Beautiful, nostalgic photography and a haunting score make this melodrama of sex, love, and filial antagonism a treat for the senses. Nonzee Nimibutr (NANG NAK, BAYTONG) directs this adaptation of Usana Ploengtham's novel, THE STORY OF JAN DARA, which is regarded as the most notorious erotic novel in Thai literature. The title character, played by Suwinit Panjamawat, is established early on as a pariah in his home, when his mother dies while giving birth to him. His father, Khun Luang (Santisuk Promsiri), ostracizes him, labeling him a bastard and delivering brutal beatings to the boy. Khun Luang (which means master) has an insatiable sexual appetite, and the child's earliest memories are of witnessing his father's conquests. The boy's own sexuality is initiated at an early age, and continues to blossom despite the violence of his father. Eventually his father's daughter, brought up to despise Jan Dara, falsely accuses him of a crime and has him thrown out of the house. Years later, the grown Jan (Eakarat Sarsukh) is asked back into the fold to save the family name, and in wreaking his revenge, he inadvertently continues the cycle of cruelty established by his father. This controversial film stars Asian sex goddess Christy Chung as Jan Dara's young stepmother and lover, and sent the Thai censors into convulsions with its overt sensuality that touches upon many taboo subjects, but it is the very human drama at the film's core that gives JAN DARA its resonance.DVD Features:Dolby Digital 5.1 - Thai Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.