Bangkok (Lonely Planet) - Andrew Burke [29]
Fah Talai Jone (2000), directed by Wisit Sasanatieng, presents a campy and colourful parody of quasi-cowboy Thai melodramas of the ’50s and ’60s. The film received an honourable mention at Cannes (where it was quickly dubbed a ‘cult hit’) and took an award at the Vancouver Film Festival. When Miramax distributed the film in the USA, it was called Tears of the Black Tiger.
The next Thai film to garner international attention was 2001’s Suriyothai, an historic epic directed by Prince Chatrichalerm Yukol. Almost 3½ years and US$20 million in the making, the three-hour film lavishly narrates a well-known episode in Thai history in which an Ayuthaya queen sacrifices herself at the 1548 Battle of Hanthawaddy to save her king’s life. Suriyothai went on to become the highest-grossing film in Thai history, earning more than 600 million baht, but flopped overseas and was widely criticised for being ponderous and overly long.
In 2001 Nonzee Nimibutr returned with Jan Dara, a cinematic rendition of Utsana Pleungtham’s controversially erotic 1966 novel of the same name. Filmed almost entirely on sound stages save for outdoor scenes shot in Luang Prabang, Laos, the film was critically compared with Vietnam’s famous Scent of Green Papaya.
For evidence that Thailand’s role in world cinema will continue to expand, you don’t need to look any further than Pen-Ek’s Mon Rak Transistor. This acclaimed film broke ground by seizing a thoroughly Thai theme – the tragicomic odyssey of a young villager who tries to crack the big-time lôok tûng music scene in Bangkok – and upgrading production values to international standards. The 2001 release was honoured with a special Directors’ Fortnight showing at Cannes 2002, and went on to earn Best Asian Film at the Seattle International Film Festival ’02 and the Audience Award at the Vienna International Film Festival ’02.
One of Thai cinema’s finest moments arrived when the Cannes festival 2002 chose Sud Sanaeha (Blissfully Yours) for the coveted Un Certain Regard (Of Special Consideration) screening, an event that showcases notable work by new directors. Directed by 31-year-old Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the film dramatises a budding romance between a Thai woman and an illegal Burmese immigrant, and went on to win a prize in the category.
Another favourite on the 2002 festival circuit, and a blockbuster in Thailand as well, was Jira Malikul’s film 15 Kham Deuan 11 (Mekhong Full Moon Party). The storyline juxtaposes folk beliefs about mysterious ‘dragon lights’ emanating from the Mekong River with the scepticism of Bangkok scientists and news media, and also with Thai Buddhism. As with Mon Rak Transistor, the film affectionately evokes everyday Thai culture for the whole world to enjoy. It’s also the first Thai feature film where most of the script is written in the Isan dialect, necessitating Thai subtitles.
The year 2003 saw Faen Chan (My Girl), a nostalgic but well-directed-and-acted drama/comedy about childhood friends who become re-acquainted as adults when one of them is about to marry. Directed by a team of six young Thais, the film was hugely successful in Thailand and garnered attention abroad as well.
A further watershed moment occurred when the 2004 Cannes Film Festival awarded Apichatpong’s dream-like Sud Pralad (Tropical Malady) the Jury Prize. None of the young director’s films has generated much interest in Thailand, however, where they are seen as too Western in tone. Much more well received, box office-wise, both in Thailand and abroad, was Prachya Pinkaew’s Ong Bak (2004), widely hailed around the world as one of the finest ‘old-school’ martial arts films of all time. The film also set the stage for action star Tony Jaa (Thai name: Panom Yeerum), currently Thailand’s hottest big-screen export.
Apichatpong’s release, Syndromes and a