Upcoming Thai film releases for 2008

The new year in Thailand has started off on a sombre note, with the passing of Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana. The sister of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the princess died on Wednesday at age 84.

As part of a 15-day mourning period, government workers have been asked to wear black. Black is de rigueur for television news presenters as well. The palace is observing a 100-day mourning period.

The government has also asked that "merry-making activities" be curtailed. But, this order mainly affects live entertainment and various events - not, apparently, films.

So, opening on January 10 will be the first Thai film of the year, Mum Deaw. What appears to be a family friendly romantic comedy stars a rather nattily dressed Mum Jok Mok, pairing him up with a bratty little boy, as Mum tries to woo a pretty woman.

Looking into the crystal ball that is Pantip.com's Chalermthai movie release calendar, here's a look at what's coming up.

January

Two films will open on January 31: The historical drama First Flight and the supernatural fantasy, Siyama: Village of Warriors. Both are effects-heavy films that have been in production for a long time.

From RS Film, First Flight has been repeatedly delayed for five years! Set in the early 1900s, it deals with the formation of the flying corps that would become the Royal Thai Air Force.

From Mono Film, Siyama: Village of Warriors (poster via 24fps via Deknang) is a time-travel story about some modern-day teens who end up involved in a desperate battle to save a village in ancient Siam against an invasion by an overpowering army. Here is a downloadable trailer (WMV).

Twitch's Todd Brown noted awhile back that the film was already in post-production in July 2006, and that the trailer ignores the time-travel aspect. But as far as the ancient Siamese settings are concerned, the film looks like a passable historical battle yarn, comparable to Bangrajan or possibly even Naresuan II.


February

Chocolate (poster via 24fps) opens on February 7. This is the much-anticipated new film by Ong-Bak/Tom-Yum-Goong director Prachya Pinkaew and action choreographer Panna Rittikrai. Featuring a female protagonist, Chocolate stars 23-year-old Nitcharee Wismitanant as an autistic young woman who displays uncanny Muay Thai and martial arts skills as she goes on the warpath to take revenge against some evil moneylenders.

March

A project with no English or transliterated title that involves Bangrajan director Thanit Jitnukul and a bunch of kids, including Subhanahongsa Award-winning actress Narawan "Grace" Techaratanaprasert opens on March 6. I wonder if this could possibly be Power Kids, which was announced long ago as another project by Prachya Pinkaew?

Nak, an animated adaptation of the Mae Nak Phranakhon story, most memorably recounted in Nonzee Nimibutr's Nang Nak, opens on March 20. Prachya Pinkaew's Ba-Ram-Ewe production house is backing this CGI-animated work by pop singer-songwriter Boyd Kosiyabong's BeBoydCg.

One of the first Hollywood remakes of a Thai film opens in Thailand on March 20. Adapted from 2004's Shutter by Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom, the remake is directed by Masayuki Ochiai and stars Joshua Jackson in Ananda Everingham's role as the young photographer who starts seeing ghosts in his photos. Rachael Taylor co-stars as the guy's wife. Bizarrely, the action takes place in Tokyo, though it involves American characters. Early stills (via Twitch) look good, but I fear something will be lost in translation.

April

The Pang Bros.' remake of their own debut film, Bangkok Dangerous, is due to open in Thailand cinemas sometime in April. Its Stateside release is set for February 17.

Filmed in Bangkok in 2006 as the coup was going on, the new Bangkok Dangerous stars Nicolas Cage as a hitman. In the 1999 original, the main character was a deaf-mute. But you can't have wacky Nicolas Cage cast in a film and not have him speak, can you? So his Thai girlfriend, played by Charlie Yeung, will be deaf. Thai actor Chakrit Yamnam has a supporting role as a local "errand boy".

The argument could be made that this is technically is not a remake of a Thai film, because the Brothers Pang are from Hong Kong. But the 1999 original was made in Thailand, with Thai actors and a Thai crew by Film Bangkok, the now-shuttered Thai production company. Is the first Hollywood remake of a Thai film Bangkok Dangerous or Shutter? I am leaning toward Bangkok Dangerous.

May and beyond

Here is where the Thai film calendar for 2008 starts to get dodgy. There is something involving this opening sometime in May. I hope to find out more.

But the most highly anticipated release listed for May is Nonzee Nimibutr's historical fantasy epic, Queen of Langkasuka. Giant whales, sea gypsies, pirate ships, cannon battles and magical underwater fights figure into this tale, with Ananda Everingham and Dynamite Warrior's Dan Chupong among the stars. Production on Queen started small back around 2005, but has ballooned to a reported US$7.5 million, making it one of the most expensive Thai films yet. A trailer is here, via 24fps.

Which brings me to the third installment in MC Chatrichalerm Yukol's Naresuan series, set for production and release sometime within the year. Will it really happen? Action star Tony Jaa is said to have been cast in a small role in the upcoming Naresuan III.

Tony Jaa is also set to make his directorial debut with Ong Bak 2, also due for release sometime this year. The story has no relation to the first tale about a young country boy who goes to the city looking for his impoverished village's lucky Buddha head. Nor does it have anything to do with a man looking for his elephant. From what I understand, it's more about a young man trying to find himself as he takes a journey that teaches him the skills and inner meaning of martial arts and Thai traditional dance.

Concern has been voiced over future projects for Tony Jaa. Prachya Pinkaew's involvement with Chocolate and Tony's move to direct Ong-Bak 2 himself has caused a rift between the two collaborators, and now another much-vaunted project, Sword, or Daab Atamas, has been cancelled, leaving Tony Jaa with nothing announced after Naresuan, Ong-Bak 2 and the inevitable world tour to promote Ong-Bak 2.

Erap plans his comeback - in film

Ousted by the "People Power" revolution, held under house arrest on corruption charges and and then pardoned last year, former Philippines president Joseph "Erap" Estrada says he is going to make his comeback as an actor, according to news reports.

Like Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Thailand's Sombat Metanee and other politicians, Estrada got his start in film, starring in more than 100 B-movies and action films from the 1950s to the 1980s.

From Wikipedia:

He often played heroes of the downtrodden classes, which gained him the admiration of a lot of the nation's many unschooled and impoverished citizens. This later proved advantageous to his political career.

He says his comeback will be "in the movies only". Agence France-Presse has more:

I was in jail for six years, I don't have money anymore," the former movie action star president and self-confessed womaniser said.

"People are already suffering and crying, we don't need to make them cry some more in a dramatic movie," he said, explaining his choice of a comedy for his comeback.

For more on old-timey Filipino cinema, check out Video 48 and FPJ (solely devoted to another Filipino actor-turned-politician, Fernando Poe, Jr.)

The best of the best of the best, sir!

There are so many "best of" lists around this time of year, it's hard to make sense of it all. So it helps that Mark Bourne at Film.com has compiled The Best of the 'Best of' Lists.

Oh sure, there's a lot of the usual suspects, like No Country for Old Men by the Coen Brothers (there's posters for it hanging at the Lido in Bangkok! It's coming!) and Atonement (also due to hit Bangkok). Among the questions he asks about all these lists: "Who is Apichatpong Weerasethakul and what's all this fuss about Syndromes and a Century?"

Just for fun, I went through the article, and clicked on all the links, just to see what I could find.

At the top of the heap is the list by Kaiju Shakedown's Grady Hendrix, in his day-job as a writer for the New York Sun. Unsurprisingly, he has some Asian films on his Top 10, like Takeshi Miike's Zebraman (No. 10, dare I see it?) and Satoshi Kon's mind-melting Paprika (No. 9). And at No. 5: Dynamite Warrior (one of my Top 5 Thai films of 2006). Says Grady:

Just when you thought an action movie couldn't surprise you, this off-the-wall, Thai concoction by Chalerm Wongpim rides a wooden rocket right up your nose and blows off the top of your skull ... bouncing stunt-people off the burly backs of water buffalo, and featuring an unhealthy obsession with a virgin's menstrual blood, it's a black-magic vs. Muay Thai blowout.

Hendrix' Sun colleague, Nichoas Rapold, listed Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Syndromes and a Century at No. 4 on his Best Movies of 2007. Rapold says:

The director here opens out his magic of memory and desire on a grander scale, across distinct eras in the nation's effort to modernize ... [he] imbues his idiom of long takes and pellucid photography with an irresistibly sunny sense of contemplation. You can feel the love, and the heartache, and for all this, the gentle filmmaker faced blinkered censorship of the film back home.

Syndromes also made the runner-up list of Jeffrey M. Anderson at Combustible Celluloid. And it is mentioned Not Coming to a Theater Near You's Two-Thousand Seven in Review by Leo Goldsmith. Not Coming's Ian Johnston gives it a mention in his review, too, putting it alongside Still Life by Jia Zhang-ke.

Syndromes is No. 1 at Zero for Conduct, with Michael Atkinson describing it as "a dream had by us all, and just as maddening and gorgeous."

Atkinson's No. 1 choice is repeated at IFC, where Syndromes and a Century is also listed at No. 7 by Matt Singer, who writes: "Like all of Weerasethakul's work, this gorgeously shot film is endearingly odd and oddly endearing." Allison Willmore lists it at No. 6, saying "Apichatpong Weerasethakul makes movies like he's never seen one before."

Yes, with the exception of Thailand's cultural watchdogs, it seems there is no end of love for Syndromes and a Century, which played to wide acclaim at film festivals throughout 2006, but opened in theatrical releases in the U.S. and the U.K. in 2007. At home in Thailand, censors wanted to, well, censor it, so the director pulled it from release.

Time Out London's Wally Hammond had it at No. 1, saying:

Apichatpong Weerasethakul offers, among other filmic pleasures, cinema’s sweetest gift, a vision of happiness."

Gosh, that doesn't sound like the type of film that ought to be censored, does it?

Slant's Ed Gonzalez picked Syndromes at No. 8, right below Johnnie To's blistering Exiled. It was also an honorable mention by Nick Schager.

The prestigious Sight & Sound year-end listing (PDF) had Syndromes and a Century nestled between No Country for Old Men and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which got me to thinking: I wonder if Apichatpong could make a western? I think it'd be a blast, perhaps some kind of tale about some cluelessly evil authority figures holding a child hostage, and will only release the kid if they can cut off his arms and legs?

IndieWire's critics' poll has Syndromes at No. 4, below the Coens' No Country, and just ahead of that Romanian abortion drama, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.

Feeling overwhelmed by it all? Well, head on over to Metacritic, which tabulates all the Top 10 lists by all its critics. Here is where you'll find Syndromes listed No. 1 on the list by Newsweek's David Ansen and No. 10 by the Onion AV Club's Scott Tobias (Nathan Rabin reviewed it). Overall at Metacritic, Syndromes has a 71/100 rating.

Meanwhile, over at good, old Rotten Tomatoes, Syndromes is at No. 66 for 2007, with a 87% (Fresh!) rating, based on 38 reviews.

In all, I have to say I'm disappointed that Wisit Sasanatieng's Tears of the Black Tiger, which finally saw a theatrical release in 2007 in the U.S., did not make any of the year-end lists that I've scanned so far here. Not that I blame critics for overlooking it at year's end. After all, the film was made in 2000 and had languished in the vaults of Miramax until it was rescued by Magnolia. It's confusing, I know.

But even more disappointing is that the one place I finally saw it mentioned was at, of all places, Twitch, in An American Film Geek's Bottom 3 for 2007. Worse than 300? Worse than Ocean's Thirteen? Worse than Spider-Man 3? Worse than The Simpsons' Movie? Heartening, though, is an outpouring of comments taking the writer Jim Tudor to task for his choices.

Still thinking about 2007, and that dress

A look back at last year wouldn't be complete without a mention of that dress - the dress that shocked a nation, the dress that Chotiros "Amy" Suriyawong wore to the Subhanahongsa Awards last February.

The ankle length black gown, with a three-inch gap that ran from her chest down to her left hip and a slit down her leg, gave rise to a moral backlash.

"I don't want my actresses to dress that way. We are not a porn production house, and it goes against Thai culture," said producer Somsak Techratanaprasert, president of Sahamongkol Film International, the same company that produced the cheesecake fest, Dangerous Flowers.

Footage of Chotiros was deleted from a then-upcoming film, Suay Samurai (never heard anything about it before or since). Also, Amy was disciplined by Thammasat University, where except for her choice of attire, she was described as an otherwise model student. She was made to read books to the blind and perform other community services.

Aside from that dress, 2007 was the year You Tube was banned in Thailand, cutting off a source of entertainment and Web 2.0 functionality for millions, for nearly five months from around April until the end of August. The source of the ban was a video that was deemed offensive of the monarchy. Service was restored after YouTube and the Thai junta came to an agreement that content that might be offensive to Thai viewers could be filtered. The ban put Thailand's eroding freedoms in the spotlight, especially the head of the agency responsible for the ban, Sitthichai Pokai-udom, chief of the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology. The inept cluelessness of the military regime personified, he didn't see the big deal about the ban. "YouTube is not a very essential website," he said in an interview with the International Herald Tribune. "Is it?"

Then there was the trainwreck that was the 2007 Bangkok International Film Festival. First, the festival's budget was cut, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand broke its contract with US-based Festival Management. Then, the festival had to be postponed from January to July, the reason given was that all screens in multiplex-saturated Bangkok would be devoted to showing King Naresuan. Then the festival pulled its planned opening film, Persepolis, after the Iranian embassy objected to the film. (Happily, Persepolis is scheduled for a run at House cinema in Bangkok in March). The festival itself went off pretty smoothly, if I do say so myself. But all that was overshadowed at year's end, when the bribery scandal broke, in which the owners of Los Angeles-based Festival Management were arrested on accusations they had paid US$1.7 million to the then-"Governor" of the Tourism Authority of Thailand from 2003 through 2006. During the run of the 2007 Bangkok International Film Festival, there was a lot of uncertainty whether the festival would continue. Now it seems pretty certain that it won't.

Another favorite from last year: Thai moviegoers are "uneducated", Ladda Tangsupachai, head of the Cultural Surveillance Department at the Ministry of Culture, told Time magazine. Essentially, Ladda feels, Thai people are not intellectual enough to understand the films of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, which is why Apichatpong's film, Syndromes and a Century, was censored, to protect sensitive Thai viewers. Besides, "nobody goes to see films by Apichatpong, she said. "Thai people want to see comedy. We like a laugh." Anyway, her assertions are echoed by the year-end box-office figures, which featured a majority of stupid comedies in the Top 10. And, with the passage of a ratings system, I think the majority of Thai films will become even stupider as filmmakers tailor their works for the Under 13 crowd to appeal to the widest possible audience.

2007 in Thai cinema: Thai films on DVD

Only one Thai film released on DVD in Thailand bucked the local industry's now-standard practice of omitting English subtitles. And the winner is: Me ... Myself.

I've not actually picked this one up yet to see what the quality is like. I did like the film. Me ... Myself is the story of a transvestite (and presumably gay) cabaret dancer (Ananda Everingham) who gets amnesia and thinks he might be straight. It had a lot of the loopy qualities that I love about Thai cinema. So it's one worth having around.

But I've been disappointed before by Thai DVD releases. I think the last one I bought was The Tiger Blade, and it was riddled with pixellated censorship! Notably, The Tiger Blade was from Mono Film, the same studio that made Me ... Myself.

Worth noting for this year is the release of Wisit Sasanatieng's Tears of the Black Tiger in Region 1 by Magnolia. This is the first release of the complete version of the film since 2000, when it was issued on DVD in Thailand by Digital Right (now out of print). There are other DVD releases out there, but they are the 100-minute "international" version that cuts out some transitional scenes and some funny bits. Another version released in Singapore chopped the violence out! The release by Magnolia was preceded by a limited theatrical run, after the company managed to spring Tears of the Black Tiger from the vaults of Miramax, where it had languished after Harvey Weinstein bought the film, and then found he didn't really like it. Miramax screened a re-edited, happy-ending version of the film at Sundance in 2002 and then shelved it. It's a great save by Magnolia and one of two Thai titles they released this year, the other being the fun Dynamite Warrior. Also it makes for a trifecta year for Wisit: All three of his feature films were released on English-friendly DVD, Citizen Dog early in the year in Hong Kong, and The Unseeable in Singapore.

Most DVDs of Thai films released in Thailand do not have English subtitles, a practice that started about three or four years ago. It's gotten to the point that I hardly bother even looking at the DVDs when they hit the store shelves, because I know I'm going to be disappointed. When I first moved to Thailand in 2001, the English subs were routinely being included. But since then, DVD publishers discovered they could save a lot of money by not having to pay royalty fees to the subtitle writers. And an unintended(?) effect of this move has been to shut down the gray market, online mail-order sales of Thai-film DVDs from Thailand. So international distributors who pick up the films have exclusivity when it comes time to market the film on DVD.

Singapore and Malaysia are now the first places to look for English-friendly DVDs of Thai films. Censorship has been an issue with DVDs from these places in the past, but I don't know if it is still an issue. Hong Kong also picks up a lot of Thai films and puts them out on DVD with English subs. Good resources in this area include MovieExclusive out of Singapore and Yesasia. Take your pick of mail-order site for any of the Western-released Thai DVDs.

Oh, worth mentioning is the Thai Film Foundation, which has released several classic Thai films on DVD. These include Ngern Ngern Ngern, Country Hotel, King of the White Elephant, Dark Heaven and Forever Yours. The DVDs have been available for sale at Thai Film Foundation events, or you can try to e-mail them and arrange a mail-order.

Trouble is, not all Thai films get picked up for international distribution. And sometimes it takes years for a film to make its way overseas for a quality DVD release. And, if a Thai film wasn't a horror film or martial-arts action film starring Tony Jaa, or is not by a director with a fairly large fan base in the West (namely Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Wisit Sasanatieng or Pen-ek Ratanaruang), then it probably won't be released on English-friendly DVD. This leaves out several good dramas and one or two smart comedies that have been made in recent years.

The lesson here is, if you love Thai film but can't speak Thai, then learn to speak Thai. (Note to self.) Or, at the very least, get to the cinemas in Thailand when the film is released and watch it there, because that's the only way you'll get it with subtitles.

Or, hope and pray that a film festival near you will program the film you want to see.


English-friendly Thai DVD Releases in 2007

Here is what is likely an incomplete list of notable Thai DVD releases in the past year:

• 13 Beloved (Singapore)
• Alone (Hong Kong)
• Citizen Dog (Hong Kong)
• Dynamite Warrior (Magnolia, US)
• Invisible Waves (Tartan Video, UK; also available from Singapore and Hong Kong)
• Me ... Myself (Thailand)
• Pern Mang the Haunted Drum (Singapore)
• Tears of the Black Tiger (Magnolia, US; first release of uncut film since OOP 2000 Thai release by Digital Right)
• Tom Yum Goong (aka The Protector, two-disc Ultimate Edition, Dragon Dynasty, US)
• Train of the Dead (Singapore)
• The Unseeable (Singapore)
• The Victim (Tartan Asia Extreme, US)

Coming in 2008: Syndromes and a Century, which was pulled from release in Thailand cinemas over censorship concerns, will be released on DVD on January 15 by Strand Releasing in the US. Order early and order often. Buy one for yourself, and another one or two for your friends.

Top 5 Thai films of 2007

2007 was a strong, eventful year for Thai cinema, with many great films, but also some troublesome developments in terms of the way the government treats films, with more heavy handed censorship, and now a forthcoming ratings system that still includes censorship and banning as part of the mix. Narrowing down the choices to single out the best film has been difficult. But time is running out, so let's get to it.

Syndromes and a Century

Although Apichatpong Weerasethakul's drama was screened worldwide to great acclaim throughout 2006, it finally came home to Thailand this year. It was screened once for the press and then pulled from release. Why? Because censors objected to four scenes: A Buddhist monk playing guitar, two monks playing with a flying machine, some doctors drinking whisky in a hospital break room and a doctor kissing his girlfriend and getting an erection in his trousers. Meanwhile, far more lurid and violent films got a pass. Thai authorities had no good reason to pick on this gentle ode to the director's parents. But, the censorship of the film galvanised the Free Thai Cinema Movement, which formed to call for a change in the way films are treated by the government. The movement has been ignored, however, by conservatives at the top of the Culture Ministry, who were successful in having a new film ratings system passed by the National Legislative Assembly in the body's final hours during the week before the recent general election. The new act, to replace the 1930 Film Act, still contains provisions for authorities to censor and ban films, which filmmakers had fought against.

Ploy

After making a couple of abstract pan-Asian, multi-national productions, auteur Pen-Ek Ratanaruang made a return of sorts to his Thai roots with Ploy, which premiered during the Directors' Fortnight event at the Cannes Film Festival. This drama about a jet-lagged Thai couple holed up in a Bangkok hotel, rehashing their dysfunctional marriage, was still pretty weird. But it was good kind of weird, with some strong performances by an ensemble cast led by Lalita Panyopas, Coca-Cola executive Pornwut Sarasin and newcomer Apinya Sakuljaroensuk, supported by (censored) steamy scenes with Porntip Papanai and Ananda Everingham.

The Truth Be Told: The Cases Against Supinya Klangnarong

Not enough documentaries are made in Thailand, and even fewer dare to take on the contentious topic of politics. But The Truth Be Told dared to dance with the 800-pound gorilla, surveying the tumultuous Thai political events of the past four years, from the Thaksin era to the post-coup military regime. Directed by Pimpaka Towira, and covering the lawsuits against media activist Supinya Klangnarong by the Shin Corporation, The Truth Be Told is a sometimes discomfiting mix of political documentary and art-film aesthetics. But the fact that it was made at all makes this one of the best films of the year.


Muay Thai Chaiya

Director-screenwriter Kongkiat Khomsiri made his solo directorial debut with this hard-hitting, nostalgic crime drama, centred on the underworld of Thai boxing in the 1970s. It featured some great-looking period settings and punches brutal enough to leave blood in your stool, yet was also unabashedly full of misty-eyed romanticism.

The Love of Siam

It's rare that a drama film is made with Thai mainstream audiences in mind. Even more notable is that this one has a controversial, yet sugary sweet romance between two teen boys at its centre, making for a stunning surprise toward the end of the year. Director Chukiat Sakweerakul's film was actually one of two films that dared to confront prejudices and present romance between straight-acting gay male characters, the other being Poj Arnon's rain-drenched crime drama, Bangkok Love Story, about a hitman and his intended target falling in love.

Honorable mentions

The presence of a couple of "important" films edged out a few favourites. Among them is The Legend of King Naresuan Part II: Reclamation of Sovereignty, a tightly paced, action-packed historical epic that is part of MC Chatrichalerm Yukol's Naresuan trilogy. Parts I and II were released this year, with Part III due to start production next year. As King of Fire, Part II is Thailand's submission for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Unlikely to win any awards or receive very much attention is The Sperm, an insane, sharply satirical sci-fi comedy directed by Taweewat Wantha. But The Sperm does have some pretty pertinent things to say about contemporary Thai society. And to that end, there was also Phone Mood, an independent digital drama about women and their phones. Along with The Truth Be Told, Phone Mood was among the works shown at this year's inaugural Digital Forum, an outgrowth of the Thai Short Film and Video Festival - a welcome development on the cinema scene.

Cherd Songsri Retrospective

I was absolutely blown away by Puen Pang, a period countryside drama by Cherd Songsri. The Thai Film Foundation screened five of the late director's films in a special retrospective in September. I was drawn to the retrospective by Cherd's most renowned film, Plae Kao (The Scar), but came away most impressed by Puen Pang, a tightly focused, neatly arcing story of a man (Sorapong Chatree) caught between the love of two sisters. I really wish these films would get a broader release on DVD. Somebody, please call the Criterion Collection and get them working on releasing the works of Cherd Songsri, one of Thailand's true cinematic treasures.

The soundtracks

Soundtrack albums are not routinely released with Thai films, but those few that do hit store shelves are usually worth picking up. I really enjoyed the soundtrack to Final Score, a documentary about schoolboys in their final year of high school, struggling to pass their tests and choose a college. The Thai indie rock from the likes of Modern Dog and Pru lent a nice edge to the film and made it authentic. It was surprising. The big hit for movie soundtracks this year was The Love of Siam, which flew out of the stores. I feel lucky to have obtained a copy. The music - some sugary Thai pop - isn't really the kind of stuff I enjoy listening to, but after a couple of listens, for, uh, research purposes, I find that it has grown on me.

At the box office

Unsurprisingly, the top films at the Thai box office tell a different story. The quiet, artful dramas that are the favorite of critics are nowhere in sight. In their place are obnoxious comedies, with the few exceptions being the Naresuan historical epics, and the decently put-together horror film, Alone. Here's The Nation's rundown of the top Thai films at the box office in 2007:

1. Tamnan Somdej Phra Naresuan Part II: Prakad Issara Phab (The Legend of King Naresuan: Reclaiming Sovereignty), 256 million baht
2. Tamnan Somdej Phra Naresuan Part I: Ong Prakan Hongsa (The Legend of King Naresuan: Pegu's Hostage), 254 million baht
3. Bodyguard Na Liam 2 (The Bodyguard 2), 98 million baht
4. Teng Nong Khon Ma Ha Hia (Teng and Nong: The Movie), 91 million baht
5. May Narok Muay Yok Lor (Bus Lane), 85 million baht
6. Ponglang Sading Lumsing Sai Na (Ponglang Amazing Theater), 71 million baht
7. Tud Soo Fud (Kungfu Tootsie), 70 million baht
8. Sailab Jab Baan Lek (The Bedside Detective), 70 million baht
9. Faed (Alone), 65 million baht
10. Ma Mah See Kha Krub (Mid Road Gang), 58 million baht

Worth mentioning out of this batch is Mid Road Gang, the Thai talk dog film, which I saw and enjoyed, and Bus Lane, a comedy starring Thep Po-ngam and Note Udom about a hijacked bus, which I missed out on due to travels earlier in the year.

More information:

Lights, camera ... CONFLICT (Parinyaporn Pajee, The Nation)

The Year that Was ... At the Movies (Kong Rithdee, Bangkok Post)

(Cross-posted at Rotten Tomatoes)

Bangkok Time, out of time

After just one week of screening once a day at the Lido in Siam Square, indie director Santi Taepanich's Bangkok Time has already left the cinema.

Seems Santi had personally rented a digital projector so his film could be shown at the Lido, which lacks the equipment. The film's premature close is simply because he couldn't afford to keep hiring the projector.

There are other cinemas in Bangkok, Cinema 3 of the Grand EGV Siam Discovery, just across the street from the Lido, for example, which are already set up for digital screenings. But Santi wanted the Lido crowd to see his film, and being part of that crowd, I can't blame him. He thought something would be lost if it were shown in one of the newer shopping mall multiplexes.

Such sacrifice in the name of art.

Review: Syndromes and a Century

• Written and directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
• Starring Nantarat Sawaddikul, Jaruchai Iamaram, Nu Nimsomboon, Sophon Pukanok, Jenjira Pongpas, Arkanae Cherkam, Sakda Kaewbuadee, Sin Kaewpakpin
• Reviewed at Bangkok press screening on March 28, 2007; set for limited release in Bangkok on April 5, 2007, but canceled by director over censorship concerns.
• Rating: 5/5
  

For a director whose production company is called Kick the Machine, Apichatpong Weerasethakul has the art of making a film down a finely tuned process that includes the following steps:

Have a concept in mind, or general idea of a story to tell.

• Assemble a cast of first-time actors.
• Find a location.
• Tell the story.
• Repeat.

Like his previous feature film, the Cannes prize-winning Tropical Malady, Apichatpong's latest, Syndromes and a Century is broken into two films, and the effect of this revolutionary storytelling method is no less jarring and thought-provoking than it was in Tropical Malady, which veered wildly off the rails into the dark jungle fantasy.

In Syndromes, it's like a reset button was pushed, and the results are mind-blowing. It took me three days of wandering around, barely able to comprehend what I'd just seen to be able to write about it. By a miracle, I survived the assault and have lived to try and tell the story.

This is Apichatpong's story, a tribute to his parents, who were both physicians. It's a jumbled-up cavalcade of amusing memories and anectdotes, presented in a carnival sideshow-like atmosphere that takes on a positively Felliniesque quality at times. The characters are a delightful bunch: A strong, upright female physician, a handsome orchid expert, a monk who wishes he was a DJ, a singing dentist and an elderly female doctor who keeps a bottle of whisky hidden in a prosthetic leg.
It begins with a sad sack of a male physician, Dr. Nohng (former Sanook.com webmaster Jaruchai Iamaram) being interviewed by a female doctor. She asks him all kinds of weird questions that don't really seem to have anything to do with anything. The lady is Dr. Toey, portrayed by the striking Nantarat Sawaddikul, a first-time actress with a master's in psychology who works as an expressway toll collector. She ought to make a movie about her life someday.

Self-assured and determined, Dr Toey is observed in her work at a rural Thai hospital. She is dogged by Toa (graphic designer Nu Nimsomboon), a young puppy of a man who is so in love with her, yet trembles when she speaks to him. As he tries to pour his heart out to her, she tells him of when she courted Noom, a dashing orchid expert (celebrity hair stylist Sophon Pukanok). That would intimidate the strongest of men. She tends to an elderly monk, who gives her an herbal remedy. As an aside to the story, a young monk (Kick the Machine regular Sakda Kaewbuadee) who wishes he was a DJ develops an odd friendship with a luk-thung singing dentist (jewellery designer Arkanae Cherkam). These are people who seem so real, they can't possibly made up. And indeed, the singing dentist character was inspired by a real person, Apichatpong has said.

Dr Toey then drinks the monk's herbal tea, and the scene resets: The same sad-sack male internist, the same strange, non-sequitir questions by the female doctor, the same old monk with the same maladies, except it is taking place in a modern Bangkok hospital. This part is more meditative, yet crazed as it focuses on the male Dr Nohng as he goes through his rounds.

Eventually, he finds his way into a basement ward reserved for military veterans and their dependants, where a teenage guy is swatting a tennis ball against a steel door, making a lot of racket with his racket. He passes through a machine shop where prosthetic limbs are being made and tested by patients, and then winds up in a file room, with pile of plastic limbs in the corner. Here he encounters a pair of elderly women doctors, one of whom retrieves a fifth of whisky from the hollow of one of the legs and proceeds to "get a little tipsy".

The camera hones in on a machine-shop exhaust vent, with smoke flowing into the round, dark opening. I'm not sure what to make of it, but the frame holds on this picture for a good long while.

Make of it what you can, but have fun in the process.

(Note: This review was originally published in Nation Weekend on April 6, 2007, but I never got around to posting it on the blog until now.)


More information:

• Syndromes censorship spurs call for change
• Syndromes censored

Lena Christensen in Bombay to Bangkok

Lena Christensen is starring in a Bollywood film, Nagesh Kukunoor’s Bombay to Bangkok. She's playing a Thai massage girl.

A Thai TV presenter (she hosts an aerobics exercise program) and singer, Lena co-starred in one of my favorite films, SARS Wars, playing Dr. Diana, the love interest for Suthep Po-Ngam's character. Memorably, she played a genius doctor wearing a white lab coat, who stripped it off to reveal undergarments made of black PVC, accessorized by spikes and chains.

From the Times of India:

The casting happened in Thailand. Nagesh came there looking for the female lead for his film and I auditioned for the part. I consider myself very lucky as he chose me out of around 200 people. I was reluctant in the beginning as the character required a traditional Thai English accent and my accent is Americanised. But I think it was easier to communicate for both Nagesh and me as I understood him very well. I thought he would be this serious person but I found out that he was fun. He let me be myself.

Actually there's a lot of activity by the Bollywood industry in Thailand, which is a prime location for Hindi films and music videos. There's so much going on in fact, it's hard to keep track of and assign any importance. But this recent bit caught my eye.

(Via 2bangkok.com)

Here comes Red Eagle

Enough of Thai politics for a minute. My story is in today's Nation about Red Eagle, stemming from last week's press conference by Five Star Production, Wisit Sasanatieng and Ananda Everingham, to announce to the Thai press that yes, they will be making a new version of Red Eagle. The announcement was first made in October at the American Film Market, but last week's press conference was the first time it had been announced to the Thai press.

Five Star isn't the first company to propose a remake of this 1950s and '60s Thai action series, which is based on a series of novels by Sek Dusit. Both Sahamongkol and RS Film have also proposed their own versions, but neither seemed to get off the ground.

My gut feeling is that the Five Star bid is serious, because they are earnest people who mean what they say, and when they decide to make a Wisit Sasanatieng movie, well, they do just that. It helps also, that author Sek Dusit has given his blessing to Five Star, Wisit and Ananda.

Seeing Wisit and Ananda mobbed by the Thai press was quite amusing, and being the only farang at the press conference, I didn't have much of a chance to speak to them, though I did get a few quotes from Wisit and Ananda. Ananda was especially self effacing, musing out loud whether he is right for the role. "I'm not the superhero type," he said. But that's probably a quality that Wisit will embrace as he makes this film - think Christopher Nolan's Batman, or Daniel Craig as James Bond.

I also managed to pass along my own Red Eagle business cards to executive producer Charoen Iampungporn and Sek Dusit's son, Manote, and both were bemused by the fact that there's a farang who knows about Red Eagle.

More information:

• Red Eagle building a nest
• Red Eagle to fly again with Wisit
• Red Eagle official website (updated!)