The film, which has a prominent gay theme, has hit a chord with audiences, gay and straight alike. They empathise with the male leads, who are drawn to each other when the love elsewhere in their lives goes wrong, or is not there when they need it. At the school-leaving age, no one is terribly certain what they are, anyway.
Speaking of the gay relationship which develops between the film's central male characters, Tong and Music, many viewers recall a time when they were in their teens and fell for members of the same sex.
If they are lonely and feel disconnected from family love, they say, then it doesn't matter who enters their lives to fill its place.
Viewers feel sorry for the character Music, who has lived most of his life alone, after his parents left him when he was young, and then he lost his grandmother. He also lost his neighbour and best friend, Tong, after Tong's sister disappeared while trekking in the North. Tong's family moved away because they could not stand being in a home which reminded them of a loved one they had lost.
Five years later, the boys are reunited after a chance meeting in Siam Square. Tong has a girlfriend, in whom he is not interested, while Music (as befits his name) is lead singer of a band, which has a song in the music charts.
He wants to write a love song, but finds he can't do it - because it's been so long since he has known love. As the two rekindle their friendship, they find things in each other which others have failed to give them.
Tong himself comes from a sad family background, after losing his sister, and then watching his father drowning his grief in alcohol. Through Music, he meets a woman called June, manager of Music's band, who looks like his missing sister Taeng. He gets his mother to hire her in the hope it will make his father feel better. His parents recover their spirits, but June decides she cannot stay.
As his parents are confronted with another heartbreak, Tong decides that for the sake of his family he will end his relationship with Music - who, once again, is left alone.
While viewers feel for Music, they also admire his strength. He is seldom happier than when he is performing, which holds out hope that he can still find happiness from people on a stage, if not in romance. Tong tells him that while he can't be his boyfriend, he can still love him. Elsewhere, Music asks: 'If we have no one to love, can we survive for long?'
In the end, Music feels happy that he met someone whom he could love, and who loved him in return.
One young man says the film has given him inspiration. 'I have learnt from Music's character that you can be sensitive - and still be strong.'
Another viewer, who declares Love of Siam is the most moving film he has seen, admits he is gay - but says he would probably feel just as moved if the leads were male and female.
He says director 'Ma-Deaw' Chukiat Sakweerakul has managed to capture the essence of love from different angles - family love, the love of friendship, gay love - in a way where characters, their motives and the story are tightly interwoven.
However, this young writer says he does not look at life as optimistically as Mat-Deaw. He has grown up with people who do not accept what he is, or the way he loves, which makes him feel alienated and hurt.
now, see part 2
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