Before
we see one second of visuals, this film assures us no animals were hurt during
its production. That’s great, but most viewers will be more concerned about the
humans. It predates Crawl, forcing humans and a particularly ornery crocodile
into perilously close quarters. Truly, one darned thing after another befalls
poor Day in Ping Lumpraploeng’s viciously clever The Pool, which screens
during the 2019 New York Asian Film Festival.
After
a hard day working on the set of a silly hipster commercial, Day relaxes in the
pool where they were filming. Unfortunately, he falls asleep when the location
manager starts draining the water. When he awakens, he can no longer reach the
ladders to exit. Through an unfortunate set of circumstances, his girlfriend
Koi dives in with him, bashing her head in the process. Now both are trapped in
the dwindling water, out of reach of his trusty dog Lucky and his insulin shots
above (yes, of course, Day is a diabetic).
By
the way, due to recent flooding, a crocodile managed to escape from the local
zoo, so you know what that means. It will be pretty obvious from the gory in
media res opening. Man must play a savage game of cat and mouse with the
crocodile to survive.
Granted,
The Pool can be ridiculously contrived at times, but that is sort of the
whole point of a film like this. Naturally, Day will always fall asleep at the
worst possible moments, because that is how it goes. The important points are
how cleverly his Olympic pool-sized prison is constructed and how dexterously Lumpraploeng
maintains the tension in this ultra-claustrophobic setting. This is some remarkably
skillful minimalist genre filmmaking.
Theeradej
Wongpuapan makes a totally convincing Job-like figure as Day, while Ratnamon
Ratchiratham is distressingly vulnerable as Koi. However, there is absolutely
no question the big mean Croc steals the show. Lucky is also quite the likeable
pooch, but this whole premise is sure to distress dog lovers (let’s just say The
Pool is no Dog’s Way Home and leave it at that).
For
the most part, The Pool is one set and four characters, including croc
and dog, but all the elements work in concert quite devilishly. Recommended for
fans of angry animal horror, The Pool screens this Sunday (7/14) as part
of NYAFF ’19.
