Published on January 12, 2006

A feel-good flick about puppy love opens today but can it shake off the indignant gripes about its young star? Beefs about bias could take a chunk out of Subhanahongsa Award winner Nawarat “Grace” Techaratanaprasert’s new film “Khaoniao Mooping” (“A Bite of Love”).

Movie fans who feel the child star won the Best Actress award at Thailand’s equivalent to the Oscars more for being the daughter of the Federation of Film Association of Thailand’s president than for her performance in her debut film “Er Rer” (“Beautiful, Wonderful, Perfect”) are threatening to boycott the new family flick.

But first-time director Siwaporn Pongsuwan is confident that people will still want to catch the film.

“I’m not worried about the critics. Awards have never had much to do with the box-office gross,” she says.

And “A Bite of Love” is not a big-budget movie - it cost just Bt10 million to make - so the stakes aren’t too high.

The film is about a little girl named Khaoniao (Nawarat) who is sent to live with her aunt and grandmother when her mother (Sinitha Bunyasak) leaves Bangkok to follow her career ambitions.

The child finds a puppy - later named Mooping - and takes care of it in secret. When the aunt and grandmother find out they call the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority’s dogcatchers.

“It’s a simple family tale. A lonely girl meets a lonely dog and they make each other feel complete,” says the director.

The movie is based on Siwaporn’s own experience with a stray. A few years ago, she found a mongrel in the Siam Square area. After watching it for a month she decided it was a stray and took it home. Three days later the dog escaped.

“A week later, I saw Daang [her name for the dog] in Siam Square again and this time I followed her. I should have realised that she was still looking after her puppies - they were probably about three months old.”

Siwaporn kept an eye on the canine family and when only Daang was left - and on the receiving end of hard kicks from the security guards - she took her home.

Daang appears in the movie as the mother of Mooping.

“I told my friends the story. [Director Prachya Pinkaew of “Tom Yum Goong”] said it would make a great cartoon.”

Siwaporn had all but forgotten the tale when, while working as a producer at Baa-Ram-Ewe, she was invited to the house of the president of Sahamongkol Film Company, Somsak Techaratanaprasert.

There she saw a little girl - Grace - with a puppy clutched under her arm. Unbidden, the image of the child juxtaposed with her story popped into her mind.

“It was so natural seeing her carrying the puppy like that. You could see how much she loved dogs,” says the director.

She put the idea to Prachya but he was dubious. Thai filmgoers, he pointed out, like blood and guts, action and horror.

Then two years ago, sensing a change in the movie market, Prachya put the project to Somsak and he approved it.

“Grace was just beginning to show an interest in, and a talent for, acting. Certainly Grace was the key to getting approval, but it also had a lot to do with her love for dogs,” says the director.

Siwaporn was enthusiastic about trying her hand at directing. She’d written about films, worked as a critic for a movie magazine, and was a member of the scriptwriting team for “Loke Thung Bai Hai Nai Khon Diaw” (“Romantic Blues”).

She’d also been involved in the production side of “Fake”, “Sayew”, and, more recently, “Cherm” (“Midnight My Love”).

“Producing doesn’t help in directing. I’ve been lucky in that as a producer, I’ve also been involved in the editing so I’ve seen the larger picture while filming,” she explains.

Only five dogs appear in the movie - all of them of mixed breeds. Casting for pooches - especially ones that looked sufficiently alike to double up - proved so difficult that Siwaporn ended up pushing her own three pets into service. The pup that appears in the poster is her latest family member.

The dogs were sent to special training schools for three months before shooting began.

“It was easier to use my own. I know how they behave and I can mostly convince them to do what I want,” she says with a smile.

“The problem with working with animals is the waiting. You have to keep watching their movements. But there’s always a moment - I call it the miracle moment - when they’ll surprise you with their incredible acting.”

Popular TV host Patcharasree “Kalamae” Benjamas makes her film debut as the modern aunt and former siren Naowarat Suesat is making a long-awaited return to the silver screen.

“I kept thinking of her while I was writing the script,” says Siwaporn.

“A Bite of Love” also stars veteran actress Marasree Israngoon Na Ayuthaya and Winyoo Janjao.

“Khaoniao Mooping” (“A Bite of Love”) opens today at cinemas nationwide.

Parinyaporn Pajee

The Nation

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