My Girl (2003)

By far the best of the many Thai films I have seen, this will utterly astonish anyone expecting the melodrama and poor acting so often encountered in Thai cinema. As even by the standards of the latter, its budget was low, it shows in the tradition of which The Bicycle Thieves is perhaps the most spectacular example, that with fine acting and masterful direction, depiction of the emotions in a simple story can trump a budget of any size.A young man called Jeap is invited to the wedding of his long-lost childhood friend Noi-Naa. His initial decision to give precedence to a prior engagement is soon abandoned when in his car he listens to the musical hits of his childhood and memories flood back in the way old music is perhaps uniquely powerful in making them do. Most of the story then focuses on Jeap as a ten-year-old agonisingly torn between the super-girlish circle of his oldest friend and neighbour Noi-Naa and a gang of characterful boys led by an amiably-roguish fat bully called Jack. Extremely nostalgic and wittily recounted, it is definitely a story to make one both laugh and cry. The acting is superb.The title and cover are misleading. Touching as the deeply-felt friendship of Jeap and Noi-Naa is, Fan Chan is not a romance, but a story about friendships and their meaning in the emotional world of the nearly pubescent boy. The idea of its being romantic is actually deeply ironic, for what it does perhaps most convincingly and interestingly is to remind us of a truth that was obvious to everyone until a generation or two ago: that beyond his mother's love, a boy's needs until well into adolescence are for his own sex. Nowadays this tends to be obscured by contrived gender-blindness combined with a silly and uncomfortably half-hearted wish to see children prematurely aping their parents' romantic antics.Unfortunately, the full mind-blowing emotional impact will only be felt by those with nostalgic memories of the lost simplicity of rural Thailand in the 1980s, and especially those who were children then. These above all accounted for its being the extraordinary and unexpected local hit it was, but even with its impact diluted, it fully deserves a global audience.Edmund Marlowe, author of Alexander's Choice, a novel of boyhood, www.amazon.com/dp/1481222112.

Directed by a committee of art school graduates, fresh out of school with no commercial film-making experience, the film break one of the central tenets of Thai film-making of never work with children, animals and trans gender/vestite/gays. The film start with the protagonist driving to his hometown of rural Thailand, the music plays through the radio and begins the flashback... It is unfortunate that much of the effort of this film is deep rooted in Thai popculture, from the soundtrack to the games that the children plays, this film is a step back in time and in essence manages to capture childhood, this film unfortunately is very specific in the audience of 20-30 yr old Thais, without the context of the experience, what's left is a very formulaic story of growing up, and no matter how polished the film is, it is impossible for the film to transcends global audience the same level that it mesmerise Thai audience, this is not an escape of reality of the traditional cinema, but rather a reminisce of simpler time, lost on much of the current generation of Thais themselves. To the global audience, what is left is a snapshot of life of Thailand a couple of decades ago, the emotional impact of the film itself is not through the story but the way they makes the audience recall their childhood, and in that respect, the essence of the film is totally lost in translation.

Just saw this film at the Thai Takes 2 festival and it is absolutely wonderful! Very poignant story of best friends (girl/boy) in their formative years, one of which is conflicted and yearning to hang out with the rest of the girls/boys. (You have to guess which...)The movie reminded me of growing up spending hours and hours hanging out with friends, riding your bike everywhere, and just not having a care in the world except ice cream and playing. Hilarious and touching. The gang is a really funny group of characters, each with a personality all of her/his own.A must see if you can find. Don't know if there will be a wider U.S. release but it definitely deserves one. Foreign independent films such as this one are so refreshing and worthwhile. Go see it!

Not as bad as expected. Kinda good, actually. One thing for sure they have chosen a good location for the film. Unlike other Thai film this one has been done in a pretty good manner all that editing, sound, and the pace of the movie. And one best thing was … you could actually sit through it till the movie end. And if you're not in Thailand, I don't think it will remind you of the past. Try to give it a shot… you might like it.----------------------------------------------Max: 7.5/10