"Do you think it's possible to love someone without being afraid of losing them? But at the same time is it possible to be alive in this world without loving anyone at all?" Those questions are at the heart of the gentle, bittersweet Love of Siam. They're spoken by Mew to his best friend Tong, childhood pals who have rediscovered each other as teenagers, both having suffered wrenching losses: Mew of his beloved grandmother and Tong of his older sister, whose disappearance years before still haunts his parents. Mew has somewhat inexplicably become the lead singer in a boy band (Did Lou Pearlman move to Bangkok?), but when he reconnects with Tong his love songs take on a whole new dimension. Will Tong return his affection? Why does June, the band's personal assistant, look so much like Tong's missing sister? And will Ying, the neighbor girl with the massive crush on Mew, succeed in winning him over with her book of voodoo spells? Writer/director Chukiat Sakveerakul maintains a delicate balance between whimsy and sorrow and draws finely nuanced portrayals from his actors — particularly Sinjai Plengpanit, whose performance as Tong's mother is a model of controlled desperation. Mon. Oct. 12, 7:30 p.m., Tampa Theatre —David Warner
More reviews at the Tampa International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival page.
This article appears in Oct 8-14, 2009.