I just saw this film at DC Filmfest 2003, and found it to be slightly flawed, but still a very charming story. I feel it was impossible not to like, although I see that some commenters obviously do not agree with me! I had actually been looking forward to seeing this film for quite a while, and I regret that I knew too much about the film, which ruined some of what would have definitely been "surprises". The story revolves around Pan (Phaen), a handsome village guy of about 20, who dreams of marrying his village sweetheart, Sadaw, and becoming a singing star. Unfortunately, Pan also has a lot of bad luck....REALLY BAD LUCK. Immediately after marrying Sadaw and getting her pregnant, he is drafted into the army. What follows is a musical comedy, melodramatic soap opera, chase scene action, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink tale of Pan's adventures as he tries to fulfill the second dream, which seems to take him further and further away from his first dream (Sadaw). While watching the movie, I was reminded of two classic tales of wanderers...The Odyssey and Candide...and anyone familiar with these tales will see the similarities as the male lead wanders the world (in this case, around Thailand), dreaming of his long-lost love (who sits despairingly at home) and meeting a variety of odd characters along the way (including Dao, a innocent-looking, promiscuous female singer, Suwat, his sleazy, gay manager, Siew, a poor migrant worker and a grizzled old policeman). Monrak Transistor meanders off track at times, but it is always entertaining. No matter how bad things get, it always manages to keep its sense of humor intact. You also get to see a lot of what Thai life is like, and more than once i was reminded of my vacation there a few years ago. The actor who plays Pan is somehow always charming and likable, despite what most Western audience would certainly consider some "f***ed-up" priorities. The actress playing Sadaw is even better, although her screen time is limited. I would recommend this movie to people who like an original story, and want to see a love story that veers WAY OFF the beaten path. Though not nearly as good as director Pen-Ek Ratunaruang's earlier effort, the manic, fast-paced, 69, I give it an 8/10 cuz it is so damned likeable.
12 Reviews
A Thai Pilgrim's Progress....
taiaha30 August 2004
Watched this recently with a Thai lady - we both loved this film, that starts out deliberately naive and corny and descends into something darker whilst retaining a degree of pathos. The style of the film changes to meet the changing mood - the English subtitles are quite accurate, though some nuances are lost. All round good performances from the main characters Worth while...
Pray, love, transistor
viljar-soiland6 July 2005
This is an excellent film. It is truly fascinating. As the narrator of the film says in the opening scene: this is the story of Phaen (Pan), who is a good guy, but whom the gods, for whatever reason, chose to give amounts of bad luck. In a sense, this is a very "black" film. The film starts with a summary of Pan courting Sadaw, before the two marry, and Sadaw's consequent pregnancy. However, due to his misfortune, Pan is drafted into the army, and from there, his misery continues. No matter what Pan does, and no matter how nicely he acts towards, and attempts to do "the right thing", it seems that he is just pulled deeper and deeper into it. He is pulled more and more towards the urban life, and the miserable conditions there, away from the romanticised peaceful life in the countryside, symbolised by Sadaw, and the transistor which he gave her as a token of her love, but which falls to the floor and breaks. Throughout the film, traditional Thai music is used to describe what is happening, the most frequently used being a very romantic one, whose lyrics are "don't forget, don't forget"--words that give hope to Pan, as he suffers his misfortunes in the big world, because his fate is cruel, and has decided that his dream, although seemingly so close to being realised, will remain simply a dream.
Beautifully crafted and original movie
simon_booth25 October 2002
I picked this movie up because it was "Voted Thai best film of 2001" - though I had serious reservations about doing so when I saw the artwork, which makes it look like a terribly sugary romance. I'm glad I decided not to judge this one by the cover, because what's inside is so much more than the wrapper would imply.
Pan and Sadaw are two young Thai kids growing up in a rural Thai village. Life is good - simple, but sweet. The two find especially large amounts of good in each other, and soon become sweethearts. They're very much in love, and Pan even bursts spontaneously into song to express this on occasion. Singing is Pan's other love in life, and he's jolly good at it too.
That's the part of the movie that resembles the DVD cover - very sweet and idyllic, but done so very nicely it is genuinely touching, even to somebody with as little tolerance for romance as myself. It lasts about 20 minutes As the voice-over observes, they could leave it there and have a very short but sweet movie that would have the audience smiling on their way to the exits. But they don't - the story continues, and develops into something far more complex and dark.
MONRAK TRANSISTOR is in some ways a debunking of the romantic idealism represented on the DVD case. It reminds the viewer that life is rarely so straightforward and co-operative in the modern world. The movie presents a far more realistic view of life and love, which makes it much more interesting. It reminded me a little of the exceptional Korean movie MY SASSY GIRL in that respect (possibly only because I rewatched MSG just before it though).
It is also very well made. Writer/director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang clearly had a strong vision of what he wanted his movie to be like, and he directs it with precision and skill. The characters are very well written, and brought to life by uniformly excellent performances. Lead actress Siriyakorn Pukkavesh deserves particular mention - her performance is one of the best I've seen. The movie is technically excellent as well - absolutely beautiful cinematography and soundtrack. It's no surprise to see Nonzee Nimibutr listed as producer, as he seems to be involved with nearly all the really intelligent and high quality movies coming out of Thailand in recent years.
The acting, cinematography and sound would be enough to make any movie stand out, but it's the story that really puts MONRAK TRANSISTOR at the top of the pile. It takes the characters (and the viewer) in quite unexpected directions, creating a unique and original movie. Nothing outlandish or bizarre happens - in fact the whole movie feels very realistic. That's what makes it unexpected - things don't turn out like they do in the movies
I believe MONRAK TRANSISTOR is Thailand's entry for the Oscars this year. I don't suppose it will win, because Thailand's movie industry isn't nearly important enough for Hollywood to want to grease its palms. Hopefully it will get the movie onto more people's radars though, because I think it deserves to be seen.
Strongly recommended!
Pan and Sadaw are two young Thai kids growing up in a rural Thai village. Life is good - simple, but sweet. The two find especially large amounts of good in each other, and soon become sweethearts. They're very much in love, and Pan even bursts spontaneously into song to express this on occasion. Singing is Pan's other love in life, and he's jolly good at it too.
That's the part of the movie that resembles the DVD cover - very sweet and idyllic, but done so very nicely it is genuinely touching, even to somebody with as little tolerance for romance as myself. It lasts about 20 minutes As the voice-over observes, they could leave it there and have a very short but sweet movie that would have the audience smiling on their way to the exits. But they don't - the story continues, and develops into something far more complex and dark.
MONRAK TRANSISTOR is in some ways a debunking of the romantic idealism represented on the DVD case. It reminds the viewer that life is rarely so straightforward and co-operative in the modern world. The movie presents a far more realistic view of life and love, which makes it much more interesting. It reminded me a little of the exceptional Korean movie MY SASSY GIRL in that respect (possibly only because I rewatched MSG just before it though).
It is also very well made. Writer/director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang clearly had a strong vision of what he wanted his movie to be like, and he directs it with precision and skill. The characters are very well written, and brought to life by uniformly excellent performances. Lead actress Siriyakorn Pukkavesh deserves particular mention - her performance is one of the best I've seen. The movie is technically excellent as well - absolutely beautiful cinematography and soundtrack. It's no surprise to see Nonzee Nimibutr listed as producer, as he seems to be involved with nearly all the really intelligent and high quality movies coming out of Thailand in recent years.
The acting, cinematography and sound would be enough to make any movie stand out, but it's the story that really puts MONRAK TRANSISTOR at the top of the pile. It takes the characters (and the viewer) in quite unexpected directions, creating a unique and original movie. Nothing outlandish or bizarre happens - in fact the whole movie feels very realistic. That's what makes it unexpected - things don't turn out like they do in the movies
I believe MONRAK TRANSISTOR is Thailand's entry for the Oscars this year. I don't suppose it will win, because Thailand's movie industry isn't nearly important enough for Hollywood to want to grease its palms. Hopefully it will get the movie onto more people's radars though, because I think it deserves to be seen.
Strongly recommended!
Siriyakorn Pukkavesh
ajso2419 June 2003
This film is finally showing in London, at the ICA. It's not the greatest piece of cinema I've ever seen and some of the performances are over-acted; but I just wanted to comment that the actress that played Sadaw (Siriyakorn Pukkavesh) gave one of the best performances I have seen for years. She was absolutely brilliant. Thailand's Gong Li? Wait 'til Hollywood execs see this performance. It was absolutely touching and she shone.
best thai film ever?
thai39 July 2002
I saw monrak transistor twice and loved it. Not many films can make you laugh as well as bring tears to your eyes but this one did. You might not be so keen on this film if you are not a looktung fan, and I am an addict. Even if you don't know the music the film is enjoyable just as a comedy. Fun is poked at the legal system, record promotors, the well meaning rich and the poor. Fate is the path our hero has to follow only to end up where he started, hopefully still singing-peter
Too Commercial?
Ocean_star5 August 2003
I went to watch Monrak...without having ever heard of it and not knowing what to expect. It was enjoyable on the whole...but I felt it became a bit too commercial. The courting scenes between Pan and Sadaw was beautifully executed and was tremendously realistic. Siriyakorn Pukkavesh was delightfully brilliant! I simply loved the song that he sings to her in the room (before the father comes to shoot him). Visually, it was tasteful and well lit.
But, I came out feeling the film was 'stretched' just to fill up the 90 minutes.Too many things happen to Pan and too many situations arise. The "boat doctor' was totally uncalled for and didn't really add anything to the film.
It could have been much better had it been limited to 60 minutes or so.
But, I came out feeling the film was 'stretched' just to fill up the 90 minutes.Too many things happen to Pan and too many situations arise. The "boat doctor' was totally uncalled for and didn't really add anything to the film.
It could have been much better had it been limited to 60 minutes or so.
This is the 2001 best film of Thai movies.
goodtanin-128 January 2002
This is the 2001 best film of Thai movies. Pen-Ek did it by changing his style (from Ruang talok 69 (1999) and Fun Bar Karaoke (1997) ) to the native life. This movie is the most SIMPLY than any movies he did, Full of laughs, tears and familiar with Thai Lifestyles. This movie is for Thai people by Thai people.
An interesting mixture of genres
anderzzz-131 July 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This film start out almost like a farce comedy. We have a jester, there is an old man shooting a rifle screaming nonsense, etc. It fades into a romantic story too good to be true, but makes a turn into dark social realism of poor Thailand meets rich Thailand. There is violence and abuse, both drugs and sexual on display, very far from the silly humor the film started with. Towards the end, some slow motion scenes like in an action film appears, before finally we reach the end, but the transistor (the symbol of the joyful start of the film) is broken and rusty.
As seen, this film is a huge mixture of genres. When I had watched this film, I asked myself: what was the purpose of this mixture, was the grim end a mocking of the joyful beginning? Could it be that the ever smiling jester (Pan, the principal character) on his multicolored stage with his sugar sweet romantic songs, the idealogical cute Thailand, is mocked and stripped to the hard, poor, sexually raw and abusive Thailand as the film progresses? Is this why the film maker mixes all these different genres in the story instead of keeping the form fairly fixed, that it in fact is the appearance that is criticized?
A lot of questions, but I fail to really answer them, because I am torn. Sometimes I feel that this indeed is the fact, other times I wonder if the strange mixture is a failure of the film to put the rather traditional story of rise and fall (only in the setting of Thailand instead of Europe or America) in an interesting and challenging form. I end up giving the film 7/10, but I recommend it since I at least was stimulated to think on the matter of film genre and how to escape, criticize and more deeply connect it with the story.
As seen, this film is a huge mixture of genres. When I had watched this film, I asked myself: what was the purpose of this mixture, was the grim end a mocking of the joyful beginning? Could it be that the ever smiling jester (Pan, the principal character) on his multicolored stage with his sugar sweet romantic songs, the idealogical cute Thailand, is mocked and stripped to the hard, poor, sexually raw and abusive Thailand as the film progresses? Is this why the film maker mixes all these different genres in the story instead of keeping the form fairly fixed, that it in fact is the appearance that is criticized?
A lot of questions, but I fail to really answer them, because I am torn. Sometimes I feel that this indeed is the fact, other times I wonder if the strange mixture is a failure of the film to put the rather traditional story of rise and fall (only in the setting of Thailand instead of Europe or America) in an interesting and challenging form. I end up giving the film 7/10, but I recommend it since I at least was stimulated to think on the matter of film genre and how to escape, criticize and more deeply connect it with the story.
A stupid, terrible film!
jack_dawson_23 February 2003
This is an old-fashioned way how a film is made. The characters and the story are not what we can relate to. They are totally dull and unconvincing. Who cares about the pathetic jokes a guy putting himself in a difficult situation. Just painfully waited until it ended. This film is overrated and a big disappointment from Thailand.
You have to see it to get in love with it
heyvalera12 February 2003
The title of the movie may be misleading for a person who is about to see the movie, but once the movie is seen, the sentimental value of the small radio player becomes much clearer. The movie has been described as kitschy, musical, Thai soap opera, etc. It may be all that, but it is never just that. The very first opening shot of the movie will convince you that the image is the work of the true artist.
As the movie progresses, the "art" slowly transforms into "life, and nothing but". The pace, images, story line - all reflect the slow disappearance of the "movie storytelling" and ever growing realism. True, it is more convenient to see poverty through the wide lens with lush soundtrack, but this script superbly mastered the art of walking on the edges of all the genres without falling into any one of them. It is a "must see" to appreciate superb acting, beautiful cinematography, very ironic, but never sarcastic, look at life of two young Thai lovers and the convoluted ordeals through which life (or was it the script author? :) ) led them.
As the movie progresses, the "art" slowly transforms into "life, and nothing but". The pace, images, story line - all reflect the slow disappearance of the "movie storytelling" and ever growing realism. True, it is more convenient to see poverty through the wide lens with lush soundtrack, but this script superbly mastered the art of walking on the edges of all the genres without falling into any one of them. It is a "must see" to appreciate superb acting, beautiful cinematography, very ironic, but never sarcastic, look at life of two young Thai lovers and the convoluted ordeals through which life (or was it the script author? :) ) led them.
Low-Class Comedy, What A Reductive Mess!
thaipaul4 April 2002
The story takes on the adventure of a reckless guy who is away from his pregnant wife in the rural-area and seeks to become a singer in the city but things turns out badly (or funny?). He goes through a series of unexpected events and finally returns home at the end.
A lack of skills in filmmaking is obviously shown in "Monrak Transistor". The music is somehow nostalgic, reminding me of the old days but the film itself has nothing to do with that feeling . Predictable plot, poor adaptation from country songs to few musical scenes and formulaic ending make it totally dull from start to the end. This film cannot lie itself exactly on what its gene is? is it musical or drama? I guess it's just a drama with some comic elements. Is the stereotype of people livings outside a big city like Bangkok supposed to be funny in a sense? Of course, there are many more ways to portray Thai country lifestyles than a bunch of unnecessary, pathetic jokes that only trigger your physical reaction from your stomach rather than your intellectual reaction from the brain. You might laugh at some gags but later on you might realize that it is a kind of movies that are so bad that it makes you feel you should laugh at it. This is one of the worst Thai films in recent years.
A lack of skills in filmmaking is obviously shown in "Monrak Transistor". The music is somehow nostalgic, reminding me of the old days but the film itself has nothing to do with that feeling . Predictable plot, poor adaptation from country songs to few musical scenes and formulaic ending make it totally dull from start to the end. This film cannot lie itself exactly on what its gene is? is it musical or drama? I guess it's just a drama with some comic elements. Is the stereotype of people livings outside a big city like Bangkok supposed to be funny in a sense? Of course, there are many more ways to portray Thai country lifestyles than a bunch of unnecessary, pathetic jokes that only trigger your physical reaction from your stomach rather than your intellectual reaction from the brain. You might laugh at some gags but later on you might realize that it is a kind of movies that are so bad that it makes you feel you should laugh at it. This is one of the worst Thai films in recent years.
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