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

Friday, March 14, 2008

Chocolate ready to begin international onslaught

Hong Kong will be the first stop for Chocolate as it begins its round of overseas commercial releases. It will open there next month, according to a story by Agence-France Presse.

Distributors in Japan, Singapore and South Korea have already signed up for the film, too, and U.S. rights were secured long ago by The Weinstein Company.

As the makers of Chocolate and its petite star Yanin "Jeeja" Wismitananda look ahead to promoting the film internationally, they are strengthening their ties to the Tony Jaa brand, with Jeeja saying she was "under the tutelage of Jaa." She is quoted by AFP as saying:

Yes, people compare me to [Tony Jaa] a lot, but I would like to set things straight. I am not as good as he is. He is my trainer, and I'm just his student. I have all the respect in the world for him."

Director Prachya Pinkaew reveals more about the origins of Chocolate, offering a glimpse of foreign involvement from the very beginning.

It was after the international box office success of Tony Jaa's Ong-Bak and Tom Yum Goong that "foreign distributors asked if I had a female actress who could star in an action film," Prachya is quoted as saying by AFP. "So the search began."

Here's more from the AFP story:

The girl of his dreams had dark skin, a solid body and exotic looks. His plan was to sell the sex appeal of this strong yet feminine character and he hoped to find someone like Zhang Ziyi, Chinese star of Memoirs of a Geisha.

"But then we got Jeeja, who has no sex appeal at all," he said. "So we had to come up with something to compensate for that."

No sex appeal? At all? Let me pause for a moment and ponder that.

Okay. I'm back. More on foreign involvement: I've heard that The Weinstein Company asked for changes to Chocolate after it was essentially completed. The Weinsteins asked that perennial heavy Pongpat Wachirabunjong be brought in to play chief villain No. 8, after another actor, Sakda Pattaseema, had been cast and had filmed his scenes. They also asked that 13 Beloved director Chukiat Sakweerakul be brought in as a script doctor to write new dialogue. With Pongpat as the new No. 8, the scenes involving the character were reshot.

While the Weinsteins have often been criticized for their changes to films, here is a case where they were able to get directly involved and tell the filmmakers what they wanted, and from the accounts I've heard, they made it a better film.

So with that tidbit, I'm wondering just who those "foreign distributors" were who asked for a Thai female action vehicle in the first place.

Solidifying the Thai action brand, and perfecting a formula are also behind Chocolate. Prachya has more on that in the AFP story:

Real stunts are what international markets are after," said the director. "Films like this cannot be remade, because it requires personal skills to give viewers a sense of reality."

"When making this film, I made both local and international audiences my targets," he said. "I know what they like to see."

More information:

Graft agency to look at Juthamas' advisory role

The National Counter Corruption Commission has appointed an investigative panel to probe allegations of malfeasance against an unnamed current Tourism Authority of Thailand deputy governor over the appointment of former TAT governor Juthamas Siriwan as an adviser to the agency last year.

NCCC member Klanarong Chantik told The Nation that the panel will investigate a complaint accusing the TAT deputy governor of malfeasance for appointing Juthamas as an adviser after Juthamas had left her governor’s post in 2006.

The NCCC is also interested in looking into the bribery allegation against Juthamas in connection with the organizing of the Bangkok International Film Festival. The Department of Special Investigation recently concluded its probe of the case, and has forwarded its findings to the NCCC, but those findings have yet to be revealed.

More information:

(Via The Nation)

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Review: Rambo 4

Directed by Sylvester Stallone
Starring Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden, Paul Schulze, Maung Maung Khin
Released in Thailand cinemas on March 13, 2008
Rating: 3/5

Twenty years since the last Rambo film, not much has changed with the newest installment, Rambo 4. The hero, Sylvester Stallone's Vietnam War veteran John Rambo, is still embittered and cynically stoical. And he still wants to be left alone.

Where better than to live out a life of isolation than Thailand? It's along the Thai-Burmese border on the Salween River where the ex-Special Forces soldier is working as a snake hunter, capturing cobras for a tourist-trap snake circus, and practicing his archery skills by bowfishing, and donating the catch to local Buddhist monks. He's roused from his idyllic life by a group of American missionaries who want him to take them upriver and into Burma, where they hope to bring aid to the Karen people under siege there.

Rambo is unwilling, telling them, if they aren't bringing any weapons, they aren't going to change anything. But a woman (Julie Benz) among the group persists, and so Rambo reluctantly agrees.

Sure enough, the missionaries are abducted and taken prisoner in a raid by the Burmese junta's troops. Their church hires a band of nasty mercenaries, and Rambo feels compelled to once again take up arms and join them in the rescue operation.

Violence ensues. And it is glorious, the kind of non-stop, explosive orgy of blasts and gunfire that isn't seen much these days. About the only thing different in this throwback to 1980's-style mayhem is that the bloodshed is mostly CGI, which if anything means it can be more graphic. Men are literally cut in half by a hail of bullets from an extremely large machine gun. Heads explode on the impact of a sniper's shell. Blood and guts splatter out by the bucketful under the big, sharp knife of Rambo.

Filmed in 2006 in Chiang Mai Province, with a Thai crew and cast of extras, Rambo 4 could be a Thai action film if not for the presence of Stallone, who directed, and the rest of foreign cast, with Benz and Paul Schulze among the missionaries, Ken "White Shadow" Howard as a concerned clergyman and Matthew Marsden, Graham McTavish, Reynaldo Gallegos, Jake La Botz and Tim Kang as the mercenaries.

Burmese actor Maung Maung Khin portrays an evil, sneering, cigarette-smoking, boy-buggering Burmese junta major, the leader of the bad guys.

Thai actor Supakorn Kitsuwon has a prominent role as a Karen rebel fighter who guides the mercenaries. He heroically gets to roll in the dirt and let loose a rocket from a shoulder-fired launcher, much the same as he did in Tears of the Black Tiger. There are Thai stunt actors, Thai explosions and Thai people. It could be Born to Fight, Ong-Bak or even a higher-octane remake of Salween, M.C. Chatrichalerm Yukol's 1992 snapshot of the same area where Rambo 4 was shot. Even more retro, it hearkens back to the 1970s Thai action cinema -- the raberd poa, khaow pao kratom ("bomb the mountain, burn the huts") films.

The setting is perfect for Rambo, a relic of an old war, for the Karen conflict has been going on for 60 years, which some horrific documentary footage from inside Burma at the beginning of the film explains, is the world's longest-running civil war. Little has changed in Burma in decades, so it still seems like the '80s there. Not much has changed with Stallone, either, except that he's bigger and more grotesquesly sinewy, with some heaping doses of human growth hormone to add bulk. On the big screen, he's kind of scary, even when he's not ripping out a guy's throat with his bare hands. Rambo 4 is the right framing for Stallone and his muttering, mumbled delivery.

"Live for nothing, die for something," he says to a mercenary at one point. It's the catchphrase that most of the reviews of this film have picked up on, but in the context of the film, it comes at a time that I least expected it, and the only reaction the mercenary could possibly have is "what the heck does that mean?" Though he doesn't say it.

Continuing with the theme of change, or the lack thereof, this film will do little to change what is really going on along the Thai border and inside Burma. Some Burmese anti-junta activists have piggybacked on the film's release to highlight their cause, and in the wake of the bloody crackdown of last year's anti-government protests, Stallone seized upon the headlines to comment on the abysmal conditions along the Thai border, and get an early start on promoting the film. Critics say this film trivializes the plight of the Karen people in Burma, as well as the non-violent struggle by the movement of detained democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi. The film won't free The Lady, nor will it make things easier for the Karen. The junta's response was to ban the open sale of pirated DVDs of the film, which only makes people want to watch it more. Meanwhile, the generals cash fat royalty checks from their natural gas reserves, play a few more rounds of golf and live high on the hog while the rest of the country starves. All along, the junta has been dismissive of diplomatic efforts and international sanctions. What makes anyone think a Hollywood film will change anything?

Rambo 4 is entertainment, pure and simple, and as it unspooled on the screen at Major Cineplex Bangna in all its (apparently uncensored) glory, a big smile came across my face that I couldn't wipe off, no matter how grim and bloody the action was onscreen, or how clunky and contrived the dialogue became. Rambo 4 isn't a film for anyone, but action fans should be more than pleased.

(Cross-published at The Nation Weblog)

13: Game of Death released on DVD in U.S.

13: Game of Death has been released on Region 1 DVD in the U.S. by The Weinstein Company's Dimension Extreme label. The film is also called 13 Beloved, or 13 Game Sayong, and was one of my favorite films of 2006 and is among my favorite films of all-time.

I was pleased to learn about this release, because since the Weinsteins bought remake rights, it was widely assumed they would bury the film until they made their remake. As far as I can see, the only thing marring this release is the cover art, which is designed to pander to the Saw/Hostel torture-porn crowd, though this film will probably please those folks.

Anyway, Draven99's Musings has a review of the DVD. Here's a bit of what he has to say:

Hailing from Thailand, this pitch black thriller hits the ground running and is sure to please fans with a taste for the twisted. I wasn't sure what to expect, and that turned out to be the correct attitude to have when entering into a viewing contract with this little gem. It is tale of morality and social responsibility, as well as asking the question: just how far will you go? How much prodding would it take for you to move onto the next challenge, heck, complete the challenge given? 13: Game of Death (13 Beloved in its native language) takes a look inside what makes people tick when money is involved. While it does prove to be successful on its own terms, there was noticeable inspiration drawn from other films.

As I watched 13: Game of Death, I could not help but be reminded of films such as Chan Wook Park's Vengeance Trilogy, 13 Tzameti, Falling Down, and Saw. There were probably even a few others that I have already forgotten. Even with all of those influences informing my viewing, It was still a thrilling experience that had enough of its own twists and turns to keep me guessing until the conclusion ...

The DVD is being released by The Weinstein Company's Genius Products through their Dimension Extreme imprint. It should be noted that not only did the Weinstein's purchase distribution rights for North America, but also remake rights. So, this could find its way in Americanized form to theaters at a moments notice. And to tell you the truth, if any amount of effort is put into the project, it could turn out to be very strong indeed. If only they could get someone like Johnny Depp, Guy Pearce, or Ethan Hawke (that's right), this could dare try for excellence.

Draven99 notes that the video transfer is 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and is fine, "with accurate colors and no noticeable blemishes". The audio is presented in both its original Thai and English dub 5.1 tracks.

Extra features consist of the original teaser and full trailers, and a 17-minute making of featurette featuring interviews with the primary cast and crew accompanying finished, set, and rehearsal footage. I wonder if this is the same feature on the Innoform release out of Singapore, which wasn't subtitled. I'm assuming for the U.S. market, the Weinsteins have added subtitles on the featurette?

13: Game of Death is available from Thai Film Journal affiliates HK Flix or Amazon.

More information:

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

The Truth Be Told in Singapore

The Truth Be Told: The Cases Against Supinya Klangnarong is the sole Thai entry in the massive program of the Singapore International Film Festival, which runs from April 4 to 14.

Directed by Pimpaka Towira, The Truth Be Told is an epic-scale documentary that follows three and half years in the life of Supinya, a media activist who was sued by the Shin Corporation for stating that the company had benefited from the policies of the administration of Thaksin Shinawatra, whose family owned the company. The documentary is snapshot of a turbulent period in Thai politics, from the Thaksin years, the anti-Thaksin backlash that arose after Thaksin sold his share in Shin to Singapore's Temasek Holdings, and the military coup that ousted Thaksin.

The Asian Cinema section of the program has dozens of Southeast Asian films of interest. These include not one, not two, but three new films by Malaysia's James Lee, Breathing in Mud, Waiting for Love and his much-anticipated horror film Histeria. Lee also stars in the award-winning Flower in the Pocket by Da Huang Pictures cohort Liew Seng Tat.

Another tantalizing entry is Death in the Land of Encantos, a nine-hour work by Lav Diaz, about a poet who returns to his hometown just after it's been hit by a typhoon. Nine hours.

There's a couple of classic old Vietnamese films: Little Girl of Hanoi from 1974 and Mrs. Tu Hau from 1963. And, for new-school Vietnamese cinema lovers: Charlie and Johnny Nguyen's The Rebel.

The festival checks in with Cambodia's Rithy Panh, showing his latest, Paper Cannot Wrap Up the Embers, a documentary about young Cambodian women forced into prostitution.

From Indonesia is 1987's Sharp Gravel, about a pair of woman (Christine Hakim and Wenty Anggaini) set adrift in the region's migrant labor market, going from jail, to working as servants in a wealthy household to work in a textile factory.

Just the Asian Cinema program is overwhelming. I didn't even look at the World Cinema. There's a Singapore Panorama just for films from the city-state. Among the films there is Lucky 7, in which seven directors engage in an exquisite corpse exercise, with one actor tying the seven segments together.

(Via Welcome to My Evil Liar)

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Tentative date for Bangkok International Film Festival: July 21 to 30

Kong Rithdee, writing for Variety, has the latest on the Bangkok International Film Festival, which the Tourism Authority of Thailand is still determined to put on, despite the bribery scandal that still hangs over the event.

The story continues:

We've set up the tentative date of July 21 to 30, but we still have to wait for the approval from the governor and to sort out other details," a TAT international spokesman said.

This year, the TAT will act simply as a host, and will transfer the operation to the Federation of National Film Associations of Thailand (FNFAT). The FNFAT will work in co-operation with the Thai Film Directors Association to program the festival.

But at the moment, the FNFAT and Directors Association are still waiting to for final approval from the TAT. Meanwhile, they are also seeking additional funding to top up the sums that the TAT is prepared to provide.

"We're determined to stick to the tentative date, but it's not confirmed 100 percent that the event will go through," Yongyooth Thongkongtoon, president of the Thai Film Directors Association told Variety.

So far, no programming work has been done, and the delay of the decision will even make the programming even more difficult, adds another Thai director.

Having the FNFAT and the Thai Film Directors at the helm could ensure that there is a strong slate of Thai films, both recent and classic. Hopefully they will have someone who is tapped into the international and regional cinema scenes for a broader selection of films to make the festival truly international, but as Kong's "another Thai director" says, the longer they wait to give the go-ahead, the harder it will be to gather the films.

More information:

DVD review: Me ... Myself

It's funny. It's cute. It's English subtitled. And, it's censored.

The DVD of last year's sleeper-hit romantic-comedy Me ... Myself is already hitting the bargain bins in Thailand, a move no doubt hastened by the fact that the DVD is published by Rose Media and Entertainment, the only Thai distributor I know of that self-censors its films.

Me ... Myself is the story of a transvestite gay cabaret dancer (Ananda Everingham) who is robbed of his identification and then struck by a car driven by a young woman (Chayanan Manomaisantiphap). The amnesiac man is then taken in and cared for by the woman, and they fall in love, which raises some interesting issues about sexuality and choices. The film is directed by action star and singer Pongpat Wachirabunjong, and based on a story he came up with, with a screenplay by Kongdej Jaturanrasamee.

Even at the low, low bargain-bin price of 59 baht (around US$2), Me ... Myself is still a questionable purchase because it is marred by censorship.

The worst of it is some blinkered pixellation of a nude Ananda Everingham. Never mind that the original film tastefully captured a profile of the fearless Ananda sitting like Rodin's "Thinker", and then when he stood up, his private parts were below the frame, or covered by his hands and a bowl he comically grabbed. But that wasn't good enough for the goody two-shoes at Rose Media.

There are scenes involving alcohol and drinking in Me ... Myself (including drunken karaoke caterwauling by the stars of an old hit song by none other than Pongpat himself), and for those, Rose thankfully does not try to pixellate out the bottles and glasses as is done on Thai television, but Rose does add a line of text to the frame to say "Drinking is bad." On other films, Rose will run anti-smoking messages and messages warning of the dangers of guns. A free Rose DVD of Johnnie To's Exiled came my way, and I had to stop watching it because the moralising messages were so out of hand.

Rose Media is the only DVD distributor in Thailand that I know of that practices this censorship. None of the other local distributors do, and this includes J-Bics, EVS and United Home Entertainment. Just Rose. I'm not sure why.

Anyway, it's unfortunate. Because Rose is the distributor for Mono Film, the only Thai studio that still includes English subtitles with its DVD releases.

Their latest release is Fighting Beat, much of which takes place in a bar where alcohol flows freely. I can see the warning messages already. If I decide to revisit Fighting Beat via DVD, it will only be after it shows up the bargain bins and even then, maybe not at all.

More information:

Ploy, Wonderful Town, Opapatika in Deauville

The Deauville Asian Film Festival runs from March 12 to 16, and it features two Thai films in its main features competition: Aditya Assarat's now-ubiquitious Wonderful Town (seems like it is playing everywhere but Thailand) and Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Ploy (when's the uncensored, English-friendly version coming to DVD?).

A third film, the karmic action drama Opapatika, is featured in the Asia Action Competition.

The three Thai films join a program that includes tributes to Korean director Im Kwon-taek, Chinese director Jia Zhangke, actor Jiang Wen, who is described by festival director Bruno Barde as "the Chinese Marlon Brando", Japanese actor Koji Yakusho, and Japanese film-score composer Joe Hisaishi.

Here is the list feature competition films:

Beautiful, directed by Juhn Jai hong, South Korea
Exodus, directed by Pang Ho-Cheung, Hong Kong
Flower in the Pocket, directed by Liew Seng Tat, Malaysia
Fujian Blue, directed by Robin Weng, China
Funuke Show Some Love, You Losers, directed by Daihachi Yoshida, Japan
Keeping Watch, directed by Fen Fen Cheng, Taiwan
Ploy, directed by Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Thailand
Solos, directed by Kan Lume & Loo Zihan, Singapore
The Red Awn, directed by Cai Shangjun, China
With A Girl of Black Soil, directed by Jeon Soo-il, South Korea
Wonderful Town, directed by Aditya Assarat, Thailand

And the Asia Action competitors:

Black Belt, directed by Nagasaki Shunichi, Japan
Coq De Combat, directed by Soi Cheang, Hong Kong
Crowns Zero, directed by Takashi Miike, Japan
Heros De Guerre, directed by Feng Xiaogang, China
Opapatika, directed by Thanakorn Pongsuwan, Thailand

More information:

(Via Hong Kong Standard/AFP, ThaiCinema.org)

Monday, March 10, 2008

Dread pirate Rick speaks about censorship

At the press preview for the kids-and-pirates action flick, Salad Ta Diaw, star Saranyu Wongkrajang appeared as bespectacled, soft-spoken, thoughtful and patient veteran actor, which was in sharp contrast to his whisky-besotted, eye-patch-sporting, tough-acting Captain Rick Sparrow in the film.

Yes, there's more than meets the eye with Saranyu, as an interview with him in the latest issue of BK magazine revealed. Here's an excerpt:

It’s a pity for actors and actresses in this country that scripts are written only for starlets. But just imagine — a 20-year-old is forced to leave his hometown to fight in a battlefield. A 25-year-old couple marries too soon and faces relationship issues. A 45-year-old widower is looking for a new love, while a penniless retired 60-year-old goes on a treasure hunt. See what I mean? Every stage of life comes with its own stories to tell.

The entertainment industry just doesn’t want to look beyond 20-year-olds because they think only pretty faces can sell.

The only difference between film and TV is the size of the screen. In the end, what matters most is the message you try to communicate.

In some countries, theater is a culture. But here, going to a play is simply a special occasion that allows the wealthy to show off their new gowns. I took my kids to see Cats. I had a blast even though it was my second time watching the musical. It is a classic that stands the test of time.

Films and TV dramas are virtual brochures to boost tourism. Look at Korea. They use TV series and music to promote their culture and history and to draw tourists to their country. Next thing you know, Thai kids will speak Korean and eat kimchi instead of namprik.

A bright future for Thai entertainment? Impossible, hopeless, unattainable. Choose whatever word you want. We’ll never get anywhere without government support and with their constant censorship and harassment.

Politics are not as highbrow as some people think. Politics are our everyday life. We shouldn’t let corrupt people who call themselves politicians rob and sell the country.

I especially appreciated his sunny optimism regarding government support of the film industry and an end to censorship.

More information:

Review: Review: Salad Ta Diaw Kab Dek 200 Ta

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Thailand: The hub of it all

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss. One of the drum beats of the old Thaksin administration that was ousted in the 2006 coup, was that it wanted Thailand to be a "hub" -- of anything. A hub of Asian tourism. A hub of Asian auto production. A hub of information technology. A hub of this. A hub of that.

One of the Thaksin administration's initiatives was to promote Thailand as a hub for film production in Asia. And, it largely succeeded on that score, though not necessarily because of the government's plans. Thailand already was a hub for post-production in the region, with a good many films coming out of Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and elsewhere being processed in the labs and studios of Kantana, Oriental Post, The Post Bangkok and Technicolor. Many of the theatrical prints of Hollywood films for the Asia Pacific rim are spooled up in Bangkok.

The Kingdom is a prime location for films from all over the world -- the list of Hollywood productions filmed here is lengthy indeed, with recent productions that include American Gangster, L: Change the World, Rambo and Rescue Dawn.

So I guess there is nothing wrong with the new government of Samak Sundaravej trying to lasso some of that star power to make itself look shiny, and revive some of those old "hub" initiatives of Samak's ideological predecessor, Thaksin. And I suppose the film industry stands to benefit, if the plans will offer some support.

Following recent talks with film industry execs, Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Mingkwan Saengsuwan announced last week that a week-long Thai entertainment fair will be held in September.

Foreign film and music producers would be invited to the fair, which will be a forum for talks with Thai show business executives.

A good deal of cash is on the table, with the Commerce Ministry estimating that 300 billion baht was generated by the entertainment industry in 2007, with 27 billion baht from the film industry, 168 billion baht from related information technology, and the rest from industries such as TV production, animation and radio.

Mingkwan said that in the long term, the government would promote Thai films and the Thai film industry in foreign markets through trade shows and roadshows in foreign countries.

Also, various other agencies, such as the Board of Investment, the Export Promotion Department, the Tourism and Sports Ministry and the Culture Ministry would be asked address the obstacles for the industry and find the ways to draw foreign investment and film shoots. Incentives could include tax refunds, tax breaks and exemptions and a crackdown on piracy.

''A master plan to promote the industry is a must,'' Mingkwan was quoted as saying by the Bangkok Post.

Hmm. By getting the Culture Ministry involved, might the government take a hard look at its censorship of films?

But, since the censorship issue wasn't specifically mentioned in the recent stories by the Thai News Agency and the Bangkok Post, I don't suppose it is much of a concern, as long as the wheels of industry keep turning, and dumping money in the pockets of those in power at the hub.

More information: