Apichatpong-a-rama: The 'Boonmee Effect' in Thailand, New York and Toronto

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives is part of the opening lineup of Toronto's Bell Lightbox, a new cinema that's the new permanent home of the Toronto International Film Festival. Uncle Boonmee starts playing on September 23 as part of the Bell Lightbox's regular lineup, following the 10th edition of TIFF.

It's also has been announced for the main slate of the 48th New York Film Festival, set for September 24 to October 10.

And Uncle Boonmee is on tour in Thailand. Following its successful run in Bangkok, Uncle Boonmee has moved to the SF cinema branch in Apichatpong's boyhood hometown of Khon Kaen. It's playing until August 18. Other dates are Bang Saeng from August 19 to 25, Pattaya from August 26 to September 1 and Phuket from September 2 to 8.

There are many more festival dates yet to be officially announced. Here's New York's synopsis:

Apichatpong Weerasethakul won the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year for this gently comic and wholly transporting tale of death and rebirth, set in Thailand's rural northeast. Uncle Boonmee, a farmer suffering from kidney failure, is tended to by loved ones and visited by the ghosts of his wife and son. As for his remembered past lives, they might-or might not-include a water buffalo, a disfigured princess, a talking catfish, and the insects whose chirps engulf the nighttime jungle scenes. A sensory immersion, Uncle Boonmee is an otherworldly fable that lingers on earthly sensations, a film about a dying man that's filled with mysterious signs of life. Apichatpong's vision is above all a generous one: in the threat of extinction he sees the possibility of regeneration. A Strand release.

The Australian Broadcasting Company has a recent review on its website, from a listener who say Uncle Boonmee in Melbourne. Here's a snip:

If you do ultimately manage to go along with the ghosts, the Chewbaccas, the trancelike powerhold of the Thai jungle, straight after the credits roll, you might just end up eager to throw yourself back into it again, from the beginning.

I think it's important and helpful to stay seated through the credits, especially with Uncle Boonmee.

The success of Uncle Boonmee in Thailand has energized an already vibrant independent film scene.

The latest issue of BK magazine examines "the Boonmee effect", with a look at Extra Virgin's Director's Screen Project at Bangkok's SFX the Emporium cinema, and interviews with the directors, Mundane History's Anocha Suwichakornpong, Agrarian Utopia's Uruphong Raksasad and Aditya Assarat, whose shorts Phuket, Boy Genius and The Sigh will screen in October. They also talk to founding Extra Virgin producer-director Pimpaka Towira and Kittayporn Klangsurin, who's among the directors on another project, Brown Sugar, an anthology of erotically-themed shorts due in cinemas on August 26.

They say the Extra Virgin project is a direct result of Apichatpong's Cannes win and the successful limited release Uncle Boonmee in the Bangkok multiplex.

And the capper to the BK mag issue this week is a "First Person" interview with Apichatpong. He says:

I don’t think my films are more popular abroad than they are in Thailand. I think my films do best in Thailand, considering how small we are, and how bad our economic situation is. We don’t even have a proper film archive facility.

I am the first and foremost audience when I am making a film.

I have some stock answers if someone says, “I just didn’t get your movie.” I say, “It’s normal,” “See it again,” “So?” “Try to see it in a theater,” or, “OK, I will try harder next time.”

We need independent, art house cinema in Thailand. This type of cinema should not depend on government support because it’s never stable. It should be a private business. We need well-off investors who love art, cinema, and have guts. I think they exist. It’s a matter of time.

Go read the rest.

Update: Cinematical offers five must-see movies at the New York fest. Among them is, of course, Uncle Boonmee.

The continuing saga of the Bangkok Int'l Film Festival bribery scandal

With Hollywood producer couple Gerald and Patricia Green headed off to jail for paying bribes to run the Bangkok International Film Festival, legal proceedings are now swinging toward the recipient, who the U.S. Justice Department and Thai authorities say is Juthamas Siriwan.

The former governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand is said to have taken $1.8 million in bribes from the Greens, who used their Hollywood connections to bring film-industry heavyweights to Thailand to be wined and dined, put up in five-star resorts and appear on the red carpet at the film festival.

Juthamas and her daughter Jittisopa Siriwan are under indictment in the U.S., and a Thai case by the anti-graft watchdog, the National Anti-Corruption Commission, is pending.

The Nation on Sunday and MCOT had more:

Klanarong Chantik, spokesman for the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), said in a telephone interview that his agency could only ask Juthamas to defend herself before the NACC. If she did not show up, the NACC had no authority to bring her for investigation and it would mean that she had opted not to defend herself.

The NACC had asked the former TAT governor to give information but she had sent a letter to the agency, saying she needed time to prepare and look through documents on the matter. But Juthamas has yet to turn up at the NACC. However, Klanarong said, if the NACC found that she was guilty, it would then forward the case to the Office of the Attorney-General so the public prosecutors could indict her and take the matter to court.

Democrat Party MPs are calling on state agencies to be on the alert for bribery, and cooperate with investigations. In addition to the TAT case, a bribery scandal has also emerged at the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly.

The Nation had an editorial about the case, noting that "it's now Thailand's turn to act", and there are colorufl responses at the Thai Visa forum.

Meanwhile, a garbage collector who sold VCDs he gleaned from the trash has been fined 133,400 baht, for selling movies without a license.

Just shows where the priorities are.

World Film Festival of Bangkok wants poster artists to unleash their emotions

"Emotions Unleashed" is the theme of this year's poster contest for the World Film Festival of Bangkok.

Entries are being accepted until September 30, and it's open to anyone, though "foreigners must prove they have lived in Thailand for at least five years".

The poster's design must incorporate:

• The logo of the 8th World Film Festival of Bangkok
• The date and venue in English
• The theme "Emotions Unleashed"

Also, the design must be original and never previously shown in public.

The winner will receive 10,000 baht and the winning design will be used as the official poster for the festival.

Runner-up poster designs will be shown on the festival's website and the artists will receive a certificate from the World Film Festival of Bangkok and Nation Multimedia Group.

Further details are available at the website.

The 8th World Film Festival of Bangkok runs from November 5 to 14 at Paragon Cineplex.

FCCT panel discussion on Monday: Thai Cinema on the World Scene

With the success of Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, which won the Palme d'Or at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival and will be playing at dozens of festivals, there has been a renewed interest in Thai cinema on the world scene.

Uncle Boonmee was only the sixth Asian film to win the top prize at Cannes, and the first for more than 10 years.

At the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand on Monday night, a panel of experts will share their thoughts on where Thai cinema should go from here.

The panel will include director Anocha Suwichakornpong, winner of awards around the world for her latest feature, Mundane History (เจ้านกกระจอก, Jao Nok Krajok), which is screening in Bangkok now as part of the Extra Virgin Director's Screen Project at SFX the Emporium.

Kong Rithdee, film critic and reporter for the Bangkok Post, will also take part.

They'll show trailers and excerpts of movies by Anocha and Apitchatpong as well as Nonzee Nimibutr, MC Chatrichalerm Yukol and others.

The talk starts at 8pm. Admission for non-members is 300 baht. Check The FCCT website for more details.

(Photo via Extra Virgin Director's Screen Project)

King of the White Elephant rides again in nationwide screenings on Peace Day

The King of the White Elephant (พระเจ้าช้างเผือก, Prajao Changpeuk), a 1941 historical battle epic, will be shown all across Thailand on Monday, August 16 – Thai Peace Day – in simultaneous screenings, all starting at 6pm, right after the National Anthem.

The movie was written and produced by statesman Pridi Banomyong in the months leading up to the December 8, 1941, Japanese invasion of Thailand.

It's actually an anti-war movie, and, uniquely, it's an English-language film, and it aimed to voice the pacificist stance of Pridi and others opposed the government of Field Marshal Pibun Songkram.

After the Japanese invasion, Pibun made Thailand an Axis ally and declared war against Britain and the United States. Pridi helped organize the Free Thai resistance movement.

August 16, 1945, the day after the Japanese surrendered, was declared Peace Day in Thailand.

The screening of King of the White Elephant is part of a project organized by the Pridi Banomyong Institute, the Thai Film Archive and the Thai Film Foundation.

The film will be shown in 76 provinces, mostly on DVD at universities, but in Bangkok, it will unspool in 35mm in an outdoor screening at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. Check the Facebook event page for more details (in Thai).

The historically significant film was almost lost, but a 16mm copy was recovered from the U.S. Library of Congress. It was restored through the efforts of Technicolor and the Thomson Foundation, along with a 1962 drama, The Boat House (Ruen Pae).

The restored 35mm print of The King of the White Elephant was presented at the first Phuket Film Festival in 2007.

Kong Rithdee, writing in the Bangkok Post, has more about the project, and he talked to Pridi's daughter, Dusadee Banomyong:

"Father foresaw that when Germany invaded Poland, another World War was inevitable," says Dusadee. "He wrote The King of the White Elephant and made it into a movie – an English-language movie – with the aim of showing the world that Siamese people love peace, that the conflicts in war are between kings or heads of state, but not between the people."

In the film, which alludes to the ancient rivalry between Siam and Burma, the King of Ayodhaya battles the King of Honsa in an earth-trembling sequence of elephant marches still unmatched in terms of cinematic audacity by any other films. Though Honsa is defeated at the end, the philosophy the film expounds concerns forgiveness, patience and respect for your enemies – as the King of Ayodha shows that he can rise above the conflict and assures the safe passage home for the defeated army.

In the frying pan of current Thai politics, peace has been cooked, claimed, possessed, even exploited and abused. The King of the White Elephant discusses the possibility of peace in the classical yet never naive sense. It doesn't dismiss the spectre of conflict, but it doesn't hammer home the point of chest-thumping patriotism, even against a neighbouring country with a history of antagonism. Rather, the film has power because of its belief in humanism, in the ability of leaders to go beyond the obvious and the crudeness of "victory" to something more morally luminous.

The screening is part of celebrations of the 110th anniversary of Pridi's birth.

Among other activities is the Thai Film Foundation's competition of documentary films based on Pridi's life and work, and the six finalist films will be shown at the upcoming 14th Short Film & Video Festival.

Update: The DVD of King of the White Elephant is available from the Thai Film Foundation. It can be purchased at Thai Film Foundation events like the Thai Short Film & Video Festival at the Thai Film Archive.

Shutter's Banjong Pisanthanakun says Hello Stranger

Seems like everyone is getting in on the trend for South Korean pop culture in Thailand.

Last month, there was Poj Arnon's romance released by Phranakorn, Kao Rak Thee Korea (เการัก ที่เกาหลี, also Sorry Saranghaeyo).

Now comes GTH with a romantic comedy, Guan Muen Ho (กวน มึน โฮ ). Originally called Knowing Me, Knowing You, the official international English title is how Hello Stranger.

It's the solo bow by Banjong Pisanthanakun, who makes the switch to romantic comedy from horror after co-directing Shutter and Alone with Parkpoom Wongpoom and doing the comedic segments for the Phobia and Phobia 2 portmanteau horror movies.

The story has a young woman (newcomer "Noonaa" Neungtida Sophon), who's obsessed with South Korean TV dramas, and a young guy ("Ter" Chantavit Dhanasevi from Coming Soon). He doesn't get the whole Korean craze but signs up for a package tour anyway because he's lonely. And so he meets the girl and the pair have all sorts of wacky adventures while travelling around South Korea.

Kong Rithdee interviews Banjong in yesterday's Bangkok Post, and Banjong says that the movie is meant to be a satire of the Thai fascination with Korean music, movies, TV shows, fashion and hairstyles, but will have a romantic angle. He explains:

I mean to tease the people who are crazy about Korean pop culture," says the director, "but I also mean to understand what makes them feel that way. I present the two sides, and in the end I'm making a romantic movie."

"The man is anti-romantic, while the girl is crazy about Korean romantic dramas," says Banjong. "The film will show that it's aware of the cliches and dramatisation of romantic movies, but at the same time, I'm doing everything based on the idea of a romantic movie. It's a satire, but it's also a genre movie."

There's an English-subtitled trailer at YouTube and below.

Meanwhile, still to come is Red Eagle director Wisit Sasanatieng's Iron Pussy: A Kimchi Affair, which has performance artist Michael Shaowanasai's movie heroine falling in love in Busan. It's supposed to debut at the Pusan International Film Festival.

And in October, Bangkok audiences will get to see Phuket as part of the Director's Screen Project. Aditya Assarat's short film turns the tables and has a Korean actress (Lim Su-jeong) coming to Thailand. Shown around the island by her hotel limo driver (Sorapong Chatree), she falls in love with the old-timey traditions of the island resort.

Already pre-sold at the Cannes Film Market, Hello Stranger is in Thai cinemas on Thursday.

Culture Ministry official talks Strong Thailand, student-film initiative

The Culture Ministry's Thai Khem Kaeng (ไทย เข้มแข็ง, Strong Thailand) "creative economy" initiative to support films has been controversial.

Although around four dozen projects by mostly independent filmmakers were supported, around half of the fund was going to be given to make sequels to the big-budget Naresuan historical epics by veteran industry heavyweight MC Chatrichalerm Yukol, but the Culture Ministry later reduced the amount it was giving because the Commerce Ministry was already supporting Naresuan.

So more smaller, independent projects were supported.

And, in light of the success of indie director Apichatpong Weersethakul's Golden Palm triumph at Cannes with Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, the Culture Ministry is seeking to do more with its Strong Thailand funds.

They're hoping to more than double the Strong Thailand budget for next year, are planning to open a new national arts center and have initiated a project that has schoolchildren making short films.

Lekha Shankar talked to an official about all that, and she sent this report.

Story by Lekha Shankar

The new "creative economy" initiative of the the Thai government has been very conducive to helping the film industry, says Samart Chansoon of the Office of Contemporary Art and Culture in the Ministry of Culture. He's been spearheading the many new arts initiatives of the ministry, especially those connected to cinema.

While the Ministry allocated a budget of 220 million baht for the filmmakers this year, Samart hoped the budget would be increased to 500 million baht next year.

He said he felt that indie filmmakers deserved a lot of help and support, and that many indie films had already received support.

Among them are Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee, which received about 3.5 million baht, Aditya Assarat’s upcoming feature Hi So received about 2 million baht and Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Fon Tok Kuen Fah (ฝนตกขึ้นฟ้า) got about 5 million baht.

Samart said he very impressed by the script of Pen-ek's film, which he thought was unique and strong. [It's based on a Win Lyovarin "film-noir" crime novel, the title of which roughly translates to "rain in blue"]

He was even more proud of Apichatpong’s victory at Cannes, describing the filmmaker as "my dear brother".

"We take Thai film delegations to Cannes every year," Samart says, "as that's the best place for them to interact with film professionals from around the world, to 'pitch' their stories, get funds and sell films."

Samart has been working with the Culture Ministry right from the inception of the Office of Contemporary Arts and Culture eight years ago.

He says he was one of the people who worked hard for the creation of the office.

He was also proud of the creation of the Bangkok Art and Culture Center.

"This is the first arts center that is in the heart of the commercial district of Bangkok," Samart says, adding that he's waiting for the opening of another arts center near the Thailand Cultural Centre off Ratchadapisek Road, scheduled for next year, with a budget of around 1 billion baht.

"While the first arts center belongs to Bangkok city, the next one will be national," he says.

Samart was additionally proud of the new short films initiative of the Ministry, which instructed schools in as many as 20 provinces to select creative-minded youngsters.

They got 96 schoolchildren, and divided them into 16 teams of six students each.

The youngsters went through an intensive four-day camp, where they were taught everything about filmmaking, including scripting, location hunting, casting, music, costumes and editing.

All this teaching was done for two days and then they were given two more days to shoot their film.

Samart says at least 100 short films have been created by the students in the various provinces, out of which 16 films have been selected to be screened at Bangkok's Paragon Cineplex on August 17 and 18.

"The students who made the films will all be coming, and for many of them, this will be their first trip to Bangkok," says Samart, adding that "many of them, including some young girls in burka, have not stepped out of their town!"

"I've worked in the cultural field for 35 years, in the film field for the last eight years, and I find cinema all-encompassing," says the official, whose designation in the OCAC is "expert on promotion of applied art".

"Cinema covers everything – visuals, sound, emotions, design, technique – and it's reach also covers a lot of people, says Samart.

That’s why he was happy that the Culture Ministry was giving a lot of attention to the film industry this year.

A self-taught film buff, Samart says he enjoys teaching cinema and planned to continue doing this when he retired from the Ministry in a month’s time.

"I want to teach teachers to train youngsters in the field of cinema," he says. "We must develop a culture for cinema in our country, and this can be done only through the young people."

According to him, Thailand has a film audience of about 1 million people, while South Korea has 20 million.

"Thai films are winning awards around the world. It's time we increased the numbers of our film audiences," he says.

Greens sentenced to six months in jail in Bangkok International Film Festival bribery case

Hollywood producer couple Gerald and Patricia Green have been sentenced to six months in jail and six months in home detention for their part in paying bribes to run the Bangkok International Film Festival.

The pair were found guilty almost a year ago of money laundering and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

The U.S. Justice Department said the Greens had paid $1.8 million in bribes to a Thai government official, Tourism Authority of Thailand governor Juthamas Siriwan, in exchange for contracts to run the Bangkok International Film Festival and other TAT projects.

Prosecutors said the Greens had an "orchestrated, sophisticated scheme" involving fake receipts, shell companies and cash payments. Authorities say the Greens netted $14 million from the contracts.

Juthamas was paid through bank accounts in the U.K., Singapore and the Isle of Jersey that were in the name of her daughter, prosecutors say.

Juthamas faces charges in Thailand and she and her daughter are under indictment in the U.S.

Under the Greens and Juthamas from 2003 to 2006, the Bangkok International Film Festival gained a reputation as a glitzy, red-carpet-festooned affair, with major Hollywood stars flown in at Thai taxpayers' expense to be wined and dined at lavish banquets, golf tournaments and tours, and put up in five-star hotels.

The aim, say the Greens' lawyers, was to put Thailand "on the filmmakers' map," resulting in such Hollywood productions as Oliver Stone's Alexander and Werner Herzog's Rescue Dawn (produced by Gerald Green), being made in Thailand.

Juthamas stepped down as TAT governor in 2006. The bribery case came to light in December 2007, when the Greens were charged in the U.S. Juthamas was running for election at the time as a deputy leader of the Peua Pandin party, which was vying to form the first government after the 2006 military coup that had deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Juthamas withdrew from the election, but has denied any wrongdoing.

Sentencing in the Greens' case had been repeatedly put off.

The Wrap covered the sentencing, and was in the Los Angeles courtroom on Thursday.

Prosecutors wanted the Greens in prison for 10 years, but Gerald Green's attorney Jerry Mooney had argued for a shorter sentence on the basis of the 77-year-old Mr. Green's poor health.

The trial has been keenly watched in Hollywood business circles because the Greens are the first in the entertainment industry to be charged and found guilty of violating the FCPA.

Further stories about the case are at Bloomberg, the AP and The Hollywood Reporter.

This year's Bangkok International Film Festival is expected to be held from November 19 to 29.

Update: The Nation has a story on Juthamas' whereabouts. No one knows where she is. Maybe she's at home? Anyone tried knocking on her door?

Update 2: The Bangkok Post reports that while Juthamas hasn't shown up to answer the charges, she did give National Anti-Counter Corruption Commission investigators a statement,.

(Via Film Business Asia)

Review: Tukky Jao Ying Khai Kob

• Directed by Pornchai Hongrattanaporn
• Starring Sudarat Butrprom, Louis Scott
• Released in Thai cinemas on July 22, 2010; rated G
• Wise Kwai's rating: 3/5

As a supporting character in many movies and TV shows, comedienne Sudarat "Tukky" Butrprom has stolen plenty of scenes, with her brassy chutzpah more than making up for her short stature. She proves to be a capable leading lady in the fairytale spoof Tukky Jao Ying Khai Kob (ตุ๊กกี้เจ้าหญิงขายกบ, roughly, "Tukky, the frog prince
ss").

It's directed by Pornchai Hongrattanaporn, perhaps better known as Mr. Pink, who debuted with his stylistically insane comedy Bangkok Loco (ทวารยังหวานอยู่) for RS Film in 2004 and has since co-directed a pair of Valentines romances for Five Star Production.

With the combination of Tukky and Mr. Pink, I had high hopes for Tukky. And it starts out strong, with the opening credits done in Mr. Pink's trademark style of incorporating objects and kinetic action to spell out the names. Mr. Pink himself appears, as do pictures of the executive producers, Sahamongkol Film International's Somsak Techaratanaprasert and Workpoint Entertainment's Panya Nirankun.


Tukky is a young, princess-obsessed woman who works a stall in a unique and colorful market alley where the vendors dress up like the things they are selling. A woman selling flip-flop sandals has a dress made of them. And the star of the market is a perfume salesgirl (Natalie Davis), who dresses like a Playboy bunny.

Tukky, whose mirror shatters when she asks who is the fairest of them all, sells frogs. She is the frog princess, with a wicker crown and a princess-style dress made out of pa kao mah, the plaid cloth that's worn as a sarong by Northeastern Thai farmers.

Her frogs are huge, fairly believable CGI creations. I half expected her cane-toad-sized amphibian friend to jump up and start singing and dancing "The Michigan Rag" in tribute to the Merrie Melodies short, One Froggy Evening.

But it's a frog-shaped pendant that captures the attention of a group of men dressed in elaborate, if ill-fitting, 18th-century-style military uniforms. And another group of men are after Tukky.


She's spirited away by the old guards, and taken to a tiny, isolated Southeast Asian kingdom on an island shaped like a frog. There, she's informed that she's believed to be the long, lost heir to the throne of Padungravee.

The chief of her palace guard is Louis Scott. He has lopsided haircut that makes him look like a member of a boy band, which indeed he was around 10 years ago when he was a teenager.

But those uniforms! Why don't they fit so well? Looking rather chintzy compared to the other costumes, they look like cast-offs from a high-school production of Cinderella. Maybe that's the intent.


What follows is a fairly typical fish-out-of-water story of the ordinary market vendor being transformed into a woman bred from high society.

She gets the royal treatment. A team of flamboyant transvestite makeup artists are brought in to give her a make over. She is given lessons in horseback riding, wine drinking and ballroom dancing.

A few of the usual faces are present. Kom Chuanchuen plays the bizarre horse master, who's dressed like a zebra and whinnies when he talks. Workpoint contract player Teng Terdterng is the limber ballroom dance teacher.

And Choosak "Nong Chachacha" Iamsuk is a fortuneteller, who knows the secret of the frog pendant and makes a transformation that is one of the twists in the movie.


A band of Padungravee rebels threatens the princess, leading to much running around, screaming, half-hearted action and gunplay and finally a big explosion.

One more twist involving that giant frog comes into play toward the end, with a transformation right out of a fairytale.

Happily ever after? Well, sure, for some I suppose.

The audience was laughing up a storm throughout.

And Tukky Jao Ying Khai Kob was No. 1 at the box office its opening week, besting The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Inception. And at last count had earned more than 63 million baht, so producers are happy.

But I was left disappointed because I made the mistake of hoping Tukky would offer something more magical than what turned out to be a series of the routine Thai-TV skits thrown onto the big screen.

In this case, I kissed a frog and all I got was warts.


Related posts:

• Tukky, Thai comedy's princess, kisses a frog

Rock-star monks and lovesick teens arrive for holiday weekend

Today's Her Majesty the Queen's birthday, which is also Mother's Day, and it's the start of a four-day weekend in Thailand.

And so the industry has rolled out a pair of movies – a slapstick comedy and a teen romance – designed to attract the idlers to the multiplexes.

Phranakorn Film has Luangphee Teng 3 Roon Ha Khayao Lok (หลวงพี่เท่ง 3 รุ่นฮา เขย่าโลก), the third entry in the company's crown-jewel monastic comedy series that started in 2005.

The first film starred comedian Teng Terdterng as a former street hood who seeks to redeem himself as a monk. He joins a down-at-the-heels temple in a small town and faces all kinds of new situations in helping the locals deal with their problems. It was the biggest box-office hit of the year.

The series continued in 2008, with rapper Joey Boy taking over the lead role, playing a monk who preaches in a rapid-fire style, energizing the disadvantaged residents of a rural area.

The latest to shave his head and don the saffron robes is singer-actor Krissada "Noi Pru" Sukosol Clapp, who is known for taking on challenging film roles. But here it doesn't seem to be much of a stretch for the 13 Beloved leading man, as he plays a rock star named Noi who enters the monkhood.

As a new and somewhat rebellious monk, he has to deal all kinds of new situations.

Chalermpon “Jack Fan Chan” Thikampornteerawong, Natee Ekvijit (better known as Oui from the rock band Budda Bless), Kotee Aramboy and veteran comedian Der Doksadao also star. Musician Ad Carabao rides his Harley to help out. As always, Bumrer “Note Chernyim” Phonginsee directs.

The trailer is at YouTube and here.



Following fast on the heels of Tukky Jao Ying Khai Kob (ตุ๊กกี้เจ้าหญิงขายกบ), Sahamongkol Film International and Workpoint Entertainment offer another co-production with the teen romance First Love (สิ่งเล็กๆ ที่เรียกว่า...รัก, Sing Lek Lek Thee Riak Wa … Ruk, or literally "a little bitty thing called love").

Mario Maurer stars. He's 21 years old, but the Love of Siam actor can't seem to get away from being cast as a schoolboy.

Here he's the heartthrob of the school and crush object of a rather plain schoolgirl (Pimchanok Luevisetpaibool).

A makeover is needed. So ditch the schoolgirl uniform and maybe the glasses. But she needs to wipe that dumb look off her face, or else it'll stick like that. In fact it has, on all the posters, frozen for time immemorial.

Sudarat "Tukky" Butrprom plays a teacher who's trying to catch the eye of the gym teacher.

Putthiphong Promsakha na Sakon Nakhon and Wasin Pokpong direct. The trailer's at YouTube and embedded here.