The Christmas Dream Review: The Kingdom's Pioneering Musical in Decades Delivers a Heavy Dose of Sentimental Spectacle.
Reportedly the initial musical production from Thailand in half a century, The Christmas Dream comes under the direction of Englishman Paul Spurrier and presents a curious blend of the contemporary and the classic. It functions as a contemporary Oliver Twist that travels from the hills of the north to the bustling capital of Bangkok, adorned with vintage, vibrant visuals and an abundance of emotionally rich musical highlights. Its songs are the work of Spurrier, set to an symphonic soundtrack composed by Mickey Wongsathapornpat.
An Odyssey of Innocence and Ethics
Portrayed with a steely determination but in a more diminutive package, young actress Amata Masmalai takes on the role of Lek, a ten-year-old schoolgirl. She is forced to escape after her violent stepfather Nin (portrayed by Vithaya Pansringarm) fatally assaults her mother. Venturing forth with only her one-legged doll Bella for companionship, Lek relies on a strong moral compass, directed toward a better life by the spirit of her late mum. Her path is peppered with a series of picaresque characters who test her resolve, including a spoiled rich girl desperately seeking a true friend and a charlatan physician peddling dubious miracle cures.
Spurrier's affection for the song-and-dance format is plain to see – or, to be precise, it is resplendent. The early countryside sequences especially bottle the warm, vibrant feel reminiscent of The Sound of Music.
Dance and Cinematic Flair
The choreography frequently has a lively visual energy. A particular standout erupts 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 mechanical cortege, this represents the singular moment where The Christmas Dream approaches the stylized complexity found in golden-age musical cinema.
Story and Song Limitations
Although richly orchestrated, a lot of the score is too anodyne musically and lyrically. Rather than strategically placing songs at pivotal points in the plot, Spurrier douses the film with them, apparently trying to mask a somewhat weak narrative. Only during the start and finish – with the mother's death and when her spirits wane in Bangkok – is there sufficient challenge to offset an otherwise straightforward and saccharine journey.
Brief glimmers of gentle social commentary, such as when Lek's sudden good fortune has greedy locals swarming her, are hardly enough for older audiences. Young children could buy into the general positive outlook, the exotic backdrop cannot conceal a fundamentally sense of blandness.
