The Christmas Dream Musical Review: Thailand's Pioneering Musical in Decades Is Big On Sentimental Spectacle.
Reportedly the initial musical production from Thailand in half a century, The Christmas Dream is directed by Englishman Paul Spurrier and offers up a fascinating mixture of modern and traditional elements. It functions as a modern-day rags-to-riches tale that journeys from the hills of the north to the bustling capital of Bangkok, featuring vintage, vibrant visuals and an abundance of emotionally rich musical highlights. The music and lyrics are crafted by Spurrier, accompanied by an symphonic soundtrack from Mickey Wongsathapornpat.
A Journey of Innocence and Ethics
Exhibiting a Michelle Yeoh-like resolve but in a much smaller package, Amata Masmalai takes on the role of Lek, a ten-year-old schoolgirl. She is compelled to flee after her violent stepfather Nin (played by Vithaya Pansringarm) brutally kills her mother. Venturing forth with only her disabled toy Bella for companionship, Lek relies on a strong moral compass, promised toward a better life by the ghost of her late mum. Her quest is populated by a series of colorful characters who test her resolve, among them a spoiled rich girl desperately seeking a true friend and a charlatan physician hawking questionable remedies.
Spurrier's affection for the musical genre is abundantly clear – or, more accurately, it is gloriously evident. Initial rural sequences in particular capture the ruddy glow reminiscent of The Sound of Music.
Dance and Cinematic Pizzazz
The dance routines frequently has a quickstep snap and pace. A memorable highlight breaks out on a corporate business park, which acts as Lek's first taste of the Bangkok corporate grind. Featuring business executives cartwheeling in and out of a great clockwork cortege, this represents the singular moment where The Christmas Dream approaches the stylized complexity found in golden-age musical cinema.
Story and Song Shortcomings
Although lavishly arranged, a lot of the score is too bland both in melody and lyrics. Rather than strategically placing songs at key dramatic moments, Spurrier saturates the film with them, apparently trying to mask a underdeveloped narrative. Only during the beginning and conclusion – with the mother's death and when her spirits wane in Bangkok – is there sufficient hardship to balance an overly simple and saccharine narrative arc.
Brief hints of gentle social commentary, such as when Lek's stroke of luck has avaricious villagers crawling all over her, are unlikely to satisfy older viewers. Young children might embrace the pervasive positive outlook, the foreign setting fails to disguise a fundamentally narrative blandness.
