I Fine..Thank You Love You

Mez Tharatorn's 2014 Thai comedy is about a man trying to learn English. Yim's girlfriend has gone to America and he decides to follow her to win her back, but cannot pass the visa interview without the language. Working in a factory, he finds a teacher and starts lessons, and Pleng, the teacher, has grievances of her own, so a long contest runs between them before the expected relationship forms. The humour rests largely on language: mispronunciation, memorised phrases and the habit of using English as a marker of status. What knowing English means in class terms in Thailand sits in the background. It keeps to a commercial shape and turns sentimental in the last section. It was a large box office success at home. Who it's for: viewers who like Thai romantic comedy. Who it's not for: anyone who will mind that jokes about language are lost in subtitles.