Rented this after definitely enjoying "Final Life in the Universe" also by director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. Please see that one first, if you enjoy it, then perhaps check this one out.
This has trace stylish connections to the other, and there is enough cleverness throughout to make this worth watching, however I'm going to have to invoke a new rule that for every dead body a film loses 5 minutes of character depth. Indeed, corpses in films are just roles that the writer/director didn't care enough about to flesh out, and instead just flushed them down.
The "comedy" here is meant to mingle in a way that I guess is vaguely connected to Tarantino, like QT there's enough tension and blood that some folks won't be able to see the mirth for the murder. Good dream and imagination sequences, and an excellent soundtrack (not just the songs, but the pure soundtrack as well). It was funny seeing a cassette player, in a critical role, I tried renting a car with one recently so I could play some books on tape. I had about as much luck as any given male character has of surviving in this film.
The lead actress, evidently a soap opera star in Thailand, had a beguiling placidity, that really played well as a mouse who roars. The more I think about the film: the masquerading of the "Mafia" man, an excellent use of a mirror in a shot in a cafe, the shot through a keyhole, the symbol of Tum's killer coolness by way of a fly she traps in an ice drink, some of the lines (Jim's request for "just blood, no giblets" and whatever the manicure-to-brain-infection was all about), the more I like this. It's just a genre that I don't normally seek out...sure I'm as desensitized to death as the next guy, but I still am not crazy about seeing it. Nor having to sort of glide past implausibilities...(eg, death by vase to the head??).
I think where "Final Life..." (aka "Ruang Rak Noi Nid Mahasan") succeeds better than this, is that the murder that occurs in that remains mysterious and never the focal point. Here the guarded nature of the lead actress, and left without a real confidante, limits any sort of insight into what she's actually going through. But again this is not an actual film, it is more a fantasy, and I prefer mine with little or no blood.
Still, head and shoulders above so much other dreck, though I wonder if this is really seen as "Thai" cinema. IMDb shows that Pen-Ek spent some time in the US at Pratt Institute, clearly his years there and as an Art Director for other folks makes his silver screen cuisine more cosmopolitan with Thai seasoning than anything else.
I also hate the US title, although it might be a jab at folks looking for another sort of Thai video altogether (something the director pokes at twice during the film). Since I can't quite see to giving this a 9, I guess I'll give it a
6/10
PS On no...not a mandatory 'merican remake
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427994/combined
This has trace stylish connections to the other, and there is enough cleverness throughout to make this worth watching, however I'm going to have to invoke a new rule that for every dead body a film loses 5 minutes of character depth. Indeed, corpses in films are just roles that the writer/director didn't care enough about to flesh out, and instead just flushed them down.
The "comedy" here is meant to mingle in a way that I guess is vaguely connected to Tarantino, like QT there's enough tension and blood that some folks won't be able to see the mirth for the murder. Good dream and imagination sequences, and an excellent soundtrack (not just the songs, but the pure soundtrack as well). It was funny seeing a cassette player, in a critical role, I tried renting a car with one recently so I could play some books on tape. I had about as much luck as any given male character has of surviving in this film.
The lead actress, evidently a soap opera star in Thailand, had a beguiling placidity, that really played well as a mouse who roars. The more I think about the film: the masquerading of the "Mafia" man, an excellent use of a mirror in a shot in a cafe, the shot through a keyhole, the symbol of Tum's killer coolness by way of a fly she traps in an ice drink, some of the lines (Jim's request for "just blood, no giblets" and whatever the manicure-to-brain-infection was all about), the more I like this. It's just a genre that I don't normally seek out...sure I'm as desensitized to death as the next guy, but I still am not crazy about seeing it. Nor having to sort of glide past implausibilities...(eg, death by vase to the head??).
I think where "Final Life..." (aka "Ruang Rak Noi Nid Mahasan") succeeds better than this, is that the murder that occurs in that remains mysterious and never the focal point. Here the guarded nature of the lead actress, and left without a real confidante, limits any sort of insight into what she's actually going through. But again this is not an actual film, it is more a fantasy, and I prefer mine with little or no blood.
Still, head and shoulders above so much other dreck, though I wonder if this is really seen as "Thai" cinema. IMDb shows that Pen-Ek spent some time in the US at Pratt Institute, clearly his years there and as an Art Director for other folks makes his silver screen cuisine more cosmopolitan with Thai seasoning than anything else.
I also hate the US title, although it might be a jab at folks looking for another sort of Thai video altogether (something the director pokes at twice during the film). Since I can't quite see to giving this a 9, I guess I'll give it a
6/10
PS On no...not a mandatory 'merican remake
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427994/combined