Transistor Monrak

Watched this recently with a Thai lady - we both loved this film, that starts out deliberately naive and corny and descends into something darker whilst retaining a degree of pathos. The style of the film changes to meet the changing mood - the English subtitles are quite accurate, though some nuances are lost. All round good performances from the main characters Worth while...

The title of the movie may be misleading for a person who is about to see the movie, but once the movie is seen, the sentimental value of the small radio player becomes much clearer. The movie has been described as kitschy, musical, Thai soap opera, etc. It may be all that, but it is never just that. The very first opening shot of the movie will convince you that the image is the work of the true artist.

As the movie progresses, the "art" slowly transforms into "life, and nothing but". The pace, images, story line - all reflect the slow disappearance of the "movie storytelling" and ever growing realism. True, it is more convenient to see poverty through the wide lens with lush soundtrack, but this script superbly mastered the art of walking on the edges of all the genres without falling into any one of them. It is a "must see" to appreciate superb acting, beautiful cinematography, very ironic, but never sarcastic, look at life of two young Thai lovers and the convoluted ordeals through which life (or was it the script author? :) ) led them.

I went to watch Monrak...without having ever heard of it and not knowing what to expect. It was enjoyable on the whole...but I felt it became a bit too commercial. The courting scenes between Pan and Sadaw was beautifully executed and was tremendously realistic. Siriyakorn Pukkavesh was delightfully brilliant! I simply loved the song that he sings to her in the room (before the father comes to shoot him). Visually, it was tasteful and well lit.

But, I came out feeling the film was 'stretched' just to fill up the 90 minutes.Too many things happen to Pan and too many situations arise. The "boat doctor' was totally uncalled for and didn't really add anything to the film.

It could have been much better had it been limited to 60 minutes or so.

This film is finally showing in London, at the ICA. It's not the greatest piece of cinema I've ever seen and some of the performances are over-acted; but I just wanted to comment that the actress that played Sadaw (Siriyakorn Pukkavesh) gave one of the best performances I have seen for years. She was absolutely brilliant. Thailand's Gong Li? Wait 'til Hollywood execs see this performance. It was absolutely touching and she shone.

This is an excellent film. It is truly fascinating. As the narrator of the film says in the opening scene: this is the story of Phaen (Pan), who is a good guy, but whom the gods, for whatever reason, chose to give amounts of bad luck. In a sense, this is a very "black" film. The film starts with a summary of Pan courting Sadaw, before the two marry, and Sadaw's consequent pregnancy. However, due to his misfortune, Pan is drafted into the army, and from there, his misery continues. No matter what Pan does, and no matter how nicely he acts towards, and attempts to do "the right thing", it seems that he is just pulled deeper and deeper into it. He is pulled more and more towards the urban life, and the miserable conditions there, away from the romanticised peaceful life in the countryside, symbolised by Sadaw, and the transistor which he gave her as a token of her love, but which falls to the floor and breaks. Throughout the film, traditional Thai music is used to describe what is happening, the most frequently used being a very romantic one, whose lyrics are "don't forget, don't forget"--words that give hope to Pan, as he suffers his misfortunes in the big world, because his fate is cruel, and has decided that his dream, although seemingly so close to being realised, will remain simply a dream.