Pop Aye

2017 Directed by Kirsten Tan

On a chance encounter, a disenchanted architect bumps into his long-lost elephant on the streets of Bangkok. Excited, he takes his elephant on a journey across Thailand in search of the farm where they grew up together.

Thaneth Warakulnukroh Penpak Sirikul Bong

Alternative Title

ป๊อปอาย มายเฟรนด์

drama

104 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Fred Pryce ★★★½

What a sweet, funny and poignant little film!
It's amazing Kirsten Tan was able to make anything at all, given that she breaks the rules of debut filmmaking: filming around an animal (a big one!) and in a foreign country, but it's her obvious willingness to go the extra step to realise her vision that separates her from the pack. The core story is no different from many other Sundance films, following a man who decides to return to his home town after his job and relationship fall apart, and discovers himself alongside numerous quirky characters along the way. But Tan packs the story with lush detail and history that captures the essence of contemporary Thailand, contrasting huge architectural complexes…
Review by Mike Kennedy ★★★★

I saw this film at MIFF 2017 as the middle film in a heavy five film day in the last few days of the fortnight. I really liked it at the time, but grabbed the chance to see it again tonight, free of the creeping tiredness and cinematic overload that was inescapable first time around.
Writer/director Kirsten Tan is an interesting person to direct such a fundamentally Thai movie. Born in Singapore to Chinese-educated parents, she got her degree in English literature and then went on to study film production in Singapore. She spent a year in Korea as part of the Asian Young Filmmakers Forum, then two years in Bangkok and Chiang Mai where she began making short films…
Review by TajLV ★★★½ 3

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Film #24 of 31 in my March Around The World | 2019 Challenge (Thailand)
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For her feature debut, Singaporean writer-director Kirsten Tan takes us to Thailand. That's where middle-aged architect Thana Sukthamma (Thaneth Warakulnukroh) is dealing with mid-life crisis. Some men get a sports car. Some take a new wife. But not Thana. He has bought an elephant.
As the film opens, we see Thana with his pachyderm called Pop Aye (Bong), walking along a dusty road leading out of Bangkok into the country. Thana flags down a truck and convinces the driver to help him transport the elephant. But when it becomes clear the driver isn't going in the direction Thana wants, he gets out in the…
Review by Julie ★★★½

March Around The World 2019 - Film #4 - Thailand
Not your usual Road Trip film. Thana, a well respected architect towards the end of his career, feels irrelevant at work and at home with his wife. He passes by an elephant in the streets of Bangkok who he recognizes as his childhood elephant Popeye. He buys him, bring him home and its not long before his wife kicks them out and they are bound on a journey together back to his childhood village of Loei.
It’s a sweet tale of self discovery and atonement. I wasn’t altogether satisfied with the ending, but it was worth watching. And I do love Thailand and elephants.
Review by Levi ★★★★½

I'm a fan of the cosmic joke but this film takes that idea and creates something I guess you could call the cosmic love. There is so much heart in this film that although it deals with heavy themes drawing from the cosmic joke there is a consistent feeling of hope permeating every scene.
The film uses touches of the surreal and expressionistic to contrast the cultures and themes of the film. Everything is poetically connected and carries meaning. Nothing is wasted.
Elephants are great.
Review by Quinn ★★★½

Unhappy men of a certain age tend to make purchases like hair plugs or sports cars, but for Thana - an architect seeing his first creation (a shopping mall) facing demolition to make way for a skyscraper and also not finding solace with his wife of many years, the move to make is purchasing an elephant on the street which appears to be a very important elephant with personal connections. Pop Aye could’ve used some tightening but it’s tender, melancholic, and thoughtful. Use of flashbacks plus bursts of sly humor keeps things interesting. Wonderful epilogue.
Review by jen ★★★½

the humour in the film is quite sharp. Whether its showing a sex toy to prove a point, seeing the interactions between thana and bo or the great spaghetti western-like score by matthew james kelly, the film is not without its levity. But overall, the film is basically a low-key character study for thana.
thaneth warakulnukroh gives a great performance as the lead, as he lends the right amount of gravitas, melancholy and restrained jubilation. penpak sirikul lends a surprising amount of humanity to the role of bo, who could have easily be seen as a materialistic person.
there are a few surprising curveballs in the narrative that lend a lot of depth to the film, as the journey is more than just revisiting…
Review by kathy ★★★★

my new favourite road trip film! this one's for the people who let something go to chase their dreams, and try to find their old selves again a long time later.
I liked this a lot because it has all the elements that tick the right boxes for me! dreams, whimsy, poignance, neon lights (!), good music, elephants and watermelons. this film lives in its moments. although pop aye's visuals are more often than not absurdist, the characters are (more than) believable and there are moments where reality hits you in the face.
Review by thesundancedad ★★★½

This was the best elephant movie I've seen since Dumbo. Would have saved the protagonist a lot of time if Pop Aye could fly.
Not enough transvestites in Dumbo to truly compare the two movies.

So this was the best elephant movie I've ever seen with transvestism as a key to the plot.
นิ้วหัวแม่มือทั้งสองทางขึ้น
Review by Tom Morton ★★★

A middle-aged man, on the brink of a life crisis due to his crumbling relationship with his wife and the general lack of respect from his employer, recognises a local elephant as a childhood friend and sets off on an unconventional road trip. Curiously this isn’t the first “tired aging dude hits the road with elephant” film I’ve seen, but it’s about as different from Larger Than Life as it could get. In fact this reminded me more of The Straight Story, as unusual road trips go - swap out the lawnmower for Dumbo and off we go.
This is another “very little happens at a very slow pace” movie and, as much as I’m generally into that vibe, I…
Review by Brad Henderson ★★★½

🐘quite a quirky road movie about older rich Thai Architect who becomes very disillusioned with life. His wife doesn’t desire him anymore and his son has taken over the business.
Finds new importance and meaning to everything when he helps an 🐘 he believes belonged to him as a child. He takes the elephant back to his home village he was raised in.
Along the way he meets some quirky individuals a transgender person and a Homeless man.
Generally film has some deadpan humour which is quite amusing. Generally a simple comedy story on the surface but on an intellectual level has anti establishment themes.
Review by HANNA ★★½

Elephants are too good for all of this

Recent reviews

Review by Tannarya ★★★★

I felt that.
Review by ell_3n ★★★½

So darn SWEET
Review by Highwayjunkie ★★★½

The Elephant Man
Review by wheeler_codie ★★★★

I had to watch this again to better analyze it for the paper I have to write on it, but it definitely helped me better understand the relationship between Popeye and Thana
Review by wheeler_codie ★★★★

It’s an interesting story, that takes the viewer on both a physical and spiritual journey. It’s funny and deeply emotional, but I did feel that the elephant wasn’t utilized nearly as much as it could have been.
Review by Ron Ma ★★★

The opening was promising, and there are good moments throughout, but overall this lacked energy. I think it's partly my indifference to the road movie genre which makes the film less enjoyable. Has interesting themes running throughout, but they're often muddled and unable to develop into anything bigger.
Review by southisup ★★½

Aims for melancholic and quirky, but falls firmly into downbeat and outright sad. At times it is a slightly different and curious look at mortality, but mostly it completely fails to say anything whatsoever about wild elephants in a modern world. Exclusively for people who enjoy movies with cats or dogs as a lead character.
Review by Mike Kennedy ★★★★

I saw this film at MIFF 2017 as the middle film in a heavy five film day in the last few days of the fortnight. I really liked it at the time, but grabbed the chance to see it again tonight, free of the creeping tiredness and cinematic overload that was inescapable first time around.
Writer/director Kirsten Tan is an interesting person to direct such a fundamentally Thai movie. Born in Singapore to Chinese-educated parents, she got her degree in English literature and then went on to study film production in Singapore. She spent a year in Korea as part of the Asian Young Filmmakers Forum, then two years in Bangkok and Chiang Mai where she began making short films…
Review by chialing ★★★

生活裡的各種不順遂，不慍不火裡的小詼諧
但是那個結尾真的有點太硬了，卜派可愛。
Review by Jason Gong ★★★½

【73/100】
Review by bdmelo21 ★★★★

Busca de sentido como um Mahout.
Review by Quinn ★★★½

Unhappy men of a certain age tend to make purchases like hair plugs or sports cars, but for Thana - an architect seeing his first creation (a shopping mall) facing demolition to make way for a skyscraper and also not finding solace with his wife of many years, the move to make is purchasing an elephant on the street which appears to be a very important elephant with personal connections. Pop Aye could’ve used some tightening but it’s tender, melancholic, and thoughtful. Use of flashbacks plus bursts of sly humor keeps things interesting. Wonderful epilogue.