The Teachers Diary Film Review

April 2, 2015

The teacher’s diary is a romantic comedy set in Thailand, although set and produced was in
Thailand and not an English made film, much to my surprise, it wasn’t too dissimilar from
what we are used to with this certain type of genre, however there was a twist which added
more drama. As the main characters didn’t actually meet until the last scene this adds a
creative element and leaves the viewers wondering when they will finally meet and if it will
match up to the expectations they have. It had all the same features to the stereotypical rom-
com but with hints of economic struggles, which are happening in Thailand, such as the
choice between school and family work, in this instance becoming a fisherman. The film
opened my eyes to this, as I was unaware of many of these problems. As the film was
vaguely written on a true story this just emphasized the facts even more. This film also
touches on education problems as a whole, something that everyone has been through, it is
emphasized that school should be for the benefit of the child, and understanding of the world
and the things around them, not entirely about the grades they receive.

The story flicks between the lives of the two main characters Mr Song and Ms Ann, who
have never met throughout the majority of the film, they however have the same experiences
on the school houseboat and Mr Song is guided by Ms Ann’s diary, this helps him through
the things that he is struggling with, he writes a response as a form of security and someone
to talk to. Later in the film Ms Ann returns and replaces Mr Song as the teacher again,
reading what he has written the audience then discover that the feelings between the two are
very much mutual. From the beginning you know that it is inevitable that they are going to
meet, at the end when they finally do, it was somewhat disappointing for me, there was no
further story and the audience was left to think about this and maybe even make there own
ending, this just seems to be how the different cultures react to films and how this certain
culture depicts love stories, leaving things to the imagination.

Nithiwat Tharaton, the director of this film, took on the challenge of producing a country
school teacher drama; this was more frequently done in the 1970’S and 80’s when film
makers were more regularly tackling social problems. Although the setting was the same with
the same issue this was done well and with the modern elements that were needed, yet still
with the feel of the old classic films.

The reaction from the audience during this film was everything you could expect from a
romantic comedy: laughter, excitement and even frustration at parts, if you are into this genre
I highly recommend that you give this film a chance.