Review: Muay Thai Chaiya

• Directed by Kongkiat Khomsiri
• Starring Akara Amarttayakul, Thawatchai Penpakdee, Sonthaya Chitmanee, Sarita Kongpech, Sangthong Ket-U-Tong
• Premiered on July 29, 2007 as the closing film at the Bangkok International Film Festival; wide release in Thailand on August 30, 2007.

Landing a one-two elbow blow that's hard enough to leave blood in your stool, yet sentimentally sweet and nostalgic enough to bring tears to your eyes, Muay Thai Chaiya was a winner as the closing film of the Bangkok International Film Festival.

The solo directorial debut of Kongkiat Khomsiri, who wrote the screenplay for Wisit Sasanatieng's The Unseeable and co-directed Art of the Devil 2, Muay Thai Chaiya is set in 1970s Thailand, and follows the exploits of three friends from southern Thailand as they come to Bangkok and then take divergent paths in the gritty world of Thai boxing.

Growing up in Chaiya, a fishing village in Surat Thani, three boys, Piak, Pao and Samor, are keen to follow in the footsteps of Pao's brother, Krang (Prawit Kittichanthira), a legendary boxer who is taught by Pao's father, Tew (former boxing and Muay Thai champ Samart Payakaroon). The three boys share a bonding experience that leaves Samor a limping cripple, and then Piak and Pao both train as boxers under Tew. As Tew's and Krang's reputation grow, the big operators in Bangkok come calling, and Tew's idyllic beachside boxing camp is scattered to the wind.

Piak, meanwhile, endures some hard knocks when his gambler father is killed. But he then woos a pretty nurse, Sripai (first-timer Sarita Kongpech, a doe-eyed Thai-Spanish actress), who has also caught the eye of Pao. Though good friends, Piak and Pao differ in style, with Piak hot-headed and brash, while Pao is a quiet strategist.

When they are old enough, Piak (Akara "Golf" Amarttayakul)and Pao (Thawatchai Penpakdee) make their way to Bangkok, with buddy Samor (Sonthaya Chitmanee, from The Tin Mine) and Piak's sweetheart Sripai in tow. They find that Krang is dead as the result of some shady business, and Tew has given up boxing and entered the monkhood.

The two fighters join a gym, and Piak is put forward as a top boxer, with Pao and expert cut-man Samor as his corner men. Piak's impatience costs him a fight, though, and his career is soon ended. The two friends part ways, with Piak and Samor joining up with some gangsters. Piak then becomes the star of an underground fight club, where anything goes - knives, swords, pipes, makeshift body armor, the cannibal from Dynamite Warrior, anything. Pao disappears from the scene for awhile, amidst all the debauchery and mayhem.

As Piak and Samor become more deeply involved in the underworld, enforcing gambling debts, dosing fighters with laxative and even killing people, the movie takes on a bloody and violent tone that wouldn't be out of place in a Martin Scorsese film. "It's like a 'Thai Goodfellas'," one member of the audience said in a Q&A session after the screening. There's even some rousing rock music (I heard a snippet of Hendrix) playing, with plenty of jump cuts between killings.

And with the boxing scenes, it's more Raging Bull than Rocky, and I also couldn't help but think about the Shaw Brothers' Duel of Fists, directed by Chang Cheh and starring Ti Lung and David Chiang as long-lost brothers, involved in the muay Thai underworld in Bangkok. Muay Thai Chaiya even has a heaping helping of heroic bloodshed, just like in a Chang Cheh film.

Sangthong Ket-U-Tong takes on a much different role than she played in Citizen Dog, here playing a sexy go-go dancer who Piak takes up with, and Sripai flees to Pao.

Oh yeah, Pao. He eventually makes a return to the scene, as a boxer being coached by his father, who's come out of the monkhood. Eventually Pao is set to fight a big bout, which places him at odds with the gangsters Piak and Samor work for.

There's a big bloody showdown, with Piak hacking his way into the boxing stadium using two-handed Thai swords, and facing off against a Bruce Lee look-alike who even pulls out a pair of nunchuks to try and show who's the big boss.

Along the way, there is plenty of heart and physical soul poured out. The lead actors trained extensively in Thai boxing (the film is co-sponsored by Fairtex gym), and a lot of effort was put into making the fights appear authentic. There are boxing dramas and there are boxing dramas; Muay Thai Chaiya is a Thai boxing drama, through and through.

The film has atmosphere, too, with a feel for 1970s Bangkok achieved through such details as old Pepsi signs adorning the front of the boxing stadium, and some old boxing posters in the office of the boxing promoter. It helps that Wisit Sasanatieng served as an uncredited art director for the film; he has such an eye for detail, as shown in his own films, Tears of the Black Tiger, Citizen Dog and The Unseeable.

BKKIFF 2007 review: Mystic Ball

• Directed by Greg Hamilton
• Reviewed at the 2007 Bangkok International Film Festival
• Rating: 4/5

Mystic Ball is a 2006 documentary film directed by and starring Greg Hamilton, chronicling the Canadian man's two-decades-long obsession with a Burmese sport-artform called chinlone. Played by six players in a circular ring, using their feet to pass each other a cane ball that is perhaps six inches in diameter, it is described as non-competitive sport that is only about completing the most beautiful moves possible.

Originally conceived as a documentary about chinlone, the documentary morphed into becoming a movie about Hamilton, a Canadian of Africa-American-Irish descent who grew up in foster homes and was bullied and picked on during his childhood. He obtained a background in martial arts, but one day during the 1980s in Toronto, he saw a Burmese immigrant playing chinlone, and from there became steadily obsessed with learning the game.

It is a journey that has taken him from Canada to Myanmar many times, and has made him famous in Myanmar as the only foreigner to participate in chinlone, which is only played in Myanmar. Similar forms of chilone exist. In Thailand and other southeast Asian countries, there is sepak takraw, which is a competitive sport played by teams on either side of a net, like volleyball. There's also a circle form of takraw, but it is not the same as chinlone.

Though Hamilton takes center stage, a move that Hamilton says was necessary for him to find backers in the West and help foreign audiences relate to the film, the documentary does a good job of presenting the Myanmar players who are the best in the game. These include the incredible Su Su Llaing, who is also a chilone soloist, performing acrobat feats and balancing, all while bouncing a ball on the top of her feet.

Ultimately, the goal for Hamilton is to spread word about chilone to the world outside Myanmar, and possibly form an international tour of Myanmar's top chinlone practitioners.

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)

Review: Sick Nurses

• Directed by Piraphan Laoyont and Thodsapol Siriwiwat
• Starring Chol Wachananont, Chidjun Rujiphan, Ase Hui Min Wang, Doloros Dechapratumwon, Kanya Rattanapetch and Ampairat and Ampaiwan Techapoowapat
• Released in Thailand cinemas on June 14, 2007
• Rating: 2/5
  

Six sexy, naughty, bitchy nurses, and one dumb doctor get what’s coming to them, one by one, in Sahamongkol Film International's latest ghost thriller, Sick Nurses.

Directed by Piraphan Laoyont and Thodsapol Siriwiwat, the writer-director team behind Suicide Me, Sick Nurses is a bloody, confusing, misogynistic mess from start to finish.

There’s not a single character that is worth rooting for – every one of them you want to see meet their end in the most violent, horrible way. Credit is due the directors for making this happen, most of the time. There is humor, fitfully, although it seems out of place, but in this type of film, you have to take what you can get.

Set in a run-down, isolated hospital, it seems young Dr. Tar (Wid Charu-jinda) and seven nurses have been running a scheme to sell dead bodies on the black market. But one nurse (Chol Wachananont) thinks the whole thing stinks, and is ready to blow the whistle. So the other six nurses gang up on her, slap her down on an operating table, kill her and then wrap her in a black, plastic garbage bag. They then dump her in the trunk of the doctor’s car, where the corpse will be kept on dry ice until it can be sold.

The storyline jumps around, doing some nonsensical flashbacks and flash forwards. The flashbacks establish the characters – Chol was the doctor’s girlfriend, but so was her coquettish sister (Chidjun Rujiphan). The other girls all have their own sick obsessions. There’s a fitness freak (Ase Hui Min Wang), a bulimic (Doloros Dechapratumwon), a fashion slave (Kanya Rattanapetch) and a pair of phone-camera-snapping twin sister-lesbian lovers (Ampairat and Ampaiwan Techapoowapat). And it turns out that Dr Tar had been having flings with all the women, though he also has another big secret to hide.

Jump ahead seven days, and the ghost of Chol, draped head-to-toe in black, has returned, and must bond with her lover and take revenge on her death before midnight, or something like that. The deaths of the six are all pretty spectacular, and prey on the suffocating vanity and cuteness of their characters.

Doloros’ demise is the best – she is forced to eat a handful of scalpel blades, then her jaw drops off and her tongue falls out. Her pet cat, on which she has transferred her eating disorder, then eats her tongue. Then, a fetus from a jar flies into her throat, choking her. Not much else in the film tops that scene, except maybe for a giant red cross falling off the front hospital building and spinning across the lawn, where it is supposed to flatten Chidjun.

Kanya has a handbag sewn to her head, so that when her shadow appears behind a screen, the handles of the handbag made her look like a killer Teletubby. That was one of the funny bits.

However, before the opening credits even roll, the big question all this begs is: How did this film get released? The entire premise, based on a bunch of murderous medical professionals, should have got the film shelved by the Board of Censorship, which took a dim view of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Syndromes and a Century. In that film, some friendly, hard-working doctors take a break to drink some whisky, and a male doctor meets his girlfriend in his office, kisses her passionately, and gets an erection. These are real, everyday depictions. Those scenes weren’t fit to be seen by innocent Thai eyes, the board ruled. However, a doctor and nurse going at it on a morgue table, or a nurse sitting on a toilet with just her panties to block her nether region, or obviously insane doctors and nurses engaged in criminal activities – that’s okay?

Maybe Sahamongkol Film, the producer of Sick Nurses and dozens of other films that depict monks, doctors and teachers in what are likely objectionable situations, holds some influence over the Board of Censorship, while independent, award-winning filmmaker Apichatpong does not? There is a double standard, plain and simple.

The point is, though, there shouldn’t be any censorship of films in the first place – even if, in the case of Sick Nurses – they aren’t really fit to be seen by general audiences. But it should be the audience's right to choose, not some fascist policeman or narrow-minded culture ministry nanny wielding scissors and petroleum jelly.

(Originally published in The Nation, Life section, June 18, 2007)

Review: Ploy

• Written and directed by Pen-ek Ratanaruang
• Starring Lalita Panyopas, Pornwut Sarasin, Apinya Sakuljaroensuk, Porntip Papanai, Ananda Everingham, Thaksakorn Pradabpongsa
• Premiered May 21 during the Director's Fortnight at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival; censored version opened in Thailand cinemas on June 7, 2007
• Rating: 5/5
  

A languorous daydream, dragged out by jetlag and a before-noon vodka binge, Ploy is sure to leave you out of sorts, but happy, or at least bemused.

The sixth feature film by Thai auteur Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Ploy is the story of a middle-aged Thai-American couple who return to Thailand for the first time in years to attend the funeral of a relative.

Arriving at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 5 o'clock in the morning after 20 hours of flying, the bleary-eyed couple checks into a hotel. It’s one of those trendy boutiques, with a lot of bare concrete and nicely appointed rooms, but hallways that are out of a horror film.

Dang, played by the incomparable Lalita “Mew” Panyopas, just wants to sleep. But her husband, Wit, is restless, and heads down to the hotel bar to buy a pack of smokes. In the bar, Wit strikes up a conversation with a young, frizzy-haired girl named Ploy. She says she’s waiting for her mother to arrive from Stockholm. Soon, the pair are sharing coffee and cigarettes and listening to Photo Sticker Machine on Ploy’s iPod. Wit then invites Ploy up to his and Dang’s room, so she can get cleaned up and take a load off. But as soon as Dang opens the door and sees young Ploy, it’s obvious that Wit has made a horrible lapse in judgment.

Feelings of rage and jealousy are seething deep inside Dang, and while Ploy uses the toilet, Dang demands that Wit get rid of the girl. But to the girl, Dang is actually quite sweet, and can’t bring herself to confront the urchin.

It’s the kind of character that Mew, with her distinctive appearance – she’s taller than she looks – is made to play. One instant she is a calm sea, and the next a raging storm – you can never tell what she’ll do next. It’s pure excitement to watch her work, and great to see her on the big screen, where she hasn’t been since Pen-ek’s 1999 black comedy, Ruang Talok 69.

Surrounding Mew is a great ensemble. Wit is played by first-time actor Pornwut Sarasin, whose day job is executive vice president at Thai Namthip – the company that sells Coca Cola in Thailand (at the press screening there was free-flowing Coke Zero, which was surely not a coincidence).

Ploy, played by Apinya Sakulcharoensuk, is a gem. Turned 17 on May 27, she’s full of wide-eyed innocence, but carries an air of mystery that’s a bit disconcerting. An Afro mop that's straight out of the Boondocks adds the crowning touch to her character.

As Wit and Dang talk over their eight – no it’s seven – years of marriage, there’s a Greek chorus of sorts in nearby room 609: Ananda Everingham, portraying the silent, weary bartender and leggy Porntip "Cartoon" Papanai, a sex bomb of a maid (she played Dao in Monrak Transistor), are having a play-acting tryst. It’s an erotic counterpoint, which in screenings during the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes two weeks ago, was reportedly quite explicit. It has been re-edited by Pen-ek so innocent Thais – and the Board of Censors – won’t be offended.

The proceedings unfold dreamily, and full of surrealism and surprises. It’s never certain just what is reality and what is a nightmare, sort of like the sleep-deprived state you’re in after a 20-hour long-haul flight.

Ploy is a bit of a return for Pen-ek, who scripted this film himself, after doing the pan-Asian existentialist odes Last Life in the Universe and Invisible Waves with writer Prabda Yoon, and cinematographer Christopher Doyle.

He’s back in Thailand, working with his old cinematographer, Charnkit Chamniwikaipong, with Lalita again as his lead actress. But everything Pen-ek has done up to now – from Fun Bar Karaoke, 6ixtynin9 and the musical-comedy Monrak Transistor to the weirdness of Last Life and Invisible Waves (which, for the record, I liked), has led to Ploy – it’s a natural progression for him. And surely, whatever comes next, will be just as full of wonder as Ploy.

(Originally published in The Nation Weekend on June 7, 2007, Page 17)

Those wacky national costumes

Miss Thailand Universe Farung Yuthithum came in 11th place in this year's Miss Universe contest, in which Miss Japan, Riyo Mori, was crowned Miss Universe.

In a year of protests and a fall by Miss USA Rachel Smith (she still came in fifth place), there was plenty of trouble. The Mexico City pageant drew protests from women wearing white dresses splashed with blood, calling attention to the abuse of women. Miss Sweden was made to withdraw after protests in her country called the contest demeaning. Miss Mexico had to change out of her national costume, which was decorated with images of rebels in a 1920s religious uprising being hanged or shot.

Yes, those bizarre "national costumes", in which the contestants themselves (or their handlers) take a lot of creative license. For example, Miss USA dressed as a white-jumpsuited Elvis Presley lookalike. And Miss Thailand had a belly button-baring ethnic Hmong outfit.

Of course, back home in Thailand, cultural watchdogs were shocked, shocked, by Farung's choice of costume. The front page of the Thai daily Kom Chad Luek had a photo of Farung in her faux hilltribe get up, asking, "A national costume?"

Whatever it is, it is definitely not Thai, said Ladda Tangsupachai, director of the Ministry of Culture's ominously named Cultural Surveillance Centre.

The Thai national dress, Ladda stressed, must be Thai. It also must be in line with the official, royal designs and it must be used for proper occasions. She criticised Farung for failing to do her duty and show the outside world an authentic national Thai dress. Instead, Farung turned up in a sort of hybrid ethnic - read not Thai - costume.

There was outrage, yes, though not nearly the firestorm that was whipped up when Chotiros "Amy" Suriyawong wore that dress to the National Film Association Awards.

Still, it raises some troubling issues, points out Bangkok Post assistant editor Sanitsuda Ekachai, who says there's a narrow view of Thai identity that ignores the nation's cultural and ethnic diversity. She writes in a recent column:

This hegemonic history, perpetuated by all forms of popular media, has brainwashed society to believe that the country belongs to the ethnic Thai only, reducing other ethnic groups to 'outsiders'. This rigid, national identity forces ethnic groups to drop their ethnic names, adopt Buddhism and learn to speak Thai without an accent in order to be accepted as 'true' Thai.

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)

Review: Me … Myself (Khor Hai Rak Chong Charoen)

• Directed by Pongpat Wachirabunjong
• Story by Pongpat Wachirabunjong, screenplay by Kongdej Jaturanrasamee
• Starring Ananda Everingham and Chayanan Manomaisnatiphap
• General release in Thailand cinemas on April 19, 2007

Identity, sexuality and childhood aspirations are examined in the romantic comedy drama, Me … Myself, which stars Ananda Everingham as a transvestite cabaret dancer who suffers from amnesia after he is struck by car.

The woman driving the car, Oom (Chayanan Manomaisantiphap), takes responsibility for him and brings him back to her place. Before he was struck by her car, he was beaten and robbed by some guys on a motorcycle while he was using a payphone. His only possession is a necklace with a pendant that spells out "Tan". Not knowing his name, that's what they settle on calling him.

Tan initially has a rocky time being accepted into Oom's life. Plus, she's having crises of her own – having just broken up with her domineering boyfriend, Krit, and having to take care of her troublemaking young nephew, Ohm, the son of her dead sister. She's also balancing a career as a budding creative director at an advertising agency, where she's always running into her old boyfriend. A couple of comical slacker neighbours who are always hanging around don't help much either.

One thing leads to another, and Tan is smacked upside the head by one of the slacker guys for saying something deemed offensive. This brings forth a vision of a woman in Tan's mind. He's taken to a doctor and then a psychiatrist for treatment. He's given a journal and encouraged to free associate.

In the meantime, Tan charms his way into Oom's life. Not only is he supportive of her with her work and in her role as a surrogate mother to her nephew, he's great at organising her stacks of magazines and giving her perfect fashion advice. Comfortable in his masculinity, he can wear a Hello Kitty apron without any sense of irony. Tan tries to defend Ohm after the boy gets in trouble in school, and ends up getting punched out by another boy's father. His stronger suit is being able to tell Oom what dress to wear, and the appropriate shade of lipstick. He restores Oom's confidence and self-esteem. So, of course, they fall in love.

"I don't want to remember anymore. I want to be like this with you here, forever," he tells Oom one night as they watch the sunset from a ledge outside her apartment.

At this point, it's not a spoiler to say that before Tan was beaten up by thieves and then struck by Oom's car his name was Tanya. He was gay and was the star of a transvestite cabaret in Phuket. What he was doing in Bangkok, and even how he ended up as the featured dancer in a katoey show, are some of the things this movie reveals.

The issues it raises – would a gay man forget he's gay if he had amnesia, for example – are compelling. Further, if an amnesiac had to start over, what would he do? What are his childhood dreams and would he still work to achieve them even though he's forgotten them?

Me … Myself is the directorial debut of veteran actor and singer Pongpat Wachirabunjong. Who would have thought of this coming from a man who's best known as the red-shorts-clad action hero of the Seven Street Fighters films? He's also credited with the story, though prolific screenwriter Kongdej Jaturanrasamee penned the screenplay.

The film is an assured debut, and has its enjoyable little moments, like the camera focusing on the front wheels of a shopping trolley, when Oom explains that shopping at Foodland keeps her mind off her problems. Another cut-away shot shows Oom backing up from Tan, her dainty high heels clicking on the floor. It's a small detail, but it's one that speaks volumes.

The story gets bogged down in the heartbreak the protagonists feel after the truth of Tan's past is revealed – nothing like an apartment full of transvestite cabaret dancers to break the news. But the subtle performance by Ananda, and a strong debut by Chayanan, along with the interesting issues the film raises, make My … Myself worth watching.

There's some interesting supporting characters. Director Tanit Jitnukul (is he still making movies?) has a cameo as a police officer. Puttachat Pongsuchat portrays "Boss Oil", Oom's workaholic lesbian boss, who offers some kind support and insight. One of the slacker neighbors is that guy from the Mhee Panda video.

It's a film that seems ripe for a remake by Hollywood, though it probably won't be quite as good. Somehow, the idea of, say, Orlando Bloom and Kate Hudson putting this story through its paces doesn't seem as rewarding.



More information:

• Official site

(This review was originally published in The Nation, May 12, Life section, Page 6)

Review: Alone

• Directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom
• Starring Marsha Wattanapanich and Vittaya Wasukraipaisan
• Released in Thailand cinemas on March 29
• Rating: 4/5

There's nothing scary about Alone, except for the corpsified ghost woman who keeps popping up.

A slick, self-assured thriller Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom, Alone is up there with the best of the J-horror flicks that have gone on to be remade by Hollywood. It also recalls the best of Hitchcock or Cronenberg, with its dark, psycho-thriller elements.

Of course, Banjong and Parkpoom are the pair that made the smash-hit chiller Shutter back in 2004, and it's up for a remake by Hollywood, too, and it will likely be inferior to the original, as most remakes are. With Alone, Hollywood will have to work overtime to come up with a production that is as strong as this Thai film.

No, there is nothing scary about the screenplay, which contains some snappy foreshadowing -- the kind that when the stuff happens that was foreshadowed, you smack your forehead and think, "Why didn't I see that coming?"

There's nothing scary about the photography, which is luminous, nor the editing, which is tight.

And there is definitely nothing scary about the performance by Marsha Wattanapanich, who at 36 is twice the age of the Thai actresses playing most of the lead film roles.

None if it is scary -- it is all beautiful, and moving.

Except for that ghost girl. Now she's scary.

Alone is a tale about conjoined twins, or, if you prefer, Siamese twins, after history's most famous conjoined brothers, Chang and Eng. And indeed, the brothers, originally from Samut Songkhram, are referenced in this dark tale.

In a killer performance, Marsha portrays Pim, a Thai woman who's happily married and living in South Korea with her architect husband, Wee, also Thai, and their pet beagle, Lucky.

On her birthday, a call comes in from Thailand. Seems Pim's mother has had a stroke and is in the hospital. So Pim must return home. Wee and the dog accompany her.

The trip back home brings a rush of memories for Pim. And in a creepy, old wooden Thai colonial-style mansion, she is just not comfortable. Adding to the creepiness is Pim's mother's shy maid, who refuses to stay in the house. The flashbacks to Pim's childhood are bittersweet, showing the repressive bond she had with her conjoined twin sister, Ploy, who apparently died after the twins were separated.

Most of the previews for the film give away the good scares, like Lucky barking at a mirror, and Ploy popping out of it, scaring Pim so much that Pim falls headlong down the stairs.

She ends up in the hospital, babbling about seeing her ghostly sister. Wee invites an old friend to visit. He's a psychiatrist, and Pim suddenly becomes very impolite to the man. But to please Wee, she undergoes some sessions with the shrink, who tells her the ghost is all in her head -- that there's something buried deep in her psychosis that's causing it.

The doctor suggests a change of scene, but it doesn't help, as a walk on the beach shows. Where there should be one set of footprints in the sand, Ploys turns around and finds two, and is horrified. The look on her face is priceless.

Flashbacks go deeper and deeper into the relationship, with the dark, menacing Ploy saying she and Pim will never separate. And then, as children, while staying in the hospital, the diabetic Wee enters their lives. At this point, the younger Pim and Ploy are played by some actual twin sisters, and they, as well as the young Wee, come off just as strong in their performance as their adult counterparts.

A brilliant artist, Wee sketches a picture of the twin he favors most -- Pim of course. This makes Ploy very angry. Oh, and that's pretty scary, too.

And it keeps getting scarier and scarier, as the thrills, surprises and action keep building up.


More information:

• Review at Coffee, Coffee and More Coffee
  

Review: Out of the Darkness

• Directed by Chatrichalerm Yukol
• Starring Sorapong Chatree
• Released in Thailand in 1971; all-region PAL DVD available from Mangpong with English subtitles.

Thailand's first science fiction film, and also the first film by MC Chatrichalerm Yukol, comes from a time when a single film had to be many films at once - action, comedy, romance, drama, even musical.

The story begins in Bangkok, where a scientist and his assistant (played by Sorapong Chatree, in the first of a string of films for Chatrichalerm) notice some meteors falling in southern Thailand.

They pack up their car and head for the Andaman coast, starting their search at a mining camp, where they promptly get into a shootout. After vanquishing the gunmen, who were apparently attacking for no other reason than to have a shoot-out scene in the film, they meet the mine's owner and are taking to his swinging pad of a house, where a bunch of groovy kids are hanging out partying.

The kids, all good looking and fashionably dressed in the latest loud styles of 1970s upper-class Thailand, are eager to help the scientist. One woman, named Chonlada, agrees to accompany the dashing Sek to a cliff, where Sek woos the lovely Chonlada.

Meanwhile, some of the other kids muse about Sek and Chonlada going off together and kid another guy, who thinks he's Chonlada's boyfriend. They break out into song. It's like a Bollywood movie, without the wet saris. But at 140 minutes, it's nearly as long.


Finally, off at a nearby island of sea gypsies, an alien emerges from the water and attacks the tribe's chieftan. Possessed by the alien, he goes back to his village and shoots green death rays from his eyes and wipes everyone out, except for his daughter, the bikinied, lei-wearing sea gypsy princess who looks like she belongs in the cast of South Pacific.

Eventually, the alien makes its way to the mainland and possesses more people. Sek and the others must find a way to kill it.

By Chatrichalerm's own admission, the film is "terrible." But I'd still probably watch it again, just for sheer camp value.

The special effects are nothing special. The alien is a blob-shaped thing with tentacles that remind me of the squid in Plan 9 from Outer Space (actually Tim Burton's Ed Wood, in the scene where Bela Lugosi is depicted having to move the giant squid's tentacles himself because there is no motor for the prop).


(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)

Review: The Sperm

• Directed by Taweewat Wantha
• Starring Putthipong Sriwat, Pimpaporn Leenutapong, Somlek Sakdikul, Dollaros Dachapratumwan
• Released in Thai cinemas on March 22, 2007

Thai science-fiction cinema hasn't actually come all that far since its beginnings with 1971's Out of the Darkness.

The latest offering, The Sperm, directed by Taweewat Wantha, uses the same green ray-beam effects emanating from the eyes as MC Chatrichalerm Yukol had when he made his debut feature film, which was about an alien invasion along the Andaman coast of southern Thailand.

But Chatrichalerm probably would agree that Taweewat's film, while not necessarily having significantly better special effects, executes a more original story with The Sperm, or Asujak, than Out of the Darkness, a film that by Than Mui's own admission was "terrible". In The Sperm, an alien spaceship is a giant hotpot bowl with a wooden door. A ramshackle No. 133 Bangkok city bus becomes a mobile laboratory. There are cartoonish 3-D animated sperm and shakily rendered faces of the "lookalike gang", but it all adds up to fun.

Putthipong "Leo Putt" Sriwat stars as a struggling young rock musician named Sutin. In his sleep, he always dreams of situations that almost put him in sexual contact with Thailand's sweetheart model-actress, La-mai (Pimpaporn Leenutapong). Just as he's ready to consummate the relationship, he wakes up.

But Sutin makes contact with La-mai for real when he's shopping and reaches for the winning bottle of Addict deodorant, which earns his band a place in the One Tambon, One Band (OTOB) competition. The prize is presented by none other than La-mai. Not wanting to blow a chance to actually have sex with the girl of his dreams, he crudely propositions her. But he's actually awake, and this is actually happening, and it's caught on live television.


Embarrassed, he drowns his sorrows in whisky and soda. He suffers further indignities when his bandmates dose him with a generic Viagra drug from Chatuchak market and dump him in a short-time motel. Sutin comes to to find himself being serviced by an elderly prostitute – a rude awakening because he was again dreaming of La-mai. He runs from the room, but can't shake the protuberance from his trousers. In an alley, he spots a poster of La-mai and relieves his burden in front of it, not caring that his issuance has gone into the Bangkok sewer system.

Overnight, Sutin's seed spreads. Thousands of women are pregnant, and give birth the next day. All the babies grow abnormally fast, and they all seem obsessed with sex. And, they all look like Sutin.

Sutin is soon on the run from the police, but bigger problems come up, and not just his making up with La-mai.

The Sperm is a sharp satire on Thai pop culture and society – of fame and celebrity, brand-name products and the sexualisation of everything, even as being sexy is frowned upon. It's the kind of movie that deserves to be seen, for what it's trying to say, and for the comic performances by Leo Putt and Pimpaporn (who last starred in 2003's frankly sexual Sayew, another ignored gem).


There's the always-reliable Somlek Sakdikul as a scientist looking for a solution to the problem of Sutin's seed. And where Pimpaporn is the typical demure good Thai girl, the scientist has a daughter who embodies all the badness – of tight, short schoolgirl outfits, a too-short security guard uniform and strings from a G-string bikini protruding from the tops of her low-riding Daisy Duke cut-off denim shorts. Wow! Dressed in a form-fitting catsuit, she leads a band of inflatable sex doll ninja warriors who save the day. She's not bad, she's just dressed that way.

The Sperm is also similar to Out of the Darkness in that it has some musical interludes, though the style of music is quite a bit different. Out of the Darkness had a couple of song-and-dance numbers that seemed just dropped in - all the sudden, people are singing and dancing, Bollywood style. In The Sperm, the music is part of the story, part of which takes place at a battle of the bands. Thai rapper Nuttawut Srimhog portrays Sutin's best friend and steps up as the lead singer of the band. He's part of Joey Boy's Gancore Club hiphop collective and is a member of the duo BZ and Fukking Hero, though I don't know whether he's BZ or Fukking Hero. The duo was seen in Buppha Rahtree. Chakrapong Siririn, better known as Song Paradox, bassist of the band Paradox, portays the band's vulgar lead guitarist. Song was also in The Possible late last year. Thai hair metal legend Kitti "Guitar" Gunn makes a cameo, as does Narongrit Tosa-nga, better known as "Khun In" from The Overture. He portrays Guitar God.

Despite all it has going for it, The Sperm is yet another entry in a crowded release calendar for Thai films, and is struggling against heavy Hollywood hitters like 300 and Ghost Rider. It doesn't really fit the mould of Thai comedies, horror flicks and horror-comedies, even though it has all the required elements (yes, there's even a transvestite male character), and will probably barely register in the Thai pop culture consciousness.

The name itself is a turnoff. I suggested it to a few people, and the immediate response was disgusted looks, as if I was suggesting they see an X-rated film.

The Sperm, like Taweewat's previous film, SARS Wars, an over-the-top sci-fi satire that killed Film Bangkok with its extravagance, will likely be appreciated more overseas by cult-film crowds. Hopefully, The Sperm will seek out an audience that deserves it.


(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)

Review: The Legend of King Naresuan Part II: Reclamation of Sovereignty

• Directed by MC Chatrichalerm Yukol
• Wanchana Sawasdee, Nopachai Chaiyanama, Taksaorn Paksukcharern, Intira "Sai" Charoenpura
• Released in Thailand cinemas on February 15, 2007

So many questions. Did armies in King Naresuan’s time have elaborate armour, like they do in The Legend of King Naresuan? Did the monarch really have a three-metre-long sniper rifle? Did the Rock, Paper, Scissors game exist in 1577?

Historians may debate these questions, but really, the answer is simply: Who cares? It’s just cool, and that’s all that matters.

With The Legend of King Naresuan Part II: Reclamation of Sovereignty, MC Chatrichalerm Yukol has delivered a tightly paced, fast-moving, action-packed war film.

Like the best of Thai cinema, Naresuan II has a bit of everything to please the masses. Of course, it has action – loads of it, with epic battle scenes and hand-to-hand combat. There is bold romance and even some comedy.

The comedy is where Rock, Paper, Scissors comes in, when a couple of young, bumbling lords arrive at Naresuan’s castle in Phitsanulok. Alighting from their horses at the same time, they argue over who should go first, based on whose city is more important. They can’t decide, so the apparently ancient game makes the decision for them.

Trouble is, neither knows what Naresuan looks like. They’ve heard he’s the "Black Prince", and among the fighters seated on the palace grounds, watching some swordsman spar is a resplendently turbaned African warrior. So of course, the young lords bow to him first. Pretty soon, the real Naresuan (Capt Wanchana Sawasdee) is revealed.

All grown up, Naresuan and his right-hand man, the temple boy Boonting, rechristened Lord Rachamanu (Nopachai Chaiyanama), have attracted a following with their formidable military and martial arts skills. Along with the African fighter, there’s also a samurai warrior (Yano Kasuki) in Naresuan’s army.

Naresuan needs all the help he can get, because in Burma, King Bayinnaung (Sompop Benjatikul) has died, leaving the Hongsawadee kingdom in the hands of his mean-spirited son, King Nanthabureng. Without the wise, guiding hand of Bayinnaung, the throne’s grip on the ever-rebellious states is tenuous at best.

Naresuan’s father, King Thamaracha (Chatchai Plengpanich), believes he should go to Hongsawadee to pay respects. But Naresuan, having been raised in Burma as a hostage under Bayinnaung (see Part I), thinks of the dead monarch as his second father, and convinces his Thamaracha to let him go. There, he is reunited with his childhood sweetheart, Maneechan, who has grown into a beautiful woman (Taksaorn Paksukcharern), as well as the wise Yoda of a monk, Khan Shong (Sorapong Chatree), who taught him martial arts.

All the kingdoms have shown up for the funeral, and more importantly to show respect to Nanthabureng – all except one, the hilltribe state of Khang. So Naresuan is ordered to lead one of three armies to attack Khang, which is a stronghold that cannot be approached without heavy casualties. In a battle scene that recalls the Helm’s Deep scenes from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the first two armies try in vain, and end up decimated and full of arrows. Naresuan sizes up the situation, and finds a weakness in the Khang Death Star defences.


Overwhelmed by Naresuan’s troops, the Khang tribe surrenders and is imprisoned. During the fight, the tribe’s military leader, Princess Lurkin (Intira "Sai" Charoenpura from Nang Nak), captures the eye of Boonting. Handy with a bow and arrow, as well as an axe, Intira’s fireball of princess is a most welcome character, even if she does eventually succumb to Boonting’s repeated stealing of kisses between sword strokes. She’s like Star Wars Princess Leia or Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, with the fighting skills of both Legolas and Gimli from The Lord of the Rings. The bonus is, she has no facial hair and is not Orlando Bloom.

Meanwhile, Nanthabureng is headed off to attack another rebel kingdom, leaving his even meaner-spirited son, Prince Upparaja (Napatsakorn Mitraim) in charge. This guy, and his buddy – the eye-liner duo – plot Naresuan’s demise, laughing and cackling as they scheme. They are hilarious, one-dimensional villains. All they need to do is tie Naresuan to some railroad tracks, if there were such things in 16th century Southeast Asia.

Upparaja even sends a tribe of Naga headhunters to attack Naresuan, which makes for some interestingly bloody hand-to-hand scenes. But the result of all Upparaja’s plotting only drives other kingdoms to side with Naresuan. The prince’s benevolence and wisdom serves him well. A flashback to his childhood reveals a selfless act that proves crucial to his victory in this episode. Along with this message is one of loyalty to friends and family, with the prince risking all to rush back across the battle lines to save his friend Boonting.

Another big battle scene features fireballs rolling down cliffs, a red-painted elephant and a treacherous river crossing. Finally, the big rifle that’s in all the movie ads comes into play. The weapon was first spotted in Part I, with the boy prince sneaking into a temple chamber to peek at the gun. Now, Naresuan is deemed ready by the monk Khang Shong to use it.

It takes three men to support Naresuan’s firing of the weapon – one to hold the long barrel, another to load it and a third to tamp down the load. But it’s worth all the effort – a shot that reaches across a river and at same time signifies Siamese independence.

At the end, the question remains, can Chatrichalerm keep up the momentum for Part III of his trilogy? It’s scheduled for release on December 5 in celebration of His Majesty the King’s 80th birthday.



More information:

• Official site

See also:

• Review at Asian Cinema - While on the Road
• Review at Coffee, Coffee and More Coffee

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomaotes)