Phoovarit Phumpuang
Based on the life of Luang Pradit Pairoh (Sorn Silapabanleng) the most revered traditional Thai music master who lived during the reigns of Kings Rama V to VIII, the movie traces the life of Sorn, who picked up the ra-nad ek (Thai xylophone) mallets as a small child and played all his life. The backdrop to Sorn's life tale is the story of Thailand's classical music from its golden age during the reign of King Rama V to near extinction after the end of the absolute monarchy when the government banned it as uncivilised in the 1930s -- a time when Field Marshall Plaek Pibulsongkram tried to push the Kingdom into the modern era.
On hearing the news of the death of his sister, a Buddhist monk leaves the temple where he has lived since childhood and struggles to adjust to life on the outside as an uncle to a young niece and as a businessman running a hair salon in a small Thai town in a southern province. He even must learn to ride a bicycle and zip up his trousers without injuring himself. He is confronted by a flood of feelings - sexual, for a woman and family friend across the street; as well as fear and hatred for the Muslims, who he believes is responsible for his sister's death and other sorrows in his life.
