Mah nakorn

I loved this movie. It's finally out on DVD with English subtitles which is how I got to see it. The other comments basically explain the plot. I was totally won over by the vivid colors and the simple love story that is central to the film and the absurd story elements. I haven't seen Amelie so I can't compare it as everyone else has done. I thought the acting of the leads was great. It can't be easy to play these characters, especially Pod who is often blank but at the same time you can see the wheels turning in his head. I suppose I am biased since I love Bangkok and the Thais, but even with all of the crazy plot lines and quirks I found the film to be charming. And of course having the song "Before" by ModernDog woven throughout the film made me love it even more. Definitely not a film for everyone, but as some one who sees a lot of indie movies I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Q: How many plastic water bottles are consumed in the USA daily? A: Approx. 2 millions !

Seriously, this movie has some engaging elements but is light-hearted fare, perfect for a day of nice weather but you are still needing your cinematic fix! When it was finished I felt refreshed and energized. There isn't really anything to spoil but I'll tread lightly nonetheless.

Colors abound, there is a spunky score, some REAL jokes but thoroughly adult. Overly-sentimental this film IS NOT. Its honest and doesn't get preachy either. Perhaps its just that its a foreign film's slightly different style, but this American was smiling the whole time.

Vote: 7

In a world of derivative, colorless copycats, this was breath of fresh air. It was a small masterpiece in my view. Simultaneously funny, strange, charming, and blissfully shocking at times.

From the very first frame I was thoroughly entertained, and the absurdity was refreshing and often wildly hilarious in it's originality.

It has an underlying sentimentality which went on a little bit long - otherwise I would have given this fantastic show a 10! Most shocking to me here however, was the fact that other comments about the film in this section show how far this went over some people's heads- and that they just didn't get it.

This film is a jewel - I want to buy it when it comes out on DVD - and the music is catchy and hilarious.

I saw this film at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival. I'd heard some buzz around this film, that it was sort of a Thai Amelie. In fact, it's Amelie cranked up to 11. Which is entirely too much. This film is absolutely overstuffed with whimsy. A narrator tells us the story of country boy Pod, who comes to Bangkok to find work and falls in love with Jin. Along the way, he loses and then finds his finger, drives around a chainsmoking talking teddy-bear as well as a man who licks everything, and shares his house with a gecko that has the face of his dead grandmother. If that's not enough, the object of his desire is an obsessive neat freak who carries around a book written in Italian that she can't read. A case of mistaken identity sends her off on an environmental crusade that results in her accumulating a mountain (literally, a mountain) of plastic water bottles. Will this pair find love in the end? Well, by the end, I didn't care that much.

The problem was that the visual tricks and whimsy overwhelm the characters, who end up being nothing more than a collection of quirks. The constant voice-over also never really lets the characters tell their own stories, and the romance never feels believable.

Sasanatieng is obviously a director of huge talent, and there are quite a few great sight gags and some really original visuals. But there's just far too much of it. It's like eating a whole chocolate cake at one sitting. If he could tone down the trickery a bit, and find a story with real characters, he could one day make a really outstanding film. This isn't it yet, but I hope he does it.

In the first scene, we noticed that the director must be a Jean Pierre Jeunet fan. This is not bad. I really appreciate that but there are too much coincidences and resources already seen on Amélie. It's very interesting the way the colors are used. The descriptions of the protagonists is very similar to Jeunet most popular film. It seems to me a bit long in duration but there are some scenes very laughing and gallant. Maybe this young director could find a more consistent script for his next film and not to exaggerate with some resources that are, if so much used, boring. Despite the things I described, I really enjoyed the film. I laugh in several scenes and applaud when the film was finished.