Brief synopsis: Kati, who lives with her maternal grandparents, finds out that her mother is suffering from an incurable illness. During summer, her grandparents take Kati to see her mother, who has only a few days left. There, she learns why her mother had to leave her to be reared by her grandparents and about her mother's past.
The movie can be cut into three parts: Kati's life with her grandparents, her reunion with her mother and finally, her life after mother's death. The first 30 or 40 minutes of the movie introduces the viewers to Kati, her grandparents, her friends and her life in the province of Ayutthaya. During these, the viewers are treated to provincial life that are lacking to city residents through many beautiful scenery and shots. Another cute part of the movie involves Kati and her friends; whether it's the naivete of the kids or the fear of the bully at the school - these scenes will bring smile to your face.
Then, we move on to the second part of the movie. The scene shifts to interaction between Kati and her mother. There, she found out things about her mother and eventually, how to cope with her mother's death. Now, comes my complaint - where the first part contains some humorous scenes, the second part will try audience's patience. The problem may lies in the fact that Kati's mother, who is suffering from an illness, is immobile and she comes off as a stick figure. So, she sits there, turns her head, smiles and whenever she talks, she still has on a wooden expression that I just feel Kati would be better off talking to a tree. And, I think this is the biggest failing of the film. Whereas I should be sobbing, feeling sorry for Kati, I found myself looking at the watch, bored out of my mind.
The final part is about 30 minutes and it deals with Kati after her mother's death. She finds out about her father (well, sort of), about her mother's past (some of it anyway) and finally, her reunion with her grandparents. These parts are refreshing - though some of the parts can be deleted without affecting the overall movie.
And that is my problem with the movie. The movie religiously sticks to the book and as we all know, that is not necessarily good. No addition, no deletion and this makes the movie predictable for those who have read the book and a bit confusing for those who have not read the book. For example, Aunt Da and Uncle Kunn: people who have not read the book will have no idea how they become close to Kati's mother.
Overall, the movie has its moment, coming mainly from the first part of the movie. It bogs down in the second half, but picks up slightly in the final stage. What I like the most about this movie are: the scenery of the provincial life, the dialogue between Kati and her friends and Kati's grandparents, who in my opinion, are the best grandparents on screen, and the acting of all the children in this film.
What I don't like are: the acting of Kati's mother (sorry, but I think she tries too hard that it comes out flaky), the slowness of the movie particularly in the second part and the movie faithfulness to the book. I was also annoyed by the occasional written message about her mom every time the movie shifts scenes. It acts like a title chapter, but since this is not a book, I find it awkward in a movie. It disrupts the flow and rather than letting the audience finds out about Kati's mother (or her lack of appearance), we are told by a one liner every now and then.
Having said all of these, the movie is not hopeless. It is a good movie, but not a great movie. And more importantly, this is actually a feel good movie - you won't come out crying. Kati's life is not sad by any means. She has a loving grandparents and her mother's friends. She survives most of her childhood without her mom, so you wouldn't expect her to breakdown after her mom's death; you will love Kati's grandparents and, eventually, Kati's hair cut :).
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