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Reviews
Fan chan (2003)
Lost in translation...
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.