Ai-Fak

Though the story takes place in rural Thailand it tells a story that could take place in small communities all over the world. In short the movie is about a young man who comes home from his military service to find his father married with a beautiful but crazy young woman.He is attracted to her, but dosn't make any advance towards her. And when his father dies he tries to look after the woman with respect both for her and the memory of his father. But people in his community thinks he has an affair with her and makes them suffer a harsh condemnation for behaving outside of the social norms of the village. It is a well made movie with credible performance from the main actors and with moments you'll think about after having seen the movie. Being a a thai movie it will probably never reach a wide international audience, but it is well worth seeing if you should come across it.

I have seen many Thai movies in my time, and nothing comes close to the sheer brilliance and tear moving humanity of Ai Fak. This movie is nothing less than a masterpiece of world cinema which, most unfairly, never really made it to the wider world stage.

Its message is simple: those whose fate lies with the whims of the crowd, better watch out! Ai Fak (The Judgement) is one of the most powerfully touching movies, which far transcends its humble origins as a locally produced Thai movie, screened in a few local cinemas for barely a few months, and then later released to select Thai DVD stores - without even English subtitles! Frankly, I'm not sure what was more of a tragedy – the brilliantly moving tale contained in this movie, or the fact that its distributors couldn't see that the world is crying out for a movie like this. Apart from the odd screening at select international film festivals, the movie was never widely marketed outside of Thailand. But why!? It beggars belief that a movie so brilliant as this has been so half-heartedly marketed! Any thinking person who has watched this movie couldn't but agree on this: Ai-Fak's film-makers have greatly erred in releasing such a masterpiece locally while ignoring the fact that this movie had such fantastic international potential.

I was lucky enough to watch this in a Bangkok cinema where English subtitles were displayed during its screening. Few worldwide (never mind just 'Thai') movies come anywhere near the standard of this aphoristic tale of the cruel ignorance of the mob (being the village at large in a rural Thai setting). Meanwhile, our hapless protagonists engender our increasingly hopeless support as they might one day face their judgement from the ignorant masses of all too common fools and narrow minded idiots...

This movie, unlike most Thai movies, will make you stop and think about just what it means to know that the crowd will change all our lives, wherever we may live, even if it is owing to the sheer numbers of ignorantly cast votes at the ballot box. You will remember Ai-Fak's message for the rest of your life. I can say no more but implore you to watch it and share in its brilliance. 10/10 (& trust me, a "10" from me is about as rare as this movie is brilliant!)

The story reflects an young victim of Thai society in the rural area. It based on a great novel by Chart Kobchiti and been produced many times in forms of TV series and movies. For Ai - Fak 2004, the leading actress impress the audience by her own great performance convincing that she was really being lunatic and catalyse the plot fast and increase tension to the whole story. Also it is the first movie for the actor and he doing the great job showing the suffering from what he didn't do but have to live with the hatre of the villagers. I felt this film should be brought out more characteristic of the male leading. In my opinion, it is another best film of Thailand.

very good film, opens with some great shots- but somewhere down the line, it loses its grip and falls in the old melodramatic genre.

The storyline is great, the actor (Ai-fak) (I heard that it was his first film) puts up a fantastic performance. The heroine's performance is a bit inconsistent - she lacks continuity.

I saw the movie at a film festival in Trivandrum, Kerala.

I loved the movie because it portrays life in rural thailand beautifully. Though it deals with a subject bordering on incest (where ai-fak gets a wet dream about his stepmother), i would rate this movie as good. It could have been better, though. My 6 out of 10.

Absolutely one of the best Thai movies I have ever seen! I stay in Thailand around 9 months a year and try to see all the Thai made movies I can. Mostly they are disappointing but 2 or 3 every year are special. This falls into the special category.

This one stars Bongkoj "Dak" Khongmalai, one of the most beautiful Thai movie stars. Far and away her best performance to date. From my understanding though, all the nude scene utilized a stand-in, sorry to ruin the fantasy. :) Originally this was a television miniseries that ran sometime in the 80's. It's a morality play with a good message about not jumping to conclusions when you only have anecdotal evidence. This film will also show you a nice piece of rural Thai life, quite different for the ultra-modern hustle and bustle of Bangkok. No English subtitles, and probably will never be, but we can keep hoping. So start studying the Thai language!