Nang-Nak
Director: Nonzee Nimibutr
Year: 1999
Starring: Inthira Charoenpura, Winai Kraibutr
Time: 101 minutes
Like many films about ghosts, this one is not
really so much a horror film as a love story – a deep, clinging obsessive
love that matters more than anything else – more than life, more than death.
With its tragic overtones, haunting atmosphere and folklore sensibilities,
this was really the first Thai film to make a major impact on the international
scene when it was released in 1999. It also jump started the career of
director Nimibutr who has gone on to become the godfather of the emerging
Thai new wave of films as either director (Jan Dara, Three) or producer
(Bangkok Dangerous, Tears of the Black Tiger, Bang Rajan). Nang-Nak is
a very popular tale in Thailand that has been told many times in the past
and has become part of their culture and is believed to be true by many
people. From reviews and posts that I have come cross it appears that the
audience really falls into two different camps – those that fully buy into
the love story and those that simply find the undying love annoying (just
die already!). I lean towards the former – the film does feel a bit draggy
at times and I felt the film could have been a good ten minutes shorter
– but I eventually do succumb to the sheer pain and need of the woman for
the man she loves so much.
Mak (Kraibutr) and Nak (Indhira) are newly weds
living in a small house on the banks of the Chaopyra River in the 1800s
when he is called into military service. As his boat slowly leaves down
the river, Nak cries and plaintively yells out his name. There is much
more of this to come before the movie’s end. While at war Mak is badly
wounded and he is unable to return home for a long while. During his absence
Nak and her unborn child both die in childbirth, but her spirit remains
behind to wait for her husband to return. When Mak finally makes his way
home he sees death all along the riverbank, but Nak and her child are waiting
for him. The surrounding villagers attempt to let Mak know that his wife
is dead and this is just her ghost – but he won’t believe them – and they
soon meet violent horrible deaths. All seems peachy for this couple and
their child but eventually the villagers hire an exorcist to destroy the
ghost and this leads to a drawn out wrenching ending that will make you
think that there is nothing more heartbreaking in the world than the voice
of a Thai female crying for her man.
The DVD and VCD has English subs
My rating for this film: 7.5
Bangkok Dangerous
Director: Danny and Oxide Pang
Year: 2001
Starring: Pawalit Mongkolpisit, Premsinee
Ratanasopha, Patharawin Timkul, Pisek Intrakanchit.
Time: 105 minutes
In their film debut, the Oxide brothers take
a well-worn story that has been played out on the dirty streets of Hong
Kong in a multitude of films and transfer it to the hardened streets of
Bangkok. The story itself though seems to really not be the point – it’s
the fast changing style that the Oxide brothers really seem to relish.
The film is built on a gangbang of visual flourishes that feels as if they
squeezed Wong Kar-wai's films through a fruit blender and splashed the
output on their film canvass. For me it was the pulsing beat of these cinematic
stylings that gave the film a fast dancing heartbeat and made it a pleasure
to watch. It certainly can be accused of being derivative of previous films,
but its done with such energy, joy and commitment that it feels like their
own.
Kong (Pawalit) is a deaf mute and a professional
killer. Give him a fistful of baht and a picture and you have a dead man.
He doesn’t worry who the intended victim is – if he is a good man or a
bad one – it’s all the same to him – dead is dead. Not having feelings
is part of the trade for the deaf and mute and poor in the City of Angels
and it translates well into being a perfect killer. Kong works with his
friend and mentor Joe (Pisek) and they get their assignments through a
go-go bar girl (Aom). Kong falls in love with the lovely Fon (Premsinee)
a pharmacy clerk who tries to guess what Kong does – a bartender – no –
a security guard – no – a gas station attendant? When Kong kills two muggers
without blinking she gets her answer in spades.
Falling in love for a killer almost always foretells
bad tidings in a film and soon things go very wrong for Kong. Aom is raped
and filmed by the right hand man of their boss – and Joe exacts revenge
for his friend with a flurry of bullets to the body and one to the groin.
Now he is an open sore waiting to be wiped clean and Kong gets pulled into
this impending speeding car wreck of betrayal and revenge as well. There
isn’t much doubt where the film is going but the garish hues, sullen noir
streets, slo-mo killings and need for redemption bring you there in style.
The DVD has English subs.
My rating for this film: 7.5
Monrak Transistor
Director: Pen-ek Ratanaruang
Year: 2001
Starring: Suppakorn Kitsuwan, Siriyakorn Pukkavesh
Time: 115 minutes
This, the Thai candidate for the Foreign Academy
Award, has more mood changes than the life story of Elizabeth Taylor. It
is almost as if each chapter of the protagonist’s life is played out in
a different genre – musical, comedy, crime, prison, romance and melodrama.
It can take a bit of time to adjust to these swiftly changing moods, but
the ultimate picture that emerges is one of how life so rarely follows
the dreams of your youth and how sad and painful it can become. In
a very loose and much less heroic manner, the film is a poor man’s tale
of Ulysses. A young man leaves his pregnant wife for the army and then
has a series of misadventures before finally finding his way back to her.
All the way it seems as if the Gods are laughing at this fellow and playing
games with him.
Phaen is a simple country boy who has a talent
for singing and he is in a small band that plays fairs and events. One
evening he sees the lovely Sadao in the crowd and the two begin a sweet
courtship that leads eventually to marriage. This entire section is candy-flossed
romance – it feels as if the world is just one big glazed apple. Then though
he is drafted into the army and things begin going wrong (even with an
amusing musical number thrown in). He enters a talent contest and unfortunately
wins – without thinking too deeply he deserts the army to make it big in
a singing career so that he can give Sadao everything she deserves. Instead
though he finds himself cleaning floors in Bangkok for a few years – while
Sadao pines for him back in the country. The film begins taking on a fatalistic
sadness in which bad luck just seems to have its eyes set on Phaen and
we witness this genial singer’s life slowly fall apart. All he wants to
do is get back to Sadao, but instead he seems to get further and further
away from her.
It’s an odd film to watch – at times you feel
impatient with Phaen – other times you really sympathize with him and eventually
you feel broken up inside at how life has treated this sweet couple with
such whimsy. But by the end, its simplicity also says something about the
endurance of the human spirit and true love. Reacting to this film while
watching it is difficult - but it is the type of the film that has stayed
with me ever since and one that I think about often - Phaen and Sadao were
lovers; Oh, how they could love; Swore to be true to each other; Just as
true as the stars above; He was her man; But he done her wrong.
The Thai DVD and the VCD have English subs.
My rating for this film: 8.0