DORM

Director: Songyos Sugmakanan

Stars: Charlie Trairat, Sirachuch Chienthaworn, Chintara Sukapatana

Year: 2006

Rating: NR

(in Thai with English subtitles)

Wow, is the marketing and even cover art for the DVD of this film misleading. I first spotted the film on Netflix, and by the photo and description shown expected this Thai film to be a creepy little ghost story on the scale of something like Ringu, Ju-on: The Grudge - or maybe even a Thai counterpart like Shutter.

When in reality, Dek hor - or Dorm - is so much more, and actually gets cheated by its own marketing ... which doesn't speak for the sensitive, tender, and emotionally involving ghost story the film truly is. Oh sure, there are a few chills and even semi-eerie moments in Dorm - but that's not what you'll leave this film remembering. What you will remember are the characters, the story, and the heartbeat this terrific ghost story has at its core ... as seen mostly through the eyes of lead actor Charlie Trairat - a child actor whose talent bears more emotional clout than most actors three times his age.

Trairat plays Ton Chatree, a twelve-year-old boy on semester break from his school, when he learns that his father has decided to send him to a different school - a private school - as soon as the current term reconvenes. Unable to even finish the rest of the school year with his friends, Chatree -used to doing what he wants, when he wants - at first finds the rules and constraints of his new, all-boy school very hard to bear ... in particular the chilly, always-frowning and oddly sad headmistress, Ms. Pranee (Chintara Sukapatana). Chatree eats with all the other boys, sleeps in the crowded dorm room on a cot with all the other boys, bathes in a sort of community bathhouse-style "shower" with all the other boys - suddenly his world is on a schedule, with time constraints and all sorts of rules, and Chatree is one unhappy kid ...

... Even before the teasing and name-calling begins, as Chatree is one night treated to series of ghost stories by a small group of boys in the school who all hang out together; stories about a student who drowned in the old pool, one of the cook's daughters who hanged herself when she became pregnant, a ghost that haunts the boys' bathroom at night and makes the dogs all howl in unison, etc. - stories that leave Chatree so afraid to leave his cot at night, he ends up wetting the bed ... making him that much more a target for the other kids.

Then, suddenly, Chatree finds a friend in a funny, kindhearted kid name Vichien (Sirachuch Chienthaworn) - a friend who seems genuinely interested in Chatree's life and world, and in turn shows Chatree not only around the school, but also teaches him how to find/steal geese eggs, or even where to go outside the school's rather stringent boundaries. It's only at the outdoor screening of an old, so-hokey-it's-funny Thai horror film for the boys, on school grounds, that Chatree learns that not everything is always what it seems - and comes to learn, in the end, just how strong the bonds of friendship can be.

To say anything more would be to give away too, too much of the plot of the film - or the several surprises tied into the storylines, which are all revealed by "the end". And maybe that's the key word here - "storylines" - because this film weaves genuine plot and story and character to make it so much more than just a ghost story. Charlie Trairat is nothing short of brilliant as Chatree, especially for such a young actor, and though the film rests almost entirely on his small shoulders, Trairat proves more than ready to bear the weight of Chatree's growth into his first steps into adulthood by the film's end. Sirachuch Chienthaworn is equally moving as Vichien, perfectly complimenting Chatree; indeed, the bond of genuine friendship that grows between these two students never seems fake or forced. Dorm is not a scary movie; it may make you jump in a couple of spots, but there are no long-haired ghosts ratcheting down stairwells like crabs, or little girls thrown into wells to drown.

No, Dorm just happens to be a tale of friendship, love, and the sacrifices you make for both ... that also happens to be a very moving ghost story that left tears in my eyes by "the end". I admit to never having seen The Devil's Backbone, to which this film is constantly compared to for its basic storyline - but am glad I haven't, because in the end Dorm stands alone for its moodiness and story and ultimate message. And for Charlie Trairat, one of the best young actors I've ever seen. Early on in the film, as he eats his dinner with the camera up close on his face, a lone tear trickles down Trairat's cheek that he brusquely wipes away with his arm - and in that one scene alone, with no dialogue, Trairat will endear Chatree and his and Vichien's story to your heart forever. Now that's acting. **** - Reel Awesome