With Dada Chen at NYAFF 2013

With Dada Chen at NYAFF 2013
With Dada Chen at NYAFF 2013

Friday, March 13, 2009

ACF 249: The Love of Siam @ SFIAAFF

The Love of Siam / Rak haeng Siam
Directed By: Chookiat Sakveerakul
Thailand, 2007, 158 min.

This is one of the many films being shown at the 27th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival that runs March 12-22, 2009. It will screen tomorrow, Saturday, March 14th, 2009 at 2:15 PM at the Castro Theatre and on Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 at 2:00 PM at Camera Cinemas 10. Here's a description of it that's from The Love of Siam's webpage, where you can also order tickets.

A groundbreaking teen love story, THE LOVE OF SIAM is a moving gay romance that took Thailand by storm. Mew and Tong are childhood neighbors and become good friends after Tong protects Mew from bullies. Tragedy strikes when Tong's sister disappears, however, and soon Tong's grief-stricken family moves away. Years later, the two boys are reunited in Siam Square, a trendy teenage hangout in Bangkok, where Mew often performs with a now-popular boy band. Rekindling their affections after all these years, the two must decide if their feelings for one another are as friends, or something more. When they discover that Mew's manager looks exactly like Tong's long-lost sister, a different kind of decision is made, one that may create other problems, or a novel solution to Tong's father's grief.

Dealing with both the complexities of family life and teen love, THE LOVE OF SIAM pushes cultural boundaries further by dealing with sexuality in an honest manner rarely seen in Thai commercial film. Despite its controversial subject matter, it managed to win over both audiences and critics at home, winning all major awards and achieving huge box-office success. It also ignited websites, message boards and a slew of online fan fiction that continued the story of Tong and Mew. Chosen to represent Thailand at the 2009 Academy Awards, THE LOVE OF SIAM is a well-crafted, affecting drama that captures the vibrancy of Thai pop culture and its modern capitol.

-- Vicci Ho

2 comments:

  1. It's really great news that "Love of Siam" is still doing the rounds in different festivals two years after its release.

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  2. Yeah, it's always nice for good films to "have legs" and keep getting screened after their inital theatrical release. Also, glad to see you stopped by, Thor. {Readers: Thor, who's located in manila, writes several blogs. One is "Something To Sing About." The URL for it is "http://thorsings.blogspot.com/" Check it, and his other blogs, out.

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