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saraphee
Reviews
Hom rong (2004)
Hom rong and Amadeus / Luang Pradit and Mozart ?
Actually i am not interested in Thai Traditional music.I was born in the north of Thailand and the music similar to my ear is the performance in funeral (through Cassette tape !!).Thai traditional music seemed to me very boring staff , like the new generation who then was crazy in Bon Jovi , Skid Row ,Mettalica and so on.But when i grow up , i come to realize its beauty and profoundness through (sorry not this movie) the classical music.Thai traditional music has its own complexity and the liveliness , similar to classical music.
Could we compare Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with Luang Pradit ?- Perhaps.Mozart was the child prodigy and could create the music that was too brand new for his generation in Vienna (actually he was not quite successful in his career), while Luang Pradit (in the movie) was groundbreaking , intolerable for the conservative -minded.
Both of two men were similar in characters when they were young ; bold and arrogant ,but when Luang pradit grew old , he was the prudent sage.Some says this is the weakest point of the movie that fails to connect the self of young and old Luang Pradit.
Both of these men were under the threats which were different : Mozart's life collapsed because of his own indiscretion and the overridden debt , eventually leading to the decline of his health and death when he was just 36 years old.Old Luangpradit was threatened by the decree of Nationalism of Field Marshal Phibul ,who wanted to civilize his country during world war 2.
I can not compare this movie to Amadeus.The latter conveys the audience with the historical error and boldly accused Salieri of the guilty that he had never made.But Amadeus was very strong and charming in every aspect of the production.Hom rong tried to be honest to historical fact but weak in the acting and especially the choreography.The director of Hom rong was inspired by many movies.The first scene was of his childhood stumbling upon Ranart just because of innocently chasing the butterfly (which appeared again after his death) , it seemed like he combined the last emperor and Forrest Gumps together.Many people would say that the influence of the legend of 1900 emerged when the duel between Luang pradit and Khun-In.But i think it was nearly the sort of plagiarism.
While Amadeus could meticulously imply the political idea , Homrong fails to do it.Hom rong uses the flat conversation to criticize so-called Nationalism but Amadeus wittingly resorted the political idea to drive the plot(the emperor Joseph 2 was blank-minded and pretended to be musical snob or the conflict between the Archibshop and the emperor).
The tragedy happening to Luang Pradit's follower who was deprived of the right to be professional in Thai music and eventually committed suicide , combining with the death of Luang Pradit himself could not depress the audience as much as when Mozart learnt about the death of his father and put this into (almost) final scene of Don Giovanni (as the commendatore's statue burst the wall in to pieces and dragged Giovanni in to the hell).
After all Hom rong is the groundbreaking movie , thrashing its rival Thawiphob (spending 100 million bath in production)into the crap. It could draw the new generation's interest to their oblivious legacy of the past.However one point i think that exactly similar to Amadues is the one- sided accusation against Luang Phibul of the forever villain like Amadeus cursed Antonio Salieri to hell.
Anna and the King (1999)
Good but not enough
As the people from the country of location , i had a rare chance to watch this movie in the theatre because it had been banned.Thais have for a long time been worshiping the Monarchy as the demi-God.The expression about them in any negative ways like deprecating,offending,blaming .....etc. will be forbidden ,banned and punished according to the Lese Majeste law.The ban of this movie in Thailand vexed the liberal -minded a lot.They blamed the authority for the dictatorship.But one fine day i had a chance to buy the DVD and intentionally watched it with out prejudice.
The production was quite mediocre ; compared with "The last emperor" or the other historical films although the filmmaker spent a lot of money on it.The funniest thing happening whenever Thais watched this movie was that the actor and the crews were Malaysians and they could speak Thai , as memorizing from the script , very poorly.If this movie had had a chance to be in Thai theatre , it would not have been able to captured the Thais' hearts.
The second negative point of his movie was about King Monkut.Jo yun fat was absolutely different from the characteristic of the real king.King Monkut had been in priest hood for 27 years and he was the scholar.I wouldn't deny for his irascibility , but Jo could be only the good warrior king.
The third was that this movie didn't only convey the audience with the historical account errors , it also made the new plot about Siam , so i want to correct these ;
1.There was never the civil war or coup d'estate in Siam during king Monkut's reign.The king could sit on his throne very safely , supported by the family of powerful nobility named Boonnak.
2. What a pity that the film overlooked the king's younger brother; king Pinkao who were very well-educated in western science.He was claimed to speak English even better than his older brother, not that fool in the film.
3.King Chula ,succeeding his father ,abolished the slavery not because of the inspiration from Uncle Tom's cabin but the political background.The liberation of slaves and turn them to be the king's subject and would undermined the power of the nobility.
4.The king never fell in love with Anna.
The forth is that the movie was too flat, never giving the audience the real climax.The confrontation between the nobility-turn -the leader of the coup was too brief.
The fifth , similar to "The last Samurai" this film was merely the look of farang (the westerner) from the long distance.They nervy tried to really understand the Eastern way.The play set by the young prince and princess during the royal feast was very horribly western.