From: ssg9328@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Samart Srijumnong)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai
Subject: Re: Thai movies
Date: 14 Oct 92 03:24:45 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.Bw3DHA.Gnv
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana

cooneys@gw.wmich.edu writes:


>I don't remember anyone in this group ever mentioning Thai 
>movies. I saw at least one that had some merit and some 
>charm a couple of years ago in Bangkok, about two little 
>kids in a country village. (Was it called "Puk Pui"? I can't 
>remember.)

>What are the really good Thai movies, recent or from long 
>ago?

>Are they obtainable in the U.S.? (It would be nice to use 
>one to help with learning Thai.)

>			-- Seamus Cooney
>			 [that's pronounced "shay-muss"]


Khun Shaymuss Khrab,
	There are some video movie cassetts for rent at some Thai grocery
stores. I don't know where you reside but in Chicago, there are a couples
of stores that offer such rents. It may be hard to find a "movie" but 
there are a lot of long series of "soap opera" tapes. They duplicated here
in Chicago (assumably w/o permission from the producers). The rent is 
quit cheap--a dollar a tape. You can keep it for three nights. For those
from out of town, you can send the tapes back via mail which will take 
more than three nights of course but the stores' owners did not seem to
put hard on that. 
	I could be good for you Thai practice but I am not sure you could
stand its Nam^Nao" quality (Nam^Nao" = polluted water, the term used to
characterize the same old story of love and affection, no mention of
work, and happy ending). 
	I recently saw one series entitled LaangRuk^ (eight hours long
with the commercials removed). It is boring but once in a while as a Thai
I need to refresh myself a bit with cultural stuffs from home. 
	The last good movie I saw before I left was Naam^Pu", a story of
a boy who was involved in drug using and later died.
	There are some few good producers and directors but the economic 
pressure put upon them by the owners of the movie companies are so heavy
that these guys have to ignore their ideal. The audience in Thailand are
mostly poor people who seek short way to happiness. These Naam^Nao" movies
help them to forget their reality but have chance to enjoy fantasy. A rela-
tively more well to do people are fond of foreign movies particulary those
of AMerican or European made. In the era of VCR wide spread, the pirated
videos flooded in. Many luxurious movie theaters were out of business. The
new ones are much smaller attached to shopping malls, containing around 200
or less audiences. They call it "Mini Theater". 
	On TV, Hong KOng Kungfu movies are a big hit, followed by still 
Hong Kong drama movies. Once in a while Japanese movies could capture
popularity. Southeast Asian ones are rare. Once Indian movies used to be
a big hit but it is now a history. 
	I blame on the quality of fiction production in Thailand from which
the origin the movies are based on. In Thailand, many writers are willing
to write a small episode to be published in weekly magazine, e.g. Bangkok,
SukunThai, TanTawan, and the likes. Hence, the plot is naturally unplanned.
It could go as far as the fans still enjoy. The whole pocket book of a 
complete story is inconceivable even at this computer age. Most writers 
often recollect parts of their writing in volume, after the last episode
was published in their contracted magazines. 

All these are stemmed from my own observation. Comments are welcomed.

Samart Srijumnong
Champaign, Illinois
October 13, 1992.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai