The Letter

Kirk Gillock

Kirk Gillock

Rebel with a cause
Most of you won’t have the opportunity to see this Thai movie. (That might be a good thing.) It’s possibly the world’s sappiest love story EVER.

The story is simple; A business woman from Bangkok meets a tree farmer in a small northern village. A romance builds between the two. During this long distance romance, letters are exchanged, and we learn that the boyfriend is the BEST man on the planet. He is flawless. Everything he does and writes makes the women in the audience swoon. She decides to move to his village and they marry. Life is perfect and they both are sooooooooooo happy.

SPOILERS COMING!!!!! :evil:

Happy ending? That wouldn’t be a good movie. There must be a problem. Well there is; he’s got a terminal illness. Cue tears. :cry: For the next 30 minutes we must watch the kindest man on the planet suffer through a VERY painful illness and wither away. Will he die this scene? No. Will he die this scene? No. The doctors say he’s getting better. Will he get well? No. Just when you think the movie might have a happy ending the man dies, as she’s holding him. Cue tears. :cry:

But that’s not where this story ends. It gets worse. Every week, after his death, letters arrive from her dead husband. How? Turns out, while he was dying, he was writing love letters for her and then gave them to a friend to mail to her after his death. Cue tears. :cry: For the next 30 minutes we must suffer, again and again, as she reads each letter and waits for the next letter to arrive. This perfect man is now making his wife suffer more and more. As if the loss of a spouse wasn’t enough, now he’s making her suffer the loss again and again. Talk about not wanting to be forgotten. Of course this would be considered selfish and cruel, but on film it’s romantic and there’s not a dry eye in the house.

Months pass and, while reading the letters, we begin to notice the woman’s belly is getting bigger and bigger. Is she pregnant? Yes. Eventually the letters stop (with one final, tearful, goodbye) and they stop just in time for the baby to be born. After all, a baby is just as good as a love letter.

The movie ends with the widow, and baby, visiting her late husbands favorite tree (where he wrote all her letters). Cue tears. :cry:

Anyway, that is The Letter. It’s textbook but it means well. FYI I’m not some heartless, anti-romance person. Ghost and Bridges of Madison County make me cry, EVERYTIME!!!

PK out! (cue tears) :cry:
 
I've got Ong Bak on dvd, unfortunately, no subtitles. haha!! But I did see the movie about three times while it was here. Tom Yum Goong is set for an Aug release stateside, I believe. (great soup btw, wierd for a movie title) And The Letter sounds like it would leave me shattered. :(
 
What is the movie industry like in thailand? Do they have movies coming out all the time like over here?

Oh ya is it true its disrespectful to point at something with your foot in thailand?
 
Yes, feet get NO RESPECT over here. :-) In a temple your feet should not point at buddha's image or a monk. (Watch my "Romance is Dead" video to see examples.) You're also not suppose to touch adults heads (childrens heads are ok). Also, you always remove shoes when entering a home and some businesses. If you EVER visit my home you better take off your shoes. I'm not kidding. I've got hardwoods!

Oh, and when a person asks you if you have a girlfriend or boyfriend, you always answer "No." That's typical Thai. I've met dozens of girls who I thought were available ("Yes, I'm single girl. Jing, Jing (really, really). Why don't you believe me?"), but later discovered they had a boyfriend, and some even had husbands. YIKES!!! Thai people always want an opportunity to upgrade. Little do they know, I'm a downgrade.

PK
 
thartley - A friend was watching The Letter on my TV while I was writing my review. She was crying for a good hour. That was my inspiration. I can't find Ong Bak in English either.
 
Thats cuz it isnt out yet on dvd yet. At least not in america.

That was an amazing movie. I hope to see tony jaa in more movies over here.
 
I ordered my copy of it off this site for $7US. If you look around on that site you will be surprised at how many movies Thailand puts out. Now, if I could just learn the language....alas, I dont think I have that many years left on the planet. The lack of english didnt bother me so much. Tony is pretty cool in any language. :)

btw- there was a LOTR preview on my OngBak which was pretty cool, and also another preview for a movie about two kids and a baby elephant. Ong Bak has been out for a couple years over in Thailand, I believe.

I've also heard that if you go out to eat in a group, it is considered an honour to foot the bill, as it speaks to the person's status, being able to pay for everyone makes them look good. We must appear like a bunch of cheap bastards, asking for seperate checks! hahaha!!!

But the foot thing, about being frowned on, I have heard that before. That is why in Ong Bak, when Tony Jaa stuffs it in that guy's face for roughing up that girl and being overall disrespectful to thai people, it was a fitting attack. Foot in the face. The worst insult I imagine over there. (I loved Ong Bak!)

On The Letter, I would have a hard time watching it, just because the love of my life died rather abruptly and I still have love letters going back to when we were in highschool, and some other letters he had written to our daughter. I would have to be mopped up off the floor if I watched that movie.

*sigh* Anyway, TGIF!
 
The father of your daughter, and love of your life, died. I am so sorry. It sounds as though you lived this movie. Now I feel awful for writing the review. Sorry.

Have a good Friday.
PK
 
agh, no worries...time wounds all heels....wounds heal all the time....time heals all. Life happens, and when it does, you take it for the gift it is. I personally love to read the letters I have. Keeps me in touch with the tiny little things that might be forgotten otherwise. Like when his english teacher would give him a hard time for writing letters to me during class, or when he would say how he couldnt wait for the bell to ring so he could meet me at my locker. Just kid stuff, but they are the best things. Letters. His handwriting, his absurd observances of the days. There was one letter, the first he ever gave me when we were just youngsters, seven pages front and back of nothing but "I Love You". Ah, but there I go down memory lane again. The Letter sounds like a great movie, and you shouldnt feel bad for anything. Everything that revives a memory of him is a good thing. :)
 
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