what is love to you?
watched the original version of "love of siam"(รักแห่งสยาม) via 土豆 a few months back. was attracted to it as fellow thai class friends and ajarns were saying how wonderful the movie is, but never came across a subtitled version till on 土豆. apparently, there were some outrage when the movie was shown, as there was a subplot that involves homosexuality. well, can't blame them. this was the movie poster:
seems like a teen romance movie. no hint of any homosexual scenes in the movie. no wonder they were caught surprised when the two male leads kissed.
but this aren't a movie about homosexual romance anyway, as the director claimed ( and I would agree after watching the movie). this movie is multi-layered with different subplots and stories, and different kinds of love - parental, friendship. it discussed about the kind of love spouses spouses have, the kind of love families have, the kind of love teenagers have - puppy love, infatuation, confusion about sexuality and self-identity. to say that it is a homosexual story base on the kissing scene is like saying that the kueh lapis is too green by pointing out to the green layer.
the fact that it is a multi-layered story about different kinds of love is more evident from the director's cut version, which is kinda like an extended version of the original one, where previously deleted scenes are inserted back. the characters are fleshed out a lot more - to show more of their struggles and motivations behind their actions. the mother who seemed uncaring to the father at home, is actually very worried about his health. tong may have initiated the kiss with mew, but with the director's cut version, we see more of him struggling with his own identity and sexuality. the mother having witness his son and mew kissing - we see more of her struggling with whether to accept her son's possible sexual orientation and the kind of things she did out of love for her son. the kind of relationships teenagers have are also under the spotlight more - are they doing certain things because that is what girlfriend/boyfriends are suppose to do, or are they really in love? infatuation? crush? how do they deal with it?
it goes back to these questions: what is love? and what would you do for love? is there such thing as too much love? why do we hurt the ones we love?
if you have the chance, watch it. especially the director's cut version. a sweet, enjoyable and deep movie. great songs too. just don't expect a happy ending. :P
and please, understand the scenes in the context of the whole movie and story development. it's not a "gay movie". it's much deeper and more layered than that.
seems like a teen romance movie. no hint of any homosexual scenes in the movie. no wonder they were caught surprised when the two male leads kissed.
but this aren't a movie about homosexual romance anyway, as the director claimed ( and I would agree after watching the movie). this movie is multi-layered with different subplots and stories, and different kinds of love - parental, friendship. it discussed about the kind of love spouses spouses have, the kind of love families have, the kind of love teenagers have - puppy love, infatuation, confusion about sexuality and self-identity. to say that it is a homosexual story base on the kissing scene is like saying that the kueh lapis is too green by pointing out to the green layer.
the fact that it is a multi-layered story about different kinds of love is more evident from the director's cut version, which is kinda like an extended version of the original one, where previously deleted scenes are inserted back. the characters are fleshed out a lot more - to show more of their struggles and motivations behind their actions. the mother who seemed uncaring to the father at home, is actually very worried about his health. tong may have initiated the kiss with mew, but with the director's cut version, we see more of him struggling with his own identity and sexuality. the mother having witness his son and mew kissing - we see more of her struggling with whether to accept her son's possible sexual orientation and the kind of things she did out of love for her son. the kind of relationships teenagers have are also under the spotlight more - are they doing certain things because that is what girlfriend/boyfriends are suppose to do, or are they really in love? infatuation? crush? how do they deal with it?
it goes back to these questions: what is love? and what would you do for love? is there such thing as too much love? why do we hurt the ones we love?
if you have the chance, watch it. especially the director's cut version. a sweet, enjoyable and deep movie. great songs too. just don't expect a happy ending. :P
and please, understand the scenes in the context of the whole movie and story development. it's not a "gay movie". it's much deeper and more layered than that.
posted by yanjie at
12:20 AM
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