I won't include every contemporary Thai art house film I watch here, nor am I suggesting that I truly love each of these movies, but I wanted to keep track of those that feature some if not most of the following traits:

1. Photography that casually follows or lingers upon the subject. A detached, unemotional lens. Prominent use of natural or available lighting. Muted, low contrast color.

2. Naturalistic performances. Mundane events and conversation. A narrative that meanders or understates dramatic tension. Moments play out according to their own need, unconcerned with the demands of overarching storyline.

4. Intrusion of surrealistic elements or meta moments that may or may not have a bearing on the plot.

5. The inability of characters to connect to environment or one another despite an immediate desire to do so. Though not always explicitly, this is often associated with technology.

6. The need for characters to document, preserve, or prolong moments. Still photographs, 8mm film, and videotape are often intercut to reinforce this theme.

7. Ambient or reflective score, though diegetic sound dominates the film's running time.

8. Multi-lingual cast with a noted influence of Western culture and speech on young adult characters. Brief references to American pop culture. Though imperialism is not often directly referenced, an undertone seems to exist.

9. Politics are often personalized by the filmmaker. Faces are given to large scale concerns.

10. Traditional folklore and beliefs are often shown to co-exist in harmony with the modern world. Likewise, narrative comfortably shifts between rural and urban settings.

11. The cyclical nature of time and nature. Births, deaths, and rebirths. Sometimes this is content, others it's context.

12. Title cards used in inventive ways; not just as means of information relay but as ways that serve the rhythm of the film. Often occurring late into the film to act as a pillow or to signal a change in tone, if not an altogether new narrative chain.