Happy and gay

Based on the true story of a gay volleyball team which made it to the national championships, 'Satree Lex' is full of fun and hilarity and breaks movie taboos

Bangkok Post, 7 March 2000. Text By Atiya Achakulwisut

Through the game of volleyball, katoey power is being shown in full force in Satree Lex, the latest screen offering from Tai Entertainment.

The film is loosely based on the true story of an almost all-gay volleyball team from Lampang which won the national tournament in 1996. Of the six players only one man isn't a katoey.

The movie opened last Saturday in local theatres. With the first day revenue reaching about one million baht-as good as Nonsi Nimitbut's trailblazing Daeng Bireley and the Young Gangsters, but way below his second blockbluster, Nang Nak, Satree Lex's producers are sighing with relief that they might have succeeded in breaking the taboo of keeping katoeys out of Thai movies.

"This film breaks all the rules. There is no hero or heroine. Most of the lead characters are gay. And, you know, gays are a no-no, a taboo subject in Thai films," the film's director Yongyoot Thongkongtoon said. According to him, the first and perhaps last Thai film about gay people was Pisal Akaraseranee's Pleng Sudthai.

That movie, portraying the hard life and death of a gay showboy, was a flop, failing to win either cash or awards.

So how did Mr Yongyoot succeed where others failed?

The answer. Laughter. Satree Lex is a comedy drama with a pinch of thoughtful deliberations on how society treats gay people.

"We wanted viewers to laugh and leave the theatre happy. But we had to decide, did we want the film to be just fun fun fun or to also have a message which the audience might ponder later?" said Ruthaiwan Wongsirasawad, one of the film's consultants.

Mr Yongyoot said although his film is about gay people, it is not pro-gay.

"We are not telling the public you must accept gay people. What we present is that, based on our experience, gay people who are treated fairly are happy and contribute to society," Mr Yongyoot said.

A film director for the production house Hub Ho Hin Bangkok by profession, Mr Yongyoot's past works include TV commercials for UBC cable TV and Harmony soap.

The film reveals society's bigotry and prejudice against gay people through Satree Lex's struggle to gain access to and prove themselves in the all-male tournament.

With gag after gag about the incongruity of the male body and lady-like gestures and the hilarious mimicking of "gay-speak", the film leaves the audience aching with laughter.

The movie delves into the background of each team player, giving the characters very rounded personalities and evoking empathy.

There is Mon, a reserved but determined katoey who rejects his own maleness, and feels hostile to men in general because of a history of abuse at the hands of his father.

Jung, meanwhile, is confident and happy and evokes laughter with everything he utters. The character is optimistic and joyful because his parents accept him as he is.

Nong does his very best to be feminine, but as a six-foot-tall man he sometimes is less than prim! On the other hand Pia is so feminine he looks more feminine than most women.

The fifth team member, Wit, has to hide his desire to live his life as a gay man, fearing the rejection of his family.

Mr Yongyoot said the film is not a direct biography of the real Satree Lex players.

"We maintain the crux of the story and rough personality of the real players, but we have to weave in imaginative details to dramatise the plot and strengthen the characters," said the director/script writer.

At the height of the real Satree Lex team's fame, a number of film producers reportedly tried to buy the rights to the team's story.

Tai Entertainment finally clinched it for an undisclosed amount.

The first script was written by Wisuthichai Bunyakarnjana, who spent months hanging out with and interviewing the real Satree Lex team members. The script and final screenplay was prepared by Jira Maligool, who never met the real players. "I don't know any of them. And I didn't want to. If I did the movie might have deviated from the planned direction. It might have been more in depth and more biographical, which wasn't what we wanted.

"We didn't want our film to cater to specific groups. We wanted to reach out as widely as possible," said Mr Jira, who is also the film's director of photography.

So what about the casting?"The film is about gay people," Mr Yongyoot said. "But we were ambivalent as to whether the actors were heterosexual or homosexual. Whatever. It was fine with us so long as they were convincing," he said.

Singer Sahaphap "Tor" Werakhamin helped enlighten the director. Watching him on tape, Mr Yongyoot decided using straight man to play gay roles could work.

Satree Lex's production costs came to about 12 million baht. Unlike many contemporary Thai films, which emphasise production-majestic lighting, spectacular frames and neat, grandiose scores-Satree Lex comes out strikingly simple.

"Simplicity was our intention. It is a design, not a mistake," Mr Jira said.

"What we do in this film is portray the lives of five or six people, who many people might consider abnormal. So we decided to tell the tale in as normal a way as possible. Naturally, our choice may look rather abnormal for people who favour a grand production," Mr Jira said.

Initially he proposed the entire film be shot by a single, moderate-length lens, representing a moderate point of view of a neutral observer. That approach, however, was not practical technically. And so as a cinematographer, Mr Jira positioned the camera at eye level, letting the audience see where the story takes place and what is going on as realistically as possible.

"What was most important to us was to show the characters and what they had to say. We believed the characterisation and dialog were colourful and complete. They were strong enough to convey what we wanted the viewers to know. There was no need to push emotion further with music or pictures," Mr Jira said.

here is no need for music and dance if you are to listen to dhamma at a temple and it is the same for the movie, Mr Jira added. Mr Yongyoot said all too often production and technology exceeds the actual content of contemporary Thai films. When stripped of the much-lauded production-oriented accessories, some films are simply empty, he said. "There is a certain attitude among film-makers to avoid what is normal. A cinematographer, for example, has to find a most unusual angle to shoot from. Back lighting is a must and music is indispensable. I think these are unnecessary. I think many Thai film-makers are so attached to the artificiality of production that they forget what they want to say," Mr Yongyoot said.

Is he then satisfied with the final result of Satree Lex? Mr Yongyoot said on a scale of one to 10, he gives himself a seven-and-three-quarters.

"We were constrained by many aspects to keep to the budget and time. The workload was bigger than commercials, with about 30 shots per day compared to eight shots.

"If we hadn't had to rush at times-if we had more time to pay attention to the details of acting and to wait for better light-we might have been able to make the film even better," Mr Yongyoot said.

Mr Jira is very happy with the overall result. "I have watched it for, who knows, 100 times. I still spot numerous errors and deviations in details. But the good feeling and impression of it has never dropped," he said. The two men behind the movie have no box office expectations and no qualms about whether their film will upgrade the standard of Thai movies.

"People's preferences are subjective. I make a film about real people, bringing out their feelings and thoughts. Some viewers may like it, others might not," Mr Yongyoot said. "About boosting the standards, we have to ask what kind of standards we are talking about. If people watch my film and feel happy, do I bring Thai films another step higher? And if a film is commended for its magnificent production, but there is nothing in it but killing, what, then, do viewersget from watching it?"