Product Description

Enter the exotic and haunting world of JAN DARA; a saga of sex, guilt, retribution and love set in the moody and turbulent Thailand of the 1930s. Jan Dara, a young Thai man whose earliest memories recall his father having sex with his childhood nanny. Jan Dara's mother dies after giving birth to him. Eventually he's disowned by his father which brands him as a bastard in the Thai culture. Years later Jan Dara returns to see revenge by outdoing his father's sexual conquests. Based on one of the most acclaimed Thai novels of the 20th century and directed by one of Thai cinema's most successful and accomplished directors Nonzee Nimibutr (NANG NAK and BAYTONG). *** THAI and CHINESE LANGUAGES *** OPTIONAL ENGLISH and KOREAN SUBTITLES ***

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95092 in DVD
• Published on: 2001
• Formats: NTSC, Color, Subtitled, Import
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 115 minutes

Customer Reviews

A Visually Stunning, Bold, and Intensely Moving Film
JAN DARA is one of those rare films that succeeds on many levels: the story as adapted from a famous Thai novel 'The Story of Jan Dara' by Utsana Phleungtham is one of intrigue and exploration of lust, revenge, and thwarted passion; the cinematography by Nattawut Kittikhun is incredibly atmospheric while at the same time pausing for some of the most beautiful studies of nature on film; the musical score by Chartchai Pongprapapan and Pakawat Waiwitaya mixes the exotic pentatonic Oriental melodies with quaint excerpts from early recordings of Richard Strauss and Puccini operas; the direction by Nonzee Nimibutr is so sensuously elegant that this film firmly establishes him as an important figure in international filmmaking.

Simply stated, the story is about Jan Dara, the son of a woman who died giving birth to him, his life as an abused and unwanted child in the house of his 'father' spent searching for the love of his lost mother, his first encounters with passion and love, his adaptation to the realities of surviving in a family fraught with conflicts and bizarrely tangled interrelationships, and the disillusionment that comes with the discovery of his true family history and how the way his life comes full circle. It is a period piece and includes the outside effects of WW II in an otherwise sequestered house of strange isolation.

While JAN DARA includes many sensuous scenes (the 'first memory' of Jan Dara is watching his 'father' in an indiscretion with his beloved aunt), these scenes are photographed so sensitively that they become studies like Kama Sutra paintings rather than being vulgar. The story makes many flashbacks and flashforwards and keeping the various actors at the different ages of these sequences straight can be problematic. The cast is uniformly excellent and credible, even when they may be too evil to watch!

Here is an example of Oriental films that don't rely on choreographic martial arts to sustain interest. In that way it is similar to the beautiful SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER, SPRING, and for those who enjoy the subtle arts of Asia this film is a must. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, May 05

If you enjoy The Last Emperor, you will enjoy Jan Dara too!
I should start out by telling you what not to expect. The front cover might lead you to assume that Jan Dara is going to be a sexy love story. You will be partially correct with that assumption because there is a lot of sex in Jan Dara, from beginning to end, and there is also a love story in it. However, the love story is a very small part of the plot and the sex scenes are often disturbing instead of erotic. Essentially, the movie is about a boy (Jan Dara) raised in his resentful stepfather's home, with tensions heightened because Jan Dara's mother died giving birth to him. People are sometimes in the mood for a tragic movie or play and Jan Dara will certainly satisfy that mood. It even has a shocking ending, which I won't give away other than to mention that it gives teasers to the ending throughout the movie. I am giving it five stars because it is a very well made movie and it does give a glimpse at what Thai culture may have been like for some people fifty to seventy-five years ago. Although Jan Dara is a completely different movie from The Last Emperor that is the closest film that I can think of to compare it to. If you enjoy The Last Emperor, you will very likely enjoy Jan Dara too.

Great Thai Moive
I was not expecting the x rated scenes that were in this movie, but they were done in way that enhanced the movie. This is a excelent movie that I have watched three times. I plan to watch it many more times.