Beautiful Boxer
Director: Ekachai Uekrongtham
Year: 2004
Starring: Asanee Suwan, Sorrapong Chatree,
Orn-Anong Panyawong, Kyoko Inoue
Time: 118 minutes
The tagline of “He fights like a man so he
can be a woman” for this film is certainly intriguing but might also raise
expectations of a potentially trashy film with elements of exploitation.
The film is anything but that though – instead it is a wonderfully warm
and inspiring tale of a person simply discovering who he is and then having
the courage to face the world. The film is based on a true story that garnered
a great deal of publicity a few years ago and was even covered by the New
York Times. In Thailand kickboxing is the national sport – practiced in
every city, town and village around the country and filled with tradition
and macho pride. Thus the story of a cross dressing kickboxer who came
into the match wearing lipstick and mascara and who declared to the media
that he thought of himself as a woman riveted the nation and created lots
of controversy.
The film covers the life of Nong Toom from early
childhood to his/her decision to have it snipped off. The portrait of Nong
is painted with such gentle and sympathetic colors that it is impossible
not to completely side with him in his need to explore his gender yearnings.
Soft spoken and intensely sweet, there are times you simply want to hug
him and tell him that it is going to be alright. One thing that the film
perhaps wisely stays away from is really delving into Nong’s sexual or
romantic needs – there is never a hint of a lover or physical sex and that
may be a bit of a cop out considering the subject it explores, but doing
so would have bled the film of its almost fairy tale innocence.
Though the film certainly has a number of Muay
Thai matches and they are quite well done (all the fighters as well as
the actor (Asanee Suwan) who plays Nong Toom are legitimate Muay Thai boxers),
it is much more than that and much more than simply a story of a man who
wants to be a woman – it takes in Thai traditions, family relations, religion,
friendships and betrayals and finally tolerance and acceptance in a world
that has so little of it these days. It is also simply a great sports film
about a person who pushes himself to be the best he can be. Performances
are excellent throughout - in particular from his understanding coach (Sorrapong
Chatree), his loving mother (the ex-Miss Thailand Orn-Anong Panyawong)
and from Asanee of course. According to one Internet article I came across,
the real Nong Toom is now a singer and according to that writer a very
bad one. But I wouldn't be the one to tell her!
My rating for this film: 8.0
(The real Nong Toom)
The Sisters
Director: Tiwa Mocithaisong
Cast: Linisa Phutitarn, Piyathida Woramusik
Year: 2004
Running Time: 108 minutes
At least it is good to see an Asian horror
film that is not an imitation of The Ring. Instead this film borrows liberally
from a different Japanese horror film of note – Ju-on! Is this the
next trend? Long haired female ghosts crawling down the steps in herky-jerky
fashion and dead little white-faced boys staring at you. This film certainly
has plenty of scenes of both and doesn’t seem at all embarrassed by its
all too obvious pickpocketing of ideas. Even so, the film does have its
good moments and does provide the occasional chill. Unlike many of the
Thai horror films that are available these days, this was not a super low
budget straight to video product, but in fact has quite solid production
values. What really hurts it though is a cast of young adults who just
are not very good actors. Of course, one of the pleasures of the film is
seeing most of them come to gruesome endings! To some degree this is Ju-on
Meets Scream.
A rock band consisting of five guys and a single
girl are on tour and their manager checks them into a hotel room. Unfortunately
the desk clerk forgot to mention that this particular room was inhabited
by a very angry female ghost who once looked upon will curse you with either
death or insanity or an inability to act. And the room service wasn’t so
great either. Holiday Inn this isn’t. They see something hanging down from
a ceiling air conditioner vent and take the vent down to look inside. One
by one the band peers up into the now vacant space and without a word leave
the room in shock – the ghost (Piyathida Woramusik) follows. Bad things
happen.
One fellow is hit by a truck, another blows out
his brains and so on until only a few are left with no place to run to.
Two of them – the girl Pim (Linisa Phutitarn) and one of the guys (Bunjerd
Suntanapanit) try and track down the origins of this ghost by visiting
her home where they find a tragic story of family dysfunction and a younger
sister who loved her older sister dearly. And in the tradition of current
J-Horror films, the ending leaves you with a big “huh?” on your face. The
film actually has the nerve to claim that this was based on a “True Story”.
If so, I hope the hotel gives a discount on that room.
My rating for this film: 5.5
Fun Bar Karaoke
Director: Pen-ek Ratanaruang
Stars: Fey Ussawaweth, Ray McDonald, Champaigne
X
Time: 93 minutes?
Year: 1997
With the international success of “Last Life
in the Universe” Thai director Pen-ek Ratanaruang staked his claim to being
one of the more interesting and talented young filmmakers currently on
the scene. His four films* have drawn comparisons at times to both
Wong Kar-wai and Quentin Tatantino from critics, but what has impressed
most is how different his films are from one another in style and content.
His films are hard to define – they are nearly genreless in a genre filled
world. His stories range from a woman finding a bag of money outside her
door and ensuing dead bodies within to an army deserter on an Odyssey like
journey to get home to the woman he loves to a Japanese ex-pat dealing
with feelings of suicide and newfound affection for a woman while trying
to avoid the Yakazu in Bangkok. These are modern day slice of life fables
that he surrounds with intense imagery, bright colors, rapid mood swings,
droll black humor and a dream like quality.
All of these characteristics are present in Ratanaruang’s
debut film, Fun Bar Karaoke. Prior to this, he had spent nearly a decade
living in New York City studying art history at Pratt Institute and then
later working as a graphics designer. When he returned to Thailand he went
into advertising, and then directed some commercials and music videos.
At the time the Thai film industry was in a terrible slump and for all
practical purposes was off the map in terms of global visibility. In 1997
this film along with Nonzee Nimibutr’s “Dang Bireley’s Young Gangsters”
ushered in a new fresh period in Thai film that has jumpstarted the film
industry, helped foster an environment of cinematic creativity and brought
Thai films much attention on the global stage. The vast majority
of Thai film is still commercial pabulum, but there are a contingent of
young directors who have been pushing the boundaries of Thai film in fascinating
directions.
Whimsical almost to a fault, Fun Bar Karaoke sparkles
and charms in its attempt to defy gravitas and gravity as it pulls together
various threads in dreamy deadpan fashion. Coming from his background of
commercials and music videos, Ratanaruang not surprisingly seems more at
ease with imagery and style than dramatic tension or a straightforward
narration as the film playfully bounces around with sly humor. The film
though much to its credit does not rely on quick editing or attention deficit
camera movement – often a trademark of directors weaned on music videos
– but Ratanaruang very patiently allows the story to slowly form and keeps
the camera relatively static even if off balance at times. It is his color
schemes, camera angles and lighting that give it a distinctly modern look.
Pu (Fey
Ussawaweth) dreams every night of her dead mother and while awake worries
about her dissolute father. In a daily ritual she wakes up and finds his
drunken body splayed out on his bed or in the bathroom and she cleans up
after him, undresses him and puts him to bed. Comfortably wealthy, he spends
his evenings at a karaoke bar drinking and flirting with the hostesses
and often taking them to a cheap hotel in the after hours. Night after
night in her dreams Pu sees her mother building a house out of sticks and
when a wannbe fortuneteller warns her that when the house is built her
father will die she fears for his life. To ward this event off, the fortuneteller
asks her to boil fifty-one eggs and alternately rub them clockwise and
then counter-clockwise around her face. Unfortunately, the next day he
realizes his math was wrong and it should have been fifty-two eggs leading
Pu to feel that her father is fated for death!
His actions certainly seem to be pushing him in
this direction as he has become enamored with the Yok, the mistress of
Mafia Toeng, a gang head who has the nasty habit of killing anyone who
sleeps with his woman. Yok is played by the extremely alluring Champaign
X, who co-incidentally also was the femme fatale in “Dang Bireley’s Young
Gangsters”. Pu meanwhile has begun a mild flirtation with a shy young man
(Ray McDonald) who she meets in a 7-11 – not knowing that his day job is
killing people for Mafia Toeng and that he is studying English to immigrate
to America. The director in an interview mentioned that the idea for the
film came from a story that someone told him about themselves and that
he wanted to use it as a device to show the mix of modern and traditional
that is Bangkok today.
The attention that the director has received because
of his previous three films has made many fans anxious to see this debut
feature but for a long time it was seemingly unavailable. In fact though
it is out on VCD with English subs – obtainable at ethaicd.com
– but the transfer is full screen and not that good. There may also be
some time missing though I would not have gathered this from watching the
film. On internet sites the time is always listed at 103 minutes, but the
VCD runs for only 93 minutes. One site – a film festival from a few years
back – relates some background information on the killer that is not in
this VCD – so perhaps some of his story was dropped from the transfer for
some reason.
My rating for this film: 7.5
*Last Life in the Universe – 2003
Monrak Transistor – 2001
6ixtynin9 – 1999
Fun Bar Karaoke – 1997