a lot of people go to see this movie and come out utterly confused because the movie is in Thai and they don’t understand the language. So I offer the following synopsis of the story, preceded by the usual warning:
SPOILER
A. PROLOGUE. The movie begins with a long prologue before the credits roll. In the prologue, we meet the main characters, Tong and Miu (Mew).
There are at least three important developments in the prologue. The first is the transparent friendship between the two boys. The second is a treasure hunt, where Tong sends Miu off in search of his gift. The gift is in three parts. Miu finds the first two, and is about to find the third part in a tree — just as a crew of tree pruners finish hacking off all the branches and roar away on their truck. The missing part is the red wooden nose of the little wooden doll-head.
The third development is the disappearance and presumed death of Tong’s older sister, Taeng, while hiking in Chiang Mai. This is such a devastating blow to Tong’s parents that they decide to leave the house and move elsewhere. As a side-effect, Tong and Miu are separated, which breaks their hearts as well.
The rest of the story may be read on this website: http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/wisekwai/2007/11/22/entry-3.
But I don’t think the reviewer notices the part near the end where Tong spots another silly wooden doll for sale, in Siam Square I guess, and goes to great lengths to acquire the nose which Mew’s wooden doll is missing. In one of the more moving moments of the film, Tong gives this rare gift to Mew — which may leave some farang viewers scratching their heads: “Why is Tong giving Mew a wooden red lollipop?”
