I remember that when this movie released the trailer ,it convinced many people to misunderstand that it was a cute teenage movie like many blockbusters from GTH like Seasons change ,Dear Dakanda,My girl.Until they saw this movie,many audience felt very upset because it was a gay movie.

Nevertheless,I think this movie is surprisingly great I've ever thought.It's more than a gay movie.It also portrays family problems as well as teenager's.It is a story about two boys Tong and Mew who confront losing.Tong lost his sister so his parents is down falling while Mew lost his grandma who was only his love in all his life. Everyone in this movie needs something vital to fulfill all life. Something is called Love.This movie can show how powerful love is. Love can inspire Mew to write and sing a lovely song.Love can make this movie enjoyable and impressive easily because the powerful love for making this movie.So I admire Madaew,the director who is able to prove how to make effective movies from a social criticizing horror like 13Beloved to a powerful love story.

Besides that,the performances in this movie are excellently outstanding.Especially,the veteran SinJaI as Tong's mom who must encounter several problems bravely such as losing her daughter,alcoholic husband even having realized a shocking truth about her son.She looks inconsiderate and fussy but actually she still love her husband and son deeply. When she is sad,she will cry naturally but makes me hurt so much meanwhile the other actors were able to act very well.I hope that the teen actors in this movie will be promising stars soon.

I give it a rating of ten because I believe this is a movie on this rare topic (teenage love, gay love, family love etc) which you won't find in a decade, that the emotional shock and storyline have a long-lasting effect, the director/writer left you a huge space for further imagination.

The story of Tong and Mew was well written, showing unaffected simplicity and lack of guile, while reflecting quite truly of the Thai society and the rather open attitude towards homosexuality in Thailand.

No "coming out of closet" scene for Mew and Tong, the affair between the straight-acted Tong and Mew was a gossip between nosy friends only but not simply rejection or opposition, nobody expects some friends of Tong would give any trouble to warn Mew to stay away. Comparing Get Real (1998),another coming-of-age movie based on a similar story in Britain, Steven was bullied by John's friends, gossips were more dangerous for the future of both the British boys, but only a funny topic for the Thai counterparts.

Pressure from Tong's mother, urging Mew to stay away from Tong for the sake of his future, shows another common attitudes towards homosexuality amongst Thais, Thais are traditional and tend to think it's others business to choose who to love, but better not happening in the family.

Family plot, while a bit distracting from the main plot, was still attractively written. The relationships between Tong's parents, the effects on the family on the loss of the sister, the conversations inside the family, were subtly expressed and cleverly written.

The director/writer left a great space for the audience to think about the plot, to create a long-lasting climax.

Tong's alcoholic father was saddened to see his wife eating cold rice while serving him hot dishes, realizing how much she loved him, perhaps that's the end of their deadlock? June suddenly recited some detailed description of a photo taken in Chiang Mai, leaving many to wonder if June and Tang are the same person? Tong was afraid to upset his mom when decorating the Christmas tree and was then told to choose whatever he thinks be correct, (then Tong chose the boy doll). Is it like a consent from his mother to continue the relationship with Mew? Tong told Mew that they could not be lovers (impossible happy ending) and said "But it doesn't mean that I don't love you" A possible happy ending? Take whatever answers you like to hear, I think these are some of the core elements of this movie, letting the audience to think about the plot, with lots of possible outcomes.

In the DVD version, there was a non-subtitled part with narration from the director, he said he was asked so many times if June and Tang were the same person, he refused to answer and hoped the audience to think whatever they like.

Talking about the many open endings, perhaps it's only my imagination, but I do think Tang and June are the same person. Here's a possible plot:

Tang had an accident in Chiang Mai, she lost her memory and was adopted by some local farmers. The farmer parents didn't tell Tang the truth and called her June instead, June decided to move to Bangkok for better future (Chiang Mai's Amphoe Muang is quite a big city with lots of chances indeed, most people living in the urban area don't feel the need to go to Bangkok for a better future, except those from the rural areas). She met Tong's family in Bangkok, regaining some of her childhood memories, but was afraid to admit that the Chiang Mai late parents she loved and stayed with most of her live, weren't her blood parents. When Tong's father asked her why Tong's eyes were bruised in the photos taken in Chiang Mai, June could answer with such details that Tong was hit in a football match before coming to Chiang Mai (it was a lie made up by Tong and Mew, they actually had a fight with other kids),I think the director deliberately gives such details to leave a better room for the audience to further their imagination.

And about the ending of Tong and Mew.

While Tong said that he couldn't be lovers with Mew, "but it didn't mean that he didn't love Mew", giving another open-end to the storyline. Considering the okay signal from Tong's mother ("Choose whatever you think it's correct", said Tong's mother while decorating the Xmas tree),the rather open attitudes among friends and the deep love between Tong and Mew, it's only a matter of time for the sparks to explode again, indeed it was never diminished.

The movie ends with Tong giving Mew a Xmas gift, a missing piece of nose of the wooden doll, which Tong gave Mew as a present when they were still children.

Mew bid farewell to Tong and went back to his room alone, putting the wooden nose back to the doll, saying "thank you", crying quietly.

I think this is the climax of the whole movie, it is as if Mew finding back his long-lost love since her granny passing away. Mew once mentioned to Tong that in the past 5 years, he felt "so lonely, so terribly lonely, that he still couldn't stop missing his granny", he said "he understood this as a part of life, but he wondered if he could stand it anymore to separate with somebody he loved most".

Tong gave him an answer by giving him the missing wooden nose. Separating or going together, their love is not diminished. Kind of contradicting, but it's very touching.

I live in Bangkok and go to cinemas regularly. Beginning of November I saw the trailer for Rak haeng Siam - Love at Siam, referring to Siam Square in downtown Bangkok where major scenes of the movie were filmed. I thought it to be a regular teenage love story. I was in for a pleasant surprise. At its centre is nothing less than a gay love story between teenage boys, tastefully handled, with Thai cultural standards faithfully observed. Amazingly the final message is "It's OK to be gay." No kathoeys (Thai gay stereotypes who abound in local movies and on TV) in sight, just two regular schoolboys who happen to be gay.

Of course this movie is mainly for Thais. Non-Thai people will enjoy it more if their knowledge of Thai culture is up-to-date. The most amazing scene in the movie has the boys sharing a prolonged kiss, surely a first for Thai cinema. The reaction of the mostly teenage audience was worth the price of admission alone. The movie is still running at this time and seems to be critically successful, too.

I enjoyed it very much and don't hesitate to designate it as the best Thai movie of 2007.

Go see it if you are interested in Thailand and Thai culture. Definitely go see it if you are gay. You won't be disappointed.