Pen-ek's Headshot set for world premiere in Toronto

Pen-ek Ratanaruang's highly anticipated crime thriller Headshot is set for its world premiere in the "cutting-edge" Vanguard section at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Hailed as Pen-ek's return to the film-noir genre of his previous works like Fun Bar Karaoke, 6ixtynin9, Last Life in the Universe and Invisible Waves, Headshot is based on the novel Fon Tok Kuen Fah (ฝนตกขึ้นฟ้า) by S.E.A. Write Award-winning writer and Silpathorn Award laureate Win Lyovarin. The Thai title is translated as "rain falling upward", referring to an upside-down world.

The synopsis from the TIFF press release (PDF) has more:

Tul, a straight-laced cop, is blackmailed by a powerful politician and framed for a crime he did not commit. Disillusioned and vengeful, he is soon recruited to become a hitman for a shadowy group aimed at eliminating those who are above the law. But one day, Tul is shot in the head during an assignment. He wakes up after a three-month coma to find that he sees everything upside down, literally. Tul begins to have second thoughts about his profession. But when he tries to quit, roles are reversed and the hunter becomes the hunted. Can Tul find redemption from the violence that continues to haunt him.

"Peter" Noppachai Jayanama (Nymph, Naresuan) stars along with Cris Horwang (Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story, Saturday Killer).

The film is being produced by Pawas Sawatchaiyamet at Local Color Films and old Toronto festival programming hand Raymond Phathanavirangoon.

The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 8 to 18.

(Via Hollywood Reporter, Screen Daily, Twitch)