Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening October 15-21, 2009
Rot Fai Faa ... Maa Haa Na Ter (Bangkok Traffic Love Story)
In the 10 years since Bangkok's skytrain has become a landmark of the city, it's been featured in several films -- whizzing by as two guys make love on a rooftop in Bangkok Love Story, or being a mode of transport rated just slightly better than a crowded city bus for a rash-prone young woman in Citizen Dog -- are just a couple that come to mind.
Now the BTS (Bangkok Mass Transit System) is a focal point and conveyance for lovers who meet cute in the GTH romantic comedy Bangkok Traffic Love Story.The Thai title is Rot Fai Faa ... Maa Haa Na Ter (ö俿éÒ...ÁÒËÒ¹Ðà¸Í) or "I rode a skytrain to see you." Aww.
After seeing the trailer (embedded below) a few times, I guess it might be okay as far as romantic comedies go.
Cris Horwang, last seen in the rather bizarre role of a young hilltribe woman in Nose Udom's uneven comedy E-Tim Tay Nai, seems more suitably and appealingly cast here. The button-nosed 28-year-old plays a 30-something single Chinese-Thai woman, living with her mother and on the verge of spinsterhood. She sees her chance for love when she meets a guy who works as a railway engineer on the Skytrain. He's played by soap-opera heartthrob Ken Teeradej.
She has to compete with a teenaged rival ("Patt" Angsumarin Sirapatsakmetha) to get the guy's attention. "Opal" Panisara Pimpu is cast as Cris' supportive best friend.
It's directed by Adisorn Tresirikasem, one of the "Fan Chan six" who last made the soccer comedy Mak Tae (Lucky Loser). From the rural comedy of the Laotian-set and then not-Laotian-set sports comedy, Adisorn moves solidly into GTH's comfort zone of middle-class Bangkokian romance.
But the movie does have an interesting pedigree. The script has been in the works for two years, and among the writers is indie filmmaker Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, who explained the writing process on his blog.
The script has been changed a hundred of times and it can't be said who is the scriptwriter No. 1, 2, 3 or 4 because we are sharing ideas together so much that I don't know who is the owner of the ideas in each part. But it doesn't matter. I don't care whether the film will be brilliant or just a crap. It's happy for me to experience the character on the paper moving on the big screen with the mainstream audience for the first time.
Rot Fai Faa ... Maa Haa Na Ter is rated G.
Also opening
New York, I Love You -- Ten directors -- Jiang Wen, Mira Nair, Shunji Iwai, Yvan Attal, Brett Ratner, Allen Hughes, Shekhar Kapur, Natalie Portman, Fatih Akin and Joshua Marston -- offer their views on romance in the Big Apple in 10 short films. It's an all-star cast: Bradley Cooper, Hayden Christensen, Andy Garcia, Rachel Bilson, Irrfan Khan, Orlando Bloom, Christina Ricci, Maggie Q, Ethan Hawke, Anton Yelchin, James Caan, Olivia Thirlby, Drea de Matteo, Julie Christie, John Hurt, Shia LaBeouf, Shu Qi, Chris Cooper, Robin Wright Penn, Eli Wallach, Cloris Leachman, Blake Lively, Jacinda Barrett, Justin Bartha, Burt Young and Gurdeep Singh. It's produced by the same folks who did Paris, je t'aime, but New York, I Love You is said to be more homogenous than the earlier romance anthology. For example, a short by Scarlett Johannson, her directorial debut, was cut because it was black and white and not in keeping with the aesthetics of the other segments. New York, I Love You is playing at the Scala and at SFW CentralWorld and SFX Emporium. Rated 15+
Haeundae -- Billed as South Korea's first disaster film, expect hysterics as only Koreans can muster when a giant tsunami wave hits the beach of Haeundae in Busan. It's directed by Yun Je-gyun (Sex is Zero) and stars Sol Kyung-gu and Ha Ji-won. At the Siam.
Law Abiding Citizen -- Gerard Butler is everywhere. The action flick Gamer is still lingering and just last week his romance comedy The Ugly Truth opened. Now he's in Law Abiding Citizen, a tough-looking thriller directed by F. Gary Gray (A Man Apart, The Italian Job) and based on a script by Kurt Wimmer (Equalibrium, Ultraviolet). Here, Butler plays a man whose family is murdered and the killers are let off light in a deal cut by a corrupt district attorney (Jamie Foxx). Turns out Butler's character has the resources to make everyone die when he sets his mind to it. Opens Friday.
Also showing
All The Best: Fun Begins -- A case of mistaken identity spurs along this romantic comedy starring Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan and Ajay Devgan. In Hindi with English subtitles at 8 on Friday and 4 and 7 on Sunday at Siam Paragon. Visit www.BollywoodThai.com or call (02) 225 7500 or (089) 488 2620.
Main Aurr Mrs Khanna -- Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Sohail Khan star in this romance about a marriage ended by a bad decision. In Hindi with English subtitles at 8 Friday and Saturday, 4 and 7 on Sunday and 8 on Monday at Grand EGV Siam Discovery. Visit www.BollywoodThai.com or call (02) 225 7500 or (089) 488 2620.
Bollywood Film Festival -- What better way to celebrate this weekend's Diwali holiday than with a bunch of Bollywood movies? The festival wraps up this weekend. Don't miss the eye-blistering Om Shanti Om, which is more than just a Bollywood movie -- it is Bollywood itself. A song, dance and star-filled spectacular about cinema, reincarnation, hopes, dreams and romance. It's showing at 7 tonight (Thursday) and once more at 1 on Sunday. At 7 on Friday, it's more self-referential Bollywood comedy in Luck By Chance. Saturday has romantic comedy in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi at 1, friendship and terrorism in New York at 4.20 and lavish historical drama in Jodhaa Akbar at 7.20. The movies on Sunday are the rock 'n' roll drama Rock On at 4.20 and Luck By Chance at 7.20. It's all at Major Cineplex Sukhumvit (Ekamai). Visit BollywoodThai.com.
Take note
Did you miss seeing Broken Embraces at the Bangkok International Film Festival or in its two-week limited run at Paragon Cineplex? Don't fret. Pedro Almodovar's latest, starring Penelope Cruz, is showing at the Lido cinemas in Siam Square.
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