Good things really do come in threes.

After a long absence on our screens, gay and lesbian movies are returning with a bang.

Last week, the lovely women’s dramedy Sunshine Cleaning opened in our cinemas. This week sees the release of teen gay romance The Love of Siam. And next week there’s A Frozen Flower, a period gay epic from Korea. All three were pleased to say are very good.

This weeks The Love of Siam is a sweet and sensitive coming-of-age tale about two boys discovering their attraction to each other. Released in Thailand in November 2007, the film won rave reviews and numerous awards in its home country. Yet only now has a Singapore distributor picked up the rights to screen it here. All we can say is, it’s been worth the wait.

Indeed, it’s taken Harry Potter even longer to return to our screens. After an absence of two years, Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince is also here to cast a new spell on us. This sixth installment of the Harry Potter films sees the young wizard preparing himself for the final battle with Voldemort, even as dark forces wreak great havoc on the world of magic as well as the Muggles.

The Love of Siam

In Thai with subtitles

GV exclusive

The Love of Siam was actually released in Thailand in Nov 2007. It got rave reviews and won nearly every film award there was in its country. Some Singaporeans heard about it, bought its DVD on trips to Bangkok, and passed it on to their friends. Apparently, a copy found its way into the office of Singapore distributor Scorpio East Pictures. The staff watched it, loved it, and its now opening in Singapore cinemas 19 months after its Bangkok premiere.

Well, better late than never!

Written and directed by Chukiat Sakweerakul, The Love of Siam is that rarest of creatures: a sweet teen gay romance nestled in a poignant multi-story movie about love. Wichawisit Hiranwongkul and Mario Maurer play two young boys who grew up together, but got separated when one of them moved to the city. Years later, they meet again as teenagers. This time, their unbreakable friendship develops into romantic affection.

The Love of Siam is not exclusively a gay romance. A substantial portion of the film deals with a family struggling with the loss of their daughter. And there are other subplots involving the two boy’s girlfriends. But it is the sensitive romance between Mario and Wichawisit that powers the plot, and holds your interest throughout its 2 hours 40 minute runtime.

Marios limpid brown eyes and milky complexion will have you swooning, while Wichawisit shy hesitancy and unforced acting makes him the perfect weeping center of the movie. Though they were unknowns when they made their acting debuts in this movie, the two boys particularly Mario have since gone on to become stars in Thailand.

Poignant and perceptive, The Love of Siam is easily our pick of the week (yes, it trumps Harry Potter!). Indeed, there are many movies about love, but few in recent memory are as good as this one.

J.K. Rowlings fantasy franchise is unstoppable. Even though Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince is the slowest-paced and least exciting of all the six Potter films so far, there are still enough drama and sorcery here to delight audiences.

This time round, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and Professor Dumbledore (Ian McKellen) suspect that Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and his evil allies are planning an attack from the inside. Dumbledore wants Harry to get close to Professor Horace (Jim Broadbent), a former teacher of Voldemorts, to uncover more of the dark lords past.

Yet even as Harry carries out this conspiracy, he must contend with his growing pains. Though the opposite sex was once no concern of his, the fully-pubescent wizard now finds himself irresistibly drawn to Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright), the sister of his best friend Ron. Fortunately, she too fancies him.

Directed by David Yates, this Harry Potter instalment often takes time off from the hocus-pocus to focus on the human drama instead. Daniel Radcliffe and his co-stars Emily Watson (Hermione) and Rupert Grint (Ron) get to show their dramatic and comedic chops like never before, as they play out the pangs and farce of adolescent love.

There seems to be less time devoted to special effects here than in previous movies. But when it appears, it is sheer wizardry, leaving no doubt about the fact that the Potter movies always feature the finest in special effects.

Yes, some Potter book fans have complained that the new film condenses too much of the books action. But for us, its still pure magic.