Nang Nak

In 1868, Mak (Winai Kraibutr) is summoned to the war and leaves his beloved wife Nang Nak (Intira Jaroenpura), who is pregnant, alone in their isolate house in Prakanong. Mak fights with his friend Prig that dies while Mak is seriously wounded. He miraculously survives and after a long time, he returns to Prakanong.

He meets Nak and their son and they live happily together until the day that a friend of Mak visits him and tells that Nak had died in the delivery and he is living with the ghost of his wife and his stillborn son. Mak does not believe on his friend until the day that he discovers the truth about his family.

"Nang Nak" is a movie about a Thai legend of a faithful wife that dies but does not live the world of the living waiting for her beloved husband that is missing in action in the war. The story of eternal love is a touching ghost story with a melodramatic farewell in the end. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Vidas do Além" ("Lives from Beyond")

Nang Nak is the first Thai film that has got Thai people back watching Thai films. It is Director Nonzee Nimibutr's second film.

Unfortunately foreigners will not understand the legend behind this film. It is a true story and the legend is very much alive in every Thai person's mind. The Temple (Wat MahaWoot) is still an active temple and even today people flock to the temple to get good luck (lucky numbers) for their lottery tickets.

The story has been told many times in film and also for television - but it still has a great impact on the Thai.

The film is well worth watching. The sound is excellent. There are a few problems with English sub titles but overall the Director did an excellent job. Small budget, good casting, excellent sound.

There is a lot more to this film than immediately meets the eye. Most Thai historicals or ghost stories are loaded with anachronistic pop culture cliches. This one wasn't; people spoke with their mouths filled with betel (maak), the lead actress didn't have lipstick, the houses were quite realistic, etc. In addition, the rural monks switched between high-level speech and country slang. The point is that this film is a serious attempt to do justice to both the original tale and the time period it is set in.

The empathy for Nak far surpassed the scariness. What stood out for me is that Nak's justification for her actions seemed quite defensible, adding to the anguished poignancy of the situation.

Asian ghost stories, when done well, have a strongly moral character. This is one of the finest examples I have seen.

As always, I never bothered to check any movies that would force me to READ - the subtitle that is any foreign language other than English. Nang Nak was introduced to me by my wife... It is because the publicity in the newspaper telling about how this movie has made an impact at one of the European countries movie awards - it's a horror movie but with strong love story message. (How scary, indeed!).

Infact for a moment (till the labouring scene)... I was still doing my work while my wife kept on yelling at me every five minutes to join her...

So, I was kind of surprised how good the movie was. Especially the scene when Mak took a refuge in the monastery and Nak followed him there. The most scary part is when she hung on the ceiling....

Me and my wife had a trouble for a moment to even try to glance at our own house ceiling!

Nang nak.... is GOOD! (I'll watch it from the beginning this sunday...) FROM : LELAKILAH

Thai movies are not often shown on the big screen in Montreal. When I saw that Fant-Asia was screening the first Thai film in the history of the festival, I was really keen to see what kinds of movies are being produced there.

It turned out that this romantic/ horror film was one of my favorite of the whole festival. The images are beautiful and the story is so touching. This is an old Thai folktale that I had heard before. I was concerned that it would be too dark and that the love story would get lost in the ghost story. However, they manage to convey both the sweetness and the horror of the tale without compromising either.

If you get the chance, I highly recommend this film.