GTH to disband amid stock market conflict

Surprising news to report today as GTH, the eminently successful Thai movie studio, is set to dissolve amid conflict between partners over whether to take the company public.

A statement was posted on the company's website, and Khaosod English has a translation:

According to the online statement, Hub Ho Hin “believes the company is not yet ready to enter stock market within the next 1-3 years” because doing so may cause a financial pressure that affects the company’s creativity and work quality.

“Every side has tried to initiate dialogue and negotiation to find a solution for a long time, but cannot reach a conclusion on the shared objective of the company,” the statement says. “Therefore, we unanimously agree that if our works continue without finding a conclusion, it will cause damages to all sides involved.”

It went on, “GMM Tai Hub Ltd (GTH) subsequently agreed jointly to cease all operations of the company, effective on 31 December 2015 onward.”

Formed in 2004, GTH was a merger of three companies – GMM Pictures, Tai Entertainment and Hub Ho Hin. They came together as GMM Tai Hub, with the massive success of a co-production, the hit 2003 childhood friendship drama Fan Chan (My Girl). It set the formula that GTH films more or less followed, with hallmarks that included "feel good" stories, squeaky clean characters, polished production values and an easily recognizable roster of attractive, bankable stars.

Subsequent features included the horror smash Shutter, the critically acclaimed romance Puen Sanit (Dear Dakanda) and the coming-of-age epic The Tin Mine.

Recent hits include the box-office record-setter Pee Mak Phra Khanong, and this year's indie-feel romantic comedy-drama Freelance and the teen comedy May Who?

At the heart of the conflict is the company's domineering honcho, veteran show-business executive Visute Poolvoralaks, whose Tai Entertainment forms the "T" in GTH, and producer, writer and director Jira Maligool, who brought his more indie-leaning Hub-Ho-Hin into the corporate fold.

This story just broke! There is further coverage in the Thai press, including Thai Rath and entertainment website Sanook.

Update: Film Business Asia now has the story.

From World War I to Love of Siam, 25 Thai films added to historical registry

The Siamese Military in the First World War

Another 25 titles have been added to the growing list of “Films as National Heritage” by the Culture Ministry and the Thai Film Archive, ranging from 1918 footage of soldiers going off to battle in World War I to puppy-love romance between teenage boys in the 2007 drama The Love of Siam.

Updated each year on October 4, which is Thai National Film Preservation Day, the historic-film registry now numbers 125 titles.

Many of the entries this year are from the U.S. Information Service, the propaganda arm of America's diplomatic corps. These include Thai Army Goes to Korean War, which shows Thai troops joining the fight against communism, and Heritage from King Mongkut, which recounts the contributions of American missionary and physician Dan Beach Bradley.

USIS also made The Ordination of the King, documenting the ceremony by which His Majesty King Bhumibol entered the monkhood.

The growth of commercial Thai cinema is represented by entries from the 1970s through the 1990s, ranging from director Piak Poster’s erotic island romance Choo, to Baan Phi Pob 2, the second film in the popular horror-comedy franchise, which had villagers endlessly running around and screaming and they tried to escape the gut-stabbing ghost-granny Pob Yip.

Ta-mone Prai

Aside from Piak, other notable filmmakers on this year’s list are Manop Udomdej, with 1981's On the Fringe of Society, Cherd Songsri with his 1983 sibling-rivalry romance Puen-Pang, Bhandit Rittakol and his 1987 farming drama Duay Klao, Pen-ek Ratanaruang with his 1999 black comedy Ruang Talok 69 and Jira Maligool with his 2002 Nong Khai festival yarn Mekhong Full Moon Party.

Historical battle epics now become history themselves, with the inclusion this year of Thanit Jitnukul’s Bang Rajan from 2000 and MC Chatrichalerm Yukol’s Suriyothai from 2001.

And recent global hits are represented by 2003’s martial-arts drama Ong Bak, which introduced Tony Jaa to the world, and GTH’s 2004 thriller Shutter, which introduced Thai horror to the world.

Here's the list, which is translated by Thai Film Archive deputy director Sanchai Chotirosseranee, who also offered commentary on some of the more-obscure entries.

Ngoa Ba

Films as National Heritage 2015

1. The Siamese Military in the First World War (unofficial title) / ภารกิจทหารอาสาสยามในสงครามโลกครั้งที่ ๑, 1918/63.26 min. – King Rama VI sent 1,233 Siamese volunteer soldiers to join World War I in 1917. According to newspaper ads from the era, the film was shown in Siam in 1919. It was thought to be lost, but resurfaced last year as France observed the centenary of the war. The French Embassy and the Alliance Francaise exhibited rare photographs and this film footage, which was well-preserved at the archives of the French Ministry of Defense.
2. The Playful Kids in the Reign of King Rama VII (unofficial title)/เด็กซนสมัย ร.๗, 1927-32)/7 min. – This "found footage" was shot on 16mm. There is no information on who made the film. It shows youngsters putting on a performance for the camera, playing traditional games, dancing, play-fighting and comic acting in the style of Western films, showing the already pervasive influence of film on Siamese society.
3. Pan-Tai Norasingh/พันท้ายนรสิงห์, 1950/98 min. – Directed by Prince Bhanubandhu Yugala (grand-uncle of MC Chatrichalerm Yukol) with cinematography by then-budding auteur R.D. Pestonji, this is the first theatrical feature of a historical tale that has been adapted many times for theater, film and television. The story, which takes place during the reign of Ayutthaya's King Sanphet VIII, is about an oarsman on a royal barge who loses control of the vessel in strong currents, causing it to hit a tree and become damaged. The king, understanding the difficult conditions, did not wish to punish Norasingh, but the ever-dutiful and devoted sailor insisted that no exceptions should be made, and he was beheaded according to law.
4. Thai Army goes to Korean War (unofficial title)/ทหารไทยไปเกาหลี, 1951–52)/7.42 min. – The United States Information Service in Bangkok made this clip of Royal Thai Army troops joining the United Nations' "police action" against the communist North Korean invaders.
5. Heritage from King Mongkut/มรดกพระจอมเกล้า, 1954/60 min. – This USIS dramatization depicted the influential contributions to Thai society of Dr. Dan Beach Bradley, an American Christian missionary and physician, whose close relations with the King Rama IV court helped Western medicine gain acceptance in Thailand. Bradley also published the first Thai newspaper, the Bangkok Recorder.
6. The Ordination of the King/พระบาทสมเด็จพระเจ้าอยู่หัวเสด็จออกผนวช, 1956/13.42 min. – When His Majesty King Bhumibol entered the monkhood for 15 days in 1956, the USIS was there with its film cameras to record the royal ceremony.
7. The Commercial of the Monk Coin for 25th Buddhist Century Anniversary/โฆษณาพระเครื่องฉลอง ๒๕ พุทธศตวรรษ, 1957/4.52 min. – Commemorative coins were minted in observance of the 25th Buddhist century anniversary, which the government aimed to use to raise funds to build the massive "Buddhist Vatican" called Phutthamonthon, near Salaya, Nakhon Pathom.
8. Ta-mone Prai/ทะโมนไพร, 1959/42 min. – King Kong has a starring role this an artifact from a lost era of regional cinema. It was made by a filmmaker in Narathiwat and screened only there and in nearby southern provinces. “Only a few of these films survive,” Sanchai says, adding that the complete movie was 50 minutes but one reel was damaged, leaving just 42 minutes of the tale of triangular romance and a giant ape.
9. Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat Performing the Duty for His Nation as Head of Government and Military Commander Until He Fell Ill and Died/การปฏิบัติหน้าที่เพื่อประเทศชาติในตำแหน่งหัวหน้ารัฐบาลและผู้นำทางทหารจนถึงล้มป่วยและอสัญกรรมของ ฯพณฯ จอมพลสฤษดิ์ ธนะรัชต์, 1963/25.16 min. – Their Majesties the King and Queen make an appearance, visiting the bedridden military ruler, who in an act of devotion, takes His Majesty's hand and places it over his head.
10. Yuthana und Siripon Monch auf Zeit/ยุทธนา –ศิริพร, 1963/44.54 min – Another monkhood ordination is depicted in this travelogue documentary by German documentarian Hans Berthel in collaboration with noted lensman Tae Prakardwuttisan, following a middle-class Bangkok couple as they visit tourist attractions. Tae was made a National Artist in film in 1999.
11. The Spread of Kinship/สายเลือดเดียวกัน, 1966–68/103 min. – Another Cold War relic, made with support of the USIS, this feature-length drama aimed to attack and defame communism.
12. Choo/ชู้, a.k.a. Adulterer, 1972/145 min. – While he's probably best known for his string of teen-oriented comedies, movie-poster-artist-turned-filmmaker Somboonsuk Niyomsiri, a.k.a. Piak Poster, also made many solidly dramatic films, including this erotic island romance. "Although the film was not successful in term of box-office earnings, it was much-acclaimed and became the Thai representative at the 19th Asia-Pacific Film Festival in Singapore, where it was awarded the special award because of its outstandingly unconventional story," Sanchai notes.
13. Wai Tok Kra/วัยตกกระ, 1978/122 min. – Here's a Thai cinema “first” – the first commercial feature to have elderly people as central characters, with “actual senior actors, not young, famous actors in makeup,” Sanchai explains.
14. Ngoa Ba/เงาะป่า, 1980/86.21 min. – Two generations of master filmmakers, Prince Bhanubandhu Yugala and Piak Poster, came together to collaborate on this adaptation of a popular play from the King Rama V era. It's a "Romeo and Juliet" romance taking place in land of the Sakai, an indigenous tribe in the South of Thailand.
15. On the Fringe of Society/ประชาชนนอก, 1981/90 min. – Manop Udomdej directs this flipside view of all that anti-communist propaganda, with the story of community activists who were wrongly persecuted and killed for their socialist leanings. It was funded by the Roman Catholic charity Caritas Thailand.
16. Puen-Paeng/เพื่อนแพง, 1983/131 min. – Auteur director Cherd Songsri's best-regarded film is the tragic romance Plae Kao (The Scar). But I saw Peun-Pang several years ago and liked it better. Sorapong Chatree stars as a poor farmboy in 1930s Siam, who is in love with one sister, but the girl's plucky younger sister likes him more. It was another entry in Cherd's campaign to introduce the concept of "Thainess" to this world, which I think he accomplishes with subtlety and sensitivity.
17. Duay Klao/ด้วยเกล้า a.k.a. The Seed, 1987/107 min. – Like Piak Poster in the 1970s, director Bhandit Rittakol in the 1980s was primarily known for his teen-oriented Boonchu movies. Duay Klao was his attempt at "serious" cinema, and he succeeded. Made in celebration of His Majesty the King's 60th birthday, the drama stars folksinger Jarun Manupetch as a farmer who nurtures a rice crop from a single seed he obtained from the Royal Ploughing Ceremony. A story of drought-hit farmers and opium-growing indigenous people, the movie depicts many of the His Majesty's Royal Projects, including cloud-seeding and crop replacement. The movie had a brief revival run in 2006 to celebrate the King's 60th anniversary of accession.
18. Baan Phi Pob 2/บ้านผีปอบ 2, 1990/91 min. – This is the second entry in a crazily popular ghost comedy franchise, which for many Thais are the films that defined the '90s. The films all involve hayseed villagers endlessly running around and screaming and they tried to escape the gut-stabbing ghost-granny Pob Yip, portrayed by Natthinee Sittisaman.
19. 6ixtynin9/เรื่องตลก 69 (Ruang Talok 69), 1999/115 min. – With an iconic poster that features actress Lalida Panyopas pointing a gun into her mouth, I'm not sure Ruang Talok 69 would fly in today's squeamishly conservative and politically correct Thai culture. Directed by Pen-ek Ratanaruang, the biting black comedy is about a desperate jobless woman who comes across an instant-noodle box full of cash outside her apartment. She then haplessly racks up a body count as various thugs try to retrieve the loot.
20. Bang Rajan/บางระจัน, 2000/118 min. – Produced by Film Bangkok, this was one of the first Thai titles to make global impact during the "new wave" period of the late '90s and early 2000s. Thanit Jitnukul directs the blood-soaked tale of farmers mounting a last-ditch defense against the invading Burmese hoards in 1767.
21. Suriyothai/สุริโยไท, 2001/142 min. – Directed by MC Chatrichalerm Yukol and supported by Her Majesty the Queen, this epic historical drama recounts the life of an Ayutthaya-era queen who famously took up arms and rode an elephant into battle, and perished in defense of her king. A box office hit that was only recently unseated from the top spot by Pee Mak Phra Khanong, Suriyothai served as the prequel and template for Chatrichalerm's six-film Naresuan saga.
22. Mekhong Full Moon Party/15 ค่ำเดือน 11 (15 Kham Duean 11), 2002/120 min. – Jira Maligool's charming comedy offers an explanation of the mysterious fireballs that arise from the Mekong River during the annual Full Moon Festival in Nong Khai. While scientists and various experts offer their theories on the phenomenon, there's a local boy and a monk who know the truth.
23. Ong-Bak/องค์บาก , 2003/104 min. – Directed by Prachya Pinkaew, this is the definitive showcase of the abilities of martial-arts star Tony Jaa and the innovative choreography of Jaa's former mentor Panna Rittikrai, who passed away last year.
24. Shutter/ชัตเตอร์ กดติดวิญญาณ, 2004/92 min. – Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom wrote and directed this thriller, which is based on the notion of ghostly images turning up in photos, and has Ananda Everingham as a lensman who is haunted and slowly goes insane. It was one of the first Thai films to get the Hollywood remake treatment.
25. The Love of Siam/รักแห่งสยาม, 2007/171 min. – Widely acclaimed and winner of dozens of awards, this was the hit that brought gay romance to the Thai mainstream. It was a breakthrough for director Chookiat Sakveerakul, as well as the film’s stars, leading man Mario Maurer, actor-musician Witwisit Hiranyawongkul and the August band.

(Adapted from an article in The Nation)

The Love of Siam

Related posts:

• 2011 Registry of Films as National Heritage
• 2012 Registry of Films as National Heritage
• 2013 Registry of Films as National Heritage
• 2014 Registry of Films as National Heritage

Teacher's Diary chalked up for the Oscars

The sweet, sentimental romance The Teacher's Diary
(คิดถึงวิทยา, Kid Tueng Wittaya) has been submitted as Thailand's entry to the 87th Academy Awards, the Federation of National Film Associations of Thailand has announced.

Directed by Nithiwat Tharatorn, the comedy-drama follows the slowly intertwining stories of two lonely teachers, a young woman and a young man, who are posted to the same rural school a year apart. Sukrit "Bie" Wisetkaew is a bumbling-but-enthusiastic ex-jock who is assigned to the remote floating schoolhouse. Cut off from such modern conveniences as electricity and telephone service, Song takes to reading an illustrated diary left by his predecessor Ann, and he slowly falls in love with her. Song later moves on, and when the headstrong and opinionated Ann (Chermarn "Ploy" Boonyasak) returns to her old post, she finds the battered diary has been expanded upon, and she develops feelings for Song, even though the two have never met.

Released in March by the GTH studio, The Teacher's Diary was a hit at the box office, and was the No. 1 film for two weeks with earnings of more than $3 million.

The 21st Thai entry into the Oscars' foreign-language division, The Teacher's Diary follows last year's submission, the thriller Countdown, which was also from GTH. Other Oscar submissions from GTH include 2009's Best of Times by Youngyooth Thongkonthun and 2005's The Tin Mine by Jira Maligool.

Thailand began submitting Oscar hopefuls in 1985, intermittingly at first, but annually from 1997, with entries by such names as MC Chatrichalerm Yukol, Bhandit Rittakol, Pen-ek Ratanaruang and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. So far, none have made the final short list of nominees.

Update: The Nation's Soopsip column has more background on the choice. Tang Wong would have been the first choice, but it was released just two days too early for next year's Oscars (it should have been chosen last year, I think). Other contenders were Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy and The Last Executioner. They garnered votes of 4-3, while Teacher's Diary got a 5-2 vote from the Federation committee.

Review: The Teacher's Diary (Kid Tueng Wittaya)

• Directed by Nithiwat Tharatorn
• Starring Chermarn Boonyasak, Sukrit Wisetkaew
• Released in Thai cinemas on March 20, 2014; rated G
• Wise Kwai's rating: 4/5

Toeing a fine line between sweetness and mawkishness, the sentimental GTH romance The Teacher's Diary (คิดถึงวิทยา, Kid Tueng Wittaya) mostly sticks to that line thanks to a fairly tight script, top-notch technical work, a memorable location and, of course, appealing performances by two fine lead actors.

Directed by one of GTH's "Fan Chan six", Nithiwat Tharatorn (Season's Change, Dear Galileo), the comedy-drama follows the stories of two lonely teachers, a woman and a man, who are posted to the same rural school a year apart. The setting is on a houseboat in the middle of a lake up in the mountains of Chiang Mai. Stuck out the boonies, with no electricity, phone service or Internet, one of the teachers turns to keeping an illustrated diary, pouring her thoughts and frustrations into it. When she transfers to another school, she leaves the diary behind. The well-worn notebook is then found by the young man who takes up the rural post. He reads the diary, falls in love with the writer and writes some of his own things in it. After the guy leaves, the woman resumes her former position and finds what he has written, and, having heard a few things about him, she also starts to fall in love, even though the two have never met.

Country schoolteacher dramas are a time-honored subgenre of Thai cinema. They used to be more frequent in the 1970s and '80s, when filmmakers tackled social problems. The setting is the same, thanks to that stunning lake with no cellphone service, so The Teacher's Diary is able to recall the feel of the classic old films while blending in bits of contemporary society. But the issues are more personal, detailing the growth of two young characters who rise to a challenge and accomplish more than they ever thought they would.

The Teacher's Diary also captures the spirit of another GTH film, The Tin Mine (มหา'ลัย เหมืองแร่, Maha'lai Muang Rae), about a college dropout learning life lessons at a Phuket mining outpost in the 1950s. The ramshackle little floating school in Teacher's Diary reminded me of the massive dredge GTH built as the centerpiece for The Tin Mine. Jira Maligool, director of the 2005 film, is a producer of Teacher's Dairy and he helped shape the project. Just like the dredge and jungle setting of The Tin Mine, the ragged diary and the floating schoolhouse of Teacher's Diary become strong icons to build a story upon.

"Ploy" Chermarn Boonyasak is Ann, and totally convincing as a stubborn young woman who butts heads with the school district's principal after she gets a small tattoo of three little stars on her wrist. After she refuses to have the tat removed, Ann is assigned to the tiny elementary school on the houseboat. There, her animated style of teaching and informal hipster wardrobe endear her to the half dozen or so impossibly cute students, all children of fishermen.

Ann's story unfolds in parallel to that of Song – No. 2 – a washed-up former Thai national-team wrestler who compensates for his lunkheadedness with sheer enthusiasm. But exuberance isn't enough, so he is assigned to the district's lowest post – the houseboat school. He arrives to find the place empty, Ann having moved on and no schoolchildren around.

Sukrit “Bie" Wisetkaew makes his much-touted big-screen debut as the lovable goofball Song. A runner-up on the Exact/GMM Grammy TV talent show "The Star" eight years ago, he's dropped the show's title from his nickname, but is probably the best-known of its discoveries, having performed on TV and stage and become much-sought-after for product endorsements and appearances. In addition to movies, the singer-actor is even being groomed for a role on Broadway.

Of the two teachers, Ann adapts the easiest to life at the lake school. When there's a crisis, she jumps right in to save the day, even though she can barely swim. (Indeed, Ploy had to take swimming lessons and overcome her fear of water for the role.) Song has a rougher time. On his first outing in the school's boat, he breaks his arm when he engages the longtail motor. Ann is the better teacher – smarter and more skilled. Song has to work out the algebra problems in private before presenting them to the kids. But Song's dedication is heartwarming. He faces his own crisis, and rebuilds everything, even the diary itself. He tracks down a former student and persuades the boy to return to his studies. Without Song, the school would likely not be afloat.

Outside of school, Ann and Song are in unhappy relationships. Song's girlfriend takes up with another guy, and Ann's boyfriend is a controlling jerk. It's the stringing along of whether Song and Ann will ever meet that keeps the movie going but also starts to wear thin as the 90-minute mark passes. It seems natural that Ann and Song would connect through the diary and fall for each other, but various circumstances, missed connections and a missing tattoo keep that pairing something that happens only in dreams.

Of course this is a GTH movie, which are all so very happy and uplifting, even if they are depressing psychological horrors. So, well, you know ...

Related posts:

• GTH deals Teacher's Diary, Laddaland in Hong Kong

Five Star establishes Kiat-Charoen Iamphungporn Foundation

Five Star Production, one of Thailand's oldest movie studios, has a launched a new foundation named after its late founders, the Kiat-Charoen Iamphungporn Foundation, that will be devoted to the education of new filmmaking talents.

Film Business Asia has more details:

Headed by Saicharoon Iamphungporn, who serves as president, the foundation is well supported by the industry with a seven-member committee and 24 consultants consisting of exhibitors, directors, producers, post production houses and animation companies.

To nurture new talents, the foundation will offer classes conducted by top Thai filmmakers. The first class is on scriptwriting which will be held on eight weekends in January and February 2014. Thirty students – selected from over 500 applicants – will attend.

In addition to Five Star, industry executives from GTH and Phranakorn have kicked in start-up funds.

Instructors will include Five Star alum Pen-ek Ratanaruang, GTH talents Banjong Pisanthanakun and Jira Maligool, indie producers Aditya Assarat and Soros Sukhum ans screenwriter Amraporn Pandinthong.

Please see Film Business Asia for the full story.

Review: Countdown

• Directed by Nattawat Poonpiriya
• Starring Pachara Chirathivat, Patarasaya Krueasuwansiri, Jarinporn Junkiet, David Asavanond
• Released in Thai cinemas on December 20, 2012; rated 18+
• Wise Kwai's rating: 4/5

Three dope-smoking Thai hipsters living in New York City get what's coming to them in the New Year's Eve thriller Countdown (เคาท์ดาวน์), which features a drug pusher named Jesus dealing in retribution.

It's a gritty Rated 18+ story that's a departure of sorts for studio GTH, which usually focuses on feel-good stories involving squeaky clean teens. But there are of course consequences for this unholy trio of party animals, which makes it okay in the eyes of the studio execs and censors.

Director Nattawat Poonpiriya is in his big-studio debut, remaking his 45-minute short that screened as part of the Digital Forum at the Thai Short Film and Video Festival in 2010.

Produced by Jira Maligool, the expanded story delves more into the motivations and backgrounds of the three hipsters, portrayed by GTH stock-company players Pachara Chirathivat, Patarasaya Krueasuwansiri and Jarinporn Junkiet. David Asavanond reprises his role from the original short, back in the long hair and goatee for his indelible performance as the unhinged Jesus ("that's Hay-Seuss, genius").

Exterior shots establish that the story is set in the Big Apple, but most of the action takes place in the confines of an apartment, so it really could be anywhere – maybe even Bangkok.

Patchara is Jack, a feckless rich kid who is supposed to be enrolled in a university. His short-haired girlfriend is Bee (Jarinporn), a new arrival in the city who is there for mysterious circumstances. They share an apartment with the floosie Pam (Peak Patarasaya) and her little Pomeranian. She's the only real student among them, studying fashion design, but is having problems of her own.

It's New Year's Eve, and Jack wants to throw a party. His usual dealer, a fellow Thai who lives downstairs, is getting out of the business. But, conveniently, the weed guy's source has a business card. It's been torn up, but Jack manages to piece most of it back together.

Just before the stroke of midnight, Jesus arrives. The deal is quickly done, but the dealer is one of those talkative guys who wants to linger. His animated manner of conversation quickly grows old and Jack tries to pay him and get him to leave. But Jesus has other plans, and he pulls out a Bible. This causes hesitation from the three Thais until he opens it up to reveal a hollowed-out space filled with specially treated marijuana joints.

Tripping out on Sherm, Jack brings out a nail gun he acquired earlier in the evening, and uses it for target practice. The proceedings then turn increasingly hellish, with the devilish Jesus cornering the three in their bathroom and making them confess their sins. Not even the dog is safe. Maybe Jesus really is Christ. He knows so much, including how to speak fluent Thai. That nail gun comes back into play, just because the symbolism is too obvious to ignore.

There are also allusions to a recent high-profile traffic-death case from the Thai press.

And there was a good place to end the movie on an atypical dark note, with a karmic lesson learned once and for all.

But in typical GTH fashion, the punch is pulled, the sun shines and an indie-rock soundtrack plays to make sure movie-goers leave with smiles on their faces.

Related posts:

• Jesus is a drug dealer in GTH's Countdown

Review: Seven Something

• Directed by Paween Purijitpanya, Adisorn Trisirikasem, Jira Maligool
• Starring Jirayu La-ongmanee, Suthata Udomsilp, Sunny Suwanmethanon and Cris Horwang, Nichkhun Horvejkul, Sukwan Bulakul, Panissara Phimpru
• Released in Thai cinemas on July 26, 2012; rated G
• Wise Kwai's rating: 4/5

It's been eight years since since production companies GMM Pictures, Tai Entertainment and Hub Ho Hin merged to form the GTH studio, but for reasons of superstitious love of auspicious numbers and a slick marketing gimmick, they are celebrating seven years this year with the release of Seven Something  (รัก 7 ปี ดี 7 หน, Rak Jet Pee Dee Jet Hon), a three-segment romance.

It's very much in the spirit of past GTH efforts, featuring directors and stars who've played parts in the studio's successes. They are the familiar GTH stories of comfortable middle- and upper-class urban Thai existence, dealing with three stages of life and love. All have something or other to do with numbers that can be multiplied by seven.

The first part, 14 Likes, marks a departure for director Paween Purijitpanya, who's been doing horror for GTH, like Body #19 and segments in the Phobia movies. But Paween's cartoonish hyper-stylistic sensibilities perfectly fit this story of teen romance in this age of the Internet and social networks. It's actually a bit of a psycho-drama, examining the peculiar habit of constantly snapping self-portrait phone-cam photos and oversharing on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc.

Jirayu La-ongmanee from SuckSeed and Suthata Udomsilp from Laddaland are teenage lovers. Their relationship starts out cute with the schoolyard gossip about the couple playing in dialogue recorded over the school bus scene from the 2003 classic childhood romance Fan Chan – the first movie the three companies that formed GTH collaborated on.

As the kids court, the boy's obsession with recording the entire proceedings becomes problematic when he uses his tricked-out iPhone to make a video of his sweetheart during an outing in the park. She thinks the short film was made just for her, and she's disappointed to find he's shared it with everyone. Later, a personal chat and ukulele performance she gives him on Skype is recorded and shared. After she gets mad, he tries to make it private, but it's too late. The relationship hits a firewall.

Even then, the kid can't stop with the Internet, taking to the popular Pantip.com Web forum to share his feelings about the breakup, and then finally recording a tearful apology and of course sharing it with everyone.

Adisorn Trisirikasem directs the second part, 21/28, which covers a celebrity couple, Sunny Suwanmethanon from Dear Dakanda and Cris Horwang from Bangkok Traffic Love Story. This segment has plenty of in-jokes and references to past GTH films as it tells the story of a 21-year-old actor and actress who become hitched while making a romantic comedy called Sea You. Afterward, they had a very ugly, very public break-up. Now, at age 28, with her value as a starlet quickly diminishing, the actress Mam tracks down her old co-star boyfriend Jon in hopes of getting him on board for a sequel, Sea You Again.

It's a sharp commentary on the state of youth-obssessed showbiz in which still-attractive, still-talented stars find their opportunities drying up before they even hit 30.

The segment also offers plenty of eye-candy, thanks to it being filmed among the colorful marine critters at Siam Ocean World, where Sunny's character has grown a pot belly even though he's working as scuba diver for the crowds of schoolkids. Cris turns up to plead with him through the aquarium glass while Sunny remains stoic behind his diver's mask.

The final segment in this 2.5-hour extravaganza marks the return of studio co-founder Jira Maligool to the director's chair for the first time since his infamous 2005 flop, the historical coming-of-age drama The Tin Mine.

His story about marathon runners, 42.195, marks a return to form more in keeping with his simpler and critically acclaimed Mekhong Full Moon Party, which was entertaining even though it was heavy on spiritual and philosphical methaphors.

Here, running a marathon is a new beginning for a 42-year-old widowed newscaster, portrayed by real-life veteran news anchor Sukquan Bulakul in her debut as an actor.

Still in mourning over the husband she lost to an airliner crash, she is strolling in Lumpini Park when she is literally knocked head over heels by a young runner, 20 years her junior. He's played by Nichkhun Horvejkul, the Thai guy in the immensely popular South Korean boyband 2PM. He's also making his debut as an actor.

The two form an odd but heartfelt friendship as they support each other in training for the Bangkok marathon and preparing themselves for hitting that physical and mental "wall" at some point during the race.

Along the way, there are plenty of fun cameos from regular GTH stars and bit-part players, too many to mention. The most prominent is "Opal" Panissara Pimpru, who got her start in GTH films playing the saucy comic relief character and is today a popular TV presenter and personality. Here, she's the supportive best friend of Suquan's character in the marathon segment. Chaleumpol "Jack Fan Chan" Tikumpornteerawong, who can be counted on for cameos in most GTH movies, turns up outside of the Fan Chan clip as himself, hosting a movie-awards show and getting punched out. The best is saved for last, with 80-something actor-director Somboonsuk "Piak Poster" Niyomsiri from last year's hit The Billionaire seen triumphantly crossing the marathon finish line.

The endings of each segment tend toward sadness, bittersweetness or ambiguity, but the producers still send everyone out of the cinema with big smiles on their faces, thanks to a closing-credits sequence in which the entire cast and all the participating extras shimmy and shake around a big birthday cake as peppy pop music plays.

Related posts:

• GTH says happy birthday to itself with Seven Something

GTH says happy birthday to itself with Seven Something

Nearly 10 years have passed since production companies GMM Pictures, Tai Entertainment and Hub Ho Hin collaborated on the now-classic hit childhood romance Fan Chan. The companies formally merged in 2004, forming a movie-making machine that's churned out a solid string of hits, many of which are critically acclaimed.

Plans to mark the studio's auspicious seventh anniversary have been in the works for a long time and were due to be held last year but for one reason or another things were delayed, and it's only just now they are getting around to having the big party.

The Nation has more on that as well as other details about how GTH makes its movies.

The special film marking the seventh anniversary is Seven Something (รัก 7 ปี ดี 7 หน, Rak Jet Pee Dee Jet Hon) a three-segment drama that looks at the stages of life at various seven-year cycles.

The first part, directed by Paween Purijitpanya, and starring Jirayu La-ongmanee and Suthata Udomsilp is about romance at the age of 14.

Adisorn Trisirikasem directs the second part, which covers a celebrity couple (Sunny Suwanmethanon and Cris Horwang) breaking up when they are 21 and reuniting at age 28.

Jira Maligool directs the third part, which features boyband star Nichkhun Horvejkul and newscaster Sukwan Bulakul in a story about a female marathon runner going through a crisis at age 42.

Most of the cast and crew have all been a major part of GTH's success.

Director Paween did the well-regarded horror thriller Body #19 and also had a hand in the hit horror compilations Phobia and Phobia 2. His segment in Seven Something, called 14, marks a departure for him as he makes a foray into teen romance.

Young actor Jirayu was in last year's hit rock 'n' roll romance SuckSeed while actress Suthata was in another big GTH hit from last year, the psychological thriller Laddaland.

Adisorn is one of the six directors of Fan Chan and also directed and co-wrote the hit romance Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story. His segment, 21/28 reunites him with his BT(L)S leading lady Cris Horwang, who co-stars with Sunny, the star of the big GTH hit romance Dear Dakanda.

And Jira, a co-founder of the studio, marks his return to directing for the first time since 2005's historical drama The Tin Mine.

His segment, 42.195, about marathon runners, has a pair of acting newcomers – veteran newscaster Sukwan Bulakul and singer Nichkhun Horvejkul. Despite the presence of many big stars in the movie, it's been the popular Nichkhun – a member of the South Korean boyband 2PM – who's been getting the most attention from fans, the media and promoters at the studio. However, a drunken-driving arrest will likely mean further promotional appearances by Nichkhun on behalf of the film will be curtailed.

There will also be cameos and supporting appearances by other GTH stars. Among them is Panissara "Opal" Phimpru, who's been the saucy comic-relief character in several GTH films, most notably Dear Dakanda. Show's moved on from acting in films and is now a popular TV personality and hostess of special events.

There's an international version of the trailer, embedded below.

Review: Laddaland

• Directed by Sophon Sakdaphisit
• Starring Saharat Sangkapreechat, Piyathida Woramuksik, Sutadta Udomsil, Atipit Chutiwatkajornchai
• Released in Thai cinemas on April 28, 2011; rated 18+
• Wise Kwai's rating: 4/5

Family dysfunction and ghosts combine for genuine terror in Laddaland (ลัดดาแลนด์, a.k.a. The Lost Home), an intense, dread-filled drama about a father struggling to keep his family together in a haunted housing development.

It's the second feature directed by Sophon Sakdaphisit, who previously co-wrote the hit GTH horror thrillers Shutter and Alone and made his debut with the haunted-film flick Coming Soon. The tale is loosely based on fact – producer Jira Maligool gave Sophon the idea, telling him about a haunted theme park in Chiang Mai, and the story was shifted to the housing estate.

Saharat Sangkapreecha stars as a dad determined to make his family happy. He's just moved to a housing estate in Chiang Mai, where he's taken a new job. Dad lovingly prepares for the arrival of his family, setting up all the furniture and preparing bedrooms for his young son and teenage daughter. After pouring over his wedding-photo albums, he sits down at the little four-seat dining room table and practices the speech he's going to give his family at their first meal in their new home. Which is kind of creepy from the get-go.

The housing development is one of those suburban gated communities, where row upon row of single-family homes stretch for as far as the eye can see. Each house is the same, with the same green patches of yard and a driveway to park the family station wagon.


It's the American dream, with children scampering in the lawn sprinklers and Golden retrievers playing fetch. Only it's in Thailand, and it doesn't take long before the dream is shattered.

The teenage daughter doesn't like the new house. She misses the grandmother who raised her and her friends in Bangkok. Though she softens a bit when she sees the flowering tree her dad painted on her bedroom wall. But dad doesn't get to give his little speech, because the daughter's BlackBerry rings as they are starting dinner. It's grandma – the mother-in-law who's made life miserable for dad.

Other blots on the family's idyllic existence include the neighbor's intrusive black cat – now there's a subtle omen. The mewling feline leaves a deposit on the lawn. It belongs to an unfriendly neighbor who abuses his wife. No, all is not well behind the walls of these homes.

And then a Burmese maid ends up found murdered in a house down the street, stuffed inside a refrigerator with her face burned off by acid.

And so the suspense builds and hardly lets up. Misdirection, fake jumps, plenty of don't-go-in-there moments and scary soundtrack cues are deftly played. And just what is that air-conditioner's magic eye looking at?

Meanwhile, more and more about the father's background is revealed – a shady, pyramid-scheme sales job, financial pressures, the ungrateful, rebellious daughter, jealousy about his wife's former boss and that darn, disapproving mother-in-law.

It's enough to make a man crack and go out and buy a gun. Which he does. And the dread edges a notch higher.

Mother's feeling the pressure too. It's those pesky ghosts. And when the little boy swears up and down he was playing with one of them, mother doesn't believe him. And the back and forth between the two – "you're lying", "I'm not lying", "you're lying", "I'm not lying" – escalates to the point that mom is smacking the kid around and bringing the audience to the point of tears.

More than a truly scary ghost thriller, Laddaland is a terrifying picture of family dysfunction, reminiscent of Tokyo Sonata in more than a few notes, with a bit of Poltergeist thrown in. Even a bit of Shutter is recalled, thanks to the cat-cam around the black kitty's neck.



Related posts:

• Visit Laddaland, home of ghosts and Sophon Sakdaphisit

Meet Visute Poolvoralaks, the hitmaker

In contemporary Thai cinema, Visute Poolvoralaks has been a pivotal figure. Hailing from a family long involved in the movie business, Visute was at the forefront of the Thai New Wave or New Thai Cinema movement of the late 1990s and early 2000s, producing the first hits of that era. As the studio executive of GTH, he oversaw the 2004 horror hit Shutter, which went on to be remade in Hollywood.

He's kept a firm hand on GTH's slickly produced horror thrillers and teen-oriented romances, but it wasn't until his studio's newest film, the horror omnibus Phobia 2 (Haa Phrang) that he actually sat in the director's chair.

Daily Xpress looks at how it came to be that Visute would be calling the shots on his short, and the Bangkok Post's Kong Rithdee has a more lengthy look back at the man's long and storied career.

Daily Xpress' Parinyaporn Pajee reports that Visute actually became the director on the short called Ward after its original director -- Yongyoot Thongkongtoon, who swore up and down after the the first 4bia he wouldn't direct another horror movie -- was sidelined after being seriously injured in a car crash during the production of his romance Best of Times. Production needed to start on Phobia 2 -- scheduled for release on the numerologically auspicious date of September 9, 2009, so the other GTH directors begged Visute to step in.

When I started, I really wanted to be a director. Now, at 51, that feeling has evaporated so when I was first asked to direct a segment, my first answer was no," he says.

[...]

But he admits the experience taught him a valuable lesson about what his directors go through on the set. He says that while directing is not difficult, it is depressing to have to work to a schedule.

"Afterwards I asked my filmmakers if being a director could be described as happy work," he says.

"The truth is exactly as [producer-director Jira Maligool] has told me time and time again: if we want perfection, we need to invest time and money. I don't know whether he had a hidden agenda in making me understand that through this project," says Visute with a laugh.

As the head of Tai Entertainment, Visute produced the first two hits of what Kong Rithdee calls the New Thai Cinema movement of the late 1990s, the 1997 teenage gangster movie Dang Bireley's and the Young Gangsters and 1999's now-classic ghost thriller Nang Nak, both directed by Nonzee Nimibutr and scripted by Wisit Sasanatieng. The two films were huge hits, pulled the Thai film industry out of a slump and led to the start of Thai films being marketed overseas.

His other hits have included Yongyoot's gay volleyball comedy Iron Ladies (Satree Lek), which became an international hit and set the tone for the katoey comedies of today. Then there was 2003's sweet childhood tale Fan Chan, a sleeper Thai box-office hit that was helmed by six young directors -- Vitcha Gojiew, Songyos Sugmakanan, Nithiwat Tharathorn, Witthaya Thongyooyong, Adisorn Trisirikasem, Komgrit Treewimol -- who have all gone on to become bankable names, or at least mainstays, in the business. The movie was a co-production by Tai Entertainment, GMM Pictures and Jira Maligool's Hub-Ho-Hin, and the three companies merged into GTH in 2004 to make more hit movies, including the horror hits Shutter, Dorm, Alone, Body #19 and 4bia.

Kong looks at Visute's marketing acumen in a long profile piece in Friday's Bangkok Post. Here's an excerpt:

It's rumoured he can judge if a movie will become a hit or not by looking at the poster (he said that's an unfounded exaggeration), or from the title (that's more like it). In his career [...] Visute has also cultivated his aura as a strict, confident producer who often ''finalised'' movies for other directors, meaning using his authority to edit a work-in-progress, sometimes to the delight, sometimes not, of his colleagues.

We could say Visute came to the trade with good odds: His is a movie clan. In the pre-multiplex days of the 1960s, the Poolvoraluks family operated a number of cinema houses in downtown Bangkok and Thon Buri, like Sri Talad Plu near Tha Phra, [the old] Century near the Victory Monument, Petchrama and Metro on Phetchaburi Road, and the popular Mackenna near Pathumwan intersection. All of them are now gone, but still the movie bug has proven stubborn. Today, as Visute manages one of Thailand's top studios, his cousin, Wicha Poolvoraluks, is the chairman of Major Cineplex Group Plc, the country's largest cinema chain.

Naturally Visute spent his childhood running around his father's cinemas. ''I could watch a film as many times as I wanted,'' he recalls, not proudly, but rather matter-of-factly.

''I saw all the American films and Thai films. That was the 1970s, and we had films by Thai directors like MC Chatrichalerm Yukol, Piak Poster, Euthana Mukdasanit, Kamthorn Tapkallai.

''Maybe those years formed my basic understanding that Thai audience wanted their movies to be entertain ment and nothing else. That still hasn't changed today.''

Read the whole article for more on the man's long career.

Earlier this year, the Bangkok Critics' Assembly gave Visute the Lifetime Achievement Award. It's a well-deserved honor and good to see it being handed to him while he's still at the top of his game.

Mini-fest showcases films set in southern Thailand

Hard-core Southeast Asian film enthusiasts will be spoiled for choice this weekend in Bangkok. Not only is the Lav Diaz retrospective continuing, there's a mix of old classics and contemporary Thai features being shown at Paragon Cineplex in "Lae Nung … Long Tai", featuring 10 films made in southern Thailand.

Oldies include 1969's Koh Sawad Hat Sawan (เกาะสวาทหาดสวรรค์, Paradise Island, 1972's Choo (ชู้, The Adulterer) and Euthana Mukdasanit's 1985 classic Butterfly and Flowers (ผีเสื้อและดอกไม้, Peesua lae dokma).

Even among the newer films, there are rarely shown rarities, like Nonzee Nimibutr's sweet 2003 drama OK Baytong. It hit the festival circuit for about a year and was never heard from again, thanks to no English-friendly DVD release.

There is also the historical disaster drama Talumphuk, which I didn't see when it was in cinemas in 2002. And there's a chance to revisit The Tin Mine (มหา'ลัย เหมืองแร่, Maha'lai muang rae), Jira Maligool's lush 2005 historical drama that won awards but washed out at the box office.

How about Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Invisible Waves? Anyone? Well, I liked it.

And, do you want to see the big-screen debut of star Ananda Everingham? It's Anda Gap Fah Sai (อันดากับฟ้าใส, Anda and Fah Sai), a 1997 coming-of-age romantic drama.

Here's the complete schedule:

Friday, August 7

• 17.00, Koh Sawad Hat Sawan (Paradise Island) – This 1969 musical romantic romp stars Sombat Methanee and Aranya Namwong as rival rich-kid coconut plantation farmers. It was shot on Koh Samui long before the arrival of spa resorts, boutique hotels, beer bars and hypermarket chains.
• 20.00, Peesua Lae Dokmai (Butterfly and Flowers) – Directed by Euthana Mukdasanit, this 1985 movie is considered a classic and reflects life in a peaceful Buddhist-Muslim society in a small border town.

Saturday, August 8

• 12.15, Choo (The Adulterer) – This 1972 drama by Piak Poster is about a hermit fisherman (Manop Assawathep) rescuing a young woman and then getting involved in a love triangle. Krung Srivilai also stars.
• 15.00, Yuwachon Taharn Pid Term Pai Rob (Boys Will Be Boys) – Based on a true story of Thai youngsters who were recruited by the Thai military in World War II, Euthana Mukdasanit’s 2000 drama looks at what happened when the Japanese army invaded Chumphon.
• 17.30, OK Baytong – Nonzee Nimibutr’s 2003 sometimes comic drama tells the story of a young man who leaves the monkhood for the first time since childhood to take care of his Muslim niece in a town on the Malaysian border after his sister is killed in a terrorist bombing.
• 20.00 Anda Kab Fah Sai (Anda and Fah Sai) – Ananda Everingham made his big-screen debut in this coming-of-age romantic drama as a young diver in the Andaman. Sinjai Plengpanich and Pongpat Wachirabunjong also star.

Sunday, August 9

• 12.15, Talumphuk – This 2002 disaster drama is set in Nakhon Si Thammarat in 1962 when Tropical Storm Harriet struck, destroying all but five houses in a village of 4,000 in Laem Talumphuk..
• 15.00, Maha’lai Muang Rae (The Tin Mine) – Based on the memoirs of writer Archin Panjabhan, Jira Malikool’s historical drama is about a young engineering student who leaves university to work in a tin mine in the Phuket jungle in the 1950s.
• 17.30, Kam Pipaksa Khong Mahasamut (Invisible Waves) – Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s wryly comic 2006 thriller is about a Japanese chef (Tadanobu Asano) who flees from Macau to Phuket after committing a murder.
• 20.00 Wonderful Town - Indie director Aditya Assarat’s award-winning, critically acclaimed romantic drama is set in isolated Takua Pha, Phang Nga, where scars of the tsunami still linger.

The event is organized by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the Film Archive and the Thai Film Foundation. Admission is free. Pick up your ticket either at the cinema or the Living Gallery in Area 2 on Siam Paragon’s third floor one hour before showtime. Call ( 080) 557 9709, (081) 697 5976, and (02) 800 2716.

(Cross-published at Bangkok Cinema Scene)

GTH directors' student films compiled in Young Dek

The student films of 12 directors at GMM Tai Hub have been spooled together into an anthology called Young Dek.

The film-school shorts are by such directors as Jira Maligool (Mekhong Full Moon Party, The Tin Mine), Songyos Sukmakanan (Dorm, Hormones), Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom (Shutter, Alone), Paween Purijitpanya (Body #19), Witthaya Thongyooyong (The Possible) and Adisorn Trisirikasem (Lucky Loser).

Daily Xpress had a short story about Young Dek earlier this week. Here's a bit of it:

Jira Maligool says he wants to travel back in time with his director pals and relive the short films they made in college. Like most other student films, their movies were neither complicated nor beautiful.

But they should be an inspiration to youngsters to start their own projects. “They’ll say to themselves, ‘if these directors made these films, then we can do it too’,” says Jira.

The shorts include Jira’s Nang San Mano Sa-re (1981), Adisorn’s Wan Pak Ti Rak Wun (1996), Paween’s Antiseptic (1998), Songyos’ Dor Dek Chor Chang (2002) and Wittaya’s Raan Nai Wattana (1996).

Young Dek will be shown at 7pm on Saturday, January 10 at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld in Bangkok in celebration of National Children’s Day. It's a benefit screening. Students get in free, but admission is 500 baht for everyone else, with proceeds going to help assistant director Ake Panyasri, who’s taking a year’s medical leave.

From Seasons's Change to Galileo

One of the six Fan Chan directors, filmmaker Nithiwat Tharatorn is ready with his next project to follow his solo debut, the 2006 GMM-Tai-Hub teen romance Seasons Change.

Galileo will be a "feel-good movie about two girls travelling in Europe who run afoul of the law", according to an item on Page 7 of today's Daily Xpress. Could be fun. The script is finished and shooting is expected to begin soon, producer Jira Maligool told the newspaper.

Thai films in 2008: Another view

In the year's first issue of Real Time in the Bangkok Post today, Kong Rithdee offered up his own views of the tumultuous past year for Thai cinema and a fearful look at the coming year. Thai cinema is facing the dual threats of a new film act that looks set to further hinder independent filmmakers and a "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" government that will likely embrace the media-muzzling, lawsuit-happy ways of its predecessor before the coup.

There's hope though, says Kong:

It will be interesting to see how daredevil indie filmmakers will react to the control-freak new Film Act - and the rise of the Samak Sundaravej government. It's even possible that at this very moment, someone somewhere is scheming to make a movie berating the new bill. If culture depends on the binary opposites of action and reaction to survive, the tight control and Right-leaning administration might actually foster an environment of new creativity.

Another encouraging development is the new Bangkok Museum of Modern Art near Siam Square. It is expected to open around April and have a space for film screenings. Long in the works, this project was initially doomed during Samak Sundaravej's tenure as governor of Bangkok. He wanted to turn it into a parking lot.

Speaking film screenings, a continuing theme that Kong has hammered on more vigorously this year is the business of the multiplex cinema chains, and their tendency to dictate what viewers "must see", screening the latest Hollywood fluff on every screen and promoting the films on huge displays in the lobbies and billboards around the city. Meanwhile, smaller films and most Thai films barely receive any promotion. Kong suggests a quota system similar to Korea, but I don't like the spirit of a move like that and feel it won't really benefit filmgoers.

Anyway, Kong also offers a look at some of the Thai films to be released in 2008, including many that I missed in my roundup for 2008.

An obvious one is of course, Red Eagle. This is a reboot of a 1950s and '60s Thai film series about a masked crime fighter. Wisit Sasanatieng is directing, with Ananda Everingham starring, which I knew about. Production starts in March. What I was missing was a possible release date. Kong says it might be released as soon as August.

Other big names to watch for:

• Songyos Sugmakanan (Dorm) is making a romantic drama transliterated as Pid Term Yai, Hua Jai Wawoon (literally Anxious Heart of Summer Break).
• Kongdej Jaturanrasamee (Sayew, Midnight My Love) offers something called Kod "about a three-armed man and a big-bosomed girl".
• Jira Maligool - After the disastrous performance of his well-meaning drama The Tin Mine, the producer-director returns with Murder in the Kitchen, based on a short story by MR Kukrit Pramoj.
• Banjong Pisanthanakun, Parkpoom Wongpoom (Shutter, Alone), Yongyuth Thongkongtoon (Iron Ladies, Metrosexual) and Paween Purijitpanya (Body) are making a four-part horror anthology called 4 Prang.
• Pongpat Wachirabunjong - The perennial bad-guy character actor hopes to follow up on the success of his directorial debut Me ... Myself with Happy Birthday, about a girl in a coma.
• Ekachai Uekrongtham - The Beautiful Boxer and Pleasure Factory director directs Ananda Everingham in The Coffin.
• Yuthlert Sippapak - The Buppha Rahtree director is doing Rak Sam Sao, a comedy about a triangular romance between college friends.

There are some independent releases mentioned: Agrarian Utopia, a rice-farming documentary by Urupong Raksasat; Aditya Assarat's Wonderful Town, a romantic drama set in post-tsunami Phuket, and Like Real Love, a new short film by Graceland's Anocha Suwichakornpong (due to premiere at Rotterdam). Also, Pimpaka Towira's political documentary, The Truth be Told, is being touted for a wider release in 2008. It played last year at the inaugural Digital Forum.

Also one to look out for will be The Happiness of Kati, directed by Genwai Thongdeenok, based on the 2006 S.E.A. Write Award-winning novel by Ngarmpun Vejjajiva.

Tin Mine, Midnight My Love take honors from Critics Assembly

The Bangkok Critics Assembly, handed out its awards on Wednesday, giving the Best Film nod to The Tin Mine.

The Nation covered it, and ThaiCinema.org has a complete list of winners and nominees. A word of warning about The Nation's website - it's undergoing a revamp and the archive function may or may not be working.

According to The Nation, The Tin Mine took a movie "triple crown", since it also won awards at the Thailand National Film Awards and another ceremony, the Kom Chad Luek Awards. Anyway, here's the breakdown:

Best Film - The Tin Mine, GTH

• Midnight My Love, Sahamongkol Film
• Dear Dakanda, GTH
• Crying Tigers, Sahamongkol Film
• Ahimsa: Stop to Run, RS Film

Best Director - Kongdej Jaturanrassamee, Midnight My Love

• Kittikorn Leosakun, Ahimsa: Stop to Run
• Komgrit Treewimol, Dear Dakanda
• Jira Maligul, The Tin Mine
• Sananjit Bangsapan, Hitman File

Best Actor - Chatichai Plengphanich, Hitman File

• Boriwat Yootoh, Ahimsa: Stop to Run
• Pongsak Pongsuwan, The Holy Man
• Petchtai Wongkamlao, Midnight My Love
• Amrin Nitipon, Andaman Girl

Best Actress - Woranut Wongsawan, Midnight My Love

• Janet Kiew, Hello Yasothorn
• Napakapa Nakprasit, Art of Devil 2
• Piyada Akkaraseranee, Remaker
• Siraphan Wattanajinda, Dear Dakanda

Best Supporting Actor - Jaran "See Thao" Petjaroen, The Tin Mine

• Theeradanai Suwanhom, Ahimsa: Stop to Run
• Nirut Sirijanya, Hitman File
• Petchtai Wongkamloa, Tom Yum Goong
• Weeraphat Kaensuwan, Beautiful, Wonderful, Perfect

Best Supporting Actress - Lalana Sulawan, Oops, There's Dad

• Panissara Phimpru, Dear Dakanda
• Maneerat Kham-uan, Dear Dakanda
• Sathida Kiewcha-um, Beautiful, Wonderful, Perfect
• Apasiri Nitipon, The Bullet Wives

Best Script - (tie) Midnight My Love and Dear Dakanda

• The Tin Mine
• Art of Devil 2
• Ahimsa, Stop to Run

Best Cinematography - Midnight My Love

Best Editing - Dear Dakanda

Best Score - Midnight My Love

Best Arts Direction - The Tin Mine

HBO Award for Most Popular Movie - Tom Yum Goong

After picking up her award for best actress, Woranut Wongsawan was quoted as saying it was "a gift to my little twins".

"I didn't expect this because all the nominees were so good," she said.

Of his award (repeating a National Film Award win), 44-year-old Chatichai Plengpanich said: "I'm even more excited than when I won the Subhanahongsa because the nominees [at the Bangkok Critics Assembly] are very talented. I'm a Thai-movie lover and I’ve watched most of the [nominated] movies. The nominees were quite tough competitors."

Best Supporting Actor went to 74-year-old Jaran "Seethao Saothong" Petchjaroen for his role in The Tin Mine. Former superstar Lalana Sulawan took the Best Supporting Actress prize for her come back role in Wai Onlawon: Tum+Oh Return, now entitled Oops ... There's Dad – the sequel to the film that made her a star 30 years ago, Wai Onlawon.

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)

Top 5 Thai films of 2005

2005 was a largely unsatisfying year for Thai film. But there were still some good films. Here's my top five.


1. Yam Yasothon

Show me some bright colors, and write in some low-brow gags and I'm all yours. Yam Yasothon did it for me, from its psychedelic production design, to the soundtrack and the overall 1960s retro feel of it all. It was also innovative, I thought, putting the comic relief characters (Mom Jokmok and Janet Khiew) in the forefront of the story, and the handsome lovers as a secondary plot. And when Janet's ugly character (with wart and all) came back from the city with her complexion whitened, her teeth bleached and wearing sexy clothes, Mum's character didn't really want to have anything to do with her (though he eventually came around). This is one I hope gets enough international attention to warrant a DVD release with English subtitles.



2. Midnight My Love

Yeah, okay. I like Mum Jokmok. And I loved his performance in Midnight My Love (Cherm), as a loner taxi driver who falls for a body-massage parlor girl (Woranut Wongsawan). He has a dark past that catches up with him though, and the story goes wildly off the rails. But with some faux vintage film scenes, and some nostalgic Thai country-pop from the past, Midnight My Love did a lot to quench my thirst for classic Thai films of the '60s and '70s. This sleeper of a film was directed by Khongdej Jaturanrassamee, who did the funny and frank Sayew a few years back, which is another Thai film that is often overlooked.



3. Dear Dakanda

A sweet, cute romantic comedy. Not really my cup of tea, but I liked this because, as a reader commented in a recent e-mail, there's more to Dear Dakanda (Puen Sanit) than just being a sweet, cute romantic comedy. Though it is sweet. And cute. And romantic. And a pretty good comedy. But it's also heartbreakingly bittersweet. Watch it and see.



4. The Tiger Blade

In a year when Tony Jaa made a film, featuring jaw-dropping stunt choreography, you'd think that one would be a cinch for one of the best Thai films of the year. Well, the honor has to go the The Tiger Blade, the first feature from start-up Mono Film. It not only also had some awe-inspiring stunts, it had temerity to actually not take itself so damn seriously. Yeah, it's just a pulp action movie. Thing is, the movie itself is in on the joke, so there's a sense of fun, making The Tiger Blade a joy to watch.


5. The Tin Mine

I'd feel bad if I left this off the Top 5 for 2005. I think everyone felt bad for The Tin Mine and director Jira Maligool. It was one of the more anticipated films of the year, had a good-sized budget (for a Thai film), was lovingly crafted, featured stunning locations and costuming. But it was a box-office bomb. Nobody wanted to see this story of Archin Panjabhan, a popular Thai author who wrote short stories about his coming-of-age while working at a tin mine in the southern Thailand jungle in the 1950s. The story meanders, and the film felt overly long, yet it was a thing of beauty. And for that, it was sent to the Academy Awards as a possible nominee, and it received National Film Awards for best picture and best director.


Also worth mentioning

Crying Tigers, Santi Taepanich's documentary about Isaan natives working in Bangkok was flawed because it tried to go in too many directions. It could have maybe focused on just one its three or four subjects. Action fans should check it out for the segments involving stuntman Nate Iron Eagle.



Best film I didn't see

I missed Wai Ounlawon: 30 Years Later, which was stupid since I'd actually caught the screening of Piak Poster's 1976 original. No excuses. I hope it screens again and/or gets a DVD release with English subtitles.



Best DVD releases

First, the Thai Film Foundation gets some high marks for its DVDs of Ratana Pestonji's Country Hotel and the 1941 film, King of the White Elephant. Contact the Thai Film Foundation to order these.

Also three films from the 1970s: Choompae, starring Sombat Methanee; Insee Thong, Mitr Chaibancha's fateful final film; and the romance drama Tone were released on DVD with English subtitles and some generous extras. I don't know the name of the company doing this, but they get high marks, even if they aren't fully restoring the ragged prints. Insee Thong is in especially bad shape. They are available at Boomerang and various other DVD retailers in Bangkok, as well as online from various sources (including HK Flix. While they don't make up for all the films released on DVD in 2005 that omitted the English subtitles, it's a good start.


Biggest disappointment

Following up the best DVD releases, the biggest letdown of the year was all the DVD releases - everything mentioned here except Dear Dakanda, which isn't out yet - that don't have English subtitles. The reason they do this -- from what I've been led to believe -- is so they won't have to pay royalties to the subtitlists, leaving that licensing issue for overseas companies to sort out. It's a bummer, and it seems to be the way things are going to go from now on. Guess I'd better knuckle down and take some Thai lessons.



Worst films

This is a hard one for me, because I luckily steered clear of the horror films, such as Scared and Necromancer that are mentioned by other Thai film buffs as being among the worst. Tom Yum Goong is getting mentioned, though I don't think it was that bad. Not among the best, and not among the worst. I did see one, a comedy called Dumber Heroes, that I didn't find funny at all. I would have thought it would be better, starring Thep Po-Ngam, but it wasn't. I didn't even bother writing a review. And, there was The King Maker, which was awful.