Bangkok (Lonely Planet) - Andrew Burke [27]
Bangkok Film launched Thailand’s film industry with the first Thai-directed silent movie, Chok Sorng Chan, in 1927. Silent films proved to be more popular than talkies right into the 1960s, and as late as 1969 Thai studios were still producing them from 16mm stock. Perhaps partially influenced by India’s famed masala (curry mix) movies – which enjoyed a strong following in post-WWII Bangkok – film companies blended romance, comedy, melodrama and adventure to give Thai audiences a little bit of everything.
The first Thai director to film in the 35mm format was Ratana Pestonji, whose films such as Rong Raem Narok (Country Hotel; 1957) still influence modern Thai filmmakers. The arrival of 35mm movies in Thailand sparked a proliferation of modern cinema halls and a surge in movie-making, and Thai films attracted more cinema-goers than năng fà·ràng (movies from Europe and America). Many today consider the ’60s to be a golden age of Thai cinema. More than half of the approximately 75 films produced annually during this period starred the much-admired onscreen duo Mit Chaibancha and Petchara Chaowaraj.
Despite the founding of a government committee in 1970 to promote Thai cinema, Thai film production in the ’70s and early ’80s was mostly limited to inexpensive action or romance stories. An exception could be found in the films of Prince Chatrichalerm Yukol, in particular Theptida Rongram (The Angel; 1974) and Thongpoon Khokpo Rasadorn Temkan (The Citizen; 1977), which introduced substantial doses of dark realism to the Thai film scene. In the same genre was Luk Isan (Child of the North-East; 1983) which, based on a Thai novel of the same name, follows the ups and downs of a farming family living in drought-ridden Isan. Luk Isan became one of the first popular films to offer urban Thais an understanding of the hardships endured by many northeasterners.
Modern Thai Film
The Thai movie industry almost died during the ’80s and ’90s, swamped by Hollywood extravaganzas and the boom era’s taste for anything imported. From a 1970s peak of about 200 releases per year, the Thai output shrank to an average of only 10 films a year by 1997. The Southeast Asian economic crisis that year threatened to further bludgeon the ailing industry, but the lack of funding coupled with foreign competition brought about a new emphasis on quality rather than quantity. The current era boasts a new generation of seriously good Thai directors, several of whom studied film abroad during Thailand’s ’80s and early ’90s boom period.
Recent efforts have been so encouraging that Thai and foreign critics alike speak of a current Thai ‘new wave’. Avoiding the soap operatics of the past, the current crop of directors favour gritty realism, artistic innovation and a strengthened Thai identity. Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s Fun Bar Karaoke is a 1997 satire of Bangkok life in which the main characters are an ageing Thai playboy and his daughter; the film received critical acclaim for its true-to-life depiction of modern urban living blended with sage humour. It was the first feature-length outing by a young Thai who is fast becoming one of the kingdom’s most internationally noted directors. The film played well to international audiences but achieved only limited box-office success at home. Similarly, Nonzee Nimibutr’s 2499 Antaphan Krong Meuang (Dang Bireley’s Young Gangsters) was hailed abroad – winning first prize at the 1997 Brussels International Film Festival – but was only modestly successful in Thailand.
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GHOSTS & GAGS Kong Rithdee
Thais go to the movies to laugh – and to be frightened. Or at least that’s how the stereotype goes.
Comedy and horror films reign supreme at the Thai box office, with audiences fervently embracing every new (or recycled) scare tactic, and film makers diligently ransacking cemeteries for spooky inspirations. The Thai film industry, probably the strongest in Southeast Asia, produces around 45 titles each year, with over half of them relying heavily on clownish gags or stubborn ghosts. And while critics and scholars