ROMANTIC COMEDY

Love Julinsee

Buzz: Being set at the Big Mountain concert and having a soundtrack by Paradox would be enough to put this film on our radar without the added buzz of the trailer getting banned for showing two teenagers actually kissing (shock, horror) in this romantic comedy about first love.
In theaters: 3 March 2011
Studio: M39
Director: Chainarong Tampong and Sakol Tiachareon
Stars: Jirayu La-Ongmanee, Apinya Sakulchareonsuk, Alex Rendell, Tisanat Sornsuek, Kamolnut Chalwanitchsut, Irada Siriwut, Nutcha Chantapan and Nuttapong Piboonthanakiet
Synopsis: The Big Mountain concert is the setting for four separate stories of first love. Now and Yo are both waiting for each other to say the words “I love you”? Pla is a musician who goes to the concert to forget her former playboy boyfriends. Fon looks back to the memorable times she had with her junior at school, while best friends, Yok and Eue, realize that things have got complicated since they became a couple.

Suckseed

Buzz: A teen flick that originated from a final university movie project by a former Thai Airway’s steward. Intriguing enough, but this movie has now been given an added touch of polish by feel-good studio GTH, who just made B130 million from last year’s runaway hit movie Hello Stranger and yes, cute boys Jirayu and Pachorn.
In theaters: 17 March 2011
Studio: GTH
Director: Chayanop Boonprakob
Stars: Jirayu La-Ongmanee, Pachorn Jirathiwat, Natcha Nualjam, Thawatch Pornrattanaprasert
Synopsis: Ped (Jirayu), an out of touch sixth grade student, learns to love music and find love thanks to Earn, his cool classmate, only for his heart to be broken when Earn has to move away. Six years later, Earn returns with a cool look and a real musical talent as a guitarist. Ped, still a loser, decides to create his own band to win her heart.

Behind the scenes

Chayanop Boonprakob, director of Suckseed

How did this project come about?
I actually made this movie as my final project at university, though the story is totally different from the new blockbuster version. The original story is about a band who post their performance on Youtube and get a very good response until they are invited to perform at a live concert. It turns out terrible as they suck and aren’t cool like in the video clip. But despite it all there is one fan whose love and devotion sees them finally become a success. The idea is that no matter how much you suck, you can still be an inspiration for others. A sequel was then made of my film by my junior at university.
How did it become a big screen movie?
Director Keng-Jira Malikul called me in to talk about this project while I still working as a flight attendant. He talked to me and my junior who made the sequel and asked us to create a new blockbuster version of Suckseed. And yes, I quit my flight attendant job.
Was it hard to make that decision?
Yes, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime offer! There are tons of people who want to be a director but they offered this job to me. I can be a steward for the rest of my life but being a director in my own movie project? This is it.
Did you feel under pressure?
I didn’t really feel pressured because I loved every minute of making this film. This is my dream. The only tough thing is just making all the actors, who are mostly newcomers, become closer to each other because they have to be really close friends in the movie. My tactic? I brought all of them to sleep over at my house and made them play games all night.

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We speak to Billy Bautista of the famed La Monita Taqueria (Mahatun Plaza, Phloen Chit Rd., 02-650-9581) and get him to reveal the recipe for this chunky, crunchy and tart guacamole.

Ingredients

• 4 tomatoes, deseeded and diced
• ½ onion, diced
• 2 jalapeno chillies, diced (or substitute Thai prik kee noo)
• a handful of cilantro, chopped
• juice of 2 limes
• a pinch of cumin powder
• a pinch of salt
• 2 avocados, peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped
1. Combine the first seven ingredients in a large bowl to make salsa fresca.
2. Add a pinch of salt to the chopped avocado and lightly cut with a spoon.
3. Add the mixture from step 1, and combine, mashing to your desired level of chunkiness.

Pop Weaver: Kettle Corn

B108/box of 3 packs
Looks: Just like Emma Watson’s new haircut, some love it; others think it’s rather dull and dry. Judging by the lack of yellowy hue, it’s no secret that this popcorn isn’t packing any butter (for those who want to still fit into that red carpet gown).
Taste: Runner up to our BK Pick, it has the perfect balance between being a bit sweet and nicely salted, quite different from the kettle corn you would get at an American county fair.

Jolly Time: BUTTER LICIOUS

B136/box of 3 packs
Looks: Looks aren’t everything. This popcorn is utterly bland-looking, tiny, and has absolutely no puff to it. It’s just plain ugly.
Taste: They may be small, but these popped kernels are packed with real buttery goodness. The big crunch is the way movie popcorn should be, so you can obnoxiously munch away if the movie gets boring. The butter also tastes the most natural and is not oily like the others.

Pop Weaver: Extra Butter

B108/box of 3 packs
Looks: It has the best, most even color with a nice touch of yellow butter all round.
Taste: One of BK tasters dubbed this popcorn “a mix of cardboard and Indian pickles” and we have to agree that there’s definitely something vegetable-like about them. The smell of the butter leaves a weird staleness in your nose. Looks like canola oil is a bad idea.

Pop Secret: Movie Theatre Butter

B118/ box of 3 packs
Appearance: As big, fluffy and natural as Pamela Anderson’s cleavage.
Taste: Sometimes, it’s just too much. BK tasters agreed that this popcorn is trying too hard. Each puff is greasy and the butter tastes as artificial as its fluorescent yellow color suggests.

HORROR

Mae Nak 3D

Buzz: The 22nd remake of this well-known legend looks to offer something new with the first 3D version of the ghostly tale of love and loss.
In theaters: 20 September 2011
Studio: Bangkok Inter Group Film
Director: Pichai Noirod and Chotipan Nitiwat
Stars: Bongkot Kongmalai, Rangsiroj Panpeng
Synopsis: If you don’t know the story then we can only surmise you’ve been living under a stone. For those rock dwellers here it is again: Nak (played by the well-endowed Bongkot), a heavily pregnant woman, dies with her stillborn child while her husband, Mak, is away for war. When Mak returns, he doesn’t know that his family is dead and continues to live with Nak unaware that she is actually a ghost.

Gancore Gud

Buzz: Thailand’s most famous rapper Joey Boy makes his directorial debut with Gancore Gud, which also happens to feature all the members of Gancore Club getting stuck on an island. Horror, hip hop and girls in bikinis—sounds like a teenage boy’s wet dream.
In theaters: June 2011
Studio: Phranakorn Film
Director: Apisit Opas-iamlikit aka Joey Boy
Stars: Joey Boy and the Club members
Synopsis: Joey Boy and his Gancore Club play a group of musicians on tour who find themselves stuck on an island inhabited by a host of scary creatures from zombies to mermaids.

Ladda Land

Buzz: Based on a famous real life ghost story about a housing development in Chiang Mai which was eventually abandoned as a creepy wasteland due to a series of deaths and some spooky goings on. Directed by horror pro Sopon Sakdapisit (Coming Soon) and starring Nuvo guitarist Saharat, we just feel this could end up being another Shutter.
In theaters: April 2011
Studio: GTH
Director: Sopon Sakdapisit
Stars: Saharat Sankhprija, Piyathida Woramusik
Synopsis: Thee (Saharat), a harassed office employee, looks to escape the nagging of his wife’s family by moving to Chiang Mai and buying a house at new development Ladda Land. This perfect new life doesn’t last long as the house’s bloody past leads to some terrifying encounters.

Behind the Scenes

Apisit Opas-iamlikit aka Joey Boy, director of Gancore Gud

What inspired you to make this film?
I’m a big fan of zombie films with my favorites being Dawn of the Dead and The Evil Dead. Ghosts for me just aren’t scary. I wouldn’t say that the creatures in my film are zombies, they’re just from the same genre as zombies. I wouldn’t exactly say it’s a horror movie either. It’s really hard to define, but I guess I would label it a black comedy. There are elements of comedy in the film, but if you imagine yourself as one of the characters in the film, then you’ll realize that the things that are happening to them are not funny at all.
From rapper to director, what was the biggest challenge?
It’s a bit harder taking on all of the roles myself. It’s simpler for me as an actor because I’m just playing myself. The hardest part about being the director is being in charge of the production and operational aspects of the film. It’s my directorial debut, so there are a lot of challenges. It’s not just about me anymore. Now I have to also manage a very large team of people. I’m lucky to have an excellent team to help me out.
Were there any specific challenges that you faced during the production that you’ve never encountered before?
Yes, many. The film was set in a forest, so I was there every day. It’s always raining there, with bugs and everything, so it was quite torturous. The film also turned out to have more action sequences than I had originally planned. Sometimes I would cuss myself for writing such a difficult scene. At first, it was just good times you know, throw in some babes in bikinis into some scenes, that sort of thing. But as it goes on, there are just more and more scenes that are just utterly brutal.

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I was kind of a scaredy cat. As a child, I was very well-behaved and really obeyed my elders. I still don’t know how to ride a bicycle because my mom was afraid I would get hurt.

I felt like a girl ever since I was little. I liked wearing my mom’s clothes, liked her heels and playing with dolls. I even had a crush on a tomboy in sixth grade. She looked like she could protect me.

Growing up in an all-boys middle school made me realize what I am. Guys would call me e-tud [faggot bitch]. It was OK, though. I still managed to get good grades.

I went to a casting for Exact, a TV production company, and got a part in the lakorn Chai Mai Jing Ying Tae [Fake Man, Real Woman] which aired more than ten years ago.

I felt unhappy with my life. I was an English teacher at the time. I couldn’t do the things that I loved. So I borrowed my uncle’s video camera to shoot a short movie, Wan, and sent it to the Thai Short Film competition in 2001. I knew nothing about movie making but it won an honorable mention and I started making a lot more films both here and abroad.

In international competitions, they won’t care if you’re transgender or not. They only care about the ideas. This is how I want to be judged.

People tend to only look at the surface, in Thailand. It’s why I’m having these problems with Insects in the Backyard. It isn’t accepted here because Thai people are so conformed to what they know and what they’re supposed to see.

I didn’t think the feedback would result in the movie being banned. I thought the ratings system would help ensure it got screened. I mean, I was expecting the 20-years-plus rating.

Thai society has always been censored to the point that everyone is so used to it. Thais have been taught to be within the frame, stay within their cage, ever since they were born.

More people are starting to wonder what it’s like to not stay in the boundaries. To find their way across the border. This is why there’s a conflict between different types of people.

Thai people like to think certain things are completely wrong. That certain types of people are completely wrong, such as gays, transexuals and prostitutes.

I want people to think of these “wrong” people as human beings. If you were one of them, would you not be human?

A penis is only a body part used for urinating and reproducing. It does not come with duties. The owner of that body part has the right to choose what they want to do and don’t want to do.

I think the set duties of men and women largely contribute to a lot of world crises, like war and power struggles, because some people want to maintain their power to control society.

I feel nothing when people call me, “that katoey [transgender] director.” Gender is just a uniform that society tags us with at birth. If had to define myself I would say, I am human.

It’s really not true that Thai society accepts trans men and women. Society categorizes us as a third gender, something on the outside. They can only be comedians or colorful characters in a movie while, in real life, they can’t be a mother or father.

I am living my dream where I can make movies. I can speak what I want to say.

I don’t believe that humans can have only one love for their entire life. Do we live with someone because of responsibility or love? I feel that loving someone for the rest of your life is chaining you to suffering.

My identity won’t change if I do a big studio movie, like Hak Na Sarakham. I will do the movie that both the studio and I want. I won’t take their money and just what do I want, like some directors. That’s disgusting. I can do what I like in my self-funded movies.

Isaan movies are all about poverty or drought but this one is all about love.

Every movie has the right to be shown, even porn movies. We have to make a place for them. Movies are like people. You need to get close to really know them. Don’t expect them to be just there to entertain you.

Censorship laws are made by ignorant people who don’t know movies. Thai movies won’t go anywhere if the people in charge are all products of a Thai education system that hasn’t taught them how to think and how to critique what they’re told.

I am still optimistic that Insects in the Backyard will have its day to shine and will eventually be shown.