Iron Pussy, Iron Ladies in SF

Apichatpong Weerasethakul's "lost" film, The Adventures of Iron Pussy is showing at the 28th San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, June 17-27. Also on the schedule is Satree Lex 2 (Iron Ladies 2).

I say "lost" about Iron Pussy because the film has never been shown in Thailand and I feared it had been forgotten amid all the hub-bub over Apichatpong's latest film, Tropical Malady.

Here's what the East Bay Express had to say about the film:

No shortage of permutations in The Adventure of Iron Pussy, a free-for-all from Thailand with a Bay Area pedigree. In this ultra-campy, lowbrow musical spy comedy, Michael Shaowanasai (who went to the SF Art Institute in the '90s) stars as a former go-go boy moonlighting as a 7-Eleven clerk, ready to change in a flash into crime-fighting superheroine Iron Pussy. The 2003 production, directed by another trained-in-US filmmaker, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, is that rare example of domestic Asian fare we rarely see at American film festivals -- sappy string music score, weepy-alternating-with-slapstick acting, corny long-lost-sister plot -- sending she-male Iron Pussy undercover as a housemaid in a mansion, along with his tuktuk-driving sidekick Pew, to catch a gang of crooks manufacturing a drug that turns people into zombies.

And from the festival catalog:

She’s gorgeous, she’s dangerous – and she sings! Male convenience store clerk by day, fabulous drag queen/ secret agent by night, Iron Pussy must yet again come to the rescue! In this feature-length reprise, award-winning Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Michael Shaowanasai (who also plays Iron Pussy) have created a spy-thriller-kung-fu-musical-western-forbidden-love story that, like our heroine, defies convention.

Iron Pussy is called into action to investigate a secret cache of foreign money that has turned up in Thailand’s banking system. Drug money? Funding for terrorism? Our fearless (and always impeccably dressed) heroine must go undercover and infiltrate socialite Madam Pomidoy’s mansion, posing as Lamduan, a maid. But Iron Pussy is no mere maid, she’s also a fabulous singer, as well as the epitome of the ideal Thai woman! When Pomidoy’s crooked son, Tang, falls for her (and she falls for him), Iron Pussy is torn to discover the truth about Tang…and about herself! In a shocking and glorious ending, Iron Pussy’s sidekick Pew comes to the rescue, and Madame Pomidoy, Tang, and Iron Pussy herself will never be the same!

The Adventure of Iron Pussy is a non-stop, karate-chopping, glamorous romp, with smart editing and a sharp sense of humor. (Especially clever are the dubbed vocal sounds [by veteran Thai voice actors] that are way over the top.) Iron Pussy sings, dances…and loves…her way to a safer world, the prequel to the smash hit Iron Ladies about a champion men's volleyball team

Also showing is Yongyoot Thongkongtoon's prequel/sequel Satrex Lex 2 (Iron Ladies 2). From the festival catalog:

This raucous sequel to the 2000 smash hit Iron Ladies is based on a real-life Thai volleyball team consisting primarily of katoey (drag queens and trannies). This episode finds trouble brewing with the superstar athletes, as infighting and fame-whoring threaten to tear the team apart.

It appears that Nong has been lured to the rival Tip-Top team with the promise of money and limelight. She gauchely boasts about her betrayal on TV, inspiring a vengeful Jung to reunite the team. Jung even travels to China to drag the cabaret star Pia out of volleyball retirement.

To offset the catty conflict (the rivals relish calling each other “buffalo”), we flash back to simpler times when the gals met at university, came out together, and learned to kick ass at volleyball. Nong’s transformation from butch bully to nelly androgyne is a highlight. Flash forward as the girls reconcile and reunite for a pivotal match against Tip-Top (with Nong playing once again for the Ladies). The regional championships are at stake, and some of the film’s most dynamic moments capture the kinesthetic energy and agile grace of playing the game (with occasional campy superhero flourishes on the court). This unlikely band of katoey prove that you can be glamorous, tough as nails, and play some mean volleyball.