Review: Nong Teng Nak Leng Phukhao Thong

• Directed by Panitch Sodsi
• Starring Pongsak Pongsuwan, Choosak Eamsuwan, Isaree Soungcharern, Nikalaya Dhunlaya
• Released in Thailand theaters on March 29, 2006

The new Thai comedy, Nong Teng Nak Leng Phukhao Thong, looks great and has a noble concept - going back into Thai cinema history to 1923 when the first feature film was being made in Thailand (then Siam). Directed by Canadian filmmaker Henry MacRae, with Dal Clawson as director of photography, Miss Suwanna of Siam was a co-production by Universal and Royal State Railway Film Service. The eight-reel romance starred Sa-ngaim Naveesatien as Suwanna and Ram Projtasart as her hero.

Using this backdrop, and creating a vibrant set for 1920s Bangkok, complete with a working tram, Nong Teng Nak Leng Phukhao Thong (literally, Nong and Teng, the Golden Mount Gangsters) is interesting and funny for about the first 15 minutes or so, but like so many Thai comedies, it has a weak script that only serves to string together a succession of skits and slapstick.

Well, what can you expect from Pongsak Pongsuwan (aka Theng Therdtheng) and Choosak Eamsuwan (aka Nong Cherm-Yim) - two top television comedians, starring in the first feature film from Work Point, a TV production firm? Indeed, there are moments when they break character and crack up - not unlike a Saturday Night Live skit. So scenes that should be on a goofs reel at the end of the movie or on the DVD extras are caught on film. But maybe that's part of the charm of the whole thing.

Mainly, I suspect, the movie is simply a move to capitalize on last year's success of The Holy Man, which Theng starred in and was one of the top Thai box-office draws last year.

It's not like Theng and Nong are total losers that make the thing unwatchable, though. Theng, who played Elvis M-16 in Killer Tattoo, has been around long enough to know what to do, and he as some decent scenes as his character falls in love with the pretty star actress of Nong Sao Suwan (Nikalaya Dhunlaya). Nong, meanwhile, looks like he's have a blast getting to ham it up as a thug who has a penchant for flourishing his shiny Colt revolver and firing it into the air. It must've been a relief for him after having to play it more or less straight in Pattaya Maniac and Beautiful, Wonderful, Perfect (I'll only mention Werewolf in Bangkok in passing).

Theng portrays a player in a family likay (Thai traditional theater) troupe. With the new cinemas opening up, likay is struggling to keep its audience. And Theng (who looks great in likay costume) is struggling to stay in character as the hero in the play, as two rascals in the audience are talking and creating a disturbance. The troupe quickly cuts to the fight scene to keep the audience interested, but then the fight scene spills over into the audience. Nong saves the day by firing his gun into the air and scaring off the rascals - but he's not as tough as he acts. Also, he has a weakness for Theng's sister, Lynchee (Isaree Soungcharern), getting a nose bleed while watching her on stage and seeing her costume slip a bit to reveal a small amount of cleavage.

Eventually, it comes out that the likay troupe and the surrounding squatter community is to be thrown off its land to make way for the filming of Miss Suwanna, which doesn't really make sense to them, or to me. But really, it's just an excuse for a land grab by the greedy cinema owner - who's also the father of Miss Suwanna's star - to build a new theater.

Theng and Nong and the rest of troupe then embark on a bumbling quest to disrupt the production, to no discernable effect. At one point, one of the troupe steals a case thought to hold a camera, but it only holds a brass megaphone. At another point, Theng rushes into a lotus pond to save the heroine in the film. He ruins the shot alright, but also ends up nearly drowning himself, only to get mouth-to-mouth from his friend Nong. Ick.

A few other notes:

• An anachronism - The One-Armed Swordsman poster - a movie that wouldn't be made until nearly 50 years later - is big as life atop the movie theater.
• Director Henry MacRae was Canadian. So why is he portrayed by a European (possibly Russian?) of undetermined nationality?
• It wouldn't be a Thai comedy without a cameo by Petchtai Wongkamlao.
• The best part of the film is when the credits roll, they show all existing the stills from the actual production of Miss Suwanna of Siam - all that's left of the film. It mysteriously disappeared shortly after it was made. So if anything, the DVD will be valuable as an archival DVD-ROM for Thai film historians.

More information:

• Official site
• Trailers
• Deknang forum post

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)

Review: Tone

• Directed by Piak Poster
• Starring Chaiya Suriyan, Jaruwan Panyopas, Sayan Chantaraviboon, Aranya Namwong
• From 1970; released on DVD in 2005 by Suwan Film as part of its Thai Memorable Film Project
• Rating: 4/5

Tone is one of those groovy musical romances that came out of the Thai industry in the 1970s.

Right off, it starts out funky, with a theme song by The Impossibles, an incredibly talented and diverse band that played a wicked combination of garage rock, Stax soul and Beatlesesque pop (some of the members are still around and perform in an occasional Beatles tribute band).

It's a song about summer vacation, and it sets up the story about a slacker college guy going back to his upcountry village for the break. He invites his friend, Odd (Sayan Chantaraviboon), along.

Next, we're introduced to the title character, Tone (Chaiya Suriyan), a humble country guy who's a little pent-up.

It doesn't help that he has a funny-looking, toothless old guy named Song (Sangtong Seesai) hanging around singing songs about him.

It's the time for a monk's ordination in the village, so people are celebrating.

There's more singing, including a song by the most beautiful girl in the village, Kularb (Jaruwan Panyopas). She's the girl whom Tone holds a torch for. And he goes as far to just spell it out for her - he loves her. He tells her right to her face.

But she's young yet. Not sure what she's going to do, or where she's going to go. Maybe to Bangkok. Maybe to Chiang Mai. Anyway, she has no time to get into a relationship with Tone.

Odd is bumming around. One day, he's out walking and steps in front of Kularb as she's riding her bicycle. Remember that for later.

Odd and his slacker friend have run in with Tone. It's an accident, but it gets out of hand, with the food that Tone was taking a monk dumped on the ground and the slacker dude with his clothes ruined. Odd takes pity on Tone, and wants to pay for the spilled food. Tone refuses.

Later, Odd and the slacker dude go to pay respects to the monk. And there's Tone, dishing up lunch for the monk. The monk then tells Tone's whole story - how Tone was an orphan and the monk took him in and raised him - he'd like to do better for Tone, send him to school and stuff, but he knows no one in Bangkok, where all the good universities are.

So Odd, still looking to make up for his friend's ill treatment of Tone, says he has room for Tone at his house in Bangkok, where he and his brother and sister live. They were orphans, too.

But for orphans, they sure have a swinging pad. And it's here where Tone meets Dang (Aranya Namwong), who's go-go dancing to some cool vinyl tracks. Tone walks in and stares at her gap-mouthed, checking out what she's wearing, some kind of tight, striped pantsuit, with her midriff exposed. The top and bottom are connected by big rings. Yeah, baby.

She doesn't take kindly to Tone's staring, and mouths off some attitude at him, and in her parting shot, she nicknames him Corny, a name he's stuck with for the rest of the movie.

Okay. The action gets rolling. Back home, Kularb, still not sure what she's doing or where she's going, is knocked off her bicycle by a local rascal who attempts to rape her.

A gang of good guys from the village, including the funny looking guy Song, beat the rascal up. Song, who goes to work at the "rock bombers" (rock quarry), is picked off with a hunting rifle for his troubles.

Not much is done dramatically with Song's death. A waste.

Back in Bangkok, Dang is running around with fast guys in fast cars. One of them takes her to his pad and tries to have his way with her.

Tone, suspicious of the guy, has followed them. He sneaks in, punches a henchman and rescues Dang.

Now, it gets confusing. There are jumps in time - like a year or two going by with no real warning that time has passed.

Odd later spots Kularb walking on campus. She's in college. In Bangkok, I guess. Not really sure.

He reminds her of the day she ran into him with her bicycle. So they are now a couple.

For the longest time, Odd talks about his new girlfriend, not realizing that she's the girl that Tone loved.

Then Kularb shows up at a swinging birthday party for Odd, and the cat is out of the bag. Odd's slacker friend shows back up. He's refashioned himself a hipster, speaking English and making references to Apollo.

Tone descends back into his depressed brooding, but he finally snaps out of it, after a heart-to-heart talk with Odd.

And as "Scarbourough Fair" (by the Impossibles) plays, Tone and Dang finally figure out that they don't really hate each other after all.

And then the bad guys show up, including that rascal rapist from the village, and they kidnap both Dang and Kularb. So there's a big, action-packed rescue to end it all off.

All in all, Tone's a fun movie, though a bit confusing at times, but one of the better DVD offerings from Thailand in awhile.

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)

Midnight My Love feted in Deauville

Did I mention that Citizen Dog won the Critic's Prize at the Deauville Asian Film Festival? I did.

However, I didn't mention that another Thai film, Midnight My Love, won the best script prize. Seems the jury loved this sombre tale of a loner cabbie (Petchtai Wongkamlao) who develops a relationship with massage parlor girl (Woranut Wongsawan), which takes a crazy turn about 3/4ths of the way through.

It's insane enough that I want to watch it again, but this being a Sahamongkol release, the DVD has no English subtitles. Too bad. Have to catch it on an overseas release, someday, hopefully.

Anyway, it seems Woranut attended the festival and was the toast of this Normandy resort town, Soopsip reports.

"Everywhere we went fans asked for her autograph and wanted to take photographs," producer Siwaporn Pongsuwan was quoted as saying.

Midnight My Love or Cherm was the big-screen debut of the popular TV actress. She's won several prizes for her role, including best actress from the Bangkok Critics Assembly.

Midnight My Love is next headed for South Africa, where it'll screen at the Durban Film Festival from June 14 to 25.

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)

Dorm moves in to Singapore

Singapore loves Thai horror flicks. The last one to hit the island-state was Shutter, which beat out Ong-Bak as the top-grossing Thai film there.

Distributors there were hot to get Dorm in a wide release the same time it opened in Thailand, but they had to wait.

Over the weekend, the boarding-school thriller had a three-day sneak preview, taking in 15 million baht (about US$385,000), according to Soopsip. Pretty good for just three days.

Dorm had a promising start in Thailand but chilled once the political demonstrations started. People don't have much an appetite for movies when their country is in turmoil. So Dorm, or Dek Hor closed with 50 million baht, but probably could have done better.

Directed by Songyos Sukmakanan, one of the hit movie Fan Chan’s six directors, Dorm tells the story of a boy who is sent to a creepy old boarding school after discovering a family secret.

Director-producer Yongyooth Thongkongtoon, head of GTH's international department, says the movie is an overwhelming success.

"Singapore has been following GTH's movies since Fan Chan. They even wanted to release it simultaneously with Thailand's premiere but we refused because of our marketing plan," he told Soopsip.

Look for Dorm on the international circuit. It'll be at the Pusan International Film Festival in October.

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)

Twins needed for Alone

Shutter directors Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom are hard at work on their next film, Alone (Faed) and they have a casting call for two sets of twin girls, according to the Soopsip column in The Nation.

They need a young pair, between 5 and 7 years old and an older pair, between 13 and 15 years old. They also must bear a resemblance to star Marsha Watanapanich who is half Thai and half German. Both sets of twins will play Marsha’s character at a younger age. The movie marks the first feature film in 10 years for the 36-year-old superstar singer, model and actress.

Alone focuses on a surgical intervention to separate a pair of Siamese twins. The story looks at their bonding after the surgery and what happens when a choice has to be made to keep just one of them alive.

I'm getting chills just thinking about it.

If you, or your twin, fit the above descriptions, send four 4x6-cm photos (two individual portraits, one half body shot and one full body shot) and full information to Dedicate Company, 37 Soi Petchburi 15 (Somparasong 3), Petchburi Road, Phayathai, Rajthevee, Bangkok, 10400 or visit http://casting_alone.boxchart.com, www.gmmthaihub.com by March 31.

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)

Ong-Bak 2 announced

Tony Jaa will now star in Ong-Bak 2, a sequel to his hit 2003 film. It's being reported here and here, and TonyJaa.org has the report, too, citing Variety as a source.

The Weinstein Company has already picked up worldwide sales rights to the film (except Asia and UK).

Shooting is scheduled for this fall.

In Ong-Bak 2, Jaa will play a young man on a journey that teaches him the skills and inner meaning of martial arts.

So says the stories. And now they are being reported here, which makes them true. Right?

There's more comment about it over at Kaiju Shakedown and Twitch.

Meanwhile, there's an untitled project, simply called Third Film, due to start filming in June, TonyJaa.org says, as well as the much-bandied-about Sword, which I thought they were already making but is now question-marked.

Also meanwhile, Tom Yum Goong is set to open in the U.K. It has been retitled Warrior King and will be premiered at the Seni '06 Film Festival in Birmingham on May 6.

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)

Thanit Jitnukul and Black Night

Black Night is the latest pan-Asian horror compilation, following in the creepy footsteps of Three ... Extremes and its forerunner, Three, which was initiated Nonzee Nimibutr.

Now it's Thanit Jitnukul's turn. He's directing a story called The Lost Memory, joining Hong Kong's Patrick Leung (Next Door) and Japan's Takahiko Akiyama (Dark Hole).

It's a co-production by Five Star, Movie-Eye and Filmko.
Twitch has more on the films, so I don't have to tell you about them.

I will offer this, though; what Thanit has to say:

I've always asked myself a simple question: What 'is it that my movie is going to say to the audience?' It sounds simple, but I've never found it easy to give myself a satisfactory answer. In The Lost Memory, my intention is to investigate the dark side of a person's mind. I don't believe there's such a thing as an impeccably good person or an irredeemably bad one. We have our virtues and vices, our gods and demons. What's interesting is that when you have to make a crucial decision, are you prepared to deal with the consequences of that one dedsion for the rest of your life? That's the genesis of The Lost Memory. And the only force that would prompt a person to make such crudal decision is that of love. Love is a positive feeling, but when love overwhelms you to the point of suffocation, then it shows its negative side. That's what the characters in the movie have to face when they can't control the force of love."

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)

Historical comedies

A couple of upcoming Thai comedies get into Thai history.

Nong Teng, Nak Leng Phukhao Thong (literally, Nong and Teng, the Golden Mount Gangsters), starring Pongsak Pongsuwan (or Teng Therdtheng) and Choosak Eamsuwan (Nong Cherm-Yim), delves into the very beginnings of Thai cinema, going all the way back to 1923, the year Henry MacRae came to Thailand to make a silent film called Nang Sao Suwan or Miss Suwanna of Siam.

It opens next week and advertisements for it have been everywhere. And now they are here.

Even at the anti- and pro-government rallies. When the TV news camera is on some talking head at a march, there's usually some film company stooge in the background holding up posters for Nong Teng. It's insane.

Nong and Theng were on a TV talkshow earlier in the week, hosted by Mum Jokmok. They had Sombat Metanee and another veteran Thai actor (his name escapes me, but he played the chief bad guy in Killer Tattoo), but instead of talking to these wisemen of Thailand's silver screen, the show degenerated into a lot of clowning around by Nong and Theng and Mum.

It's what the people want.

In the film, Theng is a likay (Thai traditional dance) performer who's facing eviction from his theater because his landlord wants to clear the way for the production of the first feature film to be made in Thailand (which is a mystery in and of itself, as Kong Rithdee recently reported in Real Time). So the boys deploy all kinds of hi-jinks to try and stop the film.

Nong Teng is the first feature film from Work Point, a TV production firm that is responsible for the TV talk show that Mum hosts (he has a cameo in the film and the trailer). But with the success of last year's Holy Man, starring Teng, and the fact that Teng and Nong (and Mum) are popular stars on TV, we could be looking at this year's hit comedy.

Meanwhile, veteran comedian Thep Po-ngam stars in Thai Thief, which I don't know too much about, other than it's due out April 12. It appears to have something or other to do with the Japanese occupation of Thailand, and early reports indicate its another one of those Thai comedies where they just keep throwing new characters and story developments at you every couple of minutes or so to keep you entertained, but it doesn't really go anywhere.

But, the trailers look good. Thep has already been making appearances to promote the film, and after Nong Theng has made its big splash, I anticipate the big push for Thai Thief (made by RS Film, while Nong Theng is being distributed by Sahamongkol).

Update: News story on Nong Theng from The Nation.

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)

In the name of the censor

It is just as I feared. In the Name of the Tiger, a Phranakorn comedy-fantasy that was recently released on DVD, is censored. So Twitch reports. Read it and weep there. I'll probably still see this movie, but I won't buy it; it'll just be a rental.

I have a problem with this. The government says that violence and drug use in films and on television have a corruptive influence on society. Furthermore, they say that the society is dictating that it censor films that depict the offending images.

What about the concept of letting people choose for themselves what they want to watch? A ratings system - where it says on the box what kinds of things that might be found in the films - would be preferable to some nanny editor sloppily blotting out scenes in which I know good and well what is going on anyway. It's pointless.

Sympathy for the censor? No. Absolutely none. I have more sympathy for artists living in a society that doesn't care if its freedoms are being eroded and its art is being defaced.

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)

Hong Kong Filmart update

I really should check out Apichatpong Weerasethakul's website, Kick the Machine, more often. He has details of his new project, Utopia, which received some funds at the Hong Kong Filmart.

Kaiju Shakedown has an update as well, as does Twitch.

An earlier post about Utopia and more is here.

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)