Wise Kwai's Thai Film Journal: News and Views on Thai Cinema

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Review: The 8th Day

Directed by Chodchai Yoadsaranee
Written by Warisara Puthpavana
Starring Watsana Chalakorn, Thanarate Siriwattanagul, Jennie Oprasert
An ANA Film Network release produced by Piya Khuntipakorn, Somchai Leenanruk, Ladda Santriratnukul
Released in Thailand cinemas on February 28, 2008
Rating: 4/5

Though you might perceive some multi-hued nuances in your life, the rest of the world sees things in black and white, which isn’t always right. That’s the message of The 8th Day, a monochrome independent psychological thriller, written by Warisara Puthpavana and directed by Chodchai Yoadsaranee.

While it creates a mysterious atmosphere, the black and white film also allows for a reversal of aesthetics when there are flashback scenes. A film cliche is to run the flashbacks in black and white. Here, they are in living colour.

The 8th Day takes place in a close-knit Bangkok neighbourhood, where everybody thinks they know everybody’s business. So the community comes unglued when a little girl goes missing.

Turns out, Nong Prae (Jennie Oprasert) has been taken inside the home of the local washerwoman, a mentally unstable “auntie” named Choom (Watsana Chalakorn). So fragmented are Choom’s thoughts, she goes off and leaves Prae in a closed-off upstairs room in her dusty old house, and forgets about her. The next morning, when she hears the girl stirring, Choom thinks she is hearing the ghost of her own daughter, who died accidentally years before.

Watching the whole thing transpire is a smug college student, Num (Thanarate Siriwattanagul), who thinks he’s just stumbled on the ultimate thesis for his psychiatry degree. But his actions should provide a case study in medical ethics.

For seven days this goes on, with Choom trying to go about her daily routine, but becoming rattled by the “ghost” girl in her upstairs room. One day, the scatter-brained mommie dearest picks up a wire coat hanger, and the results are not pretty. All the medical student does is peep at the action through his binoculars and compile his research.

However implausible the story might be, The 8th Day is still worth watching for the fact that it dares to break away from the tiresome formula of so many contemporary Thai suspense films, which use sound or musical cues and gross-out effects to create scares. Here, the thrill is all in the sense of dread that falls across the expressive face of lead actress Watsana, with a reward for the look on that face on the first day following her week-long ordeal.

More information:

(Cross-published at The Nation Weblog)

Thai film industry wants to be like South Korea's

Whenever executives from the big Thai movie studios talk to the government, they usually talk about how they want to model the Thai film industry on South Korea's, which they view as a huge commercial success.

In principle, I agree with many of the concepts, which call for government support, rather than government control.

A Bangkok Post story today (cache) outlined the Thai film industry's wish list, as stated to Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sangsuwan by Visute Poolvoralaks, chief executive of Grammy Thai Hub:

Deregulation -- Switch from the strict censorship regime to a more audience- and filmmaker-friendly ratings system.
Cut import taxes -- Film stock, cameras and other equipment must be imported, and the duties are high, increasing costs for the filmmakers.
Suppress counterfeiting -- Piracy eats into the bottom line (never mind that buying and selling dodgy DVDs on the street is viewed as a Thai birthright).

Jina Osothsilp, managing director of GTH, is quoted by the Post, saying a roll of film costs just under US$100 in the US (or 3,000 baht), but by the time it is imported into Thailand, that roll of film more than doubles in price to 8,000 baht. She says:

You can imagine how the import duty is a burden."

Visute and Jina chalk up South Korea's success on the world cinema scene to a combination of marketing and government support. Visute says:

I would say that more than 50 percent of Korean movies are good, while quality Thai movies are so few."

One thing the story does not mention is the quota system that Korea had, which required cinemas to screen Korean films for a higher percentage of days than foreign imports. In theory, the system was designed to improve the commercial quality of Korean films, to make them competitive with Hollywood's product - to make Korean films something that would attract people to the cinemas. The quotas were largely scrapped in recent years, causing some upheaval among Korean filmmakers, who lament they are overshadowed by Hollywood.

The idea of quotas comes up in Thai industry talks from time to time, but I'm not convinced it would be practical, or even necessary. Thai cinemagoers have been on a steady diet of Hollywood films for many decades now. Nonetheless, Thai films are growing increasingly popular, and often top the local box office over Hollywood releases, especially Thai slapstick comedies, ghost stories and weepy romances. Visute says his company, GTH, producer of such films as the original Shutter, Dorm, The Bedside Detective and Handle Me With Care, has just about perfected its formula:

Now we know what the right things are for us after three years of experimenting."

The new film law, passed late last year in the willy-nilly lawmaking by the junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly is addressed in the story. Here is what it says:

Visute said the new Film Act approved by the previous government to replace the 1973[?] Film Act might introduce impractical regulations like a censorship board.

"The new law could change the landscape of the Thai film industry in a better way or the other way around. If the organic laws set impractical regulations, that would severely hurt the industry," he said.

Under existing legislation, Thai and foreign films would be screened by a strict censorship board dominated by senior police officers who have a reputation for cutting out all explicit sex scenes and anything deemed to be offensive to Buddhism or be politically sensitive.

The industry has lobbied for the current censorship system to be replaced by film ratings, such as 'R' for films restricted to adults. But some are already worried that the amended law may worsen the environment for artistic freedom rather than improve it.

Indeed, the film law, as passed by the junta's rubber-stamp legislature, is very restrictive, with provisions that still include censorship and banning as part of the formula. Films could be censored or banned if they are determined to be a threat to national security -- whatever that means. There is a proposed ratings system, which has a closely tiered grouping of age restrictions, with Under 20 being the highest.

As passed, the new film act still needs another law or ministerial regulation that details the mechanisms of the ratings system and how it would be administered. But so far, I've heard nothing about that. Except they are still censoring films.

Meanwhile, several of the laws passed by the National Legislative Assembly are being called into question, since they were often passed without a quorum, or were counter to the Constitution. The Film Law hasn't been mentioned yet as being among those. Bangkok Pundit has more on the "law factory".

More information:

Lullaby Before I Wake in Australia

Remember Lullaby Before I Wake? This is the indie Thai-American hybrid that played in a limited run late last year at the Lido cinemas in Bangkok.

It is an existential teen-oriented romantic drama starring Dean Shelton as a mopey college student who falls in love with the staggeringly beautiful campus queen (Maiara Walsh).

I resisted seeing it until the director, Nate Pantumsinchai, made some comments chewing me out for being dismissive, and running criticism about the film without even bothering to see it for myself.

So I went and saw it. Enough said.

Except that the film is growing some legs, and has been selected for Australia's Byron Bay International Film Festival, which runs from February 29 to March 8. Lullaby Before I Wake in the competition as a nominee for Best Dramatic Feature.

Of Pan-Asian interest at Byron Bay is the Malaysian-Indian co-production, Laya Project, a musical documentary that surveys the traditional sounds of cultures affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Laya Project is in competition for the Southern Cross University Best Film Award and Best Cinematography.

More information:

(Via the Northern Rivers Echo)

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Also in Hong Kong: Handle Me With Care

One thing about the schedule for the Hong Kong International Film Festival is that there are so many films, and there's no way to do a "country" search on the schedule, well, I knew I was bound to miss a film or two.

And I did. But thanks to ThaiCinema.org, it's been pointed out that a fifth Thai film will screen in Hong Kong: The newly released Handle Me With Care, making its world premiere outside Thailand. It joins Ploy,The Love of Siam, Opapatika and Wonderful Town.

The new romantic comedy by Kongdej Jaturanrasamee, Handle Me With Care is screening in the Global Vision section at Hong Kong. According to the festival website, there are seats available for both screenings.

Anyway, I'm glad I missed it in my earlier roundup of Thai films at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, because now I have a chance to put together a few more thoughts about Handle Me With Care. For one thing, I'd hoped the film would generate more of a reaction. But things have been pretty quiet.

According to Box Office Mojo, Handle Me With Care came in fourth at the box office, behind Jumper (no surprise here), Chocolate (the top-grossing Thai film so far this year) and the transsexual/lesbian body-switching comedy Valentine.

Chiang Mai Mail movie correspondent Mark Gernpy was underwhelmed by Handle Me With Care, saying:

Some nice scenery and photography, but I found it very slow and dull.

Gernpy is trying to build up some excitement for Handle Me With Care by starting a limerick contest, starting with the first line, “A three-armed man from Lampang ..."

Funny. I ain't playin', though. I do appreciate Nanoguy's comments on my review:

Even [though] it still has some 'feel-good' things ... I think this is the most 'pessimistic' film of GTH too far, including Body #19.

I really like the English title, Handle Me With Care, a lot. This is one of the brightest English titles for a Thai movie I've ever seen.

It's really touching me that everybody is 'fragile' and need[s] a 'handle with care' [label], but nowadays people don't care about this point any more ... [not only do people] handle it without care, [they] drop it repeatedly and intentionally.

Nanoguy also says Thai critic Film Sick loves Handle Me With Care, and says there is tons of symbolism about Thai political issues that won't be apparent to most viewers.

I also got to thinking about the film's social commentary, which used to be a common subtext in Thai films of the past, from the likes of M.C. Chatrichalerm Yukol, Euthana Mukdasanit or Cherd Songsri. There's not so much of that anymore, though Kongdej managed to work in some in Handle Me With Care. But not as much as he would have liked, he told The Nation recently:

Some people saw the points I was trying to make and others didn't. It's not important. The film is about a man with three arms, which should say something about how we regard other people in this day and age. But I've cut a lot of the footage because it was dragging the story off track," he says.

Kongdej admits that he'd love to make a movie with a truly social theme "rather like M.C. Chatrichalerm Yukol's old films". But he's well aware that the current market doesn't have room for features with heavy topics. "The best I can hope for is to use individual characters to observe society," he says.

Oh, just a stray point about Handle Me With Care: Fans of the funny duo of policemen who first turned up in Yuthlet Sippapak's Buppha Rahtree make a cameo appearance in Handle Me With Care. The pair are former Film Bangkok producer Adirek "Uncle" Wattaleela and a comedian whose name I can never catch.

And another thing: Not only does Kongdej write scripts and direct films, he sings, too! He showed off his vocal skills at the press preview of Handle Me With Care, singing the film's romantic theme as part of a threesome with stars Kiatkamol Latha and Supaksorn Chaimongkol.

More information:

(Via ThaiCinema.org)

Chuwit now a real soapy star

The big news in Thailand might be about the impending return of a certain ousted former prime ministe r, but the politician who journalists really want to cover is Chuwit Kamolvisit.

Yes, Chuwit. Former soapy massage parlour tycoon. Owner of a controversial plot of land. Mayoral candidate. Former parliamentarian. Former deputy party leader. Outspoken critic of the ruling elite. Now, he's a soap opera star, according to The Nation's Soop Sip column.

His colorful personality is perfect for a Thai soap opera, and he'll appear in Phra Chan Son Dao on Channel 3.

The move into television is the latest episode in the infamous life of Chuwit.

Previously, he headed the Davis empire of naughty massage parlours in Bangkok. He also held a lucrative plot of land on Bangkok's Sukhumvit Road that was involved in a lease dispute that culminated in sledgehammer-wielding, backhoe-driving thugs smashing up a group of low-rent bars and shops.

He has since built a park on the Sukhumvit location, and he sold his interest in his massage parlour empire to enter politics. He first ran for mayor of Bangkok in 2004, and was then elected to Parliament, though he was disqualified due to a technicality.

In the latest election, he dropped out (or was possibly kicked out) of the Chart Thai party after he disagreed with his party's move to align itself with the now-ruling People Power Party of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.

He's taken to voicing his displeasure with the country's leaders in a series of colorful billboards, which 2bangkok.com lovingly keeps track of.

(Photo via 2bangkok.com)

Sick Nurses, Train of the Dead for Taiwan, Bangkok Love Story to Singapore

Following the trail of Body #19, last year's loopy slasher-ghost comedy Sick Nurses and the Phranakorn horror Train of the Dead, will be released in Taiwan.

Sick Nurses, about a ghost nurse seeking revenge on the sexy, naughty, bitchy former co-workers and the doctor boyfriend who killed her, opens in Taiwan on April 18. I saw this film last year and hated it so vehemently, I want to see it again. Isn't it weird how that works?

I have less strong feelings about Train of the Dead because I didn't see it. So here's the link to the MovieSeer synopsis .

Meanwhile, the homosexual romantic crime thriller, Bangkok Love Story (recent winner of the Suphanahongsa Award for Best Screenplay), will open on March 6 in Singapore. It's rated R21, the highest age restriction for films in the city-state. Ratings. What a concept.

With all these, I would guess that English subtitled DVDs follow the theatrical release within a few months, so there's a few things to watch for, if you're interested.

More information:

(Via Deknang/Popcorn)

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Full house for Thai films in Hong Kong

Tickets for the Hong Kong International Film Festival are on sale, and the first screenings of Ploy, The Love of Siam and Opapatika, are among those already marked "full house".

There are still seats for both screenings of the fourth Thai film in Hong Kong's program, Aditya Assarat's Wonderful Town, but that will surely change, since this film won at Rotterdam, was shown in Berlin and will also screen in New York.

Ploy, The Love of Siam and Opapatika are also nominees at the second Asian Film Awards, which will be given out on March 17 in conjunction with the Hong Kong fest.

Opapatika, a dark, karmic action thriller, still has some seats left for its second screening during the Midnight Heat program. Tickets to second screenings of Chukiat Sakweerakul's acclaimed, award-winning gay teen romantic drama Love of Siam and Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Ploy are also available -- for now.

The Hong Kong International Film Festival runs from March 17 to April 6.

(Via International Herald Tribune)

Three more Jeeja clips

I feel like I've just emerged from the rabbit hole after finding several more video clips featuring Jeeja and her promotional efforts for Chocolate on YouTube.

First up is a clip from the Thailand Game Show 2008, which features Jeeja in a live show that acts as a dual promotion for Chocolate and Street Fighter II. It purports to pit Jeeja against some of the characters from Street Fighter.

The video was shot by a fan in the crowd, and the quality is not so good. Be forewarned: Turn your volume down, because the sound levels are at the only setting available in Thailand -- LOUD!

By the way, a new film adaptation of Street Fighter is in the works, with Bangkok mentioned as a location, and Come Drink With Me's Cheng Pei Pei mentioned among the cast. Twitch had more on that.

Next is a clip from the Chaibadin show on Thailand's ModernNine television. It is similar to the clips from the Jorjai show, but is shorter.

Humorously, Jeeja throws a quick kick at the hands of comic actor Pongsak "Teng" Pongsuwan, who co-hosts the show with comedy co-hort Choosak "Nong" Eamsuk and ubiquitous Thai TV hostess Mayura Sawettanun.

Last up is a short clip from a live show that Jeeja put on to promote Chocolate at The Mall Bang Kapi in suburban Bangkok.

And there are several more, including Jeeja (nattily turned out in a white jacket) just sitting and talking on a typical Thai yak show. She's chatting about the injury she received to her right eye, and the hard fall that hospitalized a stuntman, which are seen in the now-famous trailer. If you still haven't got enough of Jeeja, there's a photo montage-Valentine and a noisy remix of some various Jeeja clips.

More information:

(Via Shooting Pink)

Monday, February 25, 2008

Website for Good Morning, Luang Prabang

The website for the Laotian-Thai road movie romance,
Sabaidee Luang Prabang, or Good Morning, Luang Prabang, has gone live.

Set for release on April 10, just ahead of the April 13 New Year's holiday that is celebrated across Southeast Asia (Songkran in Thailand, Pi Mai Lao in Laos), Sabaidee Luang Prabang stars Ananda Everingham as a Lao-Australian photographer who returns to his father's home country of Laos and gets in touch with his heritage during a trip that takes him the length of the country. Along the way, he bonds and falls in love with his female guide, played by Laotian beauty queen Khamlek Pallawong.

The first Laotian feature film in nearly 20 years, it is a Laotian-Thai co-production, co-directed by Kiev-educated Laotian Anusorn Sirisakda and Thai filmmaker Sakchai Deena.

More information:

(Via Deknang)

Thai agency wraps up festival bribery probe

In the continuing saga of the Bangkok International Film Festival bribery scandal, the Bangkok Post reports today that Thailand's Department of Special Investigation has completed its probe, and it will forward its case to the National Counter Corruption Commission.

Here is more from the story (cache):

It was unclear what that will mean to the pending case against former Tourism Authority of Thailand governor Juthamas Siriwan. She has been accused of receiving $1.7 million in bribes from Americans Gerald Green and his wife Patricia in return for permission to run the festival.

The US couple established a company to bid for the management contract for the Bangkok festival, held annually, and allegedly conspired with others to bribe Mrs Juthamas.

She threatened to sue the US Justice Department if it linked her to the case against the Greens - but it did, and she didn't. Instead, it filed a number of documents accusing Mrs Juthamas' daughter and others of laundering the bribe money for Mrs Juthamas.

Col Piyawat [Kingket] said that by turning the case over to the NCCC, the anti-graft agency can file charges and proceed with a case, presumably against Mrs Juthamas.

But it is likely the NCCC will have to "follow up" on the DSI's investigation with a probe of its own.

The Department of Special Investigation, or DSI, is essentially the equivalent of America's FBI. The National Counter Corruption Commission is the government's main agency for investigating graft by officials; however, the NCCC is not immune from political influence. At the moment, it is stacked with officials appointed by the junta that ran the Thai government in 2006-07, but maybe that will change? There is still a chance that the Thai end of this investigation could be swept under the rug.

Either way, though, the probe will be used a political tool, rather than serving justice, and putting an end to future acts of corruption that taint Thailand's image.

More information: