Headshot hits target at Bangkok Critics awards

Piak Poster, Piyathida Woramusik and Peter Noppachai were among the winners. Photo via Matichon Online.

Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Headshot blew away the 20th Bangkok Critics Assembly Awards (มรมวิจารณ์บันเทิง), picking up five prizes, including best picture, director and actor for "Peter" Noppachai Jayamana.

Other big winners at the ceremony on Wednesday night at the Royal Thai Army Club were GTH's hit horror Laddaland and Sahamongkol's Umong Pha Mueang (The Outrage), which each won two awards.

Headshot (Fon Tok Kuen Fah, ฝนตกขึ้นฟ้า), in which Peter portrays a hitman who is shot and wakes up from a coma to see the world upside down, also won for editing by Patamanadda Yukol and cinematography by Chankit Chamnivikaipong. It was produced by Local Color Films, marking Pen-ek's move away from Five Star Production, the long-established Thai studio that released all his previous features.

Laddaland, a tale of family dysfunction in a supposedly haunted housing development, scared up awards for best screenplay for writer-director Sophon Sakkadaphisit and co-writer Sophana Chaowiwatkul and best actress for Piyathida Woramuksik who portrayed the mother of a family dragged to Chiang Mai by their desperate dad.

The Outrage, ML Bhandevanop "Mom Noi" Devakula's lavish adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, won best art direction for Pattarik Meesaiyat and Niti Smittasingha. And singer-actress Radklao Amaradit took the best supporting actress prize for her scene-stealing turn as the medium who channels the spirit of the murdered nobleman portrayed by Ananda Everingham.

The best supporting actor award went to Somboonsook Niyomsiri for Top Secret Wairoon Pun Lan (The Billionaire). He portrayed the loyal and supportive "uncle" of the film's teenage fried-seaweed tycoon. At 80, he's probably the oldest actor to win the award. And, notably, it was his acting debut. Better known as Piak Poster, Somboonsook is a beloved Thai film-industry figure who was a movie-poster artist before becoming a director and making a string of popular teen-oriented films in the 1970s. He accepted his prize from the stunning 50-year-old actress Penpak Sirikul, who's making waves this year playing a transgender woman in It Gets Better and starring in the lesbian romance released this week, She

There were two new awards this year: the Young Filmmakers Award, which went to the team behind Love, Not Yet  (รักจัดหนัก, Rak Jad Nak, and Best Original Song, which went to singer-songwriter "Stamp" Apiwat Eurthavornsuk for “Man Khong Pen Khwam Rak” from 30 Kamlung Jaew.

The best score prize went to two films, GTH's rock 'n' roll romance SuckSeed by Wichaya Wattanasap and Hualamphong Riddim and Aditya Assarat's Hi-So, which was scored by Koichi Shimizu and the Desktop Error duo of Wuttiwong Limtrakul and Adisak Phuakngok.

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to the veteran singer, actor and director Charin Nantanakorn.

And MC Chatrichalerm Yukol's The Legend of King Naresuan Part III was awarded as the No. 1 Thai film at the box office last year.

Headshot has dominated Thailand's awards season this year, with wins at the Kom Chad Luek Awards, Starpics and the Thai Film Director Association.

Still to come is the Federation of National Film Associations of Thailand's Subhanahongsa Awards, the so-called "Thai Oscars", but no one seems to know when they will be held.

(Via Ornpp on Twitter, Manager, Matichon, Daily News)