The Christmas Dream Musical Analysis: The Kingdom's First Stage-to-Screen Spectacle in Decades Is Big On Heartfelt Pageantry.
Reportedly the first Thai musical in half a century, The Christmas Dream comes under the direction of Englishman Paul Spurrier and presents a fascinating mixture of modern and traditional elements. The film serves as a contemporary Oliver Twist that travels from the northern highlands to the bustling capital of Bangkok, adorned with old-school Technicolor aesthetics and an abundance of heartstring-tugging musical highlights. Its songs are the work of Spurrier, set to an orchestral score composed by Mickey Wongsathapornpat.
An Odyssey of Innocence and Ethics
Exhibiting a Michelle Yeoh-like resolve but in a more diminutive package, young actress Amata Masmalai plays Lek, a ten-year-old schoolgirl. She is compelled to flee after her abusive stepfather Nin (played by Vithaya Pansringarm) fatally assaults her mother. Venturing forth with only her disabled toy Bella for company, Lek relies on a unyielding sense of right and wrong, promised toward a better life by the ghost of her late mum. Her path is populated by a series of picaresque companions who test her resolve, among them a pampered rich girl in dire need of a companion and a quack doctor hawking dubious remedies.
Spurrier's affection for the song-and-dance format is plain to see – or, more accurately, it is resplendent. Initial countryside sequences especially capture the ruddy glow reminiscent of The Sound of Music.
Dance and Cinematic Pizzazz
The choreography often possesses a lively visual energy. A memorable highlight breaks out on a financial district campus, which acts as Lek's introduction to the Bangkok rat race. Featuring business executives cartwheeling in and out of a large clockwork procession, this stands as the singular moment where The Christmas Dream touches upon the stylized complexity characteristic of classic era musical cinema.
Story and Song Shortcomings
Although lavishly arranged, a lot of the music is excessively bland musically and lyrically. Instead of strategically placing songs at pivotal points in the plot, Spurrier saturates the film with them, apparently trying to mask a somewhat weak storyline. Substantial adversity is present solely at the beginning and conclusion – with the mother's death and when her spirits wane in Bangkok – is there sufficient hardship to balance an otherwise straightforward and sweet journey.
Brief glimmers of mild social commentary, such as when Lek's sudden good fortune has avaricious villagers crawling all over her, are unlikely to satisfy older audiences. While might embrace the pervasive positive outlook, the foreign backdrop fails to disguise a fundamentally narrative blandness.
