Love of Siam
Rak haeng Siam (2007)
Director: Chukiat Sakveerakul
“If we can love someone so much how will we be able to handle it the one day when we are separated? […] Is it possible […] that we can love someone and never be afraid of losing them? […] Is it possible that we can live our entire life without loving anyone at all?”
I had my misgivings about watching Love of Siam. A Thai film that deals with teenager homosexuality? Two cringey predecessors come to mind: the horrible Taiwanese formulaic (sic) Formula 17 and horrible horrible sensationalism-over-actual story Bangkok Love Story.
Fortunately for Love of Siam, it suffers neither the happily-ever-after fairy-tale of the former nor the excessive melodramatic histronics of the latter. Instead, it’s grounded on believable everyday realities, without exploitation of the controversial subject matter.
Homosexuality forms merely part of the thread of the everyday struggles this film tries to weave. The universal theme that echoed through the 3 hour long film (that didn’t feel a minute too long) is loss/separation from loved ones and the long self-healing from it. The myriad characters deal with loss each in their own way: for some a helpless reluctant acceptance, others self-defeating escapism.
The eventual coming to terms with loss, melancholic as it may be, moved me to tears. It has been a long while a film did, and any that does so deserves a full 5 star rating from me. The superb soundtrack by in-film fictional band August helped too.
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