Just watched "Bang Rachan" on TV here in Finland. The missus and the other daughter slept through most of it but the other daughter watched it all the way till the end and asked me some very interesting questions. I promised to tell her more about the history of Thailand and South-East Asia later (she's 13 and it's past midnight) but some thoughts came to my mind as what to tell her (them.)
Thailand was very weak at that point of history as the royal family didn't care about the country too much because they were fighting with each other for the power. That made the country weak. Not so long later a strong leader emerged and united the country again.
Is it always this way that when the leaders are weak the country will suffer and when they only think of themselves the people will face hard times? I guess it is but then again, I think every single country and nation has faced this kind of situation in their respective histories.
I even think that, when individuals are only interested in their own prosperity, the same thing will happen, albeit in much smaller scale.
Well, I've just been thinking to myself and wondering how to explain Thai people their own history.
Thai movies
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Bamboo Grove
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Thai movies
Back in Bamboo Grove
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sandman67
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Re: Thai movies
Thai cinema, though it may be a little propogandised, is a good way of getting kids interested in their history.... Bang Rajan and its sequel Bang Rajan 2 are based on true stories and are set in the same time period as the two big boys of Thai epic cinema KING NARESUAN 1 & 2. Theres also another one out set in that period called YAMADA: SAMURAI OF AYYUTYA.
Thai history is much like that of Greece, Italy, Britain, Japan, China etc etc. Small city state kingdoms/fiefdoms/republics ruled by warring overlords that eventually were surplanted by one strong unifier like Naresuan, usually because of an outside invader who threatened all, or just to consolodate power.
Anyway, a goldmine of Thai cinema can be found at http://myasiancinema.com/view/movie/ - you can select from the topbar just Thai movies or have all asian cinema. The movies are all in original soundtrack with subtitle tracks in English....using subscene or a similar site you can always source other language subs if you need them. Just search on { "film name"+"language"+.srt }....so for Bang Rajan in Finnish your search string would be "Bang Rajan"+FIN+.srt.
The thai stuff on there is historical epics like BANG RAJAN, some thai fantasy films like QUEENS OF LANGSUKA and a stack of thai horror and action comedies.
Its my main source of asian cinema
the other place to go looking is http://www.veehd.com and http://www.stagevu.com - on both just search on "thai".
with MyAsian and VeeHD you will need to register first but its free, safe and spam free.
Any problems drop me a PM and Ill help out
enjoy mate
Thai history is much like that of Greece, Italy, Britain, Japan, China etc etc. Small city state kingdoms/fiefdoms/republics ruled by warring overlords that eventually were surplanted by one strong unifier like Naresuan, usually because of an outside invader who threatened all, or just to consolodate power.
Anyway, a goldmine of Thai cinema can be found at http://myasiancinema.com/view/movie/ - you can select from the topbar just Thai movies or have all asian cinema. The movies are all in original soundtrack with subtitle tracks in English....using subscene or a similar site you can always source other language subs if you need them. Just search on { "film name"+"language"+.srt }....so for Bang Rajan in Finnish your search string would be "Bang Rajan"+FIN+.srt.
The thai stuff on there is historical epics like BANG RAJAN, some thai fantasy films like QUEENS OF LANGSUKA and a stack of thai horror and action comedies.
Its my main source of asian cinema
the other place to go looking is http://www.veehd.com and http://www.stagevu.com - on both just search on "thai".
with MyAsian and VeeHD you will need to register first but its free, safe and spam free.
Any problems drop me a PM and Ill help out
enjoy mate
"Science flew men to the moon. Religion flew men into buildings."
"To sin by silence makes cowards of men."
"To sin by silence makes cowards of men."
Re: Thai movies
Have they ever made a movie about Thao Suranari, the wife of a leader of the city of Khorat who is supposed to have saved the city in the 19th century?
They have several monuments to her in the city that I see everytime I'm there and they obviously consider it to be an important historical event.
They have several monuments to her in the city that I see everytime I'm there and they obviously consider it to be an important historical event.
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sandman67
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Re: Thai movies
Dunno mate....cant say Ive ever seen one ... Youd need to ask a Thai.
One of the main issues with Thai cinema is they dont get the "international audience" idea at all, and hardly ever try to get their films distributed in the west.
Bang Rajan only got into the western market care of Oliver Stone's help in getting it distribution deals. Try finding a properly subtitled disk of either King Naresuan films....good luck to you! they were made for the Singapore market and are available, but Ive never been able to find one here in Thailand. The Singapore ones use pretty poor "machine translated" subs from the online copies Ive seen. When I watched em in the cinema it was interesting to note that the end credit subtitles stated that they were in fact "fan subs" done by a fan of the genre, not the actual studio itself.
Tony Jaa seems to be the only Thai to get the international potential for Thai films and helped get Queens Of Langsuaka an international release, albeit under the totaly tasteless and inappropriate rename "Tsunami Warrior"..... urk! He knows his films sell well overseas, but even so Ong Bak 3 was ages in circulation before properly subbed western disks came out. With Siyama it was 2 to 3 years before they did a proper international version.
Its down to the provincialism of the film studios, and isnt an issue the other main film countries in SE Asia suffer from - Japan, China and S Korea all release their films with multiple sub tracks and facing international markets. Its just odd....
The result is its hard to find relevant info on Thai films in anything other than Thai via Thai facing websites....so Im at a stump mate as to how you would find out other than finding a helpful video shop...try Bangkok.
The other tip is keep an eye on the bargain bin at Tesco...for some odd reason they keep lobbing loads of the international versions of thai films in there. Good for me mind..... I even found an international version of Chinese artsy version of Macbeth THE BANQUET in there with Thai soundtrack and English subs so me and Mrs S could watch it. I go fishing through it whenever Im in there.
Its a damn shame as Thai epics are great films....the only other way is MyAsian as I said above and burning the end copy with a DVDburner that handles sub stracks onto a DVD. DVDSanta is the simplest tool I have found.
One of the main issues with Thai cinema is they dont get the "international audience" idea at all, and hardly ever try to get their films distributed in the west.
Bang Rajan only got into the western market care of Oliver Stone's help in getting it distribution deals. Try finding a properly subtitled disk of either King Naresuan films....good luck to you! they were made for the Singapore market and are available, but Ive never been able to find one here in Thailand. The Singapore ones use pretty poor "machine translated" subs from the online copies Ive seen. When I watched em in the cinema it was interesting to note that the end credit subtitles stated that they were in fact "fan subs" done by a fan of the genre, not the actual studio itself.
Tony Jaa seems to be the only Thai to get the international potential for Thai films and helped get Queens Of Langsuaka an international release, albeit under the totaly tasteless and inappropriate rename "Tsunami Warrior"..... urk! He knows his films sell well overseas, but even so Ong Bak 3 was ages in circulation before properly subbed western disks came out. With Siyama it was 2 to 3 years before they did a proper international version.
Its down to the provincialism of the film studios, and isnt an issue the other main film countries in SE Asia suffer from - Japan, China and S Korea all release their films with multiple sub tracks and facing international markets. Its just odd....
The result is its hard to find relevant info on Thai films in anything other than Thai via Thai facing websites....so Im at a stump mate as to how you would find out other than finding a helpful video shop...try Bangkok.
The other tip is keep an eye on the bargain bin at Tesco...for some odd reason they keep lobbing loads of the international versions of thai films in there. Good for me mind..... I even found an international version of Chinese artsy version of Macbeth THE BANQUET in there with Thai soundtrack and English subs so me and Mrs S could watch it. I go fishing through it whenever Im in there.
Its a damn shame as Thai epics are great films....the only other way is MyAsian as I said above and burning the end copy with a DVDburner that handles sub stracks onto a DVD. DVDSanta is the simplest tool I have found.
"Science flew men to the moon. Religion flew men into buildings."
"To sin by silence makes cowards of men."
"To sin by silence makes cowards of men."
Re: Thai movies
You also sometimes find them in odd 7/11's.The other tip is keep an eye on the bargain bin at Tesco...for some odd reason they keep lobbing loads of the international versions of thai films in there.
Re: Thai movies
The hit Thai film moving TikTokers to tears
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cv22dg1y2lpo
A Thai film about a young man caring for his dying grandmother as he vies for her fortune has struck a chord in South East Asia, where TikTokers' teary responses are going viral.
How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies has topped box offices across the region since it was released in April.
The film follows M, who is plotting to win an inheritance from his cancer-stricken grandmother, but begins to question his motives as he grows closer to her.
The story appears to have deeply resonated with moviegoers, who have been sharing emotional videos of themselves before and after watching the film.
"Running over to hug my grandma now! Exceptionally touching film... This movie hit even harder because it reminded me of my own relationship with my grandma," wrote a TikTok user ianjeevan.
Young people have posted online about how they were especially moved by scenes where the grandmother was in pain and kept calling out for her late parents to “take [me] with them”.
"I cried so much that all of my make up was gone after the movie," one TikToker said, referring to those scenes.
Another, diariesofswan, said: "After the movie, cry. Just cry, when you miss someone, whom you can't even hug or hear their voice anymore."
The movie was inspired by scriptwriter Thodsapon Thiptinnakorn's relationship with his grandmother. And it is director Pat Boonnitipat's first feature film. He told the BBC he was "really surprised" by the overwhelming response, and that the movie's appeal lay in its ability to tap into the "conflicted" nature of family relationships.
Part-dark comedy and part-tear-jerker, the story revolves around a dysfunctional family that uses the matriarch’s diagnosis to scheme for her fortune.
M, played by 24-year-old singer-actor Putthipong Assaratanakul, is one of them. The college dropout moves in with his ailing grandmother, ostensibly to help care for her.
Well aware of her family's intentions, the matriarch – M’s grandmother, played by Usha Seamkhum – nevertheless loves and accepts her children.
Ms Seamkhum, 78, has recieved rave reviews for her acting debut. Film critic James Marsh called her “absolutely sensational” as the “figurehead of this morally questionable rabble”.
Other than her, the characters are far from likeable - Mr Marsh described them as "loathsome" even. Yet this tale of scheming family versus loveable grandmother appears to have touched many.
"We love them, we also hate them, but we also have to live with them. And sometimes we neglect them. Perhaps this movie reflects the many, many angles of that complexity of a big family," director Pat Boonnitipat said.
Some of those who watched the film said it reminded them to spend time with their loved ones, while others said it rekindled memories of their grandparents or parents who had died.
One TikTok user advised people to "bring many boxes of tissue if you are going to watch this movie". Some clips online show staff handing out tissues to moviegoers as they walk into the cinema.
Malaysia's largest cinema GSC has marketed the film as a must-watch for people who "need a good cry", while SM Cinema in the Philippines had staff giving out tissues outside theatres showing the film.
Ticket sales in Thailand crossed 250m baht ($6.9m, £5.3m) in the first 14 days of its release, making it 11th highest grossing Thai film.
It has also become the most successful Asian movie to hit screens in Indonesia, and the highest-grossing Thai movie in Singapore and Malaysia.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cv22dg1y2lpo
A Thai film about a young man caring for his dying grandmother as he vies for her fortune has struck a chord in South East Asia, where TikTokers' teary responses are going viral.
How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies has topped box offices across the region since it was released in April.
The film follows M, who is plotting to win an inheritance from his cancer-stricken grandmother, but begins to question his motives as he grows closer to her.
The story appears to have deeply resonated with moviegoers, who have been sharing emotional videos of themselves before and after watching the film.
"Running over to hug my grandma now! Exceptionally touching film... This movie hit even harder because it reminded me of my own relationship with my grandma," wrote a TikTok user ianjeevan.
Young people have posted online about how they were especially moved by scenes where the grandmother was in pain and kept calling out for her late parents to “take [me] with them”.
"I cried so much that all of my make up was gone after the movie," one TikToker said, referring to those scenes.
Another, diariesofswan, said: "After the movie, cry. Just cry, when you miss someone, whom you can't even hug or hear their voice anymore."
The movie was inspired by scriptwriter Thodsapon Thiptinnakorn's relationship with his grandmother. And it is director Pat Boonnitipat's first feature film. He told the BBC he was "really surprised" by the overwhelming response, and that the movie's appeal lay in its ability to tap into the "conflicted" nature of family relationships.
Part-dark comedy and part-tear-jerker, the story revolves around a dysfunctional family that uses the matriarch’s diagnosis to scheme for her fortune.
M, played by 24-year-old singer-actor Putthipong Assaratanakul, is one of them. The college dropout moves in with his ailing grandmother, ostensibly to help care for her.
Well aware of her family's intentions, the matriarch – M’s grandmother, played by Usha Seamkhum – nevertheless loves and accepts her children.
Ms Seamkhum, 78, has recieved rave reviews for her acting debut. Film critic James Marsh called her “absolutely sensational” as the “figurehead of this morally questionable rabble”.
Other than her, the characters are far from likeable - Mr Marsh described them as "loathsome" even. Yet this tale of scheming family versus loveable grandmother appears to have touched many.
"We love them, we also hate them, but we also have to live with them. And sometimes we neglect them. Perhaps this movie reflects the many, many angles of that complexity of a big family," director Pat Boonnitipat said.
Some of those who watched the film said it reminded them to spend time with their loved ones, while others said it rekindled memories of their grandparents or parents who had died.
One TikTok user advised people to "bring many boxes of tissue if you are going to watch this movie". Some clips online show staff handing out tissues to moviegoers as they walk into the cinema.
Malaysia's largest cinema GSC has marketed the film as a must-watch for people who "need a good cry", while SM Cinema in the Philippines had staff giving out tissues outside theatres showing the film.
Ticket sales in Thailand crossed 250m baht ($6.9m, £5.3m) in the first 14 days of its release, making it 11th highest grossing Thai film.
It has also become the most successful Asian movie to hit screens in Indonesia, and the highest-grossing Thai movie in Singapore and Malaysia.
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Re: Thai movies
YTS has 2 or 300 Thai movies. My family have asked for Thai downloads and there are many on YTS.