Cape No. 7

A young man, in his hometown working as a postman after a failed career as a rock singer (Van Fan), is convinced to form a band with an ageing Japanese fashion model (Chie Tanaka) and some colorful locals, to serve as the opening act for a beach concert by a Japanese pop band.

Intertwined with this plot element is a packet of undeliverable love letters from long ago -- the address is the title of the movie -- as well as shades of the Japanese occupation of Formosa in the 1940s.

The debut feature by Wei Te-Sheng, this nostalgia-filled musical romantic comedy was a surprise smash-hit in Taiwan last year, and went on to become the country's second-highest grossing film, behind Titanic. It's also picked up many awards and nominations, including the New Talent Award for Wei Te-Sheng at the Asian Film Awards and Film of the Year at Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards.

Cape No 7 is playing in Mandarin with English and Thai subtitles at House on RCA.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The sixth installment in the movie franchise based on author J.K. Rowling's seven-novel series is already setting records. For its opening on midnight Wednesday in the U.S., it earned $22.2 million, breaking a record for midnight openings that was held by The Dark Knight at $18 million.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will probably be another monster hit for Thai cinemas, which have cleaned up handily with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which this week topped Titanic as the top-grossing film in Thailand with 215 million baht compared to the sinking-boat epic's 213.6 million baht.

I don't want to say anything about the plot of HP6. I'm not a huge fan of the series, as I've not read all the books and have only casually viewed the films. I appreciate all the fine British and Irish actors who are cast in these -- Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Jim Broadbent, Helena Bonham Carter, etc. Fans who have read the book will already know what's going to happen -- or will they? I've heard there are controversial changes.

In addition to the version that's playing in all the multiplexes, there's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: The IMAX 3D Experience, which has the first 12 minutes in IMAX 3-D. It's showing at the Krungsri IMAX at Siam Paragon.

Also showing

• New York -- The hit Bollywood drama is back for one more screening at 8pm on Saturday at Grand EGV Siam Discovery. Call (02) 488 2620 for bookings.
• Short Film Marathon -- They're showing around 700 short films in preparation for the 13th Thai Short Film and Video Festival. Screenings start at 5pm daily in Conference Room 4 at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center.

Take note

After three weeks, Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Nang Mai (Nymph) has just about left the local cinemas, having been supplanted by Harry Potter and other mainstream offerings. But it's still hanging around, with the "Cannes Version" at SFW CentralWorld and the tighter-paced "Director's Cut" at Century -- The Movie Plaza and House.

Gone are both Let the Right One In and Gomorra. They had a good run at House. In the DVD shop today, I noticed the Thai DVD release of Let the Right One In. It doesn't have English subtitles. Which is fine if you speak Swedish or want to listen to the Thai dub. And there's a Hollywood remake in the works, called Let Me In by Matt Reeves, the director of Cloverfield. It's said to be more closely following the book that the Swedish vampire film was based on.