Thai cinema has a long history of misrepresenting the Lgbtqia+ community. Early films, such as “It's All Because of Katoey” (1954) contributed to the assignation of homosexuality as a social deviance. Today, Thai media have made significant progress in presenting nuanced experiences of Lgbtqia+ individuals in modern Thai society. This article presents a chronological list of 12 Thai fiction films that help understanding this evolution.
1. The Last Song (1985) by Pisan Akaraseranee
“The Last Song” tells the bittersweet story of Somying (Somying Daorai), a beautiful and successful showgirl working in a famous transvestite cabaret in Pattaya. Through her thwarted love affair with a handsome male singer, the film highlights the difficulties of being trans in Thai society. It is one of the first films to cast a transgender woman in a leading role. The film's release was a revolutionary moment, not only for the Thai entertainment industry, but also for the Lgbtqia+ community.
1. The Last Song (1985) by Pisan Akaraseranee
“The Last Song” tells the bittersweet story of Somying (Somying Daorai), a beautiful and successful showgirl working in a famous transvestite cabaret in Pattaya. Through her thwarted love affair with a handsome male singer, the film highlights the difficulties of being trans in Thai society. It is one of the first films to cast a transgender woman in a leading role. The film's release was a revolutionary moment, not only for the Thai entertainment industry, but also for the Lgbtqia+ community.
- 3/19/2024
- by Hugo Hamon
- AsianMoviePulse
Titles include ‘Good Night’ and ‘Death Whisperer’.
Thai production and sales company M Pictures has lined up a string of horror titles including Poj Arnon’s Good Night at Busan’s Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm).
Good Night is a horror comedy about five high school students who move into a cheap rental house ahead of their university entrance exam, only to find out that a mysterious girl lives next door and haunting whispers can be heard at night. Seasoned director Poj has made more than 30 films, including Bangkok Love Story and more recently Tiger Running, which grossed more than...
Thai production and sales company M Pictures has lined up a string of horror titles including Poj Arnon’s Good Night at Busan’s Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm).
Good Night is a horror comedy about five high school students who move into a cheap rental house ahead of their university entrance exam, only to find out that a mysterious girl lives next door and haunting whispers can be heard at night. Seasoned director Poj has made more than 30 films, including Bangkok Love Story and more recently Tiger Running, which grossed more than...
- 10/8/2023
- by Silvia Wong
- ScreenDaily
Based on one of Thailand’s more gruesome true stories, this ripped-from-the-headlines genre effort concerns the scandal of the discovery of 2,002 fetuses in a Bangkok Buddhist temple that had come from illegal abortion clinics. A biting commentary on preventing unwanted teen pregnancies in today’s Thai society, veteran comedy director Poj Arnon crafts a serviceable thriller now available on Netflix.
After coming home from work, photographer Trai and his schoolteacher wife Pim begin to grow concerned about their daughter Yaimai (Chinaradi Anupongphichart) who is fond of venturing to a mysterious temple nearby. One of her local students Bam (Peerawit Boonark) starts to worry about his girlfriend Kam (Chudapha Chanthakhet), especially when she announces she’s pregnant and wants an abortion from the same place she did years ago, which starts them on a similar path of hauntings as the family. Soon, both sides converge on a specific...
After coming home from work, photographer Trai and his schoolteacher wife Pim begin to grow concerned about their daughter Yaimai (Chinaradi Anupongphichart) who is fond of venturing to a mysterious temple nearby. One of her local students Bam (Peerawit Boonark) starts to worry about his girlfriend Kam (Chudapha Chanthakhet), especially when she announces she’s pregnant and wants an abortion from the same place she did years ago, which starts them on a similar path of hauntings as the family. Soon, both sides converge on a specific...
- 3/5/2019
- by Don Anelli
- AsianMoviePulse
“Bangkok Love Story” director Poj Arnon’s “Make Me Shudder” looks like one of those horror/comedies that finds a group of obnoxious youngsters cracking wise with the dearly departed. While I’m not running across the ocean to check out the latest chiller from Thailand, it would probably get a watch if it landed on Netflix streaming. Here’s the premise: Guys check out haunted houses and irritate ghosts. Sometimes they make fun of the reasons these spectral beings died. Apparently killing yourself over lousy grades is an acceptable practice. Even a bloody apparition can’t get any respect these days. My synopsis sucks. Here’s the official description: During school break, there was a rule that students must leave their school dormitories to return home. However, a group of student gathered their gang for another trial of ghost challenge. Their place of choice was “Daeng Building” which held...
- 9/20/2013
- by Todd Rigney
- Beyond Hollywood
Let’s get one thing straight: Director Poj Arnon’s 2011 supernatural thriller “The Unborn Child” (aka “2002 Unborn Children”) is more of a “scare film” that it is an actual horror movie. Don’t get me wrong — the idea of Thai teenagers having to undergo illegal abortions is horrifying, but don’t try to hide your agenda inside a genre flick. It reminds me of those American drug films from the 40′s and 50′s, those cheap, low-budget exploitation efforts that attempted to pass along a message whilst wallowing freely in unchecked debauchery. Chop roughly 40 minutes out of the picture and you’d have something you could show to high school students in health class, complete with a tidy little message about safe sex tacked on for good measure. Considering the slug-like pacing and the dozen or so moments where absolutely nothing is happening, viewers probably wouldn’t miss a single thing.
- 8/27/2011
- by Todd Rigney
- Beyond Hollywood
The recent boom in Thai horror has revolved to a large extent around anthology films, with the likes of “Phobia” and its sequel having impressed both critics and audiences. “Still”, released domestically as “Tai Hong”, is the latest in this trend, with “Bangkok Love Story” director Poj Arnon teaming with indie helmers Chartchai Ketknust, Manus Worrasingha and Tanwarin Sukkhapisit for four tales of the supernatural. To differ itself from its many peers, the film focuses not on urban legends and Thai folklore, but on actual incidents, interpreting them in suitably sinister fashion. The film certainly proved popular with domestic viewers, being another genre box office hit that out performed the likes of the new Hollywood version of “The Wolfman”. The film kicks off with “Flame”, from Chartchai Ketknust, inspired by a real life tragedy in which a fire on New Year’s Eve in 2008 killed a great many nightclub-goers. The...
- 3/23/2011
- by James Mudge
- Beyond Hollywood
Phranakorn Films' sure-to-be controversial new horror 'The Unborn Child' Aka '2002 Unborn Children' will be arriving in theatres across Thailand this coming March. And following a slew of various teaser one-sheets being revealed left, right and center for the flick finally the full trailer has come to light. You can catch the new and certainly unsettling Thai trailer (unfortuntely without English subtitles at this point) for the new Poj Arnon helmed horror below....
- 2/17/2011
- Horror Asylum
Thai horror has never been shy about dealing with difficult topics in the absolutely, bloodiest way possible, and the full trailer for director Poj Arnon’s The Unborn Child shows there no sigh on them changing that anytime soon. Local picture house Phranakorn film are the ones responsible for this latest bloodbath, and while its fair to say their earlier productions - on the whole - could mostly be described B-movies, but we have to say the production values on this latest effort look great, if damn grisley. The Unborn Child opens in Thailand March 10. Synopsis: Inspired by true story, the film revolves around a woman who gets unintentionally pregnant but couldn't afford the life of her infant. Then she decides to do an abortion which changes her life into a series of nightmares as she is haunted by the vengeful ghost of her own unborn child.
- 2/16/2011
- 24framespersecond.net
Thai horror has never been shy about dealing with difficult topics in the absolutely, bloodiest way possible, and the full trailer for director Poj Arnon’s The Unborn Child shows there no sigh on them changing that anytime soon. Local picture house Phranakorn film are the ones responsible for this latest bloodbath, and while its fair to say their earlier productions - on the whole - could mostly be described B-movies, but we have to say the production values on this latest effort look great, if damn grisley. The Unborn Child opens in Thailand March 10. Synopsis: Inspired by true story, the film revolves around a woman who gets unintentionally pregnant but couldn't afford the life of her infant. Then she decides to do an abortion which changes her life into a series of nightmares as she is haunted by the vengeful ghost of her own unborn child.
- 2/16/2011
- 24framespersecond.net
With so many horror films hitting us from across the pond, it's hard to get a read on what will be good and what will be another one for the fire. But buzz surrounding Thailand's Die a Violent Death , from director, Poj Arnon has been good. All four stories in this horror anthology are inspired by newspaper headlines. Check out this English-subbed trailer.
- 3/9/2010
- shocktillyoudrop.com
After the runaway success of the Phobia films from Gmm Tai Hub, success quickly followed by the Sahamongkol backed hit Haunted Universities, the horror anthology is all the rage in Thailand. And here comes Phranakorn Film with the aptly titled Die A Violent Death.
Those who have seen it say this one is quite good though whether that is because of or despite the fact that the four stories that make it up have been ripped from Thai news headlines is very much down to individual tastes.
Spearheaded by Poj Arnon, the four segments revolve around a deadly nightclub fire, a corpse stashed in an apartment building's water tank, a prison suicide and a haunted motel room - as pictured above. There's definitely a nastier edge to this than to previous Thai horror collections and we've got an English subtitled trailer to whet the appetite.
Those who have seen it say this one is quite good though whether that is because of or despite the fact that the four stories that make it up have been ripped from Thai news headlines is very much down to individual tastes.
Spearheaded by Poj Arnon, the four segments revolve around a deadly nightclub fire, a corpse stashed in an apartment building's water tank, a prison suicide and a haunted motel room - as pictured above. There's definitely a nastier edge to this than to previous Thai horror collections and we've got an English subtitled trailer to whet the appetite.
- 3/9/2010
- Screen Anarchy
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