First Love (2010 Thai film)

Plot

Nam is a bespectacled, swarthy girl who has a crush on P'Shone (also known as Shone), a popular student in her high school, but she feels that he is too handsome for her. Helped by her three friends, Nam follows the advice of the guidebook Nine Recipes of Love, which supposedly has the magical power to win affection from the boy of choice. The nine steps require Nam to beautify herself by switching her glasses with contacts, wearing teeth braces, and whitening her skin, as well as secretly leaving a chocolate cake inside Shone's motorbike, though all of them seems futile in attracting his attention. Nam also has an additional pursuit of going to the United States, where her father works; he promises to Nam and her sister a plane ticket for whoever gets the top grade in school.

After getting into a fight with the influential Faye, Nam and her friends are unable to enter the Thai dance club and forced to register in the unpopular English drama club for the school fair. Nam is selected to play Snow White in the titular play, while Shone works as an stage painter. Thanks to the drama, Nam instantly becomes a hot issue within the school, and her popularity further explodes when she is chosen as the drum major of the school parade.

During the second year, Shone's childhood friend, Top, transfers to the school. He falls in love at first sight with Nam and declares his love for her. The shocked Nam does not respond for fear of hurting him, so Top thinks that she accepts the confession. Nam is uncomfortable with the situation, especially when Top kisses her suddenly when the two are attending a friend's birthday party, during which Top shares the story about a promise he made with Shone: that they would never like the same girl. Meanwhile, Nam's increasingly close relationship with Top, Shone, and their associates has distanced her from her three old friends; the four barely talk with each other anymore as they enter their third year.

Unable to repress her emotions, Nam breaks up with Top shortly before the finals, in which she ranks first, making her able to settle in the United States. She then has a tearful reconciliation with her old friends, who help her to do the "10th recipe" of the love guidebook: direct confession. However, to her dismay, Shone reveals that he is dating Pin, a mutual friend. That night, Shone comes home to find out that he is accepted into a trainee program in a professional soccer team, and has to leave for the camp the following morning. He goes into his room and takes out a diary containing all of Nam's photos; Shone has always loved Nam, even before her transformation, but never manages to gain the courage to confess. He leaves the diary in front of Nam's house; at the same time, Nam is shown mourning his rejection in her bedroom.

Nine years later, Nam and Shone have become successful fashion designer and photographer, respectively. Nam returns back to Thailand to attend a variety show. She gets a surprise visit by Shone, who reveals that he has been waiting for her after all those years.

Cast

Releases

Opening on Thailand's Queen's Birthday/Mother's Day holiday weekend of August 12–15, First Love was in third place behind the slapstick monastic comedy Luangphee Teng 3 and Toy Story 3, but rose to second place the following weekend. At last count, First Love had earned around $2.6 million (70+ million baht), higher than expected.

It was initially televised on ABS-CBN, dubbed in Filipino (Tagalog) on June 5, 2011, and was replayed on June 20 and October 28. The movie re-aired on its movie cable network during the thanksgiving season due to viewers requests at 8pm. It was shown again on March 30, 2012 and June 9, 2012 under free movie block Kapamilya Blockbusters. The full and uncut scenes are aired on its subsidiary network and Filipino-Asian Blockbuster Movie Network on Cable Cinema One.

The movie was released in Shanghai for the 2011 Shanghai International Film Festivals.

Soundtracks

Reception

The film received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences, despite the average budget. In Thailand, the film placed in 3rd place from its weekend gross in almost a hundred cinemas in Thailand, and then up to 2nd place on the next weekend behind Kuan Mun Ho. The other two movies (including Toy Story 3) simultaneously released with First Love dropped to 3rd and 4th respectively. The film managed to maintain its position in 3rd place the following weekends and stayed inside the top 5 for six consecutive weeks. The film was shown in cinemas for nearly ten weeks (until October 2010), making it one of the longest running movies in the history of Thai cinema. The film grossed a total of $2,659,443, becoming the second highest grossing locally produced film in Thailand.

By early 2011, copies of the film were uploaded on the Internet, with several other countries applying for screening rights.

In the Philippines, the movie made an impact to viewers after it was dubbed in Filipino and shown on free TV on June 5, 2011 on ABS-CBN. It dominated the daytime viewership ratings, Just 2 weeks after it was first shown on free TV, on June 20, the film repeated in an afternoon slot. The movie block time slot got the highest rating compared to other programs.

Mario Maurer and Pimchanok Luevisadpaibul, the main stars of the movie, arrived in the Philippines together on August 3, 2013 for their fan conferences on the following day for their endorsement of a local clothing brand.

Due to the film's success in the Philippines, Star Cinema produced and released the Filipino romantic comedy film Suddenly It's Magic which starred Erich Gonzales, Mario Maurer and Pimchanok Luevisadpaibul.

Sequel

In 2012, it has been announced that First Love will have its sequel and will be produced by the same team however, there are no further announcements yet regarding about the said sequel.