Review: Phrae Dum (Black Silk)

• Directed by Ratana Pestonji
• Starring Ratanavadi Ratanabhand, Tom Wisawachart, Seni Wisaneesarn
• Released in 1961; available on DVD from the Thai Film Foundation
• Rating: 5/5

Made in 1961, Ratana Pestonji's Phrae Dum (Black Silk or แพรดำ), is film noir -- Thailand's first -- with a Buddhist perspective.

The main characters cannot escape their karma.

Phrae is a young widowed woman who lives in a traditional-style Thai wooden house along a canal. She weaves silk and tends to her fields. She still wears black, long after her husband has died. She has a boyfriend, Tom, and it's through him that Phrae becomes caught in a web of deception and murder. Phrae repents for her part in what happened by becoming a Buddhist nun.

Ratana cast his own daughter, Ratanavadi Ratanabhand, as Phrae, who wears the black clothes of a mourning widow heavily. And when the time comes for her to shave her head, there's no skin wig -- it's the actress' real locks who fall under the razor. Such sacrifice for art.


To go into the elaborate scheming by Tom's greedy boss, the nightclub owner Seni, would be to spoil the fun of this drama. Briefly though, the plot involves a dead twin brother, a murder, a faked death, a kidnapping, another faked death and ultimately betrayal, prison and execution. Oh sure, there's a hole or two in that plot, but I still couldn't help but look on with amazement as the events breathlessly unfold.

Bleak as all that sounds, Black Silk is enlivened by music and dance -- a trademark of Pestonji -- and it's unabashedly colorful. Also, the sights and sounds of Bangkok of the early 1960s are captured, with streets scenes of the old tram, the Grand Palace and life along the canals.

It remains an influential and amazing film, with shades of Phrae Dum cropping up in the works of contemporary filmmakers Pen-ek Ratanaruang and Wisit Sasanatieng.

I'm thankful that the film has survived the years, and has been released on DVD by the Thai Film Foundation for everyone to enjoy.

Ha Teaw has it all, except English subtitles

The fantasy-action drama Ha Teaw (ห้าแถว) was in cinemas in November while I was away from Thailand, and by the time I returned, it was gone.

The title, literally "five columns", refers to a tablet of Buddhist scripture. It's often seen as a tattoo inscribed on the left shoulder blade. United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie has one. And indeed it is Jolie's tattoo artist, Sompong Kanphai, who produced this very strange movie.

Because it comes from an independent production company, Five-Four-Three-Two-One Action Film, I thought that perhaps the local DVD release would break from established Thai industry practice and include the English subtitles. My hopes were up when I saw the DVD in my favorite shop yesterday morning and noted that the box says it has Thai/English subtitles.

But it was not to be. There are no subtitles at all. Though bizarrely, there are two soundtracks -- one is marked English even though it is the same Thai soundtrack. I have to wonder if the discs were improperly authored.

I'm not disappointed. Sure, I am out 150 baht, but even without subtitles, I still have a movie that treats me to the sight of a naked, hissing, gore-covered dwarf crawling out of the womb of a woman who became instantly pregnant. That is worth at least 150 baht and so much more.

Another highlight is several decently mounted fight scenes in this B-grade actioner. The stunts and blocking are rudimentary, but the camera movement is minimal and the framing is such that I could get an overall perspective of the action and get the sense that the actors are actually fighting.

The best fights involve an actress whose face is familiar but I can't place her name or where I've seen her before. She is featured in several short setpieces.

Dutch martial artist and stunt actor Ron Smoorenburg throws kicks as one of the henchmen of the lead bad guy, who is played by Tears of the Black Tiger star Chartchai Ngamsan. Smoorenburg has his head rammed through a TV screen and toward the end faces both the female fighter and the hero.

The story involves a young man (Seksun Suttijan) who stops a bus from being hijacked by armed men on horseback. He ends up in the next town, which is in the process of being taken over by the black-magic forces deployed by Chartchai's character.

In addition to the naked hissing dwarf, there is a horde of scorpions. Women are kidnapped off the street, put into a trance and made to do the bidding of the bad guys. There's even cool special effects, including a "bullet time" scene, a decapitation, and a motorcycle stunt, involving the bike being jumped over the flatcar of a moving freight train. They only offer one shot of the jump from the side, but probably wish they'd shot it head on and from another couple angles.

The cast is pretty impressive, with "Kratae" Supaksorn Chaimongkol from Handle Me With Care as the lead actress. She plays a schoolteacher in the village that's being attacked by the dark influences. She and the female fighter (who's a physical education teacher at the school) join the hero on his quest for justice or revenge or whatever. Kratae ends up being put in a trance and made to take off all her clothes. So there's that.

There's also a supporting cast of Thai comedians and character actors, including Somlek Sakdikul, Der Doksadao, Kom Chuancheun, Note Chernyim and Suthon Wechkama.

The big showdown involves the hero, who carries a supernaturally charged amulet of "ha taew" scripture, facing the black-magic endowed baddie Chartchai, who can teleport to various places. His power seems to be derived from a set of crystal balls. He has several magic tattoos, including a small scroll on his forehead, another on his throat and several inkings on his hands.

The DVD is at eThaiCD, which correctly notes that it does not have English subtitles, despite what it says on the back cover. It's a region-free PAL disc. eThaiCD also has a special-edition DVD that includes a souvenir ha taew amulet. Had I seen that version the shop yesterday morning, I might have picked that up.

Review: Fight or Flight

• Directed by and starring Peter J McCarthy
• Co-directed and cinematography by Shane Sutton
• Released in 2007, reviewed on complimentary screener DVD
• Rating: 4/5

Sometime ago, I came across a video of what was purported to be the "oldest Thai boxing footage ever", in which scenes for a documentary feature called Fight or Flight was embedded.

That led to the director and subject of Fight or Flight, Peter J. McCarthy, to get in touch with me, and, in an effort to get me to actually watch his film, he sent me the DVD.

I put the DVD on the stack of unwatched discs to watch at a more opportune time. But as the months went by, uncertainty about when that time might happen crept up. I decided to pop the movie in and see what it had to offer.

I wished I'd watched it sooner.

Fight or Flight is a spiritual journey of a man in search of his inner self. A 30-something guy from Ireland, McCarthy states in the film that he'd been in a street fight and had a falling out with his brother, and so came to Thailand -- like a lot of foreigners do -- in a bid to change his life. Why did he fight? Could he fight? Muay Thai seemed to offer the answers, and for the lanky Irishman, all muscle and bone, it seemed like a perfect fit.

The film follows his training and odyssey of self discovery that crisscrosses Thailand, starting at a training camp in Chiang Mai, to a gym in Bangkok, then to the ring in Koh Samui, back up to Chiang Mai for an abortive silent retreat in a Buddhist temple, and then to Northeast Thailand.

Visceral and stylized, a trippy sound design is coupled with repeated clips of a worm and a gecko being eaten by ants, as well as stock war footage of troops in trenches, B-52 bombers and atomic explosions. The film references The Wild Bunch (the ants!) as well as Apocalypse Now, with McCarthy specifically referring to the "heart of darkness" that he'd stumbled upon in searching for his soul. Seems he found it, and didn't like what it turned out to be. Chiang Mai. Shit. Still only in Chiang Mai. There is a marked contrast between the glowing, happy Peter McCarthy at the beginning of the film to the broken shell of man who is confessing a nervous breakdown by the end.

Like young Grasshopper in Kung Fu, McCarthy drops in at Wat Suan Dok and asks a monk, Phra Saneh Infong, why men must fight, why there is violence. McCarthy -- and all humans -- know the answers, but sometimes we have to hear them anyway.

"These feelings we get from thinking, seeing, hearing," the monk says. "Fighting in our world, is plan of men, not plan of God."

Not wishing any more introspection, McCarthy turns his eye to the outside world, hopping on his motorcycle with his backpack and hitting the road for Northeast Thailand for "a
journey into the depths of Thai culture."

Interspersed between shots of him training and fighting in the ring, as well as scenes of other fights, there's a look at children Muay Thai fighters, which is controversial in the West, as well as the also the controversial bloodsport of cockfighting.

Answers to these prickly issues are difficult, but the film seems to defend them because they are part of Thai culture. For some children, the sport officials and a long-time farang boxer-trainer conclude, Muay Thai is a way out of poverty, and offers a lifetime opportunity for many children and young men. I wonder: How is it different from Little League baseball or school sports? As for cockfighting, well the enthusiast interviewed says a fighting rooster actually has a better life than a chicken that's going to be eaten -- the former living for two to three years, and the former just a matter of a few weeks or months.

There will be differing viewpoints, but those are subjects for other documentaries.

Back to McCarthy. The conclusion for him after 19 months in Thailand, in which he "cracked", seems kind of anti-climactic. At 78 minutes, including end credits, the film feels too short. Back in Dublin, what were his thoughts? What was he experiencing? Another 10 minutes or so perhaps could have covered that.

I guess that's the power of this documentary -- to make me care about a guy enough to wonder what happens next. Maybe that will be the subject of another film.


More information:

• Official site
• Trailer at YouTube

DVD review: Me ... Myself

It's funny. It's cute. It's English subtitled. And, it's censored.

The DVD of last year's sleeper-hit romantic-comedy Me ... Myself is already hitting the bargain bins in Thailand, a move no doubt hastened by the fact that the DVD is published by Rose Media and Entertainment, the only Thai distributor I know of that self-censors its films.

Me ... Myself is the story of a transvestite gay cabaret dancer (Ananda Everingham) who is robbed of his identification and then struck by a car driven by a young woman (Chayanan Manomaisantiphap). The amnesiac man is then taken in and cared for by the woman, and they fall in love, which raises some interesting issues about sexuality and choices. The film is directed by action star and singer Pongpat Wachirabunjong, and based on a story he came up with, with a screenplay by Kongdej Jaturanrasamee.

Even at the low, low bargain-bin price of 59 baht (around US$2), Me ... Myself is still a questionable purchase because it is marred by censorship.

The worst of it is some blinkered pixellation of a nude Ananda Everingham. Never mind that the original film tastefully captured a profile of the fearless Ananda sitting like Rodin's "Thinker", and then when he stood up, his private parts were below the frame, or covered by his hands and a bowl he comically grabbed. But that wasn't good enough for the goody two-shoes at Rose Media.

There are scenes involving alcohol and drinking in Me ... Myself (including drunken karaoke caterwauling by the stars of an old hit song by none other than Pongpat himself), and for those, Rose thankfully does not try to pixellate out the bottles and glasses as is done on Thai television, but Rose does add a line of text to the frame to say "Drinking is bad." On other films, Rose will run anti-smoking messages and messages warning of the dangers of guns. A free Rose DVD of Johnnie To's Exiled came my way, and I had to stop watching it because the moralising messages were so out of hand.

Rose Media is the only DVD distributor in Thailand that I know of that practices this censorship. None of the other local distributors do, and this includes J-Bics, EVS and United Home Entertainment. Just Rose. I'm not sure why.

Anyway, it's unfortunate. Because Rose is the distributor for Mono Film, the only Thai studio that still includes English subtitles with its DVD releases.

Their latest release is Fighting Beat, much of which takes place in a bar where alcohol flows freely. I can see the warning messages already. If I decide to revisit Fighting Beat via DVD, it will only be after it shows up the bargain bins and even then, maybe not at all.

More information:

• Frequently asked questions about Thai films on DVD
• 2007 in Thai cinema: Thai films on DVD
• Review: Me ... Myself

DVD review: 13 Beloved

Just watched my newly arrived DVD of 13 Beloved last night, and as one of the best Thai films made in several years, I'm very glad to have it in the house.

Also known as 13: Game of Death or 13 Game Sayong, this English-subtitled disc is published by Innoform, and is available by mail order from MovieXclusive in Singapore.

Directed and co-written by Chukiat Sakweerakul, and based on a comic book by Eakasit Thairaat, who co-wrote the script, 13 Beloved is a gritty tale from the savage city of Bangkok, about a loser salesman who is sucked into an insidious underground Internet reality game show. To win cash, he must embark on a series of increasingly degrading and dangerous tasks.

Krissada Sukosol Clapp, a Thai-American pop singer and actor, plays the salesman, Chit, and perfectly portrays the character's desperation and anger.

It's a film that reached out to me when I first saw it back in 2006, as it really laid bare the vanity, greed and superficiality that seems to be the rule in society today. Hearteningly, it was nominated for dozens of awards in Thailand, and won three best actor prizes. It also won prizes at the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival and the Fantasia Festival.

Beyond the English subtitles, the disc has a "making of" feature, which is not subtitled at all. It's still fascinating viewing, though, especially scenes from the rehearsal of the opening scene, in which the green bus actually collides with the pickup it is supposed to zip around at the last second! There's also some deleted scenes narrated (in Thai) by Chukiat and the trailer.

But having English subtitles on the film itself is the main selling point for this disc, and it's likely the only one available anywhere in the world. As with most DVD releases of Thai films in Thailand, the English subtitles were omitted. And the film is unlikely to be picked up for release in North America because the remake rights have been picked up by The Weinstein Company, which will more than likely sit on the original version. The remake will have to be pretty darn good to top the original, though.

More information:

• 13 Beloved review
• 13 Beloved at IMDb
• 13 Beloved at Wikipedia (spoilers!)

Review: Tone

• Directed by Piak Poster
• Starring Chaiya Suriyan, Jaruwan Panyopas, Sayan Chantaraviboon, Aranya Namwong
• From 1970; released on DVD in 2005 by Suwan Film as part of its Thai Memorable Film Project
• Rating: 4/5

Tone is one of those groovy musical romances that came out of the Thai industry in the 1970s.

Right off, it starts out funky, with a theme song by The Impossibles, an incredibly talented and diverse band that played a wicked combination of garage rock, Stax soul and Beatlesesque pop (some of the members are still around and perform in an occasional Beatles tribute band).

It's a song about summer vacation, and it sets up the story about a slacker college guy going back to his upcountry village for the break. He invites his friend, Odd (Sayan Chantaraviboon), along.

Next, we're introduced to the title character, Tone (Chaiya Suriyan), a humble country guy who's a little pent-up.

It doesn't help that he has a funny-looking, toothless old guy named Song (Sangtong Seesai) hanging around singing songs about him.

It's the time for a monk's ordination in the village, so people are celebrating.

There's more singing, including a song by the most beautiful girl in the village, Kularb (Jaruwan Panyopas). She's the girl whom Tone holds a torch for. And he goes as far to just spell it out for her - he loves her. He tells her right to her face.

But she's young yet. Not sure what she's going to do, or where she's going to go. Maybe to Bangkok. Maybe to Chiang Mai. Anyway, she has no time to get into a relationship with Tone.

Odd is bumming around. One day, he's out walking and steps in front of Kularb as she's riding her bicycle. Remember that for later.

Odd and his slacker friend have run in with Tone. It's an accident, but it gets out of hand, with the food that Tone was taking a monk dumped on the ground and the slacker dude with his clothes ruined. Odd takes pity on Tone, and wants to pay for the spilled food. Tone refuses.

Later, Odd and the slacker dude go to pay respects to the monk. And there's Tone, dishing up lunch for the monk. The monk then tells Tone's whole story - how Tone was an orphan and the monk took him in and raised him - he'd like to do better for Tone, send him to school and stuff, but he knows no one in Bangkok, where all the good universities are.

So Odd, still looking to make up for his friend's ill treatment of Tone, says he has room for Tone at his house in Bangkok, where he and his brother and sister live. They were orphans, too.

But for orphans, they sure have a swinging pad. And it's here where Tone meets Dang (Aranya Namwong), who's go-go dancing to some cool vinyl tracks. Tone walks in and stares at her gap-mouthed, checking out what she's wearing, some kind of tight, striped pantsuit, with her midriff exposed. The top and bottom are connected by big rings. Yeah, baby.

She doesn't take kindly to Tone's staring, and mouths off some attitude at him, and in her parting shot, she nicknames him Corny, a name he's stuck with for the rest of the movie.

Okay. The action gets rolling. Back home, Kularb, still not sure what she's doing or where she's going, is knocked off her bicycle by a local rascal who attempts to rape her.

A gang of good guys from the village, including the funny looking guy Song, beat the rascal up. Song, who goes to work at the "rock bombers" (rock quarry), is picked off with a hunting rifle for his troubles.

Not much is done dramatically with Song's death. A waste.

Back in Bangkok, Dang is running around with fast guys in fast cars. One of them takes her to his pad and tries to have his way with her.

Tone, suspicious of the guy, has followed them. He sneaks in, punches a henchman and rescues Dang.

Now, it gets confusing. There are jumps in time - like a year or two going by with no real warning that time has passed.

Odd later spots Kularb walking on campus. She's in college. In Bangkok, I guess. Not really sure.

He reminds her of the day she ran into him with her bicycle. So they are now a couple.

For the longest time, Odd talks about his new girlfriend, not realizing that she's the girl that Tone loved.

Then Kularb shows up at a swinging birthday party for Odd, and the cat is out of the bag. Odd's slacker friend shows back up. He's refashioned himself a hipster, speaking English and making references to Apollo.

Tone descends back into his depressed brooding, but he finally snaps out of it, after a heart-to-heart talk with Odd.

And as "Scarbourough Fair" (by the Impossibles) plays, Tone and Dang finally figure out that they don't really hate each other after all.

And then the bad guys show up, including that rascal rapist from the village, and they kidnap both Dang and Kularb. So there's a big, action-packed rescue to end it all off.

All in all, Tone's a fun movie, though a bit confusing at times, but one of the better DVD offerings from Thailand in awhile.

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)

Review: Country Hotel

• Directed by Ratana Pestonji
• Starring Chana Sri-Ubon, Surasit Sattayawong, Sarinthip Siriwan, Prajuab Reukyamdee
• 1957, available on DVD with English subtitles from the Thai Film Foundation
• Rating: 5/5

I've finally seen the spring from which Wisit Sasanatieng drank that inspired his Tears of the Black Tiger, and the water is very good indeed.

Not that Ratana Pestonji's Country Hotel is a great film, but it is a fun movie that offers rewards for repeat viewings, just to catch the nuances that I didn't think were possible. Overall, there's an elegant, understated style to this film that I find enjoyable.

Essentially, Country Hotel is a stage play, shot with one camera on a soundstage with one set - the inside of a ramshackle bar and guesthouse in suburban Bangkok.

The first hour is hilarious, pure comedy, with lots of music.

It opens with the camera panning around at various people in the bar. A musical soundtrack accompanies the scene - a solo trombone playing some bum notes. The then camera pans over to a corner of the bar, and there's actually a guy studiously playing solo trombone, badly. Meanwhile, there's a pair working on some music at the piano. The singer goes over to the trombonist and asks him to stop playing so he can practice. The guy then breaks out with some horrible, hoarse-sounding European opera, which drives the bar's one customer crazy.

The cavalcade of music hardly lets up. Just as the opera singer departs, a small marching band comes in blowing a Sousa march. A small brass band comes in with a pair of boxers and a boxing match (where the opponents let each other hit them with one punch in turn until one passes out) is held. In the morning, there's shrill Chinese opera. And a guitar-strumming Filipina stops by to sing a beautiful ballad.

The bartender, Noi, is an arm-wrestling champion, and he must frequently defend his title as challengers come into the bar.

Into the mix comes a mysterious woman who gives her name only as Riam, who claims she is 60 years old, has 12 grandchildren and trades opium.

She asks to stay at the hotel, but oddly, the place has only one room and it is taken. After some hysterics and throwing and dragging of suitcases, Riam and the solo lodger, the musically embattled man, who is named Chana, come to an agreement that has the wonderfully sassy Riam sleeping out on the sofa.

"What is this place, the hotel from hell?" asks the man.

No, actually, it's the Paradise Hotel (though "Hell Hotel" is the literal meaning of the film's Thai title, Rongraem Nark).

For the second hour, the story settles into a film noir, as the mystery of Riam and Chana are revealed, when a Thai mafia boss comes to the hotel looking for a quantity of cash and holds Riam and Chana hostage until the money is turned over.

I'm grateful to the Thai Film Foundation for making this available on DVD.

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)

Review: Powder Road

• Directed by Chatrichalerm Yukol
• Starring Chatchai Plengpanich, Masatochi Nagase, Sinjai Hongthai
• Available on DVD from Mangpong in Thailand. Language is Thai with some broken English and Japanese, however only the Thai dialogue is English-subtitled.

Made with the Japanese market in mind, this film is historic in that it's the first Thai film that shows bare breasts. Never mind that they are the fake tits of a transgendered male who has heroin packed into his plastic jugs. But that's how Tan Mui got around it.

Though there's actually some female breasts earlier in the film, at a Patpong go-go bar.

"You see they're in Patpong and the woman will put in a dart [into her vagina], and shoot a dart at a balloon. What you can do is integrate it into the fabric of the film, into the structure of the film, and it is impossible to take it out," Chatrichalerm explained to Thomas Richardson for Richardson's now-defunct Thai Film Index website at Cornell. "You have to see the nipple. And when you see the nipple, next year you have to fight to get the pubic hair. If you see the nipple you can see the whole tit, front on. So now you have to fight to get the pubic hair. Now, what is the definition of pubic hair? I have one of my actors who has hair from his chest down to his knees. You have to tell the censors, 'Okay, you draw the line, where is the pubic hair? Okay, I will obey it'."

Powder Road deals with the drug trade, and starts out with a Japanese man, Tokio (Nagase) trekking into Burma for some reason or another. Throughout the whole film I can't figure out what exactly his role is. Is he a cop? A secret agent? A rival yakuza enforcer? A hired assassin?

Anyway, he's a wirey little fella (not at all the imposing presence of a, say, Toshiro Mifune, a Wakayama Tomasaburo or a Sonny Chiba), and dodges bullets and grenades well as he crosses back into Thailand through the jungle and runs into some para-military bandits who try to kill him.

Tokio is tracking a shipment of heroin, which frozen into big ice blocks and is moved from the Golden Triangle region on boats down the Mekong.

He hits Bangkok, and eventually Pattaya, where he hides out, waiting, I guess, for instructions from his mysterious female handler.

He runs into a bargirl (Sinjai) who professes her hatred for the Japanese. One night, he saves her from some guys trying to rape her, taking a quite a beating in the process.

So there's one Japanese (or, sorry, Jap) that's okay in her book. They hook up, and she takes him to her home village, where she shows Tokio why she hate the Japanese -- because they built a big chemical plant that is poisoning the neighborhood, killed off the fish stocks and made her sister a brain-dead cripple. So besides the dangers of the drug trade, there's another message in this Chatrichalerm film -- of wealthier nations preying on smaller ones so they can operate dangerous industries.

Chatchai is a Thai cop looking to get to the bottom of the yakuza's involvement in the drug trade. His path crosses with the mayor of Pattaya, who also runs a transvestite cabaret.

There's some decent action in this, especially toward the end when there's a gunfight at a seedy hospital where the "girls" are having their breasts done. Here's where there's a cool reveal involving the yakuza's chief henchman, a blade-wielding sort who's got a secret identity.

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)

Review: Ruang Talok 69 (6ixtynin9)

• Directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
• Starring Lalita Panyopas
• Released in 1999, Region 1 DVD released January 11, 2005 by Palm Pictures
• Rating: 5/5
  

The title refers to the main character's apartment number. She lives in apartment six, but the number is missing a nail and often flips over making it look like she's in number nine.

Set in Bangkok, with the fallout from the Asian economic crash still coming, the main character, Tum, has just lost her job, determined by drawing straws with numbers on them. Ironically, number 9 was her number. In Chinese culture, 9 is a very strong, auspicious and lucky number.

But not for Tum. And like the number on her apartment door, her life is about to go topsy turvy.

She walks home, box of office supplies in hand. She is met by a neighbor, who reminds her she is lucky to have a job. She doesn't want to get into it. "Yeah, I'm lucky," she says simply.

Waiting for the elevator, a guy tells her she's going to have to wait for a few days. The elevator is out of order. He offers to carry her box. And he knows where she lives. She's weirded out by this, but eventually allows him to carry her box.

Finally alone, Tum contemplates what to do. Fantasy sequences show her drinking household chemicals, red fluid dripping down her cheeks as she downs a bottle of toilet cleaner. Or, maybe she could blow her head off with a gunshot. Splat goes the blood against the wall.

Then there's a knock at the door. She answers it but only finds a Mama instant noodles box. She opens it. It's filled with cash, about 1 million baht.

Later, a couple of guys come to collect the box. They end up dead. From there, the movie goes on an enjoyable enough crime-thriller ride with bits of comedy to lighten things up. Thai boxing, Mafia, bumbling cops, sentimental melodrama all find their way in.

Though neither the title nor the main character have anything to do with sex, people all around Tum are obsessed with it, particularly a nosey neighbor and her friends, who talk about cutting off a guy's penis, chopping it up and making it into a spicy minced-meat dish. Also, there's Tum's friend, Jin, who is obsessed with her long-haired boyfriend.

The actress Lalita is quite striking. She is at turns androgynous or feminine, sexy or scrawny, meek or a determined survivor.

Made in 1999, this was Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's second film. In style and themes, it is more similar to his meditative Last Life in the Universe than the racous musical Monrak Transistor.

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)

Review: The Colonel

• Directed by M.C. Chatrichalerm Yukol
• Starring Sompop Benjatikul, Niyana Chiwanon
• Availability: DVD (zone free, removable English subtitles)
• Rating: 4/5

Here's one I viewed awhile back and I just gave it a repeat viewing.

Some things I was confused about were made clearer on second viewing.

First, I wasn't sure where this was taking place. I thought maybe it was Laos. Or maybe it was Cambodia. Possibly Burma. Even Vietnam. Turns out it was none of those. It takes place in a fictional country of Chiang Riang and the confusion arises because this place could be any one of those places mentioned. Even more confusing, everyone speaks Thai, but some of the signage and newspaper headlines are in a script that my Thai girlfriend did not recognize. So possibly it was Khmer or Lao or ancient Sanskit.

Keep in mind this was made in 1974, so the real world events of 1975 Southeast Asia - the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge, the fall of Laos to the Pathet Lao, the fall of Saigon - hadn't taken place yet. But it was pretty heavy then, and Thailand - with Red China looming to the north and revolutions taking place all around - was determined not to fall. This is the atmosphere in which this film was made.

The story is about a Thai army intelligence officer (Sompop) who parachutes into this tiny, fictional country to assume the role of a double agent colonel who was murdered. The dead guy was working for the local government's Central Bureau but was also an informant to Red China and was working to aid the local People's Army.

His ruse is short-lived, however, as the dead colonel's wife (Niyana) immediately knows the jig is up when the two sleeps together. Later on, a doctor - a friend of the real colonel - has to treat a gunshot wound on the secret agent's upper thigh. He lifts the towel and sees that there's a difference of some sort. I'm guessing the real colonel was circumsized; his double is not. The doctor has to be bumped off.

This is a gritty film, with lots of action. At one point, a band of communist militia storms the colonel's house. The colonel, with his .44 Magnum, blasts back. This is the scene where he takes the hit in the thigh. Although wounded, he's still able to interrogate a man. Brandishing his .44 Magnum, he informs the prisoner, "This is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world. If I shoot you at this distance, it will spread your brains all over this room." It was said with such conviction, he might as well have added, "Well, do you feel lucky? Punk?"

The plot is all over the place, with the fake colonel bedding another woman - a Vietnamese spy - with his sweet talk. I guess the character was envisioned as some kind of James Bond. Chatrichalerm wants to show a sex scene, but only does it suggestively, by cutting in one frame of the bed with the nude woman on it. It's just a flash - one frame - just like Brad Pitt showed us in Fight Club in his projectionist job.

The action really gets going for the third act, in which an evil Vietnamese officer comes into play. She's kidnapped an American diplomat. She kicks some major ass and kills off one of the smiling comic relief guys, using some kung fu and then shooting the guy in the back with an M-16. There's lots of endless machine gun fire and fake blood.

The soundtrack sounds like it could be by a great Thai band, The Impossibles, who were one of the most popular bands of the day. I'm not sure if it is or not, but it's the same basic rock set up with horns. Among the rocking tracks on the film, the band breaks into the Hawaii Five-O theme a couple of times. There's also a song by a well-known female singer of the day. I didn't catch the name, but my 32-year-old girlfriend says her mother likes that singer.

There's more confusion about the translation of the title. Since there is no alternate English title, as there is with most Thai films, all I have to go on is the literal translation of Phom Mai Yak Pen Pan To -- I Don't Want To Be a Colonel. Others have said it's I Don't Want To Be a Lieutenant. But a couple of sources indicate the rank is high. In the film, the hero is variously called "Colonel" or "Lieutenant" in the subtitles. In fact, he is a lieutenant colonel. So no wonder there is confusion. I'm sticking with colonel. And now I notice the DVD being sold overseas with the English title listed as just The Colonel.

The DVD is available from the local Mangpong video chain here in Thailand. It several of Chatrichalerm's films on the shelves. This was the first one of several I have bought. I was immediately attracted to it by its exploitive cover art. Out of the nearly one dozen titles by Chatrichalerm that are being sold, this is one of the most exploitive - the one with the most guns, girls and explosions.

The subtitles are a bit dodgy, with typical grammer mistakes. This only adds to the appeal. At one point, a character was advised to "cut the crab".

Review: Duel of Fists

• Directed by Chang Cheh
• Starring David Chiang, Ti Lung, Pawana Chanajit, Chan Sing
  
• A Shaw Brothers Production, released in 1971, filmed on location in Bangkok; DVD release in 2004 by Celestial
• Rating: 4/5

Another great Shaw Brothers title has been released on DVD by Celestial. Directed by Chang Cheh, David Chiang and Ti Lung star in this contemporary urban drama, set around the Thai boxing underworld of the 1970s.

Chiang plays an engineer in Hong Kong, who finds out he has a half brother in Thailand, and is implored to go find him by his dying father.

The dapper Chiang then jets off to Bangkok, landing during the water-splashing Thai New Year Songkran holiday. As he begins his search for his half-brother, he meets a helpful Thai woman, played by Thai leading lady Pawana Chanajit.

There is some cool footage of a less-congested, greener Bangkok. Landmarks including the Dusit Thani Hotel and the soon-to-be-demolished Siam Intercontinental Hotel. But Chiang makes up for the pollution by wearing some loud get ups. I'm sure they were styling threads for the times, but wow. A red cowboy hat? Nice scarves, boys.

The best fight scenes are in the boxing ring, with Ti Lung against a guy named Cannon who kills all his oppenents.

This isn't quite Ong-Bak, but I enjoyed it immensely.

Many of Celestial's remastered Shaw Bros titles are now available for around US$5 from United in Thailand. They have Thai and Mandarin soundtracks with Thai and English subtitles. They are missing the special features of the Hong Kong releases, but the picture and sound qualities are excellent, which is all I need to enjoy these kung-fu cult classics.

Review: Song of Chao Phraya (Nong mia)

• Directed by Chatrichalerm Yukol
• Starring Chatchai Plengpanich, Passorn Boonyakiart, Pattamawan Kaomoolkadee
• Released in 1990; DVD released by Mangpong (out of print)
• Rating: 4/5

Never get off the boat.

That's the message of this excellent drama by MC Chatrichalerm Yukol about life on Thailand's main river, about a family on a sand barge. The wife, Prang (Passorn Boonyakiart), bored of the crying kid and the aimless life of floating the river, gets off the boat in Bangkok. A shifty taxi driver takes her to a beauty parlor. There, another woman sizes her up as fresh meat. She promises to make her a star.

Meanwhile, back on the barge, the husband, Sang (Chatchai Plengpanich), is obsessed with finding Prang. He leaves his 15-year-old sister-in-law, the plucky little Tubtim (Pattamawan Kaomoolkadee), to care for the kid and manage the barge.

Sang hooks up with the same no-good taxi driver, who takes him for a ride. They find the beauty parlor. This offers some leads that must be checked out. The helpful taxi man offers to drive Sang to check out the bars of Patpong and a massage and bath parlour, all paid for by Sang.

What happens is typically soul crushing - another depiction of lower-class folks who have higher aspirations but cannot easily break the ceiling to the next level without getting caught up in vice.

What I liked about this is it is handled with tact and realism, without the usual melodrama and overacting.

This was a remake of a 1978 film, also directed by Prince Chatri, called Sister in Law.

The DVD of this had fair picture quality, which conveyed the beauty captured by the cinematography. The only quibble I have is with the subtitles, which are burned in and are white, making them hard to read about 30 percent of the time.

The Elephant Keeper (Khon liang chang)

• Directed by Chatrichalerm Yukol
• Starring Sorapong Chatree, Ron Ritthichai
• Released in 1987; DVD released by Mangpong (out-of-print)
• Rating: 4/5

This environmentally themed movie is pretty sad, but powerful.

It's about an activist forestry chief named Kamroom who is waging war against the corrupt local police and an influential local timber baron who is conducting illegal logging on the forest. Caught between these two forces is a man (Sorapong Chatree), with an elephant. With Thailand's forests being rapidly depleted and more tightly controlled, it is difficult for the elephant keeper to find work. The more work he finds, the less there will be for him to do. It's a sad paradox.

Directed by Prince Chatrilacherm Yukol, The Elephant Keeper also features songs by the original songs-for-life band, Caravan, and the current kings of the songs-for-life movement, Carabao. Carabao's singer and Beer Chang commercial spokesman, Ad Carabao, has a small part in this movie.

In addition to Sorapong Chatree as Boonsong, the elephant guy, and the guy who plays the hot-headed ranger Kamroon, the best thing in this movie is the elephant, a magnificent animal who is said to possess a sixth sense about which people are good and which ones are evil. This is a trait I believe elephants really do possess, but unfortunately cannot always act on their senses as the elephant in this movie does with violent conviction.

A note about the DVD: Not a very good release. The subtitles are not removable and are done in white lettering against a full-screen presentation. Consequently, they are only readable about half the time.

Review: Sema the Warrior of Ayutthaya (Khun Suk)

• Directed by Thanit Jitnukul
• Starring Woravit Kaewphet, Poomarin Janjit, Jaran Ngamdee, Sawinee Pookaroon
• Released in Thailand cinemas in 2003; DVD with English subtitles released by Mangpong
• Rating: 2/5

Another historical battle epic from Bangrajan director Thanit Jitnukul. Ho hum.

This is a swordfighting movie - excellent examples of 17th-century Thai swordplay. They use some big blades that go CLANG! when they hit each other. Often, the guys use two of them, one in each hand. They must be heavy, but they are handled with grace.

The bigger guys are wielding big battle hammers. I don't know how they could swing those big things around with any agility at all. They make it look pretty easy.

Unfortunately, the great battle scenes are broken up by melodrama involving the title character - a commoner - who is in love with a beautiful princess. She fancies him as well but is promised to a rat-faced colonel who is the court's top swordsman. Just so happens Sema is pretty good with the blade as well, having grown up making swords and studying the art.

Ratface has a sister who is the loanshark for the village. When Sema's dad falls behind in payments, Sema's sister is put to work in the lady's household. The girl and Sema's best friend are in love, so this sets up more conflict that distracts from the battles.

Well, I guess movies can't be all battle scenes, now can they?

There's a big dumb guy who makes for comedy relief. At one point he is chased by a very fake looking, giant cobra. Not sure what that had to do with anything.

DVD reviews: One Night Husband, Fake, Province 77

The performances are stupendous. The imagery, in this debut feature by indie director Pimpaka Towira, is stunning. But the story in One Night Husband doesn’t make any sense. Pop singer Nicole Theriault is Sipang, a hi-so woman whose husband disappears into the rainy darkness on their first night together. When he fails to return, Sipang reports the incident to the police. She also calls her new brother-in-law, who shows up at the police station angry at being bothered.

He takes out his anger on his meek, little wife Bussaba (Siriyakorn Pukkavesh). Sipang and Bussaba eventually develop a friendship as they try to track down the missing husband. In the course of the film, which is beautifully photographed, Sipang becomes more careworn and less glamorous; the cowed Bussaba stronger and more sensual.

But then there’s that story. Because, if Bussaba is Sipang’s sister-in-law . . . well, to raise questions would be to give too much away.

***

Fake. A more aptly named movie has probably not been made before or since this Thai indie arthouse flick graced screens last year. Fake is an enigma. The only tangible fact you can derive from it is that it exists and that you have to spend 109 minutes of your time to see it. There’s a DVD, and you can hold it in your hand. But what’s happening here?

Actually, this quirky film isn’t so bad. Ostensibly, “Fake” is about three young slackers, all with scruffy hairstyles, T-shirts that are too small and jeans that ride halfway down their butts, revealing the tops of their boxer shorts. The three guys – Soong (Ray MacDonald), Poe (Leo Putthipong Sriwat) and Bae (Paopol Thephasdin) – share an apartment and, unbeknownst to each other, the same girlfriend (Pachrapa Chaichua). Or are the three guys really just one guy and the one woman actually three different people?

You reach this suspicion in watching this. It’s all part of the fun. Nothing seems to make sense. Especially since the DVD doesn’t have English subtitles.

***

A Thai soap opera infused with the spirit of The Fast and Furious and the language of Eminem’s 8 Mile, this dramatisation of life in a six-block area of Los Angeles known as Thai Town starts off with a gunshot and a flashback.

Province 77 goes back to an illegal race of imported cars through the LA streets – just like Fast and the Furious. Even the actors are trying emulate the characters of that Hollywood racing flick. Jeremy Thana is entertaining as Goldie, the leader of the Thai street gang. With his shaven head and gold tooth, Jeremy has all Vin Diesel’s attitude, and is even more charismatic. The Paul Walker in all this is Pete Thongchua playing a “fresh off the boat” Thai – a former cop who has come to LA looking to put an end to criminal gang.

Meanwhile, there’s Pat (Mike Kingprayom), a young Turk seeking to make a name for himself on the streets. In a subplot that adds little to the film’s appeal, Pat’s sister is played by his real sister, Methinee Kingprayom. Overall though, there is a streetwise energy to Province 77 that make entertaining enough to at least rent. The DVD includes English subtitles, as well as a music video.

(Originally published in The Nation on February 20, 2004; retrieved from Archive.org cache)