Bangkok Post - January 15, 2005
Kong Rithdee

"You've seen enough of the world," he says. "You've been to Bangkok. You've been on a plane. You've eaten enough good food. You've played enough games," he continues. "A lot of people die without having a chance to do those things."

It's tough, for both father and son. But is there any other way to say it? Is the father being cruel talking to his dying son about his own death?

To us, perhaps yes, because to us HIV is a frightening three-letter acronym that can immediately switch on our sympathy; but to them, as this quiet, observant documentary shows, HIV infection is a fact of life, a condition that they have no time to think how to deal with because they have to live with it every minute. The father's matter-of-fact remarks are not cruel but heartbreaking, because he's making them not only to his son but also to himself.

"You're going to die," he says. "And soon your mother and I are going to die too."

Riyo, a Japanese journalist who's been living in Thailand since 1999, spent three years documenting the lives to two HIV-positive families in a northern province, and the result is this small, simple and at times innocent and moving documentary.

Riyo knows that there's no need to hammer home any point, and there's no need to portray HIV/Aids as a global disaster. By simply showing us the everyday lives and stories of her subjects, Riyo's movie tells us a great deal about the effects of the disease on human feelings and lives.

The first family we meet comprises Anna and Pon. Both are farmers and HIV-positive. Anna lost her first husband in 1998 to HIV-related illness and a few years later re-married to Pon, who had lost his first wife, who was also HIV positive. The second family is the household made up of father Achun, mother Supani, and their 11-year-old son called Boy. All of them are infected with the virus, though they continue farming unperturbed, even when Supani becomes visibly ill and Boy is hospitalised.

Without forcing any comparisons, the film shows the contrasting fates of the two families.

The section about Anna and Pon has an air of objectivity as we appreciate the couple's attempts to move on in life, although with the conscious knowledge of their condition. Meanwhile dark clouds seem to loom over Achun's family, especially when we witness the progress of Boy, a sunny lad who happily helps his father pick giant jackfruits from their orchards during the first half of the movie, as he becomes emaciated and bed-ridden. What leaves a lasting impression, however, is not particularly Boy's sickness but the serene, sensible reactions of his parents.

In all, it would be a big mistake to think of Yesterday Today Tomorrow as a tear-jerking portrait of a life-altering tragedy, as many Aids-related movies are (which doesn't detract from their worth as films). Neither family is very poor or desperate; they just continue to live their lives in a society that's ready to support them, and the film wisely alternates its style of distant observation with a few moments of intimate probing. If you cry - and you're likely to - it's not because you feel sorry for these characters but because you know everything they do and say makes perfect sense, and that it's just too painful to realise that they really have no other choices.

Based in Bangkok, Riyo shot and edited the film almost entirely by herself, and the patient, thoughtful pacing of Yesterday Today Tomorrow reflects her dedication. Truly independent, Riyo says her grandmother and parents lent her the money to finish the film - and they should be proud to have done that.

'Yesterday Today Tomorrow' will be screened this Sunday at House theatre, RCA, as part of the Bangkok International Film Festival 2005. Achun and Riyo will be at the screening to meet the audience. Call Thai Ticketmaster on 02-262-3456 for tickets.

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