Love of Siam

I enjoyed tremendously this coming-of-age Thai film.

It could easily hit the world market if it is wisely edited: 2 hours and 10 minutes is too much for a non-Thai public; the story drags for too long. The script tries to touch some issues that derive the plot from its center. Some scenes are too slow and even reiterative. The casting is good enough as the two boys are cute and the rest of the cast fit their roles with different success. The acting is very credible for the two main characters and also the mother of Tong and the granny of Mew, not that much for the others. The music is an important feature in this film and it is very nice. The placing and moving of the camera is very fresh and helps to enhance the situations. Lighting and photography are good enough. I wish the best to this film and its director.

I can see where the previous commentator came from. However, maybe biased by my own liking of mellow and subtle plot-weaving, I enjoyed the overall picture painted by the music, 2 main actors, and the parents and June.

I personally favor this movie because it doesn't construct/explain explicitly the events and personality surrounding each character as concrete context of the story, which is often a technique used by mainstream films to materialize climax and logic of a movie's plot (e.g. she acts/feels this way because it was established that she was such and such...).

Therefore I suppose the reason so many people like this movie literally across the globe (mainly observed on forums from the United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Philippines, and Europe), is because it uses a Thai case to exemplify humanity's constrained reaction toward its surrounding.

Without spoiling the movie, I am referring to the scenes the director ended up choosing as plot construction regarding characters' emotions and actions. Instead of picking the conventional expression that would usually indicate 'sad', 'she is going to blow up', and 'angry', the scenes selected to continue the flow and plot of the movie are rather life-like: Life doesn't always present significant events with significant background music and conventional cues, which often supports both the actors and audiences in moving the drama (or movie in this case) along.

So my friends and I love the movie for such illumination that: if the contemporary cultures often internalize certain procedures, cues, and embodiment that connect external events and internal reactions/feelings, what are humans to do in a real world that is not tamed by our rule?

Maybe from a more speculative audience's eye: what can we possibly do if we cannot bear to lose the one we love, and what if we go on life without loving anyone at all? The movie achieves a 9/10 for me despite its weak elements (some acting are definitely...not so great, but I don't speak Thai and don't know the culture), exactly because it constructs a unconventional platform (the acting, climax-devices, the music, and plot) and operates consistently along its story-telling (a gradually broadening perspective of love across generation (Mew-grandmother), time/space (Tong's family & sister), gender (Mew & Tong), and the peripheral Others (the Chinese-Thai Ying and her crush on Mew, and the Catholic family)).

Needless to say that so many people have been touched by the movie. But why? I can't even remember which was the last movie that touched me for years...

I would say it's due to "purity". Nothing but love in the movie, all kinds of love, family, friends, lovers... everyone in the movie loves everyone else in the movie in their own ways, almost, but very tragical at the same time...

There is not much contrast used in the movie, unlike other love movies, e.g. love vs. war, or love vs. religion etc... even the boy-boy love looks so natural...

They are just common people, common family, common school, common boys and girls, you cannot say anything from their material lives that you don't have, but i bet you may not have their love.

And some thinks the movie is too long... but i would say, this is why the movie is so depictive... i recall a flavour of famous Shanghai female writer... the very old song played by the granny is from Shanghai singer, Wu Yingyin, who's still alive and singing. :)

Just some general commentary as a U.S. viewer watching this movie: It's beautifully directed. I can't comment much on the writing, but as a gay viewer in particular, I really appreciate that the script interweaves two stories: coming out and the coherence of family in a time of grief. The reason I appreciate this is that, even in the U.S., when movies deal with homosexuality, it is generally treated as a singular issue that is separate and distinct from all others. In reality it is one part of the fabric of family and love that comprises everyone's life. Without this key insight, I think the movie would deal with the issue in too patronizing or shallow a manner, as many gay-themed movies do.

Prior to watching I was acutely aware of the commentary that the movie is overlong and not focused enough. There is some truth to this; it is a very long movie for its subject matter. But I think the movie's main strength is in its characters and central subject matter. With too much editing, I could easily see how the core of the movie would be lost. For me personally I was glad the director erred in favor of too much immersion in the interplay between his characters.

As to acting -- clearly I don't speak or understand Thai. But I think some things are universal, like the mother's strength and resolve in times of crisis. And of course Mew's smile. The connection is there.

I loved the movie and I hope it finds its way to broader distribution. If nothing else, the soundtrack should -- it's truly great.

Cheers!

I watched 'Rak haeng Siam' a week ago. And I love this movie!

Despite the recent controversy about gay issues in Thailand, this movie is not focused only on gay romances, but love in general.

In the movie, we witness various types of people's relationships and the acts of love they do to each other, whether they are of mother and son, brother and sister, grandmother and grandson, husband and wife, or the love among friends.

'As long as there's love, there's hope'. This sentence is from one of the film's theme songs (which are mostly written by the director-writer himself), and it exactly presents the tone of the movie: heartwarming and hopeful.

While being promoted as a movie about love, 'Rak haeng Siam' is also one of the best family and coming of age movies ever made. We can see how the characters have to cope with their past losses, and how they overcome their grief. The teenagers have found who they really are, what they want, and go on with their lives. These serious topics are delicately presented, thanks to the director who brilliantly helms the movie.

All the main cast are at their best, especially veteran Sinjai Plengpanit, as a woman who's desperate to save her family from being torn apart. Her performance is heartbreaking. Another praise for newcomers Witwisit Hirunwongkul and Mario Maurer, who play the major teenage roles. They are so into the characters we could believe this is real.

'Rak haeng Siam' is indeed a good film as many have said. It tells us even though our love is unanswered, we can still learn from it, and we should be grateful that, at least, we are once capable of loving.