Next year will be better, I swear!

I'll just sneak this in.

Losing a writer and becoming the only one for an ad agency that is barely breathing, I have become the swamped thing. Though I may not have found the time to write or sketch a review of films that I have seen, it doesn't mean that I haven't seen a few good ones.

Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story is this year's guiltiest pleasure. It's not the best crafted romantic-comedy that I have seen---technically clumsy with an obvious lack of chemistry between the actors---but it is laugh-out-loud hilarious; tears spilled on the popcorn that was spilling.

I liked Bong Joon-ho's Mother better than Park Chan-Wook's Thirst, the former a gracefully-plotted drama with the one of the best opening and closing sequences that I have seen of all time. Thirst is PCW's most focused narrative work so far, but it lacks the emotional resonance of his earlier works, most prominently shown in Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. Will be posting more detailed reviews soon.

Side project! I've also been reviewing Asian albums for allmusicjunkies.com. Here's a rundown of the reviews I have written so far. (Excuse the editing and proofreading. The people behind the site are still improving it.)

• August's Radiodrome
• Nologo's Gravity
• Super Junior's Sorry, Sorry
• Scrubb's Best Of
• SHINee's 2009, Year of Us

I will be going on my "early retirement" next year and will be focusing my efforts on our furniture shop. Looking forward to more time to write. The new year can't come soon enough.

StSA: Love of Siam to be released on Region 1 DVD

Thanks to Kevin for leaving a comment about the Region 1 DVD release of Love of Siam on my review of the film (which was written immediately after a viewing of the Director's Cut thus the emotional rambling).

A confession, Love of Siam is responsible for my exponentially growing love for Thai cinema. Equally devastating and buoyant, it is a deliberate drama about different aspects of love: familial, romantic, and to an extent, ascetic.

It is also one of the best depictions, if not the most emotionally accurate portrayal, of teen homosexuality. But this seems to have boxed the film into a convenient niche, which I think is a damn shame. The Region 1 DVD will be released by Strand Releasing, which is also distributing Bangkok Love Story, and Lino Brocka's Macho Dancer among others. It's the Theatrical Cut, and not the Director's Cut, that will be released. But I'm not complaining.

The Taiwan Special Edition English-subtitled release comes short in providing good subtitles. Grammatical errors, misspelled names; my copy also had a problem with the subtitle timing. A few lines flashed on the screen ahead of the dialogue and made it quite confusing: Why would Mew be asking Tong if he had already taken a bath? (A line that was supposed to be Sunee's, Tong's mom.) Kevin also pointed out an aspect ratio problem, which totally went over my head.

But it does provide a few extras for fans of the of the movie and the stars. Pchy Witwisit Hiranyawongkul's visit to Taiwan had no subtitles so I didn't get much of what was going on. The deleted scenes with the director's commentary have decent subs. Then there's the August Band mini-concert in Bangkok, in between Siam Discovery and Siam Center, which I quite liked.

Here's hoping Love of Siam sells well so we could have other Thai dramas on Region 1 DVD. It's a welcome glimmer of hope for us Thai cinema fans.

Pchy returns favor

After Mario Maurer made an appearance in the first major concert of August Band, it's now Witwisit "Pchy" Hiranyawongkul's turn to wish Mario luck on his new movie Buppah Rahtree 3.1: Rahtree Reborn. What, no hug?

With The Love of Siam still having legs in the festival circuit two years after its initial release (recently shown at the 27th San Francisco Asian American Film Festival last March), it's no wonder that the Pchy/Mario or Mew/Tong team-up continues to illicit screams from girls and confused boys alike. And a few thirty-somethings, too. Heh.

Pchy was last seen in the lakorn Sai Sueb Delivery and continues to perform with his band, August. Mario, the one first thought of more likely to succeed, seems to be making bad movie decisions while being in the middle of a messy lawsuit against ex-manager Coco. His follow-up to The Love of Siam, Friendship, bombed at the box office and was panned by critics across the board. I've seen it, and I agree with the negative reviews, to put it kindly. Buppah Rahtree 3.1: Rahtree Reborn, which opened last Saturday, appears like another disappointment.

Links:

• Video of Pchy's appearance in Buppah Rahtree 3.1 press launch here.
• Wise Kwai's Buppah Rahtree 3.1: Rahtree Reborn review here.

Via Super MARIO MAURER

Thai Pop: August Band, Lula, scrubb

Standing at the corner of the iconic DJ Siam in Siam Square, I judged a record by its cover. Much like life, music is also like a box of chocolates (though I'm always hoping to have a sampling of the bittersweet kind). So I chose a couple of Thai pop albums based purely on packaging design---I had only two standards, quirky and clean---and as soon as I got back to Manila, I did the old Rolling Stone perception versus reality thing in my busy head.

August, "Radiodrome"

Perception: I'm quite familiar with the band but not their music outside The Love of Siam OST (which I was very lucky to still get a copy of). So. Adorkable tweens on the cover, a gazillion of them. The geekyness of the toys had me at hello. Someone looks like he's having too much fun with a nekkid mannequin. Also, a giant bison head. These kids are nuts. Yay! I'm expecting circus music with a flourish of marching band stomping. Inside flap design though is more normal. Love the coat of arms against pink. Or maybe I just love pink. There's also a wall of black and white photos of the children at work. Serious and sane. Pchy Hiranyawongkul is still cute. Where's Mario Maurer? I've been duped!
Reality: It's actually a pretty good album. I'm digging the retro, vibe of the horn section that swings and sways in disco inferno on the fast tracks and subtly melancholic on the ballads, almost Bacarachian. First single "Sunshine" (track 8) is undeniably one of the happiest tunes I've ever heard with rise and dips in the verses that catapult the clap-along chorus to soaring heights. "Radio" cleverly blends an RnB groove with 70s dance floor lite riff. The acoustic romps are more straightforward pop songs but are equally melodic and contagious. Having 5 vocalists, August keeps the singing textured and nuanced. I don't know if the CD represents the technical musicality of the band; the live performances I've seen are a little sloppy. Still, August is a young band, literally, and they have quite enough time to catch up and match the brilliant production of Radiorome.

Lula, "Urban Lullabies"

Perception: Delicate inks, a splash of pastel watercolors. Rainbows and flying fishes. Where are the unicorns? It's got quite a nice cover. Nice really describes it. It's clean and very girly; it's just how I imagined my bedroom would look like when I was 10 years old. The inside flap shows more fine inks: a birdcage (maybe for the flying fish?), a piano and guitar. It's all very, err, nice. I'm guessing Jewel singing about unicorns and castles (but the latter I would never find out because I don't speak Thai).

Reality: Wow. I love her voice. Lula sounds just like Frente's Angie Hart, high and delicate with a pleasant echoing ring when she reaches the high notes. And it's folksy bossanova! Her album sounds like it was released by Minty Fresh, an independent outfit that has an ear for twee pop. Urban Lullabies is perfect for driving, which I played yesterday on the way back to the city. It has a consistently relaxed lilt like toes tiptoeing on a piano. She also occasionally dips into jazz, which proves to be the perfect counterpoint to the light guitar strumming, the saxophone adding a sonorous depth to the mostly airy arrangement.

scrubb, "Chood Lek"
scrubb's myspace site

Perception: Me and adorkable guys, we're tight like this (crosses fingers). I love the "green" packaging---clean lines, a little techno---and the urban indie look of band. The CD flaps fold out to...a pop-up cut out of the two members at the center while the side flaps can be tucked under the bottom flap and voila: the Swiss Alps! I was telling myself that even if the music seriously sucked and sounded like cows yodeling, it would still be worth it.

Reality: Chood Lek is a Best of compilation from Thawachpol "Muey" Wongboonsiri and Torpong "Ball" Chantabuppha's previous three albums. The faint hooks reminds me of Kings of Convenience with a more Britpop influence (more The Las than Coldplay) in the anthemic choruses. Their lastfm page says that they will be touring with QFlure (Gun Lae Gun, Radio Edit, LoS OST) in Australia and I'm not not surprised at the international acclaim of the band. Most of their songs are slow burners, bittersweet (yes!) melodies with an infectious center and there's a tenderness to it that is telling me learn Thai, now.

August Band and everything after, Part I

This was the plan: Because I wasn't able to make it to August Band's first major concert last Saturday, March 7, which I found out about days after I've booked a flight and hotel to Bangkok, I had originally planned a sort of review of August Band's latest album, "Radiodrome," sort of review since I don't understand a word in the album but have become a fan of the band and their music since I saw "Love of Siam."

Then I stumbled across these photos from the concert and everything flew out the window. My fanboying heart included.

Pchy at the concert.

Mario making an appearance at the concert.

Mario and Pchy together on stage.

And. Aww. The ending of Love of Siam I thought I would never see.

I'm not reading anything into this---honest!---but it is heartwarming to see the both of them together because they practically started out in the same movie, the same movie that formed the band.

It's suddenly like Christmas.


Concert photos from http://smudger19.multiply.com
Lifted from Pinoy Exchange's Witwisit "Pchy" Hiranyawongkul : Mew of The Love of Siam [Thread 2]