Mah nakorn (Citizen Dog) (2004)

Featured Audience Ratings

• El Hombre I

  
  A surreal and comical love story about Bangkok's less significant people. Citizen Dog depicts their unending search of happiness in a rapidly changing environment; a world overflowing with dreams but void of love and understanding. You never know what you will see on the… More
  A surreal and comical love story about Bangkok's less significant people. Citizen Dog depicts their unending search of happiness in a rapidly changing environment; a world overflowing with dreams but void of love and understanding. You never know what you will see on the screen next, but it will almost certainly be unique, surprising and vividly colourful. Very rewarding film that's non-stop and highly enjoyable. <a href="http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/?action=view&current=citizen20dog201.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/citizen20dog201.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

• Tsubaki S

  
  Screw Amelie, Garden State, Wes Anderson movies and all those sorry attempts at making fantasy-love-comedies. Citizen Dog manages to give a balance between bizarre situations and odd characters whitout getting too sugary or too idiotic. Sure, there is plenty of the usual cliches of… More
  Screw Amelie, Garden State, Wes Anderson movies and all those sorry attempts at making fantasy-love-comedies. Citizen Dog manages to give a balance between bizarre situations and odd characters whitout getting too sugary or too idiotic. Sure, there is plenty of the usual cliches of these types of movies: main characters too-good to be true, and that have "strange behaviours" instead of actual human behaviour. And yet, the film is so honest in it's intentions, and not full of pretentions like other films of the like, that it makes it all work. Also, unlike Amelie and the other bunch, Citizen Dog does not infuse it's enviroment and characters with such a simplistic and one-side view that the world is a big fluffy cloud of joy where nothing bad happens. The Bangkok of "CD" is not the most welcoming place for the two main leads. Not to mention: how many smoking-drinking talking bears did Amelie had? Like Tears of the Black Tiger, "Dog" is another visual exercise, chok-full of a color composition that almost seems to come out of the screen. It might be a "style" over substance flick, but like "Tears" this is a style that hardly gets done every day. The basic core of the story is simple, we all want to be part of something that can makes us feel special, it can be loving another person, or joining some type of movement, as long as it makes us feel something. Yet we usually search in the wrong places, and sometimes all the answers are infront of us. Yes, it might sound as a very simplistic logic, but the film gives it a sense, and makes the actions of the characters, as silly as they may look, have an actual reason to be. And not just as a mere excuse for silly and idiotic situations. Heck, there is even a sort of social context to the whole thing, Pod, the main character, is told by his grandma that once he gets a job in Bangkok he will grow a tail, he will become a "dog" in other words. The final act does feel like it stretches a big longer than necessary, but still, Citizen Dog is a fun and very creative film, one that makes you feel good without having to kill brain cells in the process. So, score one more for director Wisit Sasanatieng, with this and Tears of the Black Tiger the man is already in my list of directors to keep an eye on.

• Anthony V

  
  Stylishly directed and original romantic comedy. A real treat.

• Christopher B

  
  A masterpiece. I generally avoid any type of love story, finding them to be trite, sappy or plain boring. This isn't any of those things for a second. A genuinely nice story with nice characters who try and do nice things. It's surreal moments and side stories add a… More
  A masterpiece. I generally avoid any type of love story, finding them to be trite, sappy or plain boring. This isn't any of those things for a second. A genuinely nice story with nice characters who try and do nice things. It's surreal moments and side stories add a massive dose of enjoyment to this already fantastic film. The colours are magnificent and the direction is superb. Reminded my wife and I a lot of Happiness or the Katakuris, about people simply forgetting to be happy when it's the obvious choice. Amazing.