Why Thai? Why not?

Bang Rajan and Last Life in the Universe have been playing US theaters. Upcoming in November is Ong-Bak. Also due is Tropical Malady.

IndieWire recently examined the trend, interviewing critic, Asian film scholar and subtitlist Chuck Stephens, Eamon Bowles of Magnolia Pictures (which is releasing Bang Rajan and Ong-Bak) and Adirek "Uncle" Watleela, the big-wheel producer behind virtually every Thai film that's an international hit. Here's most of the article, which includes some good stuff about Tears of the Black Tiger toward the end:

Most watchers of Thai cinema see this "new wave" as largely accidental -- not the coming to fruition of a thriving film scene, but a grouping of disparate movies made over the last few years that just happen to be coming to the U.S. right now.

"It often happens that an individual country's film scene will seem to emerge all at once," says Magnolia Pictures' Eamonn Bowles, "like the spate of films from Iran, China in the early '90s, the German '70s-early '80s era. Quite often a success will inspire [people who are] in the same situation that it can be done, and others [will] follow suit." But Bowles says the film's origins had little to do with where the films originated. "They're just terrifically exciting," he adds.

There's no question there's more films coming out of Thailand than ever before, but the infrastructure is anything but steady. "I don't think there's any concerted business effort from the Thai film industry behind this sudden flurry of Thai films on U.S. screens," explains Chuck Stephens, a Bangkok-based film critic who has recently provided English-language subtitles for a variety of new Thai films. "Frankly, I doubt there's a single Thai film company who'd have a clue as to where to begin to engineer such a feat. What it is, I think, is a mixture of coincidental timing." After all, it was almost two years ago that Oliver Stone stumped for Bang Rajan while passing through Bangkok.

Despite his extensive credits, Film Bangkok partner and producer-director "Uncle" Adirek Watleela (known for his involvement in recent Thai breakouts such as Happy Go Lucky, Tears of the Black Tiger, Bangkok Dangerous, Bang Rajan and Saving Private Tootsie) is only a shred more optimistic. "We used to have six to seven films made each year and now there are 50 Thai films, one literally, opening every week," he recently told indieWIRE, through a translator. "But of those 50 movies that come out every year, only two will make a profit."

Though "Uncle" admits that it was a lot worse 10 years ago and the Thais have since gotten better at marketing their projects, funding remains extremely scarce ("there's not a cent," he says) and they still can't compete with Hollywood's domination of local screens.

The international success of Bang Rajan, however, did help the company funded a number of smaller films. And the director of Ong Bak, Prachya Pinkaew, used the proceeds from that film to bankroll his production company Baa-Ram-Ewe, which is designed to finance works by first-time directors.

These two strands of current Thai cinema -- broad-appealing comedy or action pics and international art-house sensations -- is an appropriate model for a burgeoning Asian cinema. Just look at the Korean film boom. But in Thailand, blockbusters such as Bang Rajan and Ong Bak are few and far between.

In the US and internationally, by contrast, it is festival favorites that are likely fueling interest in the action films. "I don't think the art films are getting a boost from the action films," says Chuck Stephens. "If anything, it's probably the other way round. The time is just right for releasing Tropical and Last Life -- based on the various critical masses involved: prominent festival placements and prizes."

Locally, however, Thai art films do very little business. While lyrical gems like Last Life in the Universe and Tropical Malady get praised at festivals the world over and sweep Thailand's version of the Oscars each year, Thai exhibitors treat these movies like second-class citizens, often restricted to one screening per day, and sometimes banished altogether during busy weekends.

According to "Uncle" Watleela, the country's filmmakers suffer at the hands of an exhibition monopoly, where one company controls 70% of the cinemas in Thailand. "The theaters get a 50/50 revenue share," he adds, "which makes it almost impossible for filmmakers to get anything out of it."

Chuck Stephens relayed news of [other struggles].

"Thai filmmaking is still coping with the loss of one of its major figures, Nonzee's production partner at Cinemasia, Duangkamol 'Aom' Limcharoen, who died last December," notes Stephens. "She was a real visionary in terms of understanding what it takes to make Thai films accessible to the rest of the world. Losing her will continue to have an impact of the sorts of Thai films that get made for the forseeable future."

Stephens is pinning his hopes on another producer to fill Limcharoen's shoes, Mingmongkol Sonakul (Mysterious Object at Noon). She is slated to produce Pen-ek Ratanaruang's next film, on which legendary D.P. Christopher Doyle will again serve as cinematographer, and is working with Aditya Assarat, who won multiple international awards for his 2000 short Motorcycle.

Wisit Sasanatieng, famous for his garish pop-western and Cannes sensation Tears of the Black Tiger -- buried and never released by Miramax -- is also currently editing his second feature, "a cartoonishly-stylized romantic comedy called Citizen Dog," according to Stephens. Now that Miramax's chances of releasing Tears of the Black Tiger are next to nothing, fans should campaign for Magnolia -- the new US home for Thai pics -- to wrest the film from the Weinstein's vaults and pull out another Fellowship Adventure Group release.

If there's ever been a time to bring out Tears of the Black Tiger, now's it, riding on a Thai tide that needs whatever momentum it can get to keep from floating back to sea.