Favourite Thai movies

[bkkguy]

I've never seen a Thai movie in which I thought the director was in full and mature control of his material.

three Thai directors for you to try:

- Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Last Life in the Universe is definitely worth a watch, Ploy was a bit slow and lost the plot occasionally but was generally OK, but Headshot was definitely an interesting concept that was well executed

- Wisit Sasanatieng
Tears of the Black Tiger (Fah talai jone) - deliberately lurid violence, deliberately lurid colours, deliberately wooden acting, deliberately wooden storyline - this is a reverential tribute to the classic westerns Thai directors used to make years ago before they got into tawdry ghost stories and hi-so dramas and shows real directorial skill

- Banjong Pisanthanakun
I was never a fan of his earlier movies but he recently had Bangkok audiences ROTFL with Pee mak phrakanong - and throughout Thailand as it very quickly surpassed The Legend of Suriyothai in boxoffice earnings to become Thailand's highest grossing movie. OK it is easy to dismiss this as just another remake of a typical Thai ghost story cum comedy but it works at a couple of levels and is I think a classic example of a Thai director "in full and mature control of his material" and his audience!

perhaps I am just becoming too Thai in my tastes and/or standards? but I agree with you on Bangkok Love Story and The Overture so I hope there is still some hope for me!

bkkguy

[PeterUK]

Thanks for your suggestions, bkkguy, which I've made a note of. The only one I'd heard of was 'Tears of the Black Tiger' and I have a vague recollection of being put off by what I read about it. I've not been to a lot of Thai movies over the years but have had much better experiences with other Asian movies, particularly Japanese. I loved Tokyo Story which I saw a long time ago and almost anything by Kurosawa is wonderful.

[gregvc]

Tears of the Tiger was a wonderful movie and well received in festivals the world over. I saw it in Melb and again on TV. Thai movies are quirky and not for the mainstream. Some exceptions to this are the ClubQueer movies that resemble student films. I saw one earlier this year being played at Rachyothin cinema. I was surprised it got there, given the sex scenes but I forgive them in the hope that things will improve.

[Blumfeld]

Tropical Maladay. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Malady
In fact the only gay movie I watched. But I liked it.

[RonanTheBarbarian]

I really enjoyed Beautiful Boxer. Saw in one cold February day in Dublin - really evocative of Thailand, and a good story too

[Nirish guy]

Some good suggestions above it seems, so to avoid us all having to search the net for some of these probably quite obscure movies in the West just checking if anyone might have either the torrents of them or perhaps a link to an URL where they can be found perhaps ??

[joe552]

I agree, Ronan, Beautiful Boxer was really good.

[joe552]

just watched a Pinoy movie called Burlesk King - if you like muscle guys and a happy ending

[adman5000]

One of my favorite Thai movies was Khan Kluay.

From Wikipedia{
Khan Kluay (Thai: р╕Бр╣Йр╕▓р╕Щр╕Бр╕ер╣Й р╕зр╕в; RTGS: Kan Kluai; pronounced [k├в╦Рn kl├╗ai]) is a 2006 Thai computer-animated feature film set during Ayutthaya-era Siam about an elephant who wanders away from his mother and eventually becomes the war elephant for King Naresuan. It is based on "Chao Praya Prab Hongsawadee" by Ariya Jintapanichkarn.

It was officially released as Jumbo in India and The Blue Elephant in the United States.

There is a sequel to this movie, known as "Khan Kluay 2"[1] This movie is about Khan Kluay's two elephant children, another attack by the Hongsawadi (Burmese), and struggling whether to live with his wife or fight the Burmese. :tweety:

[timmberty]

adman unlike a few others here im sure you dont mean to do it ... but i hope when i learn a bit of thai over the next 2 or 3 years i will add a few thai translations to the odd word here and there .. cause that will make me look more cleverererer than the simpletons who dont understand it ...
i will add to dear old gaybuttons list of i dont get it, the need to translate the odd word out of a 30 or 40 word post just to make myself look like a total twat.