He was the youngest promising director in the industry after his second and third features 13 Beloved (2006) and The Love of Siam (2007). After a long lull, Matthew Chookiat Sakveerakul returned five years later with a recollection of love and memory, Home – an even more personal film than The Love of Siam. Set in Sakveerakul’s hometown Chiang Mai, Home explores the loves of three couples of different generations – the budding amour of two high school classmates, the post-mortal love of a widow, and an unspoken encounter between a bride and a groom. It is an anthology film that is tied together by location, dialect, cast and theme. The majority of the stars have northern backgrounds and speak northern dialects. All the characters are interconnected with one another, and are shown to be related to Sakveerakul’s family. Home, then, can be called a community film that reflects the urban lives of Chiang Mai, as well as a personal film of the director. Of the three generational loves, the life of Buajan the widow seems to be the most delicate and sensitive. After her husband’s death, she has to manage their resort and everything that used to be handled by him - and, at the same time, has to cope up with her loneliness and suffering. Traces of him appear everywhere – the written notes that he used to communicate with everyone during the final stages of his life, empty cans of beer that were left by him, etc. So it is not easy for Buajan to start a new life. She never leaves home and continues her duties as a housewife. She even talks to him, whenever she finds one of his notes. It seems like he is still there forever. Veteran actress Penpak Sirikul does a good job as a lonely widow who cannot leave the past behind.
Many small, impressive details are hidden throughout, and the bonding between the two moves us to tears.
In the second story, a homosexual bonding is hidden in the friendship of two male schoolmates. One is a straight boy who is crazy for a senior girl; the other has budding feelings for him. The story happens over one night and day when the boys hang out around the school to take memorial pictures. They do not understand or realize what the feeling is.
Perhaps this is the budding love story that would later become Sakveerakul’s The Love of Siam.
The last section is about a confrontation between a young bride and her quiet groom. They decide to have their wedding in the bride’s hometown. Everything should be fine as long as the bride does not meet her ex-boyfriend and start to feel discontented with the groom’s quiet but bossy manner. But her old feelings for her ex-boyfriend are revived, and then comes the first and final confrontation between them. Sakveerakul embroiders all three parts with care. Delicate details are seen throughout the film. Home moves forward with an embellished pace of editing, excellent cinematography, careful camera movement, and nice musical compositions. Sakveerakul put all his love and care into this film – fittingly for the themes of love and memory which guide it along.
Anchalee Chaiworaporn