“Gay Power Vol. 4” - A The Love of Siam Review

Originalname:	Rak haeng Siam
Also known as:	Love in Siam
Release Date:	22. November 2007
Director:	Chukiat Sakveerakul
Writer:	Chukiat Sakveerakul
Producer:	Somsak Taecharatanaprasert, Sukanya Vongsthapat

Cast:

Witwisit Hirunwongkul, Mario Maurer, Laila Boonyasak, Sinjai Plengpanit, Songsit Rungnopakunsri, Kanya Rattanapetch,

Plot

So the real story starts after Tongs sister, Tang, disappears and his family decides to move away, leaving his best friend Mew behind. (I’m not reviewing a Pokémon movie…)

After some years they meet again; Mew is the lead singer and songwriter of “August”, a band with his fellow school friends, who just got taken by a label and Tong’s family is a mess with a drinking father and an overly protective mother.

So Mew and Tong start to see each other again and, over time, develop feelings for each other. This resolves with those two kissing after Tangs Welcome Back Party, in which a friend of Mew, June, who looks exactly like Tongs missing sister, pretends to be Tang for the drinking father. The mother sees this and isn’t pleased with it at all (She’s Christian, if you’re wondering)

So she tells Mew to leave Tong for the sake of his happiness and he does.

Tong is of course suffering, but finds a true friend in Ying, who loved Mew before she found out he was gay.

Mew on the other hand can’t find a reason to sing anymore and the group has to get him to give up the rights of his song. His best friend talks to him, and says, that Mew doesn’t have to think he’s alone in this.

After Tongs fathers liver collapses, June decides to leave the family and go somewhere far away.

And it all comes to an end at Christmas Eve: Mew returns to the band and they’re having their first stage performance. Tong has a date with Donut (his girlfriend; she isn’t that important), but dumps her and runs to the concert, where he listens to Augusts performance with Ying. He afterwards tells Mew, that he can’t be his boyfriend but it doesn’t mean he’s not loving him. (ARE. YOU. SERIOUS? Damn it, just because you’re half German, doesn’t mean you have to be an asshole!)

We end with Mew crying in his room afterwards, starring at his now completed toy which he received from Tong when they were children.

Conclusion

(Sorry for the sentence in the title I needed something funny.)

Sooo, where do we want to start? Generally, Demochild and I liked the movie. The different love forms are really good shown. But what we don’t like was the fact that they didn’t end up together. I mean the whole movie was about the two finding out they love each other and then? “I can’t be your boyfriend but it doesn’t mean I don’t love you.” I mean, hello? It’s courageous that you make a movie about gay love but you should go the whole way and not: “Well, we went far enough. Let’s stop it here and we talk about the side story.” Don’t understand me wrong. I don’t want to see how two guys make love to each other (if I want to see that I’ll go and see Brokeback Mountain for the 3^rd time) but it would be enough for them to end up together. It would be a nice reward for them after all they’ve been through. (Why does it feel like this is getting in the same direction as my Tumbling Review?)

But let’s save this for another study…

The cast was good. They played it well. Especially, Kanya Rattanapetch who played Ying. I liked her. She was cute. But I was still frightened by her.

What we also liked about the movie were the sets. It really looked authentically like someone was actually living there. The pictures looked like they were taken by normal non-professionals.

So, I think, that’s it. The story is really cute and if you’re not too homophobic, I would recommend it.