I-San Special

I-San Special (Thai: คืนพระจันทร์เต็มดวง, or Kuen pra chan tem doueng, literally Night of the Full Moon) is a 2002 Thai experimental independent drama film directed by Mingmongkol Sonakul and based on an idea by Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

Set aboard a ramshackle inter-city bus traveling from Bangkok to Isan, the audio of a Thai radio soap opera is acted out by the passengers.

[1] Variety = "I-san Special" is a funhouse of fantastical dreams and desires, put across with lots of wit and charm aboard a ramshackle bus.

Inasmuch as it's an expansion of an original idea by Apichatpong Weerasethakul ("Blissfully Yours"), it suggests a certain esprit de corps among Thai filmmakers reminiscent of the French New Wave.

[2] I-San Special premiered at the Singapore International Film Festival, where it was nominated for a Silver Screen Award and won a special mention FIPRESCI Prize, "For its uncompromising stance and unconventional portrayal of modern Thailand, and the conflations and deconstruction of multiple realities and genres such as the soap opera, the road movie and Thai pop culture."