I like that OCTOBER SONATA is a romantic film with a political flavour. I wish it could be as political as THE OLD GARDEN (2006, Im Sang-soo, A+++++), but I understand that it is too difficult to make a film like that in Thailand.
I like that OCTOBER SONATA reminds me of some old styles of films, or some old-fashioned novels. However, I think the romantic part of the film can be improved a bit. The heroine of this film reminds me of the heroine in A WINTER'S TALE (1992, Eric Rohmer, A+), because she loves someone wholeheartedly, and other good guys cannot change her mind.
But the heroine in Rohmer's film makes me totally believe in her extreme devotion, while the one in OCTOBER SONATA is "acceptable" for me, but not as totally believable in Rohmer's.
Thus, what makes me give OCTOBER SONATA A+ is not its romantic part, but the anger I feel I can share with the heroine when she is exploited by the higher class.
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2 comments:
This is my reply to Athapol in my Facebook:
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts on the film. I like the bungalow keeper in OCTOBER SONATA very much. I don't know who plays this role.
What you wrote captures very well something I like in this film – its literary style, sweet words, and hundred lines of idealism. I like these things not in an absolute term but in a relative term. I mean I like them because I hardly find this kind of things any more in contemporary cinema. It suggests that the director likes this kind of old-fashioned things and makes a film out of what he really likes, instead of making a film purely out of what he guesses contemporary teenagers would like. Actually I don't think I like films with literary style like this, but because Thai films with such literary styles like this are a little bit hard to find nowadays, this film suddenly becomes 'different' from the crowd.
I haven't seen TIME IN A BOTTLE yet, but your description of it reminds me of other films about failed revolutionists, such as REGULAR LOVERS, in which a revolutionist is plagued by inertia after the revolution was aborted, or CHANG MUN CHUN MAI CARE, in which a revolutionist turns into a capitalist. I think films which talk about this subject are interesting.
As for me, there are some characters whom I don't truly admire but I think I can be a friend with them, and there are some characters whom I worship as 'interesting characters', but I think I had better keep a distance from them in real life. I think the heroine of OCTOBER SONATA may fall into the first category. She seems to be a vulnerable human being like me. But as for characters in films, I much prefer such female characters as Gudrun Ensslin in THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX to the heroine of OCTOBER SONATA. This kind of female characters gives me ultimate pleasure in film viewing, though I may not want to be a friend with Gudrun Ensslin in real life.
I wish someone turns the life of Come Paga (คำ ผกา) into a film. Hahaha.
As for Thai mainstream films, I personally like its variety last year. I mean I like different things in different films. I like OCTOBER SONATA because of the anger the heroine may feel towards her female exploiter. I worship DREAMAHOLIC because of its structure. I worship FIREBALL because of its male bodies. I worship RAGING PHOENIX because I can fully identify with its heroine. I love YAM YASOTHON 2 because I like the sexual expression of its heroine, and BORING LOVE (เซ็งเป็ด) is my guilty pleasure of 2009. Hahaha.
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