(1) the awards 
... since the Subhanahongsa Award (presented by the Federation of National Film Associations of Thailand) is the most recognized in Thailand, i was just trying to give it its due recognition. for many who are not from thailand, at least it drops some hint to what the thais feel about their movies for that year ... 

PS: a surf of the net would confirm the fact that ... 
... most agree that its cinematography was great 
... quite a number also mention its music 
... as for the plot, i think only the local media was too harsh on it (even though i respect that all are entitled to their own views). 

My point of the award is: given that it is the most recognized in thailand, and there is tough competition from Love of Siam (which rightfully deserves the Best Film and Best Director award) etc, maybe it is worth pondering over why the screenplay won over the other films ... is it something that we as outsiders (culturally, religiously, etc) fail to appreciate?! 

(ii) the melodrama 
... well, when you read OTHER reviews, they heavily pen it over a few points, which i can try to help the director/scriptwriter justify ... 
e.g. 
(a) many mention the melodrama ... well, you have to accept some cultural differences here ... if one were to recall The Overture (click http://foreignfilms.yuku.com/reply/3223#reply-3223 ), I did recall mentioning the thunderstorm, and the "love at first sight scenes", so it is not a hindsight wisdom or bias; likewise, for The Tin Mine (click http://foreignfilms.yuku.com/search/topic/topic/1898 ), there is also some melodrama scenes ... so, let's be kinder becos that is part of their style ... 

(b) many mention about the twists and turns ... although at times, i do agree that it may be "too eventful", one has to realize 2 things: (1) time is compressed, the last few scenes are time in fast forwards, so only essential plots are depicted, hence it comes across as FULL OF EVENTS (2) last time, i have a friend who doesnt exactly like Hongkong TVB series, claiming that how can so many things happen to one person. my answer is: it can happen and it does happen, the only thing is: whether you know who these people are ... there are many people in this world with shocking and traumatic things happening to them, but just becos you do not know who they are, it does not mean it cannot ALL happen to a person ... 

(c) finally, the scantily clad scenes ... well, regardless of the director's actual intention, we may like to ask, are people scantily clad at home (or in the place they stay)?! but of course, even in singapore, some people do that ... when we visit some of our friends, the males in their family may be rather scantily clad ... 

In sum, my point in writing the review is this: 
-- while i do respect differing views (even great films can be polarizing), i thought 1 star out of 5 is simply too harsh, and the points they mention can be "justified" to some extent ... 
-- i want to credit the film for what it deserves ... at least for its cinematography and its music ... NO JOKE ... the cinematography and music is great on a BIG SCREEN, enclosed theatre ...