‎Pop Aye (2017) directed by Kirsten Tan • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

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 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 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.

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Recent reviews

Review by Jedd Jong ★★★½

Pop Aye is the directorial debut of Kirsten Tan, who became the first Singaporean filmmaker to win an award at Sundance. In addition to taking home the Special Jury Award Screenwriting at the prestigious indie festival, Pop Aye also bagged the VPRO Big Screen Award at the Rotterdam Film Festival. Anthony Chen of Ilo Ilo fame is an executive producer, with his label Giraffe Pictures being one of the production houses involved in bringing the film to fruition.

Pop Aye is unlike any Singaporean film before it, and the audacity of the production is highly commendable: the dialogue is entirely in Thai, which is neither Tan’s first nor second language; it’s shot on location in a mix of rural and…
Review by aswathn3 ★★★

a neat road movie with subtle performances,loved the way the landscapes have shown
Review by shintarotay ★★★★

The world may shake, but as long as its foundation is firm, all will be still. Through the film, I found myself engulfed in the struggles faced by the duo and how they kept on moving. It felt very organic to see how one event led to another, which ultimately brought the protagonist with a sense of direction. The supporting characters of the films contributed to a mellow, yet heart rending narrative.

Each payoff changed the direction of the film, and there were so much about each of their own characteristics which were evident right through the get-go.

Little forms of connections, that showed a sense of humanity, were evoked through simple actions. I remember fondly the little moments – a wave, the characteristic of a ringtone – but most of all, I remember that life is beyond developments and the tangible nature of things.

The human spirit is within us, if we choose to believe.
Review by Ahmet Büyüksalih ★★★★

Whats better than a road trip movie, a road trip movie with an elephant
Review by David Whitley ★★★

Quick Hit: Isn’t every movie better with an elephant?

Full review: www.doublefeaturepreachers.com/davids-reviews/pop-aye-b
Review by TajLV ★★★½ 3

________________________________________________________________

Film #24 of 31 in my March Around The World | 2019 Challenge (Thailand)
________________________________________________________________

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 apeloeh ★★★½

an unusual road trip in which a man discouraged by life and aging seeks to take an elephant back home. along the road, as it is exposed to various situations, he reflects on his existence and significance
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 chun ★★★★

A film with a lot of feels. A story with an uncommon but simple premise, various encounters of the protagonist's eventful journey to bring his elephant back to his hometown. It wasn't an easy way back, and it is through this that the protagonist uncover parts of himself that he never really existed or have forgotten.

That the elephant turned out to not be the same one he played with when he was young was a plot twist I never saw coming, although I guess it's not totally unexpected. It's too good to be true that a serendipitous encounter as such would happen in real life, as much as unlikely this entire journey would have been too.

Ultimately what's once…