เฟรนด์ชิพ เธอกับฉัน FriendshipDirected by Chatchai Naksuriya
Starring Mario Maurer (The Love of Siam), Apinya "Saipan" Sakuljaroensuk (Ploy)
2008
Coming-of-age gone awry with impossibly soap opera-ish finish. Former high school friends meet up and set reunion. One of them, a TV producer, reminisce about his first love whom he hasn't heard from since high school ended. The flashbacks are infused with energy; Maurer, Sakuljaroensuk, and the rest of the kids enthusiastically attack their roles and more than makes up for the limp writing and stilted lines. But director Naksuriya appears confused with the over-all tone of the movie. It is both teen rom-com and heavy melodrama, awkwardly slicing the film in two parts. Think High School Musical with a more tragic An Affair to Remember ending. The movie worked best when it meandered and winsomely captured the aimless after-school afternoons spent with friends and the casual adventures in between. With extensive making-of featurette. 2/5
ขอให้รักจงเจริญ Me...MyselfDirected by Pongpat Wachirabunjong
Starring Ananda Everingham (Shutter), Chayanan Manomaisantiphap
2007
After being beaten up by thieves, a man staggers down a dark road and gets hit by a car. Ohm, the woman driving the car, brings the stranger to the hospital and is forced to give him shelter when he wakes up with amnesia. She decides to call him Tan, after the name on the pendant around his neck. Ananda Everingham gives Tan the fragile vulnerability of a man trying to recall his past while falling in love with his present. He is eager to please Ohm and later on becomes the reliable center of Ohm's life. Tan's memories come back in mysterious flashes, vividly colorful and blaring. When Tan's memories surface, the mystery of why he was wandering down the road revealed, it is surprisingly crushing. There are hints of his identity (the movie poster reveals too much) scattered all over the movie---Tan's too graceful gestures, his fascination with lipstick---but Everingham and Manomaisantiphap's chemistry works so well that one can't help but cheer on for the blossoming relationship to succeed. The ending is a little too drawn out; even first-time director Wachirabunjong seems hesitant to give up on the wonderfully fleshed out characters of Tan and Ohm. Still, reality and logic get its way and I couldn't ask for a better resolution. Or lack thereof. The Thai DVD release blurs Everingham's "nude" scene which quite distracts. 3/5
7 comments:
eeeee! exciting. pahiraaam. yung actor ba yung kamukha ni piolo pascual sa shutter? ;)
yung word verification is: thaila! yikes..creepy! :)
Yup, that's the same actor. And sobrang galing sya dito; kabog si Piolo. :p The DVD's with my sister pa, will let you know when she returns it. Remind me na rin. :)
Thaila, parang clue, hehe.
Hey, you have a new banner! Nice!
Can't help but notice the Paris, je t'aime peeping in the corner. Saw this last year in Cinemanila. Great film! Where did you get your copy?
@Andy: Thanks! Planning actually to reshoot DVDs when I've retrieved my collection in Manila. :D
Paris, Je T'aime was on sale in HK summer of 2008, around $80, so around P480 only. Couldn't resist.
Nakalimutan ko pala itong icomment: hindi ko papanood sa mom ko tong pelikulang ito baka maya-maya itulak niya ako pababa ng hagdan para mabagok ang ulo ko, para magkaamnesia't mawala ang kabadingan ko. ahehehe :)
Theo, let's hide this from moms then.
Oh, hello Ma!
I just saw Friendship yesterday. It disappointed me greatly. So much, in fact, that the highlight of the movie for me was when Apinya Sakuljaroensuk got up on the bus to give Mario Maurer a thrashing, the way he was such an ass in the beginning.
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