attract press attention, which it did, including international coverage.

The festival's eye-candy quotient was boosted by the unique floating Archipelago Cinema designed by Beijing-based architect Ole Scheeren. The screen was erected in front of a towering pair of Phang-nga Bay's scenic karst rock outcroppings. Film-goers had to take a boat to reach the platform, which had benches and beanbags for seating. The eclectic selection of rarely seen movies included a 16mm print of Empire by Andy Warhol.

Kong Rithdee had a write-up of the fest last month. Go read that if you want to know more about what you missed.

The captive audience of Film on the Rocks. Photo via HuffPo.

Meanwhile, there's more work ahead for Apichatpong. Among his upcoming jobs is a video commissioned by Minneapolis-St. Paul's Walker Art Center. There's brief report about it at the Star Tribune.

The Walker Art website has more:


This much-anticipated online piece from boundary-breaking director Apichatpong Weerasethakul makes its debut as the first artist commission on the Walker Channel. The source for live and archived video of the Walker’s public programming, the Walker Channel includes lectures, dialogues, and performances involving artists, scholars, and critics of contemporary art and culture.

Weerasethakul’s short video, under discussion since he was the subject of a Regis Dialogue and Retrospective in 2004, has been created amid a packed schedule of projects — one that’s only grown more intense since his feature film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2010. The artist is also making work for documenta 13 in June and is completing his newest film, Mekong Hotel.

Walker film curator Sheryl Mousley calls Weerasethakul an ideal choice for the multidisciplinary institution’s first Walker Channel commission: “His ability to mix genres — experimental, narrative, documentary — is only part of his distinctive vision,” she says. “He’s also so accomplished in both old and new media: besides films, he makes objects, video installations, and exhibitions, and integrates his vision across those art forms, always with amazing results.”


Plans are to launch the channel in June.

Finally, closer to home, Bangkok's SF World Cinema will host a Hong Kong Film Festival from April 26 to May 2. Among the titles is Quattro Hong Kong 2, a pan-Asian short-film omnibus that was commissioned for last year's Hong Kong International Film Festival. Apichatpong's M Hotel is part of a package that also features work by Filipino director Brillante Mendoza, Malaysia's Ho Yuhang and Hong Kong's Stanley Kwan.

Update: The Wall Street Journal's Scene Asia Blog has more on Mekong Hotel.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Shakespeare Must Die not quite dead yet


Filmmakers Ing K. and Manit Sriwanichpoom of the banned Shakespeare Must Die submitted their letter of appeal and put on a Shakespeare-themed public protest today.

Among those taking part in the protest was Tanwarin Sukkapisit, whose Insects in the Backyard was the first Thai film to be banned under the country's new film law.

Receiving much coverage in the international press, Shakepeare Must Die (เชคสเปียร์ต้องตาย, Shakespeare Tong Tai) was banned earlier this month by the Film and Video Censorship Board, chaired by Police Major-General Anek Samplang. The board feared the politically charged film would "undermine the unity of the people in the country".

The synopsis is as follows:

A tale of politics and black magic, translated into Thai directly and exactly from William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, with some cinematic and Thai cultural adaptations, this “Shakespearean horror movie” takes place in two parallel worlds: inside the theatre, the world of the play about the ambitious and bloody general who becomes king by murder, and the ‘outside world’ in the contemporary lives of the (non-specific) country’s superstitious, megalomaniacal, and murderous dictator, known only as ‘Dear Leader’, and his scary high-society wife. Events in the twin worlds mirror and soon bleed into each other until they catastrophically collide, when the players must pay dearly for staging such a play in a society ruled by such a man. What were they thinking, to fight fear with art?

The film had received funding from the Thai Khem Kaeng (Strong Thailand) "creative economy" initiative of the Cultural Ministry's Office of Contemporary Art and Culture, but that was under the previous government of Abhisit Vejjajiva, now the leader of the opposition wing in Thai Parliament.

Although Ing K. says her film is not about Thai politics, there are images in the film's trailer that recall the 2010 political protests by the "red-shirt" movement, which supports the current government of Yingluck Shinawatra, sister of Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted from power in a 2006 military coup. The tycoon populist leader has been a fugitive ever since, but is making moves to return to Thailand under a proposed amnesty that could also undermine the unity of the people of the country.

And need I say that the "Dear Leader" in Shakespeare Must Die somewhat physically resembles Thaksin?

Thailand's National Film Board will make a final decision on April 25 whether it will allow the release of Shakespeare Must Die, according to The Nation.

Update: There's more coverage in the Bangkok Post, with Manit threatening to defy the ban and an interview with Ing K.

Review: Home


  • Directed by Chookiat Sakveerakul
  • Starring Juthawut Wattanakampon, Kittisak Pathomburana, Penpak Sirikul, Siraphan Wattanajinda, Ruangsak Loychoosak
  • Released in Thai cinemas on April 19, 2012 (sneak previews from April 12-16); rated 18+
  • Wise Kwai's rating: 4/5

Since 2007's Love of Siam, Chookiat Sakveerakul has mainly contributed to short-film projects such as 4 Romances, Lud 4 Lud and Sawasdee Bangkok, and he's still in short-film mode of sorts as he directs his first feature film in five years, Home (Home ความรัก ความสุข ความทรงจำ, Home Khwam Rak Khwam Sook Khwam Songjam). Dedicated to his recently departed father, it's a heartfelt and sentimental collection of three stories, all set in his hometown of Chiang Mai, which ponders endings and beginnings.

The first story is set at night under the luminous glow of a Catholic high school, where a soon-to-graduate senior (Juthawut Wattanakampon) has set up his camera and is taking photos of the empty campus. He encounters an underclassmen acquaintence (Kittisak Pathomburana). He's a member of the basketball team who's just hanging out. The pair of young men then spend the rest of the evening talking. Their humorous and light-hearted banter of course turns to girls and relationships and the photographer is pestered into revealing that he has a crush on someone and that it's not a girl. His new jock buddy expresses shock but not necessarily disapproval, though later he swears he doesn't go with gays. A friendship has been formed, and maybe more, but morning brings an awkward meeting with another guy and even more awkward and strained goodbye.

The middle section stars Penpak Sirikul, who solidly anchors the film as the widowed wife of a farmer who's still trying to solve the puzzle left to her by her husband, who died of throat cancer. In his last stages, after he could no longer speak, he was leaving notes for his wife, which she continues to find as she goes through his papers or looks in other nooks and crannies of their belongings.

This dramatic, tearful segment is lightened by Penpak's character's farmhand nephew and his dingbat girlfriend, who live with her. At the dinner table one evening, at Penpak's urging, the girl starts to talk about her sexual frustration due to her man being tired from farm work all day, and she reels off a endless stream of metaphors – her cobwebbed cave, her closed shop, etc. – that had the audience in stitches. There's also a fairly explicit sex scene, which is the likedly reason censors deemed Home strong enough for an 18+ (but still unrestricted) rating.

It's a fantastical segment, recalling Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Uncle Boonmee, in which the widow communes in her dreams with the boy spirit of her dead hubby. The dreams and the found notes leading her to believe that an offering of a case of beer to a monk would be appropriate, the monk asks her take it back.



The closing section is a wedding, with "Noon" Siriphan Wattanajinda as a northern bride who's marrying a wealthy factory owner (Ruangsak Loychoosak) from Phuket in the south. They seem to be a poor fit, with the closed-mouth guy spending more time working with his iPad than communicating with his wife-to-be.

The arrival of the groom's mother brings more trouble, as the snooty woman has nothing but complaints about having to travel to Chiang Mai to the remote resort "in the middle of the jungle" for the wedding ceremony.

The bride has support from colorful friends, her comic-relief aunt (scene-stealing Puttachat Pongsuchat) and her anal-retentive brother (Love of Siam's Witwisit Hirunyawongkul), who's handling the elaborate wedding arrangements, including a band – another chance for Chookiat and his pals to demonstrate their musical talent.

After a night of drinking with her old Chiang Mai friends, she talks with an old boyfriend, which leads to a classic romantic-comedy misunderstanding that leads to classic romantic-comedy wedding-ceremony troubles. And Noon Siriphan leaks so much water from her eyes you have to wonder if a flash-flood warning was issued during the production.

If anything, this segment reveals the weird things Thais do at weddings, which apparently involve ritual public humiliation amid shooting gold confetti. After seeing Home, I can't understand why anyone would want to get married if that's what they are expected to go through. But that's just me.

It's here that all three segments are tied together, with Chookiat cleverly finding useful ways to integrate the other characters – Penpak is a flower arranger and friend of the bride's family, while the photographer is taking pictures of the wedding. And all three storylines come to fitting and poetic conclusions, one sad, another wistful and the other hopeful.

Notably, the film is mostly in the Northern Thai dialect and Bangkok screenings have dual English and central Thai subtitles.



See also:

Related posts:

Review: Plon Na Ya 2 Ai Yah!


  • Directed by Poj Arnon
  • Starring Jaturong Pollabong, Charoenporn Onlamai, Kirk Schiller, Somchai Kemklad, Pharanyu Rotchanawutthitham, Thana Sutthikmon, Treechada Marnyaporn, Bongkot Kongmalai
  • Released in Thai cinemas on April 5, 2012; rated 15+
  • Wise Kwai's rating: 3/5

With great trepidation, I checked out Poj Arnon's latest katoey comedy and was surprised when a half-decent action film broke out. Not only that, amid the usual shreiking and carrying on by the transgender cast and comedians in drag, the story was even more-or-less coherent, despite increasingly outlandish plot complications – a remarkable accomplishment for a Poj Arnon film.

Plon Na Ya 2 Ai Yah! (ปล้นนะยะ 2 อั๊ยยยย่ะ) is the sequel to Poj Arnon's 2004 katoey comedy remake of Dog Day Afternoon, Spicy Beautyqueen in Bangkok, about financially struggling transgender folks who form a gang in order to rob a bank.

The first film featured Nang Nak and Bang Rajan leading man Winai Kraibutr in a admireably committed performance as a cabaret dancer who needs cash for a sex-change operation. Spicy Beautyqueen also gained notoriety after Louis Vuitton's agressive copyright watchdogs demanded the removal of LV logos from the outlandish soccer-themed costume worn by gang leader Jaturong "Mokjok" Pollaboon. So now, thanks to LV's lawyers, if you watch Spicy Beautyqueen, the entire latter half of the movie has Jaturong's Louis Vuitton knock-off dress blurred out with the same kind of pixellation smudges that prevent Thai TV viewers from seeing such offensive acts as smoking, drinking alcohol or guns pointed at heads.

Plon Na Ya 2 picks up the story eight years later. Winai isn't back, but Jaturong's character is. He, or rather she, has returned to Thailand after a stint in New Zealand. Also returning from the first film is Charoenporn "Khotee" Onlamai's character who was killed off previously but had a twin running a sheep ranch in New Zealand. Initially a straight-acting man, he's convinced by his "madam" Jaturong to adopt her cross-dressing lifestyle and he takes to it rather quickly.

Joining the cast this time around is Kirk Schiller, playing a flamboyant transgender friend of Jaturong's character. Together, they plan to undergo sex-change surgery at the same time. He keeps his mustache and goatee beard, and offers a coarse explanation as to why late in the film.

That same morning, Somchai Kemklad and several young guys from Poj Arnon's limitless stable are heading off to work. If you remember the first film, you might recall Somchai had a cameo as a pizza-delivery guy, and if you don't remember there's a black-and-white flashback that also briefly reveals Jaturong's forbidden Louis Vuitton dress. It's Somchai's first day on the job as the driver of a Bangkok city bus, and his brother is among the passengers. Ripping a page from current-events headlines as Poj Arnon often does, gangster students from rival technical schools start a brawl aboard the bus. Gunshots are fired and the driver's brother is seriously wounded.

Fast-moving events bring the folks from the bus shooting to the same hospital where the sex-change patients are having their operations.

With the arrival of armed gangsters, the situation escalates into a hostage stand-off with the police.

And then there's a fairly entertaining car chase that has the transgender folks, hostages and the bus gang getting mixed up with victims fleeing from the thugs of a gambling kingpin. They are driving their cars while wearing motorcycle helmets that turn out to be rigged to explode if they try to remove them.



And there is indeed an explosion, with one of the cars blowing up. An outtake reel at the end of the movie shows the car did a corkscrew rollover and landed upright before exploding. I'm not sure why that cool stunt didn't make it into the movie.

With breathless implausibility, the transgender criminals, the bus gang, the hostages from the hospital and a surviving gambling kingpin captive band together to plan a robbery of the gambling kingpin's mansion.

Here's another chance for the costume designers – a department overseen by Poj Arnon himself – to go hog wild with exagerrated wigs and colorful sequined cabaret gowns. Even Somchai Kemklad dons drag.

Also joining the cast time around is transgender beauty queen "Poy" Treechada Marnyaporn playing a helpful surgeon named Yingluck. Surely it's no coincidence that Yingluck happens to be the name of Thailand's first female prime minister. She dons a mid-riff-baring drag-queen outfit and gets into the spirit of the caper by saucily helping to "seduce" the gambling kingpin's henchmen.

And "Tak" Bongkot Kongmalai takes part in the proceedings as one of the motorcycle-helmet-bomb captives who joins with the robbery scheme. She and Poj Arnon had earlier feuded during the production of the action film Dangerous Flowers, a.k.a. Chalee's Angels, but they've apparently patched things up.

More shooting, shouting and brandishing of weapons ensues and our heroines and heroes eventually make their escape to South Korea for another chance at sex-change surgery. Khotee, Kirk and Jaturong all don traditional Korean costumes and pose for Thai tourists. Somchai and his cohorts get a chance to wear stylish cold-weather gear and play at being Korean gangsters. And there are more outtakes reels in which live octopuses are harmed – something all Thai movies shot in South Korea must be compelled to show.

It all mostly works, somehow, thanks mainly to the humorous charm of rotund little cross-dressing comedian Khotee who always manages to be funny even in the most dire circumstances.

As confusing as this all sounds, I was surprised at how tolerable Plon Na Ya 2 was. Nonetheless, I won't be waiting with bated breath for Plon Na Ya 3, as inevitable as it seems.


Related posts:

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Home sweet home for Love of Siam director

The critically acclaimed 2007 smash-hit Love of Siam catapulted young director Chookiat Sakveerakul to worldwide fame with its tender story of gay teenage puppy love and family dysfunction.

And matters of heart and family are still near and dear to him as he explores them in his new movie Home (Home ความรัก ความสุข ความทรงจำ, Home Khwam Rak Khwam Sook Khwam Songjam), which opens in wide release in Thailand on April 19.

A VIP premiere was held last night at Bangkok's House cinema, and folks are already raving about it. And, in a mysteriously light week for Thai releases during the big Songkran Thai New Year holiday, there will be limited nightly sneak previews for Home in select Bangkok cinemas, during the long weekend running through Monday.

Home is a collection of three stories set in Chookiat's northern Thailand hometown of Chiang Mai.

One has a pair of high-school pals (Juthawut Wattanakampon and Kittisak Pathomburana) reminiscing about their school days, and there's an undercurrent that there's perhaps something more to the friendship.

Another thread is about a northern gal ("Noon" Siriphan Wattanajinda) who's getting cold feet as she's about to marry a southern lad (Ruangsak Loychoosak).

And a third storyline stars veteran actress Penpak Sirikul – yes, her, again – who earlier this year starred in It Gets Better and is on big screens now in She. In Home, she portrays a soon-to-be-widowed wife of a man (Witoon Jaiprom) with terminal cancer.


Love of Siam star Witwisit Hirunyawongkul figures in there somewhere too.

Promisingly, the movie is rated 18+, indicating there's material that the censors felt was pretty strong.

Since Love of Siam, Chookiat, or "Madiaw" as he's known by his pals, has been busy starting his own multimedia production company which focuses on films, TV commercials and music, among other things.

In film, he's mainly been doing short projects, like the animated segment for 4 Romances, a short for the Sawasdee Bangkok project and a segment for the horror omnibus Lud 4 Lud. He also produced the movie last year called Puan Mai Kao, about school chums (played by members of Love of Siam's August Band) taking a cycling trip across Thailand. And he's been active with has various music projects.

A look at his filmography will reveal there's two sides to Chookiat – the guy who makes tender, sentimental family-oriented movies like Love of Siam and Home and the helmer of such gory thrillers as 2004's Pisaj (Evil) and 2006's 13 Beloved, a.k.a. 13: Game of Death.

And fans of the latter kind of movies are probably wondering at the top of their lungs – when the heck will the sequel to 13: Game of Death ever be made!? Well, 14 Beyond, envisioned as a blockbuster action flick, has been on Sahamongkol's calendar for the past few years, but keeps getting pushed back out of budgetary concerns. But word is, after Home, it'll be time to get to work on 14 Beyond. Fingers crossed for that one.

In the meantime, check out the English-subtitled trailer for Home, embedded below, and see if you can hold back the tears.

Review: Ma-Mha 2 (Mid-Road Gang 2)


  • Directed by Pantham Thongsang
  • Starring Jirayu La-onggamee, Pitisak Yaowananon
  • Released in Thai cinemas on April 5, 2012; rated G.
  • Wise Kwai's rating: 3/5

"Never work with children or animals" is an old showbiz adage that's been incorrectly attributed over the years to W.C. Fields. In fact, it's drawn from a 1939 roast of the pugnacious comedian in which writer Leo Rosten said, “The only thing I can say about W.C. Fields is this: Any man who hates dogs and babies can’t be all bad.”

Whoever said it, Pantham Thongsang has surely heard it, but he's chosen to ignore it as he directed Ma-Mha 2 (มะหมา 2, a.k.a. Mid-Road Gang 2), a movie that has dogs as stars and a baby as a main plot element. And all the human actors are secondary, or just idiots.

It's a sequel to 2007's Mid-Road Gang (มะหมา 4 ขาครับ, Ma-Mha 4 Ka Krub), bringing back most of the old dogs and adding a few new dogs and new tricks. A motion-comic opening credits sequence recaps the events of the first movie and introduces the old characters, including the main human villain Ong-Art, portrayed by Pitisak Yaowanon, who was left insane, put in an institution and now hates dogs.

The main character this time around is Jer, voiced by Jirayu La-onggamee. He's a Buakhaew, a Thai purebred dog that is said to be descended from jackals, a point that isn't in his favor later on. They are known for their fierce loyalty and protectiveness, but also need lots of attention.

Jer is owned by a famous actress and her architect husband, and becomes a celebrity himself after a TV show broadcasts a video of his exploits, which depict him growing from puppyhood, pushing a shopping cart and, in grainy CCTV footage, killing a large snake that was about to bite his architect master. But then his loving owners bring home a baby, and, one night they leave Jer and the infant in the care of the actress' slacker brother.

It just so happens that Ong-art and a female inmate have escaped from the insane asylum, and Ong-art is obsessed with the actress Wan. They break in to the house and kidnap the baby, but not without first tangling with the fiercely protective Jer. He's caught with a bloody diaper in his jaws and the baby is gone. The actress and her hubby return from their function followed by TV cameras and cops, and the dog is accused of taking the baby.

Now here's an Imperial star-destroyer-size plot hole – if the couple had a trusted maid/nanny, as most Thai couples of their stature in movies/TV would, this whole problem would have been avoided. But then there would be no movie franchise.


The only solution is for Jer to clear his name by tracking down the telepathic baby that can talk to him and bring the kid home.

Meanwhile, the gang of old dogs from the first movie are being taken from their comfortable lives in Dogtopia by a mysterious dog-catching mafia. The remaining original "Mid-Road Gang" are Piak, the plucky little showbiz dog (indeed, he's in lots of movies and commercials) and Geng, the shaggy mutt who "married" the poodle Sexy. They have a daughter Pong-Pong, a silky-haired white sort-of Lhasa Apso type, who becomes the romantic interest for the hero dog. Also back for more is Pikun, a kindly and wise older female street dog.

All the madcap action is played up for laughs. I attended a screening that started at close to midnight on a weeknight, and, surprisingly, there were a few children in the audience who thought everything was hilarious, especially the jokes about poop and flatulence noises. At one point, an elephant comes to the rescue as an ally of the dogs, and the pachyderm farted in our general direction, with help from wind machines that blew the hair of the villains onscreen.

In-the-know filmgoers might pick up on a few references, with the baby-snatching asylum escapees being a reminder of the desperate childless couple in the Coen brothers' Raising Arizona. And the head of the dog-catching mafia is a weird chubby little boy who dresses just like Anton Chighur, the terrifying villain Javier Bardem played in the Coens' No Country for Old Men. With his bowl-cut hairdo and cowboy boots, he even carries an air tank that he uses to incapacitate (though not kill) his captured prey.

With viral social media tracking the dogs' progress, the chase leads them to the Dreamworld amusement park, where the dogs outwit the bumbling dogcatchers by riding cable cars and log flumes. They also create chaos at a stunt show. They hop a freight train and the action eventually moves to the streets of Ayutthaya, where the dogs run through alleys and dodge obstacles just like Tony Jaa in Ong-Bak. And just in case no one picks up on that reference, the dogs actually invoke the name of their stunt god, "Tony Jaa". They also swim, pull a wagon and walk across beams.

It's good old-fashioned fun moviemaking, harking back to the talking-animal shorts and features that were shown on TV's "Wonderful World of Disney". Refreshingly, the dogs don't "talk" with the help of any distracting CGI like they do in Garfield, Cats and Dogs or other recent "live action" talking-animal flicks. Camera movement and framing are used to indicate the animal speaking, with the dog actors just panting away, like they were trained to do. Okay, there is some CGI, like for a pair of helpful bird characters who get the dogs pointed in the right direction.

Pantham Tongsang, the director of the acclaimed social drama Ai-Fak and producer of Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Syndromes and a Century perhaps never imagined he'd be directing talking-dog movies. But now, after directing two Ma-Mha movies he's got a franchise on his hands. The only way to proceed is with Ma-Mha 3. Hopefully it won't take 35 dog's years for that sequel.


Related posts:

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Review: She


  • Directed by Sranya Noithai
  • Starring Penpak Sirikul, Ann Siriwan Baker, Apassaporn Saengthong, Kitchya Kaesuwan
  • Released in Thai cinemas on March 22, 2012; rated 13+
  • Wise Kwai's rating: 3/5

Social-issue movies were popular in Thailand back in the 1970s, but with audiences lapping up a steady diet of silly comedies, the more serious films aren't made much these days.

There was hope for a movie like She though, after a similarly themed romance, Yes or No, So I Love You, went viral to become a cult hit in 2010. Yes or No was about female college roommates who overcome their differences and fall in love.

She (เรื่องรักระหว่างเธอ, Ruang Rak Rawang Ther), "based on true stories of Thai women", deals with slightly more-mature lesbian lovers – a wealthy businesswoman hooking up with a younger female photographer, and a magazine columnist who strikes up a relationship with her tomboy neighbor.

With a fine cast, led by the strikingly ageless 50-year-old model-actress Penpak Sirikul as the businesswoman, and handsome-looking production values, She looked poised to capture the same audience that loved the cute girls in Yes or No.

But She: Their Love Story, as the official international title goes, hasn't quite caught on yet, and has performed only modestly at the Thai box office. It became harder to find just one week after its March 22 release, when it went head-to-head with Hollywood's The Hunger Games and the Thai 3D horror blockbuster Dark Flight 407.

The problem with She is that it's overly melodramatic and moves a bit slower than its 90-minute running time would suggest.

What's supposedly the main story focuses on Penpak's businesswoman divorcing from her husband of many years and leaving him and her teenage daughter behind to live full time at her luxurious seaside resort. There, she catches the eye of a lesbian freelance photographer (Ann Siriwan Baker) who's been hired to take pictures for new brochures.

Freed from her marriage, she casts her inhibitions to the ocean breeze and begins a new relationship with the lantern-jawed lady shutterbug. But there's a hidden reason why Penpak has left her family, and it all comes out in a tirade of shouting and crying.

The "B" plot actually has more to say. And it's supposed to provide relief from the heavier goings on at the resort, but it too gets weighed down in messy, overwrought melodrama. It starts out lightly comic though, with a young magazine columnist named Da (Apassaporn Saengthong) arriving at work to find that her ex-boyfriend has e-mailed their sex video clips to all her colleagues.

Her editor thinks the disgraced Da can bounce back by embarking on a new project – writing about lesbian romance from a first-person viewpoint. Da, a typical girly-girl, is at first horrified. Turns out, conveniently, she lives across the hall from a tomboy, and screws up her face in revulsion when she sees her neighbor Bee (Kitchya Kaesuwan) kissing another woman. She calls it "unnatural", among other slurs. But later on the nosy reporter Da turns on the charm when she invites Bee to a dinner of microwaved meals from the 7-Eleven.

Bee, who looks like a handsome young man, takes Da to a lesbian bar, where Da is picked up by a particularly "hard tom" who takes Da back to her place and attempts to rape her while wearing kink gear of bunny ears and a ballet tutu. But after that surreal bit of comedy-drama, the B-story turns heavy as Da re-evaluates her feelings for the sensitive Bee.

The relationship of this mismatched pair moves unbelievably fast, given Da's initial homophobia. Eventually it's Bee who tries to make sense of things, telling Da that she's bound by too many rules.

As for the main story, I've heard the theory that Penpak's character is a closeted lesbian who was trapped in a marriage and raising a family for two decades. But I am not sure that is the case. And perhaps there are more nuances in the dynamics of the relationships that I'm not picking up on.

On the positive side, Penpak's character's husband turns out to be a swell guy who just wants her to be happy – better than the disapproving mother-in-law or the angry, petulant teenage daughter.

Love scenes are fairly steamy, perhaps too much for the 13+ rating given by censors, but then again maybe not.

The two stories aren't in any way linked, though attempts to do so are made, with the B-story characters turning up at the Pattaya resort, and later viewing photos taken by the photographer.


See also:



Related posts:

It Gets Better headed for Udine

The Udine Far East Film Festival announced the line-up for its 14th edition earlier today, with just one Thai film in the program: It Gets Better, Tanwarin Sukkhapisit's slick drama about transgender romance and family relationships.

It Gets Better had its world premiere at the Hua Hin International Film Festival, with a Thai theatrical release in February. It makes its European premiere at Udine.

Tanwarin will be among the festival guests, according to Film Business Asia, which covered the live-streaming announcement.

Running nine days from April 20 to 28, FEFF will screen 57 features, from the opener Sunny by Kang Hyung-chul from South Korea to the closer The Viral Factor by Hong Kong's Dante Lam. Highlights include a 10-film retrospective, "The Darkest Decade: Korean Filmmakers in the 1970s", curated by Darcy Paquet.

FEFF also hosts the Ties That Bind financing workshop. Among the projects in this year's edition is The White Buffalo, the new feature project by Wonderful Town and Hi-So director Aditya Assarat.

In case you missed it, check out the hilarious festival trailer, directed by Filipino filmmaker Quark Henares.

Laddaland, Headshot top nominees for 21st Subhanahongsa Awards


The Thai film industry's equivalent of the Oscars, the 21st Subhanahongsa Awards, a.k.a. the Thailand National Film Awards (รางวัลภาพยนตร์แห่งชาติ สุพรรณหงส์) are set for April 29 at the Siam Pavalai theater at Paragon Cineplex.

The top nominee is GTH's psychological-ghost thriller Laddaland, a tale of family dysfunction in a haunted housing development. It scored 14 nominations across the 16 categories, including Best Picture, Best Director for Sophon Sakdaphisit and Best Screenplay, as well as Best Actor, Actress and Supporting Actress for Saharat Sangkhapreecha, Piyathida Worramusik and Suthatta Udomsilp.

Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Headshot (Fon Tok Kuen Fah), which has been the big winner at other Thai film awards this season, has 12 nominations, including Best Picture for Local Color, Best Director and Best Screenplay. "Peter" Noppachai Jayanama is a nominee for Best Actor for his portrayal of a hitman who sees everything upside down.

Up for eight awards is Pumpuang (The Moon), the biopic on the tragic life of the late luk thung singer Pumpuang Duanchan. It's up for Best Picture and Best Screenplay as well as Best Actress for Paowalee Pornpimol, making her big-screen debut, and Supporting Actor for Nattawat Sakidjai.

U Mong Pa Mueang (The Outrage), ML Bhandevanop Devakula's lavish adaptation of Akira Kurasawa's Rashomon, scored seven nominations, mainly in the techical categories, such as cinematography, score, production design and costumes. Radklao Amaradit is up for best supporting actress for her scene-stealing turn as the medium who channels the spirit of a dead nobleman in a mountaintop murder trial.

Also with seven nods is M-Thirtynine's 30 Kamlung Jaew, including Best Director for Somjing Srisuparb, Best Screenplay, Best Actor for Phuphoom Pongpanu and Best Actress for "Aum" Patcharapa Chaichuea.

The monastic mystery thriller Mindfulness and Murder got five nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director for Tom Waller, whose De Warrenne Pictures has produced such movies as Soi Cowboy and The Elephant King. Mindfulness is also nominated for Best Screenplay, Best Actor for Vithaya Pansringarm and Best Supporting Actor for "Kuck" Wannasak Sirilar.

Also with five nominations is the traditional-dance drama Kon Khon, including supporting actor and actress nominations for Nirut Sirichanya and Pimolrat Pisalayabuth. Though it was panned critically, Kon Khon was the Thai film industry's official submission to the Oscars.

GTH’s teen-oriented box-office blockbusters Top Secret Wairoon Pun Lan (The Billionaire) and Suckseed Huay Khun Thep have three nods apiece including Best Director for Songyos Sugmakanan for Top Secret and Top Secret's Somboonsook “Piak Poster” Niyomsiri competing with his co-star Patchara Chirathiwat who's a supporting-actor nominee for Suckseed.

Also scoring three nominations is Yuthlert Sippapak's hitman thriller Friday Killers (Mha Kae Untarai), including a best-actor nod for veteran comedian Thep Po-ngam for his solidly dramatic performance as an ageing gunman.

Indie studio Pop Pictures scored two nominations for a pair of fixtures from the festival circuit that saw commercial releases in Thailand last year: Sivaroj Kongsakul’s Tee-Rak (Eternity), which is up for Best Picture, and Aditya Assarat’s Hi-So, which got a nod for Best Cinematography by Umpornpol Yugala.

Other nominees are Gangcore Gud, 30+ Sode on Sale, Sop Dek 2002, Bangkok Sweety, Panya Reanu, Rak Jad Nak (Love, Not Yet) and Khob Khun Thee Rak Kan (Loving Me, Loving You).

This year, the lifetime achievement award goes to a veteran actor-director Adul Dulyarat, perhaps best known internationally for his role as an elderly, dying court musician who tells his life story in 2004's The Overture.

Here's the list of nominees:

Special effects

  • Fat Cat Ltd., Gancore Gud
  • Magic Wand, Laddaland
  • Kantana Animation, Headshot
  • Artaya Boonsoong, The Outrage


Make-up

  • Thanawutthi Busamsai, Thitirat Chueamueangphan, Gancore Gud
  • Pugij Yiamchavee, Natchanan Kitikriengkrai, Koh Khon
  • Pichet Wongjansom, Laddaland
  • Phatthira Phuthisuraset, Headshot
  • Montri Wadia-Iad, The Outrage


Costumes

  • Thonsan Aiyaretkon, Panya Reanu
  • Ekasith Meeprasertsakul, Pumpuang
  • Watsana Benchachat, Laddaland
  • Visa Kongka, Headshot
  • Noppadon Techo, The Outrage


Production design

  • Dusit Yapakawong, Thiranan Chanthakhat, Pumphuang
  • Wuttinun Sujaritpong, Laddaland
  • Wittaya Chaimongkol, Headshot
  • Phattharik Misaiyat, Niti Samittasing, The Outrage
  • Nopphadot Arkart, 30 Kamlung Jaew


Score

  • Chesata Sukkhathramon, Chaiyoot Tosa-nga, Ratchasak Rueangchai, Kon Khon
  • Hualampong Riddim, Laddaland
  • Vichaya Vatanasapt, Headshot
  • Chatchai Pongprapaphan, The Outrage
  • Vichaya Vatanasapt, Hualampong Riddim, 30 Kamlung Jaew


Song

  • "Hon Huay Day ”, Panya Reanu
  • “Man Kong Pen Kwam Rak”, "Stamp" Apiwat Euthavornsuk, 30 Kamlung Jaew
  • “Meua Wan Wayla Kong Rao Map Mjop Gan”, Prapat Chonsaranon, Chakphat Iamnun, 30+ Singles on Sale
  • “Sapawa Ting Tua”, "Dan" Worrawech Danuwong, Bangkok Sweety
  • “Tum Yoo Nai Jai”, SuckSeed


Sound

  • Sunij Asavinikul, Ramindra Sound, Kon Khon
  • Sunij Asavinikul, Ramindra Sound, Pumpuang
  • Kantana Laboratory, Laddaland
  • Akritchalerm Kalayanamitr, Richard Hocks, Headshot
  • Red Snapper, Friday Killers


Editing

  • Sunij Asavinikul, Phannipha Kabillikavanich, Pumpuang
  • Nagamon Boonrod, Phuriphan Phuphaibun, Thammarat Sumethsupachok, Laddaland
  • MR Patamanadda Yukol, Headshot
  • Sasikarn Suwansuthi, Top Secret Wairoon Pun Lan
  • Panayu Kunvanlee, SuckSeed


Cinematography

  • Kittiawat Semarat, Laddaland
  • Chankit Chamnivikaipong, Headshot
  • Tiwa Moetaisong, Friday Killers
  • Panom Promchard, The Outrage
  • MR Umpornpol Yugala, Hi-So


Screenplay

  • Sophon Sakdaphisit, Sopana Chaowwiwatkul, Laddaland
  • Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Headshot
  • Pattana Chirawong, Pumpuang
  • Tom Waller, Vithaya Pansringarm, Nick Wilgus, Mindfulness and Murder
  • Somjing Srisuparb, Bunpong Panít, Sakilaa Banyen, 30 Kamlung Jaew


Supporting actress

  • Apinya Sakuljaroensuk, Loving Me, Loving You
  • Pimolrat Pisalayabuth, Kon Khon
  • Suthatta Udomsilp, Laddaland
  • Chudapha Chanthakhet, Sop Dek 2002
  • Radklao Amaradit, The Outrage


Supporting actor

  • Nirut Sirichanya, Kon Khon
  • Nattawat Sakidja, Pumpuang
  • Wannasak Sirilar, Mindfulness and Murder
  • Somboonsook Niyomsiri, Top Secret Wairoon Pun Lan
  • Patchara Jirathiwat, SuckSeed


Best actress

  • Suthida Hongsa, Panya Reanu
  • Arissara Lemuan, Love, Not Yet
  • Paowalee Pornpimol, Pumpuang
  • Piyathida Worramusik, Laddaland
  • Patcharapa Chaichuea, 30 Kamlung Jaew


Best actor

  • Saharat Sangkhapreecha, Laddaland
  • Noppachai Jayanama, Headshot
  • Vithaya Pansringarm, Mindfulness and Murder
  • Suthep Po-ngam, Friday Killers
  • Phuphoom Pongpanu, 30 Kamlung Jaew


Best director

  • Sophon Sakdaphisit, Laddaland
  • Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Headshot
  • Tom Waller, Mindfulness and Murder
  • Somjing Srisuparb, 30 Kamlung Jaew
  • Songyos Sugmakanan, Top Secret Wairoon Pun Lan


Best picture

  • Laddaland, GTH
  • Headshot, Local Color
  • Tee-Rak, Pop Pictures
  • Pumpuang, Sahamongkol Film International
  • Mindfulness and Murder, DeWarrenne Pictures


(Via The Nation, Manager)

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Talking dogs and Spicy Beauty Queens in sequels

Just in time for next week's big Songkran Thai New Year holiday comes a couple of movies that the studios are aiming to make franchises.

The most promising and ambitious of the pair is Ma Mha 2 (มะหมา 2), a follow-up to the NGR studio's 2007 talking-dog movie that had the English title Mid-Road Gang.

A rare talking-animal movie in the Thai industry, it proved pretty popular and was even praised critically. It also led to more opportunities for the Chaipak Dog Training Center, which has since supplied many trained dogs to the entertainment industry.

Pantham Thongsang again directs. He co-directed the first one with Somkiet Vituranich.

Some of the old dogs have returned, but there's also new dogs doing all kinds of new tricks, like running through alleys and jumping through hoops as if they were Tony Jaa in Ong-Bak.

The canine cast this time around led by a pure-breed Thai Bangkaew named Jer. He's voiced by young actor Jirayu La-ongmanee. Jer runs into trouble when he's unjustly accused of attacking his master’s child but in fact, the infant has been kidnapped and it’s up to Jer to rescue the tyke. Pitisak Yaowananon, who starred in Pantham's 2004 drama Ai Fak, also stars.

More about the movie is in a Bangkok Post story. The trailer is embedded below.



The other sequel in Thai cinemas today is Poj Arnon's Plon Naya 2 Ai Yah! (ปล้นนะยะ 2 อั๊ยยยย่ะ), which follows his 2004 bank-robbery farce Spicy Beauty Queens in Bangkok, about colorful transgender cabaret dancers robbing a bank to pay for sex-change operations.

Now they are back in their sequined costumes and outlandish wigs. Jaturong Pollaboon returns as the ringleader, after having fled abroad. He comes home to finally have that operation. But then the hospital is stormed by a radical student group, led by Somchai Kemklad, doing his usual Somchai Kemklad hotheaded act.

Original cast member Charoenporn "Kohtee" Onlamai is among the returnees. They're joined by Kirk Schiller, among others.

Actress "Tak" Bongkote Kongmalai is also in cast. Apparently she and Poj have forgiven each other after they feuded during the making of the martial-arts flick Chalee's Angels a.k.a. Dangerous Flowers.

The trailer is embedded below.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Shakespeare Must Die is banned



Shakespeare Must Die (เชคสเปียร์ต้องตาย), a politically charged adaptation of Macbeth, has become the second film to be banned from commercial release by the Thai Film Board under the Film Act of 2008.

Co-directed by artists Samanrat Kanjanavanit, a.k.a. Ing K., and Manit Sriwanichpoom, the film was banned because censors feared it would cause disunity in Thai society.

Ironically, Shakespeare Must Die had received financial support from the Thai Khem Kaeng (Strong Thailand) "creative economy" initiative of the Cultural Ministry's Office of Contemporary Art and Culture.

A trailer for Shakespeare Must Die, embedded above, shows that the film plays on images from Thailand's turbulent and violent political past, including the 2010 anti-government red-shirt protests and the 1976 Thammasat Massacre, in which a hanging corpse was beaten with a chair.

The first film to be banned by the Film Board under the 2008 Film Act was Tanwarin Sukkhapisit's Insects in the Backyard. With explicit sexual imagery and allusions to patricide in a story about the transgender father of two troubled teenagers, censors deemed that movie to be "against public order or morality" and "contrary to morality".

Ing K. and Manit previously co-directed the critically acclaimed 2008 documentary Citizen Juling, an exhaustive account of the Thai political landscape following the 2006 beating death of a Buddhist schoolteacher in Thailand's restive South.

A polarizing figure in Thai art circles, Ing K. also made the controversial feature My Teacher Eats Biscuits. It's never been shown publicly in Thailand – the screening at the 1997 Bangkok Film Festival was raided by police. You can read more about that film in an article by Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn at Criticine.

Updates: The Bangkok Post has a story. There's also coverage at 2Bangkok, Film Business Asia, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, Asian Correspondent's Siam Voices, Associated Press, Twitch and Newley Purnell. See also the official website.

Monday, April 2, 2012

SuckSeed succeeds at Okinawa fest

Patchara Chirathiwat and director Chayanop Boonprakob at the Okinawa screening of SuckSeed on March 26. Photo via Getty Images.

The hit rock 'n' roll romantic comedy SuckSeed won the audience-voted Laughter AWard at the fourth Okinawa International Movie Festival, which wrapped up on Sunday.

Directed by Chayanop Boonprakob and starring Patchara Chirathiwat along with Jirayu La-ongmanee, Thawat Pornrattanaprasert and Natcha Nualjam, GTH's story of high-schooler slackers forming a rock band, was given 2.5 million yen in prize money. The big winner in Okinawa was Hong Kong director Ann Hui's A Simple Life, which won both the jury prize and the Peace Prize audience award.

Thai films have been big elsewhere in Japan too. At last month's Osaka Asian Film Festival, GTH's The Billionaire (Top Secret Wairoon Pun Lan), also starring "Peach" Patchara, was in competition alongside Kongdej Jaturanrasamee's mindbending P-047.

The Grand Prix there went to God's Own Child from India, the Most Promising Talent Award to Malaysia's Namewee, director, screenwriter, editor and composer of Nasi Lemak 2.0, special mentions for Indonesia's Lovely Man and China's The Sword Identity and the ABC Award to God's Own Child.


P-047, by the way, is playing in the Hong Kong International Film Festival along with Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Headshot. - Audience Award "Warriors of the Rainbow".

(Via @JohnBadalu)

Sunday, April 1, 2012

FFFest 2012: Pre-Attitude, Ja Boe take top prizes

Frame by Aroonkorn Pick. You don't actually see the boom mic in the film.

A documentary about three "misters" living their life as "misses" was judged top film while a drama about indigenous people in conflict with forest rangers won the audience award last night at the Friends Without Borders' fourth Fly Beyond the Barbwire Fence Festival in Chiang Mai.

Here's the winning films:

  • 2nd Runner-up: Frame by Aroonkorn Pick. A pair of young men sit at a table in room lined with newspapers and have philosophical conversation about following the rules – a discussion that eventually leads to conflict.
  • 1st Runner-up: Ta Mu La by Saw Shee Keh Sher. While his girlfriend has decided to seek freedom in a third country and his grandfather is waiting to return to his homeland in Karen state, young Tamula finds another way to fly free of the refugee camp's barbed-wired fence.
  • Best Film: Pre-Attitude by Panu Saeang-Xuto. This documentary interviews three transgender women from various interesting backgrounds. One is a former senior military officer. Another is a village chief or "headman". The third a Muslim teenage schoolgirl. The film previously won the Young Thai Artist Award in 2010 from the Siam Cement Foundation.
  • Samurais Choice (audience award): Ja Boe Meets the Man of Fortune by Maitree Chamroensuk. A pair of indigenous subsistence farmers meet at the end of the day and express their happiness in song. But then their mountain home is declared a Thai national park, and families who have lived there for generations are no longer allowed to farm the land or harvest wood, herbs, etc. They run into conflict with forest rangers who are really nothing more than armed thugs in camouflage. It's a fact-based account by the Lahu director who participated in the Friends Without Borders Holding Hands film workshop.


Judges came from such organizations as the Thai Film Archive and the Thai Film Director Association and among those on hand for the prize ceremony was filmmaker Pimpaka Towira, whose award-winning short My Father was screened. Audience awards were voted on in a system of three ballot boxes, in which voting slips were placed in boxes marked So-So/Don't Like, Good or Great!

And, if there was Wise Kwai Snorting Buffalo Award for the festival, it would go to The Farmer by Natpakan Kemkhao, a high-school student from a farming family Nan province. His short film is a classic Thai farmer story of farmer who gets tired of fighting with his stubborn water buffalo and decides to sell the beast and get a loan to buy a tractor. His mother frowns on the decision, and she's right. It's a bad idea.

All the winning films will be repeated during today's program at the Chiang Mai University Art Center.