SFIAAFF Preview: The Love of Siam

The Love of Siam
Saturday, March 14
2:15 p.m.
Castro Theatre
158 minutes

When I know I'm going to see a movie -- or will see it if I possibly can -- I stop reading about it. I want as many surprises as possible. And when expat and ex-Festival staffer Chris Schulz wrote several hundred words about The Love of Siam in his wonderful blog about living in Krungthep (Bangkok), I knew I wanted to see it. But Chris is a thoughtful person, and thoughtfully, he left all his spoilers until the end.

Chris tells us Love of Siam is a movie about the reality of being gay and young, as opposed to young and gay. And apparently it was a breakthrough film for the Thai film industry and generated a huge following and a lot of controversy.

Even at "just" 158 minutes (not the 200-minute director's cut Chris saw), this movie sounds like it has the kind of "bigness" that makes it memorable long after the house lights come up. I'm really looking forward to it.